The Kitchen

The Kitchen
Shelby Farms Park
415 Great View Drive East, Ste. 101
(901) 729-9009

I got an invite to try brunch at The Kitchen last week. It was their soft opening, and therefore free of charge. My mom and my niece joined me and the monkeys (Satchel, 14, and Jiro, 12).

It took us all a minute to find it. I had just assumed it was where the Visitor's Center was/is, but it's actually around the lake a bit. And I didn't realize it had its own entrance off of Walnut Grove. Anyways, it was pretty easy to figure out where it was once I narrowed down where it wasn't.

It's huge.



The inside is lovely and the patio is definitely the thing of patiosexuals' dreams.




We dined outside, which was lovely, but a bit windy. We had to hold our menus with both hands to keep them from flying away!



(The dinner menu is here.)

The waitress took our drink orders and everyone went with water. I decided against a cocktail in favor of ice coffee. The waitress said they didn't actually have ice coffee but they could pour regular coffee over ice for me. I told her it was no problem and that I could drink hot coffee.

A few moments later she brought out ice coffee, which was perfect.

It took us a minute to decide on our food order as it seemed everyone wanted to have a unique order. In the end, the monkeys went with the Farmers Breakfast (your standard eggs, bacon, toast, etc.) ($13), my niece and I with the Gulf Shrimp salad ($16), and my mom chose the Pasta Bolognese ($18) with the sauce on the side (only because she hasn't been feeling well).

I can't remember what we talked about while we waited for the food because it came out super fast. Soon (almost) everyone was all smiles.




Turns out they brought three farmers breakfasts and only one shrimp salad, so I took a farmers breakfast for the team.



"Oh, the eggs are just the way I like them," I noted. Then noticed that the monkeys both had their eggs over easy too.

"They never asked how to cook the eggs," Jiro said, clearly wishing his were scrambled, though he didn't complain. (He just didn't eat them.)

The shrimp salad was very pretty and I did get a taste of it.



The pasta looks a little naked, but even so, my mom loved it. The sauce on the side was super delicious, she just couldn't tolerate it.



Satchel also had a side of grits ($4), which were served with apples, raisins, brown sugar and cream. I think maybe the Kitchen has grits confused with oatmeal? Anyways, he said they were ok. He was hoping for the standard kind with butter or cheese. (They actually have grits listed under sweets as Breakfast Grits and as a side as Hannah Farm Grits, so maybe he just wasn't clear enough when he ordered?)

I asked everyone how they liked their meals and everyone was pleased, but I thought it was funny that Jiro pointed out that he could have the same breakfast a lot cheaper elsewhere. I explained that the Kitchen is all about supporting local farmers and doing the eco-friendly thing, and that it adds up.

It really adds up! Though our brunch was complementary, we did see the check: $92.

So, I've been trying to think of scenarios in which I'd go back to the Kitchen. One of their other goals is to be a neighborhood meeting place. That seems like a stretch considering the location. Maybe I'd meet someone from Collierville half way? Go after a long bike ride? When someone else is paying? (Kidding. Sort of.) Maybe just have a drink? I'm not sure yet.

I peeked in at the Kitchenette, which is the Kitchen's grab-n-go spot in the Visitor's Center. I think it will definitely get a lot of business.

Y'all tell me what you think.

Maui Brick Oven

Ed. Note: Maui Brick Oven is now open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Maui Brick Oven
7850 Poplar
Germantown, TN 38138
505-2525

I have been trying to get to Maui Brick Oven for weeks. It's best known as the gluten free pizza place, but I have been wanting to try one of the grain bowls.



It's right by my mom's house in Germantown, but it's closed on Sunday, which is when I am usually out that way. I had a reason to head east on Saturday, so the monkeys (Satchel 12, and Jiro, 10) and I had a really late lunch/early dinner there. At 3:00pm we basically had the place to ourselves, which was fine by me.

The inside is very cute and "tropical."



It's an order at the counter and take a number place.



The cashier was sweet and gave us menus and said we could sit down and look them over, since we had never been in before. Unlike Belly Acres, the menu was in a normal sized font and easy to read, but I really appreciated the fact that they had a magnifying glass available. (Yes, I'm a memaw.)



Here's a better look at it.



I knew right away that I wanted the pollo bowl ($12) and Jiro wanted a pizza ($13). He decided to get crazy and add bacon to his usual pepperoni order. Satchel insisted he wasn't hungry and just wanted chicken tenders ($7). I really tried to get him to order something more exciting (coconut shrimp, maybe?, but he was insistent.

I went back to the counter to order and the monkeys followed since they had seen these on the way in.



Our total was $40.61 plus tip. We took our number and went back to the booth. (Satchel was really excited.)



After just a few minutes, my grain bowl came out. I was starved so I went ahead and started eating it. I was very pleased by how it looked.



I liked it even better once I mixed it up. (I didn't add any dressing--it didn't need it.)



It was really, really tasty. It made me wish Maui Brick Oven was in Midtown.

Satchel's chicken tenders came out next and they were massive.



He let Jiro and I sample them and the fries--both were very good.

Next up was Jiro's pizza.



He gave the pizza the thumbs up and said it was crispy like Memphis Pizza Cafe. I had a slice and it didn't remind me of the Pizza Cafe, but I thought it was really good.

Neither of the monkeys really knows what gluten free is and neither realized that their food was any different than at any other restaurant. I consider that a good thing.

Throughout the meal, people came to check on us, fill our water, bring to go boxes, etc. (They are not Project Green Fork certified but the to go boxes were paper, not styro.)

Maui Brick Oven is a chain, but as of now there is one in Maui, Hawaii and one in Germantown, TN. One of the local owners has a wife and two children who are celiacs. They live in Midtown and I really, really hope they open another one of these in town.

Chow Time Buffet & Grill

Chow Time Buffet & Grill
4207 Hacks Cross Road
737-8272

One of my editors, intrigued by the photo below, assigned me to write a feature about Chow Time Buffet & Grill.

I am generally not a fan of buffets or home cooking, but I like Asian food and adventure. Last week, after our trip to Sky Zone, the monkeys (Satchel, 10, and Jiro, 8) and I were already so far from home, I figured why not go ahead and venture out to Hacks Cross to check out Chow Time. Normally, they get super excited about buffets, especially Satchel, who is a little piglet with eyes way bigger than his stomach. For whatever reason, Satchel was only mildly excited and Jiro was downright not having it. "They have sushi!" I promised, hoping to get him in the spirit.

By the time we arrived, Jiro agreed that he would get out of the car, but he would not eat. Whatever, kid. (Look at that face! Ha!)



I had heard that things could get a little rowdy at Chow Time and that they even had an armed guard at the door, so I tried to prepare the monkeys. (Someone online likened it to a casino buffet minus the casino.) Inside it was definitely crowded, but not necessarily what I'd call rowdy.

We did take a minute to read the rules, which are many.



We were shown to a booth, and asked our drink orders. It was waters all around and then Satchel and I went in search of food while Jiro grumpily manned the booth. Satchel and I went straight for the Asian section, which was not at all crowded, and did not contain any kind of sushi. Uh-oh. I went ahead and got Jiro some egg drop soup, sweet and sour chicken, and rice. I noticed people with nice buns (haha) at another window, and went to get one for Jiro. (He is obsessed with the "buns without skin" like we had at Mulan.)

When I sat his plate down, he actually perked up for a minute, but only picked at his offerings. He refused the bun because it had "skin" on it.



As you can see from the closest plate, I tried the dumplings, hot & sour soup, and some beef stir fry. It was decent.

Satchel made himself a plate of fried foods and rice.



Satchel tried to get Jiro interested in going in search of more food by comparing it to the cruise ship, but he wasn't having it. The two of us went off for another round though I could have easily (not to mention, smartly) stopped after my first plate. (We were really missing Warren, who can be counted on to gorge himself and try all sorts of weird items.)

The home cooking section was really the most exciting part of the restaurant and maintained the longest lines. I thought I'd try to woo Jiro with fried chicken, catfish, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.



Despite the look on his face, he did perk up, and eat his chicken. I tried his mashed potatoes and they were very good. I don't recall what Satchel got on his second plate, nor did I take a photo. Here's mine:



The hot water cornbread was really good. The spaghetti and green beans were so-so. I was not a fan of the greens or mac-n-cheese.

And oh my goodness was I stuffed. I really hate that stuffed feeling only a buffet can deliver.

Jiro was in a slightly better mood after the fried chicken, and agreed to hit the dessert bar with us.




They had several pastry/cookies that you'd see in a Mexican panaderia, Jell-O, brownies, soft serve ice cream, etc. What was really exciting was three different kinds of cobbler. I had a small bowl of peach, which was so good I forgot to take a picture before digging in.

And then I felt really, really gross.

We had a lot of food left on the table and I felt like a super waster to boot. The only thing that consoled me, and I use that term loosely, was that there were other people pigging out way worse than us and wasting even more food. I saw a two year old girl with a plate piled so high, it was crazy. I was at once impressed with the parent's ability to fit so much on one plate and stunned that it was actually for a two year old.

We took our ticket and paid at the front: $26.14. Jiro got everyone ONE fortune cookie.



I made a quick run to the restroom before leaving, and should note that the pink, sparkly counter was pretty awesome. I didn't think to look for a changing table, sorry.

We piled in the car and headed back to Midtown. I emailed my editor and explained that while I thought the food was okay, I didn't plan on ever going back. When writing about restaurants in print, the focus tends to be on the positive, and while I could think of some positive things to say, I didn't want anyone going to Chow Time solely on my recommendation.

Now, if you like buffets, and especially home cooking, by all means give Chow Time a try. You might like it. Maybe you'll even love it. But me, I don't need to go back.

Mellow Mushroom (Germantown)

Mellow Mushroom
9155 Hwy 72 #26
(901) 907-0243

Last Sunday, we went to the Mellow Mushroom for Warren's birthday. We'd never managed to eat there despite being fans of the Mellow Mushrooms in Nashville and Chattanooga. Since most of my extended family lives in Germantown, it seemed like a good pick for family dinner.



They had a great patio, but it was full, so our party of eleven went inside with hopes of getting a table. Amazingly enough, it was no problem. There was a group of 40 (!) ahead of us and they too had no trouble getting seated together. How awesome is that?

It was a little wild when we sat down since the kids all sat together, but we directed them to the kids' menu activities. Everyone but Satchel (age 9) complied.



When I noticed that the walls were covered in mushroom pictures, I requested some blank paper, hoping to keep the kids occupied a little longer.



Jiro (age 7) worked on his picture the whole time we were there.



At first I thought our waitress was going to be a bit flighty because we didn't have enough menus and my brother-in-law was grousing about her not knowing what IPAs were on tap, but she was actually really awesome and on top of things despite being pretty damn busy.

Ordering was a bit challenging since everyone wanted something different, but we eventually worked it out so that most of the adults and children with adult appetites ordered 10 inch pizzas. I was going to get the monkeys the kids' meal French bread pizza, but the waitress told me it was tiny. So, I ended up getting them a 14 inch pizza to split. By the time we all ordered we realized we probably ordered too much, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Our waitress said it would take about 20-30 minutes for the food to come out, so we all settled in. The guys watched various football games on various TVs suspended from the ceilings, the kids continued to color, and the rest of us chatted and watched the guys in the kitchen.



Next time we celebrate a birthday there, we'll call ahead for the marquis. This time, we just called Warren "Randy" instead.



Those of us who ordered salads got them fairly quickly. "Randy" and I split a spinach salad with bacon. It was delish.



My mom had the Greek salad.



My nephew got some hot wings, which we all got a taste of. They had a nice spice.



Once we finished our appetizers it seemed like the pizza came out soon after. The restaurant was so lively and we had so many people in our party, things never seemed to drag.

The monkeys' pizza was way more than they needed, but that just meant that we had lots of leftovers.



Satchel was mad that he didn't get a French bread pizza. "You always order me stuff that I don't want!" he complained like a teenager.



When I explained that the pizza in front of him was all he was getting, he got over himself. Soon he and Jiro were declaring it delicious.



Satchel's pizza mutilation skills are unsurpassed.

My niece did actually get a kids' meal and I think it would have been enough food for the older monkeys.



It came with a choice of fruit or veggies, which was cool.

Back at the adult end of the table, something odd was happening. Everyone was happy! Everyone liked their food! That NEVER happens. I'm thinking of it as "Randy's Birthday Miracle Dinner."

My Kosmic Karma pizza was the shizz.



I loved the extra sprinkled parmesan on the crust. It made the crust extra enticing. Eating the crust did make it hard to eat additional slices of pizza though because it's filling. None of the adults made it through more than half of their pizzas.

Randy loved his mushroom and steak pizza with lotsa caramelized onions.



My nephew gave his BBQ chicken pizza the thumbs up. I tried convincing him that hot wing pizza was the way to go, but he didn't want to hear it.



My older sister and her husband each got a sandwich and they looked very hearty and tasty.



At the end of the meal, our waitress brought our checks out in a very timely fashion and I'm pretty sure they were all right. Despite totally over-ordering, our total was very reasonable. By the time we packed up all of the leftovers it was clear that we had several more meals worth of food.

Since things were going so well, I decided to check out the restrooms. They were large, clean, and equipped with a changing table.

I don't know why the Mellow Mushroom decided to open in the 'burbs, but clearly the suburbanites love them. I don't know how soon we'll make the trek again, but should we ever pass by when hungry it'll be hard not to stop.



p.s. I couldn't resist snapping a couple extra pics in the parking lot.





I told Randy that I ordered some of these stick people stickers for his car for his birthday but that they hadn't arrived yet. He actually believed me.