The Beauty Shop

The Beauty Shop
966 S. Cooper
901-272-7111

My friend and photographer, Chip Chockley, does a family photo shoot for me each year and then we take him to lunch. This year I thought it would be fun to just combine the two.

I chose the Beauty Shop because it has become a favorite of mine since moving to Cooper Young in 2014. I am a semi-regular at Sunday brunch, especially on sunny (read: patio) days, and am often there (or next door at DKDC) on weekend nights. I've only done regular weekday lunch a few times, but felt pretty sure the monkeys could find something they liked.



It was too cold to sit outside, so we got a booth inside. I love the decor--the old hair dryers, the mirrors, everything.



Everyone was hungry, so we perused the menu. Satchel (13) immediately said, "I want to hear all of the specials." Our waiter, Jacob, went through the daily pasta, the daily grilled cheese, the daily crepe and the daily veggie. I think at some point they all became a little too fancy, so he ordered a cheeseburger.



Then Jiro (11) ordered a cheeseburger.

And then so did Chip!

What.The.F...

"Dudes," I said. "Really?"

Satchel decided to take one for the team and changed his order to watermelon & wings. I was surprised he didn't go for that right away, but he doesn't like watermelon. I explained that he didn't have to eat that part, and Jacob noted that they were out of watermelon so it would come with cantaloupe anyway. Sold!

I typically get the Thai steak salad, but decided to try something different since I was being a pain in the ass about what everyone else ordered. I went with the fish club. Then I added a coffee and some oil cured olives as a starter.

Then we enjoyed each other's company.



No, first I asked everyone to put away their phones. Then we enjoyed each other's company. We were discussing double joints.



The restaurant started to fill up, and we happily had an unexpected visit with the Harpers.



Soon after, the food started coming out. The cheeseburgers got the thumbs up, naturally.




The fish club didn't look too exciting, but it had a lot of flavor thanks to the fried green tomato on there.



The wings were the total show stopper.



Satchel dug right in, despite not being thrilled about the blue cheese.



He was soon covered in sauce and needed some assistance.



Everyone seemed pretty happy and plates were becoming empty. I had kind of forgotten about the olives, but they did eventually arrive at the table. I was too full to eat many, but they were delicious.



I had told Jiro about the yummy beignets on many occasions, but we weren't able to get any. ("Only on Sunday," according to Jacob.) So, I asked Jiro if anything else on the daily dessert menu appealed to him.



We eventually decided to split a nutella and banana crepe. Then Satchel threw in a last minute plea for a slice of red velvet cake. Both were good, but the crepe was definitely the winner.




I paid the tab, which was definitely more than I'd spend on a regular lunch, but it was well worth it.



Then we headed back home.



I'll definitely take the monkeys back for brunch.



All photos by Chip Chockley except this one! Thanks, Chip!