Justin Fox Burks
The Kitchen Bistro
Photographs by justin fox burks
At the Kitchen Bistro, an immensely popular new restaurant in Shelby Farms, the wood-roasted okra arrives with my drink, a bewitching Vesper with a lemon twist. Certainly, I recognize the tenacious Southern beauties, plated with fresh lemon and sauce gribiche, a French-style aioli made with chopped egg, tarragon, and parsley. But the okra’s robust makeover in a wood-burning oven is a surprise, and when I take a bite, the charred and woody taste — both familiar and mysterious — delights me like a vintage locket with a tiny photo tucked inside.
Hesitant to share, I linger instead over each delicious pod and start to wonder: Can the personality of a single dish lead me straight to the heart of a chef’s new American table? Intrigued, I study the dinner menu for other ingredient-driven dishes with bold flavors and indigenous roots. And yes, they are here. Deviled eggs with cumin and a cozy cap of olive tapenade, country ham with melon, dried chili, and bourbon marinated baby figs, and pork chops, anchored by escarole herb crema and roasted corn salad, sun-kissed and cheerful.
The menu at the Kitchen Bistro, steered by the cooking style of head Chef Dennis Phelps, is already at ease with its natural setting on the newly expanded Hyde Lake Park. Open since Labor Day weekend, the restaurant’s design by Arkansas architect Marlon Blackwell blends mid-century modern aesthetics with retro materials like glass walls, aqua subway tiles, heart of pine paneling, and over-sized ceiling fans on the restaurant’s front porch.
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Simply put, the restaurant is beautiful, and the accolades have come quickly. On a recent Sunday, the Kitchen’s staff served brunch and dinner to 600 guests. “It’s pretty wild,” acknowledged Phelps. “But I am grateful to be here and grateful to have this kind of community support.”
Phelps, who is a native of Colorado, first cooked for the Kitchen at the company’s original location in Boulder, advancing to executive chef de cuisine as the company grew. From the start, the Kitchen championed fresh food, local purveyors, and responsible farming practices, a commitment that continues today at six restaurants in three different states. For Phelps, a self-taught chef, the potential to build relationships with Midsouth farmers lured him to Tennessee. “Some of the people I’ve met here are changing how their family farms have been run for five generations, converting to organics or moving from feed lot hogs to pasture hogs,” he said. “I’m excited about that because it aligns so well with a more modern approach to food.”
At the Kitchen, Phelps sources meat from Home Place Pastures in Como, Mississippi, for dinner entrees and for house-made lamb sausage, a product so good that chefs make 150 pounds a week. Like much of the Kitchen’s menu, the sausage tastes flavorful but uncomplicated and demands multiple steps to make. Chefs marinate lamb shoulder overnight in a Middle Eastern harissa sauce before seasoning the sausage with cumin, garlic, and the earthy anise flavor of caraway seeds. On the plate, sliced sausage settles effortlessly into cool tahini dressing and chopped tomato relish. The sausage appears again for brunch, where it builds a spicy tomato sauce for Moroccan poached eggs, a dish Phelps calls his current favorite.
Flavor from a wood-burning oven, the centerpiece of the restaurant’s open kitchen, shows up across the menu, turning simple and seasonal ingredients into culinary gold. Vegetables like peppers, broccoli, and baby turnips — blistery on the outside but al dente inside — escort pan roasted rib eye to the dinner table. At lunch, wood-roasted artichokes in a rustic ceramic bowl mingle with farro, wild mushrooms, and pickled onions. Marjoram yogurt dressing pools on top, like springtime moss in a carefree woodland garden.
Stoked with hickory and cherry wood, the oven burns all day, reaching 850 degrees during busy service and baking the Kitchen’s flatbread —house-made with freshly milled Carolina wheat — in less than two minutes. Overnight, the oven is still hard at work, making intoxicating elixirs from onions buried deep in the coals. Phelps explained the magic like this: “When you pull out the onions in the morning, they are black and knobby, but squeeze them, and there are super sweet onions inside.”
Pam’s Pics—Three to Try
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SWEET CORN RAVIOLI
($18) Consider the steps: Pasta filled with house-made ricotta and corn puree; broth made with butter, bay leaves, and corn-cob stock; and a sautéed wild mushroom garnish. Incredible!
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STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING
($8) Trust me. You need the wide-rimmed bowl to grab back this British classic (ice cream, steamed date cake, and toffee sauce) from tablemates who didn’t order their own dessert.
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WOOD-ROASTED HALF CHICKEN
($29)Don’t flinch at the price. The Kitchen’s wood roasted chicken with cornbread panzanella and basil anchovy pesto could be the best bowl of food you will ever eat.
The Kitchen Bistro at Shelby Farms
415 Great View Drive East
(901) 729-9009
Stars: 3 1/2
Food: Southern sensibilities (pan fried catfish! biscuits with honey butter!), seasonal ingredients, and local sourcing complement rustic classics like roast chicken and pasta Bolognese.
Drinks: Cokes in glass bottles join wine, beer, and craft cocktails. Try the La Rosada, a tequila-driven drink the color of pink summer sunsets.
Atmosphere: The Kitchen’s casual contemporary setting with lakeside views is upbeat and family-friendly. A good-looking bar also stays lively, especially for happy hour every day from 3 to 6 p.m.
Service: Six weeks after the restaurant’s opening, servers are friendly and well-meaning, but their inexperience shows.
Extras: Notice the heavy flatware, striped cotton kitchen towels that double as napkins, and shelved cookbooks, a compendium of great American cooking selected by the Kitchen’s head chef.
The Kitchenette: A sister cafe in the new Shelby Farms visitor center, the Kitchenette serves grab-and-go snacks like fresh fruit, egg salad, and Nikki’s spicy potato chips.
Reservations: The coaches and chairs on the porch are first-come first-serve, but make reservations well ahead for restaurant tables, inside and out.
Prices: Snacks: $3 to $9: Starters: $7 to $13; Sides: $4 to $6; Pastas and Mains: $16 to $35; Desserts: $3 to $9.
Open: Monday-Friday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday for brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and dinner seven nights a week starting at 5 p.m.
