This restaurant has closed.
Our East Memphis correspondent, Steph, has graciously scoped out a new buzz-worthy restaurant for us...
Thyme Bistro
5689 Quince Road
552-4907
As a long-time East Memphis resident, I can not begin to tell you how happy I was to hear that an inexpensive, family-friendly, Project Green Fork (PGF) certified restaurant was opening less than two miles from my house. Rainbows literally appeared. (Well, that happened when we left the restaurant. But still, mostly true.) We couldn't wait to take our kids and try the place out.
Because I have so much faith in PGF, I felt comfortable taking not just my immediate family but also my mom and Chip's dad to Thyme despite no first-hand knowledge of the food. I was not made to look foolish. The six of us walked in at 6:15 on a recent Friday night and had no trouble getting a table. (I received mixed messages from different employees regarding whether or not they take reservations. You might want to call if you are going in with a larger group or later into the dinner hour.) The interior still looks pretty much the same as it did when the space was occupied by Rick Farmer's restaurant, Jarrett's. I was worried because it was a little bit quiet when we walked in- I was scared that my children's natural state of being might prove too lively for the other patrons. But they were on their best behavior, and pretty soon the place filled up anyway. At that point the noise level rose to a volume at which children can go unnoticed. It worked out well.
Everything we ordered was very well-received, so I'll take you through our dishes one by one.
My father-in-law order the special of the day, a perfectly cooked piece of halibut whose preparation I can not remember. Sorry.
My mother ordered the Thyme Burger, which is made with beef from Donnell Century Farm, one of my favorite local vendors. The burger is topped with baby spinach, muenster cheese, fried green tomato, homemade roasted garlic aioli on a ciabatta bun, with house cut fries. The burger was a big hit- my mom is considering putting a fried green tomato on every burger she eats from now on.
Chip had the Mediterranean Salad, topped with house-cured salmon, cucumber, olives, feta, onion, and a champagne vinaigrette. The salmon just melted in your mouth- it was exceptional. The salad as a whole was a wonderful mix of flavors.
Connor, my extremely picky seven-year-old, did NOT order off the kids menu, but did order a kid's meal staple- pepperoni pizza. He was pretty hungry and ate three pieces of it, but later told me he was iffy about the crust. I found this hilarious, since the homemade crust was what made it a great pizza. But if you know him, this doesn't surprise you a bit.
Chloe, my four-year-old, ordered the PB&J from the kids menu. It was made with strawberry jam and had grill marks, which gave it an awesome flavor. It also made the whole thing a bit suspicious to her, but once she tried it she got right past that. It was served with fries, which were the same as Mom's- hand-cut, thin and really quite delicious. Between the two of them, there were enough fries for everyone to eat. And we did.
I had the Saviori Pizza, only I requested that they hold the marinara and serve it with just olive oil. That's just how I prefer pizzas, no offense to the chef. The toppings were fantastic- mozzarella, roasted garlic, spinach, carmelized onion, and the crispest, most flavorful pancetta I've had in a long time. It was a gooood pizza.
The adults shared a bottle of wine from their very reasonably-priced wine menu. It all seemed very affordable, actually, but since my father-in-law generously picked up the check, I can't say for sure how we fared. I do know that we all went home happy and full, and we can't wait to go back and try other things on the menu.
The next morning at the Memphis Farmer's Market (MFM), I stood in line behind Rick Saviori, the chef and owner of Thyme Bistro, at the Donnell Century Farm booth. After Andrew Donnell pointed out who he was, I excitedly introduced myself and welcomed him to the neighborhood. I let him know that we had enjoyed an excellent meal the night before and that we couldn't wait to become regular diners at Thyme. Seeing him buying restaurant inventory at MFM drove the point home for me- we have a real gem in our neighborhood, and I'm looking forward to supporting it for years to come.
Showing posts with label Euro Bistro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Euro Bistro. Show all posts
Friday, June 25, 2010
Friday, December 04, 2009
The Kitchen on Brookhaven (Closed)
Ed. Note: I just read that The Kitchen is closed. We only just discovered it!
Welcome our new guest blogger, Gary Bridgman! Gary is a Vollintine-Evergreen resident, former fine-dining headwaiter, bartender and limo driver. He is the dad of a six-year-old monkey and has co-authored Lonely Planet's Louisiana & the Deep South as well as having food and travel articles published in Utne Reader, Nightclub & Bar magazine, Restaurant Marketing, Memphis Flyer, Oxford Town, and Fodor's Tennessee. Look out!
The Kitchen on Brookhaven
715 W. Brookhaven Circle
(901) 761-1530
My two goals for this past Black Friday: One: don’t go shopping. Two: find an impressive restaurant for a very early (5 p.m.) dinner that’s both reasonably kid-friendly and located close to the Malco Paradiso in East Memphis. My wife’s (Melissa) aunt and uncle were in town, from Nashville, for Thanksgiving ant they wanted to return our hospitality by taking us (including our own “monkey,” age 6) out to see a matinee of Fantastic Mr. Fox and then on to dinner somewhere. I had never heard of “The Kitchen at Brookhaven” before that afternoon, but that became our selection after a bit of Web research. (Note: I had no idea that I would be writing this review until a couple of days later.)
Risk factor: We chose it over our visiting host’s stated preference. Melissa’s Uncle Bruce was blown away by the Beauty Shop the last time he was in town, and hinted that he’d like to take us there again. He’s a pretty suave Chicago native who loves good food and interesting restaurants, and he’s always taking us to out-of-the-way Nashville spots when we visit. There’s no way he’s going to enter a chain restaurant in Memphis on my watch, so I am honor-bound to steer him to something authentic, local, unique or all of the above.
His initial suggestion, returning to Beauty Shop, had problems. One, I didn’t want to repeat on him. Two, Cooper-Young was way out of their way. Three, we were going to be ready to eat right a 5 o’clock. Hell, some of the service staff at Beauty Shop are probably still asleep at that hour! Our prior visit to Beauty Shop had been 5 p.m. on a Saturday, and we were not only the first table of the evening, we actually finished dinner and left before the second table of the evening was even seated! That was mildly awkward on different levels.
So, looking for alternatives, I consulted an online restaurant finder (not the CA’s, which can’t really search by neighborhood) for options near that theater (Poplar/White Station). Fondly remembering the late Chef Raji Jallepalli-Reiss’ original Indo-European fusion restaurant, which was around the corner on Brookhaven Circle in the 1990s, I paused over the choices on that former residential drive. When I read that the new “Kitchen” had low-priced continental cuisine and a children’s menu, I had to try it.
-Our dining experience-
The Kitchen stays open throughout the afternoon, so our party of six wouldn’t be catching the staff flat-footed when we arrived just before 5 o’clock. The servers were prepared and cheerful, even when the wind-chilled ladies in our party ordered hot tea -- a scourge to some hardboiled dinner waiters, who can open and serve an expensive bottle of wine and smoke half a cigarette with the dishwasher faster than they can muster all the crockery and condiments for tea service, an item that will net them 30 cents in tip revenue.
The dining room looks dark, but that's a neat interior design trick, as the tables are well lit. The attractive, natural-finish wooden tables and chairs take the pressure off parents for drink and sauce spillage. Unlike some of the restaurants I’ve worked in, the Kitchen didn’t pack the dining room with too many tables, so parents who insist on stylin’ the scene with their $900 Stokke or Bugaboo strollers will only cause minor bottlenecks. The restrooms passed muster on cleanliness and fixtures being in working order.
The only downside to the dining room is that its surfaces don’t absorb sound very effectively, despite the acoustical panels on the ceiling. There were two other parties of six near us, and it was often impossible to hear what anyone was saying two seats away even though I was hearing plenty of details from conversations at the other table.
The food was an across-the-board hit with everyone, including the boy, who selected chicken tenders from the $5 kids’ menu. We got them to substitute his French fries with broccoli (which is a side item on the main menu). The breading on the tenders had a faint Asian spice whiff, but not enough to raise a kid’s ick factor. He chose the chicken over “deconstructed” chicken pot pie, shepherds pie and pasta. The kids’ meal comes with a soft drink and one of those little institutional plastic tubs of ice cream.
The rest of us ordered items from all over the menu as our entrees: A Portobello burger with balsamic dressing ($8), shrimp cake appetizers with roastd red peppers ($8), a wonderful sautéed goat cheese salad straight out of the Wolfgang Puck playbook ($9), a classic eggplant parma ($11) that Uncle Bruce really enjoyed –- score! -- and my wonderful “boxty of the day” ($12) plus a small dinner salad for a modest $2 upcharge. The boxty (a Gaelic derivation) is a griddled potato pancake stuffed with different fillings. That night’s boxty was chicken with a cream sauce, forming what could well be the ultimate comfort-food dish.
We will return, as the restaurant kept its promise of well prepared European comfort food on a budget.
Epilog: Uncle Bruce admired my reasoning in selecting The Kitchen and he enjoyed the food and service, as did his wife and the rest of us. But as we stood between our cars in the parking lot, he said he’d still like to return to the Beauty Shop the next time. At that point I confessed how awkward I felt the last time when we were the only table there, and that I wanted him to experience the scene there when it’s busy. He grinned and explained that he just loved the food and the décor and that having such a cool restaurant all to himself (without the noise) was part of the charm.
“Like Elvis used to do or a Mafia don?” I asked, and he gave his “there you go” gesture. So Bruce's next meal in Memphis will be at Beauty Shop, but my next meal in East Memphis will probably be at The Kitchen.
Welcome our new guest blogger, Gary Bridgman! Gary is a Vollintine-Evergreen resident, former fine-dining headwaiter, bartender and limo driver. He is the dad of a six-year-old monkey and has co-authored Lonely Planet's Louisiana & the Deep South as well as having food and travel articles published in Utne Reader, Nightclub & Bar magazine, Restaurant Marketing, Memphis Flyer, Oxford Town, and Fodor's Tennessee. Look out!
The Kitchen on Brookhaven
715 W. Brookhaven Circle
(901) 761-1530
My two goals for this past Black Friday: One: don’t go shopping. Two: find an impressive restaurant for a very early (5 p.m.) dinner that’s both reasonably kid-friendly and located close to the Malco Paradiso in East Memphis. My wife’s (Melissa) aunt and uncle were in town, from Nashville, for Thanksgiving ant they wanted to return our hospitality by taking us (including our own “monkey,” age 6) out to see a matinee of Fantastic Mr. Fox and then on to dinner somewhere. I had never heard of “The Kitchen at Brookhaven” before that afternoon, but that became our selection after a bit of Web research. (Note: I had no idea that I would be writing this review until a couple of days later.)
Risk factor: We chose it over our visiting host’s stated preference. Melissa’s Uncle Bruce was blown away by the Beauty Shop the last time he was in town, and hinted that he’d like to take us there again. He’s a pretty suave Chicago native who loves good food and interesting restaurants, and he’s always taking us to out-of-the-way Nashville spots when we visit. There’s no way he’s going to enter a chain restaurant in Memphis on my watch, so I am honor-bound to steer him to something authentic, local, unique or all of the above.
His initial suggestion, returning to Beauty Shop, had problems. One, I didn’t want to repeat on him. Two, Cooper-Young was way out of their way. Three, we were going to be ready to eat right a 5 o’clock. Hell, some of the service staff at Beauty Shop are probably still asleep at that hour! Our prior visit to Beauty Shop had been 5 p.m. on a Saturday, and we were not only the first table of the evening, we actually finished dinner and left before the second table of the evening was even seated! That was mildly awkward on different levels.
So, looking for alternatives, I consulted an online restaurant finder (not the CA’s, which can’t really search by neighborhood) for options near that theater (Poplar/White Station). Fondly remembering the late Chef Raji Jallepalli-Reiss’ original Indo-European fusion restaurant, which was around the corner on Brookhaven Circle in the 1990s, I paused over the choices on that former residential drive. When I read that the new “Kitchen” had low-priced continental cuisine and a children’s menu, I had to try it.
-Our dining experience-
The Kitchen stays open throughout the afternoon, so our party of six wouldn’t be catching the staff flat-footed when we arrived just before 5 o’clock. The servers were prepared and cheerful, even when the wind-chilled ladies in our party ordered hot tea -- a scourge to some hardboiled dinner waiters, who can open and serve an expensive bottle of wine and smoke half a cigarette with the dishwasher faster than they can muster all the crockery and condiments for tea service, an item that will net them 30 cents in tip revenue.
The dining room looks dark, but that's a neat interior design trick, as the tables are well lit. The attractive, natural-finish wooden tables and chairs take the pressure off parents for drink and sauce spillage. Unlike some of the restaurants I’ve worked in, the Kitchen didn’t pack the dining room with too many tables, so parents who insist on stylin’ the scene with their $900 Stokke or Bugaboo strollers will only cause minor bottlenecks. The restrooms passed muster on cleanliness and fixtures being in working order.
The only downside to the dining room is that its surfaces don’t absorb sound very effectively, despite the acoustical panels on the ceiling. There were two other parties of six near us, and it was often impossible to hear what anyone was saying two seats away even though I was hearing plenty of details from conversations at the other table.
The food was an across-the-board hit with everyone, including the boy, who selected chicken tenders from the $5 kids’ menu. We got them to substitute his French fries with broccoli (which is a side item on the main menu). The breading on the tenders had a faint Asian spice whiff, but not enough to raise a kid’s ick factor. He chose the chicken over “deconstructed” chicken pot pie, shepherds pie and pasta. The kids’ meal comes with a soft drink and one of those little institutional plastic tubs of ice cream.
The rest of us ordered items from all over the menu as our entrees: A Portobello burger with balsamic dressing ($8), shrimp cake appetizers with roastd red peppers ($8), a wonderful sautéed goat cheese salad straight out of the Wolfgang Puck playbook ($9), a classic eggplant parma ($11) that Uncle Bruce really enjoyed –- score! -- and my wonderful “boxty of the day” ($12) plus a small dinner salad for a modest $2 upcharge. The boxty (a Gaelic derivation) is a griddled potato pancake stuffed with different fillings. That night’s boxty was chicken with a cream sauce, forming what could well be the ultimate comfort-food dish.
We will return, as the restaurant kept its promise of well prepared European comfort food on a budget.
Epilog: Uncle Bruce admired my reasoning in selecting The Kitchen and he enjoyed the food and service, as did his wife and the rest of us. But as we stood between our cars in the parking lot, he said he’d still like to return to the Beauty Shop the next time. At that point I confessed how awkward I felt the last time when we were the only table there, and that I wanted him to experience the scene there when it’s busy. He grinned and explained that he just loved the food and the décor and that having such a cool restaurant all to himself (without the noise) was part of the charm.
“Like Elvis used to do or a Mafia don?” I asked, and he gave his “there you go” gesture. So Bruce's next meal in Memphis will be at Beauty Shop, but my next meal in East Memphis will probably be at The Kitchen.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Yia Yia's (Closed)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Sadly this restaurant closed its doors in March 2009.
Another great review from Steph! And it's not even a chain...well not a big chain anyway!
Yia Yia's Euro Bistro
7615 Farmington Blvd
Germantown (Saddle Creek)
On one of the last nights of our recent two-week Christmas break, I decided I could not bear to cook another thing. We started our usual debate over where to go. Chip kept suggesting yummy, ethnic restaurants. I convinced him that I was looking for an easy meal, not a place where the menu would freak Connor out. Then I blew his mind by suggesting Yia Yia's.
Yia Yia's is a place that Chip and I go fairly often. It has great food, a good wine list, and is close to our house. The quality of the food is always consistent, and it's a place we go when we want a "nice" meal but don't want to spend the kind of money you might spend at River Oaks/Circa/Interim/etc. For some reason, we've never even considered taking the kids there. "Do they even have a kids' menu?" Chip wondered. I had no idea, but I was sure I had seen kids in there before, so off we went.
At 6:00 on a Friday, we got a table right away. The restaurant was not full- stupid economy!- but it was still noisy enough that I didn't have to worry about whether the kids' voices would stand out above the din. The kids were each given a large, two-sided coloring menu with a package of crayons. The kids' menu absolutely blew me away. The choices were:
Connor excitedly started reading words he recognized off of the menu and begging for help with the word search on the back. As Chloe colored the picture of a giant hamburger, she informed me that she would like a hamburger. I went through the choices with Connor and he requested the pepperoni pizza, his meal of choice for the past month or so. With that settled, Chip and I could turn our focus to the real menu.
We had been informed by the server that the menu had recently been updated, something they do quarterly. It still had plenty of dishes that we recognized, including Chip's favorite fried calamari. We knew we'd have to get that, and soon I found myself stuck in the appetizer section. "Can we just get three or four appetizers and share?" I suggested. Chip was happy to go that route.
We started with the hummus, which is house-made with chili oil and pita chips and is something Chip and I have had often. Chloe was happy to share this with us, although Connor wouldn't even eat the pita (but he did at least try it!). Then we all enjoyed their free, fresh-baked bread while waiting on the rest of the meal. No one got antsy, as we had food to snack on and plenty of restaurant-supplied activities. When the rest of the meal came, we were all very pleased. Connor's pizza was on a homemade crust and was at least 12 inches across. It was definitely big enough to feed Connor three times (or Connor for dinner, and both kids the next day for lunch, which is how it actually went down). For $4.95! Chloe's burger was gorgeous, served on homemade ciabatta bread and topped with the requested cheese. Unfortunately, that was a little too much bread for an almost-three-year-old. I think the fancy bread was a better idea in theory than in practice, but it was easy enough to serve it to Chloe open-faced. It also came with loads of crispy fries, which all four of us shared.
Chip and I had the calamari, perfectly fried and served with agrodolce sauce, which is an Italian sweet and sour sauce. It was excellent, as always. We also had the Marsala Chicken Pizzetta, which was as good as it sounds. A delicate pizza crust topped with marsala, carmelized onions, mushrooms, chicken, thyme and cheeses. My favorite, however, was the gnocchi. It's topped with roasted chicken, spinach, spiced walnuts and gorgonzola cream sauce. It's so rich and wonderful! I could eat it until I made myself sick. I can see why they only serve it in an appetizer portion- a person could go into cardiac arrest if they ate a full-sized portion by themselves! Although that wouldn't be a bad way to go.
During the meal, Chloe needed to visit the facilities. Although it is a nice, big bathroom, I was disappointed to find it rather messy. The garbage can was overflowing onto the floor, and there was a big pile of toilet paper in one of the stalls, etc. When Chloe and I were sitting down back at the table, I made a comment to Chip about what a disaster the bathroom was. A server who was standing nearby came over and said he couldn't help but overhear, and wanted to know the problem. He apologized and insisted it would be taken care of immediately, then came back over to the table a few minutes later to apologize again and let us know the situation had been handled. We were more than a little impressed that someone who wasn't even waiting on us was willing to go out of his way to make sure our restaurant experience was the best it could be.
After the meal, we shared the two free orders of "Dirt." It was plenty for all of us. When the bill came, we were happy to see that all that food plus one glass of wine added up to only $52. That's more than we usually spend on a meal out with the kids, but was less than we expected to spend on four people at Yia Yia's. Although it's not something we'd do on a regular basis, it's a great alternative for a "nice" night out with the kids. I highly recommend Yia Yia’s, either for a family meal or for date night.
Another great review from Steph! And it's not even a chain...well not a big chain anyway!
Yia Yia's Euro Bistro
7615 Farmington Blvd
Germantown (Saddle Creek)
On one of the last nights of our recent two-week Christmas break, I decided I could not bear to cook another thing. We started our usual debate over where to go. Chip kept suggesting yummy, ethnic restaurants. I convinced him that I was looking for an easy meal, not a place where the menu would freak Connor out. Then I blew his mind by suggesting Yia Yia's.
Yia Yia's is a place that Chip and I go fairly often. It has great food, a good wine list, and is close to our house. The quality of the food is always consistent, and it's a place we go when we want a "nice" meal but don't want to spend the kind of money you might spend at River Oaks/Circa/Interim/etc. For some reason, we've never even considered taking the kids there. "Do they even have a kids' menu?" Chip wondered. I had no idea, but I was sure I had seen kids in there before, so off we went.
At 6:00 on a Friday, we got a table right away. The restaurant was not full- stupid economy!- but it was still noisy enough that I didn't have to worry about whether the kids' voices would stand out above the din. The kids were each given a large, two-sided coloring menu with a package of crayons. The kids' menu absolutely blew me away. The choices were:
Cheese PizzaAll included a drink and a dessert of "Dirt," or ice cream topped with crushed Oreos and two gummy worms. And all were $4.95! (Except for the filet, which was $6.95.) There was no mention of side items, so I assumed that most of them came with fries. That is my only complaint about the kids' menu- I would have liked to see a choice of vegetables or fruit on there. I didn't ask, but I'm sure I could have gotten something else if I had asked. I just think people are more likely to substitute fries for something else if the choice is staring them in the face, so it would have been helpful to see it on there.
Pepperoni Pizza
Chicken Strips
Hamburger
Spaghetti
PB&J
Grilled Cheese
Petite Filet
Connor excitedly started reading words he recognized off of the menu and begging for help with the word search on the back. As Chloe colored the picture of a giant hamburger, she informed me that she would like a hamburger. I went through the choices with Connor and he requested the pepperoni pizza, his meal of choice for the past month or so. With that settled, Chip and I could turn our focus to the real menu.
We had been informed by the server that the menu had recently been updated, something they do quarterly. It still had plenty of dishes that we recognized, including Chip's favorite fried calamari. We knew we'd have to get that, and soon I found myself stuck in the appetizer section. "Can we just get three or four appetizers and share?" I suggested. Chip was happy to go that route.
We started with the hummus, which is house-made with chili oil and pita chips and is something Chip and I have had often. Chloe was happy to share this with us, although Connor wouldn't even eat the pita (but he did at least try it!). Then we all enjoyed their free, fresh-baked bread while waiting on the rest of the meal. No one got antsy, as we had food to snack on and plenty of restaurant-supplied activities. When the rest of the meal came, we were all very pleased. Connor's pizza was on a homemade crust and was at least 12 inches across. It was definitely big enough to feed Connor three times (or Connor for dinner, and both kids the next day for lunch, which is how it actually went down). For $4.95! Chloe's burger was gorgeous, served on homemade ciabatta bread and topped with the requested cheese. Unfortunately, that was a little too much bread for an almost-three-year-old. I think the fancy bread was a better idea in theory than in practice, but it was easy enough to serve it to Chloe open-faced. It also came with loads of crispy fries, which all four of us shared.
Chip and I had the calamari, perfectly fried and served with agrodolce sauce, which is an Italian sweet and sour sauce. It was excellent, as always. We also had the Marsala Chicken Pizzetta, which was as good as it sounds. A delicate pizza crust topped with marsala, carmelized onions, mushrooms, chicken, thyme and cheeses. My favorite, however, was the gnocchi. It's topped with roasted chicken, spinach, spiced walnuts and gorgonzola cream sauce. It's so rich and wonderful! I could eat it until I made myself sick. I can see why they only serve it in an appetizer portion- a person could go into cardiac arrest if they ate a full-sized portion by themselves! Although that wouldn't be a bad way to go.
During the meal, Chloe needed to visit the facilities. Although it is a nice, big bathroom, I was disappointed to find it rather messy. The garbage can was overflowing onto the floor, and there was a big pile of toilet paper in one of the stalls, etc. When Chloe and I were sitting down back at the table, I made a comment to Chip about what a disaster the bathroom was. A server who was standing nearby came over and said he couldn't help but overhear, and wanted to know the problem. He apologized and insisted it would be taken care of immediately, then came back over to the table a few minutes later to apologize again and let us know the situation had been handled. We were more than a little impressed that someone who wasn't even waiting on us was willing to go out of his way to make sure our restaurant experience was the best it could be.
After the meal, we shared the two free orders of "Dirt." It was plenty for all of us. When the bill came, we were happy to see that all that food plus one glass of wine added up to only $52. That's more than we usually spend on a meal out with the kids, but was less than we expected to spend on four people at Yia Yia's. Although it's not something we'd do on a regular basis, it's a great alternative for a "nice" night out with the kids. I highly recommend Yia Yia’s, either for a family meal or for date night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
