Last Call: Legendary burger joint Rotier’s closes after 75 years

 

After 75 years, an unofficial Vanderbilt institution has vanished. Rotier’s, originally opened in 1945 and famous for its cheeseburger served on french bread (not to mention its cold beer), closed in March after struggling as a result of the pandemic. Nashville’s vastly expanded restaurant scene and skyrocketing real estate prices had already been putting pressure on the Elliston Street restaurant. “This has been here since I was born. It’s hard,” Margaret Ann Rotier Crouse, the second-generation owner, told The Tennessean. “My mom and dad loved this restaurant.” Pictured in this 1975 photo are, from left to right, F. Clark Williams Jr. (in cowboy hat), who recently retired after a long career at Vanderbilt; Trammell Hudson, BA’75; Robert Montgomery, BA’75; and K.C. Potter, JD’64, Vanderbilt dean of residential and judicial affairs, emeritus, and 2019 Vanderbilt Trailblazer. Photo courtesy of Vanderbilt Special Collections and Photo Archives and Jacob Crouse, Rotiers