Tart

Tart
820 S. Cooper
287-9903

On Sunday, I took the family to Tart for brunch.



The awesome owners, Heather & Abby, play in my soccer league, so I was invited to the soft opening a couple of weeks ago. While there, I got to taste a lot of things, and was super impressed. I couldn't wait to take the monkeys.

The menu, which is written on a chalkboard near the counter, is a bit complex if you don't have a basic understanding of French. Or French menus at the very least. (Thanks to Holly over at ilovememphisblog.com for getting a photo!)



The monkeys (Satchel, 12, and Jiro, 10) were a bit star struck by the yummy things in the display case and Warren seemed unsure what to order, so I suggested they let me do the ordering. Since the boys love charcuterie now, I knew we had to try the breakfast antipasto. I also thought they might like a croque monsieur. On my first visit I fell in love with the French onion soup (technically onion soup gratinee) and was super jealous of my friend's salmon rillettes, so I ordered those too. Warren wanted coffee, so I got a large French press for us to share. And I couldn't complete the order without some pastries! Jiro picked a strawberry tart and Satchel picked a lemon one. Pshew! The gal rang everything up and gave me the total: $59.87. I admit I had to do a double take, but I knew everything was going to be great and I considered it a treat. I happily handed over my credit card.

The boys got their tarts and we went in search of a table. Jiro, did not want to wait on a table, so he just stood by and took a big bite.




Then he gave me a little bite. Yum!

It took us a minute to decide where to sit. We ultimately agreed on the patio. Tart has a huge patio.



(Photo taken at the end of our meal when many people had cleared out!)

Satchel greedily ate up his lemon tart and then chatted with his brother while we waited on the rest of our food. (I love the cards they use to number the orders.)



First out was the coffee. The tables are on the small side, so no room for sugar or creamer. You have to go inside to the coffee station. (Where you can also get glasses of ice water.) Not sure how it happened, but I allowed Jiro to do my coffee.



He did a great job. (Say hi to our friends Lauren & Russell in the background there!) Please note the awesome mugs made by my talented friend, Melissa Bridgman. And if you look close you can see that the stirrers are actually noodles. The monkeys LOVED that.

Ok, let's talk about the food. The breakfast antipasto was a HUGE hit. Jiro especially liked the honeycomb, which you can see at the tippy top of the picture. We all took turns nibbling.



And they went crazy for the onion soup! But they would only dip bread, lest they actually get an onion!



You can see the croque monsieur in the back there, but here it is in all of its glory.



It required a fork and knife, so was a little less appealing to the monkeys. It definitely got eaten, but not til the end.

And look at the salmon rillettes!



The ramekins look small, but they really hold very nice size servings. The quinoa salad is super yum, and the salmon is perfect. Obviously the yummy baguette is what brought this dish together. I also had to share the baguette for soup dipping and antipasto enjoying. (The baguettes are the one thing not made in house. Tart trades homemade croissants with Cafe Eclectic for the baguettes.)

We actually had a bread crisis because we still had plenty of soup and salmon when we ran out. I went in to order another baguette and the monkeys tagged along. So, of course we got a couple more pastries. I insisted they try the raisin bread (because it is awesome) and Satchel wanted a brioche.



We are gluttons! But seriously, don't leave without trying the raisin bread!

When we finally polished off all of the food, we just sat on the patio with our coffee and enjoyed the gotgeous day.



Tart is Green Fork certified! And they supposedly have an art gallery thing going on in the bathroom that we somehow did not check out.

We will be back. In fact, I want to go right now!