Restaurant Iris

A perennial Memphis favorite dazzles with a new menu, look, and location.

by

During the several hours I recently spent at the new location of Restaurant Iris in Laurelwood, no one seemed to want to leave. The hands of the clock had long swept past lunch service, but diners chatted away, enjoying the food, the drinks, and the enormous new space. The staff were all smiles, showing no sign of stress despite the restaurant opening only a few days before. It’s everything customers enjoyed about the original Iris near Overton Square, but now dialed up to 11.

Closing the original location and moving across town was an ambitious undertaking for chef Kelly English and team, but the new space is the culmination of all the restaurateur’s know-how. After almost 15 years, English made the decision to leave the comforts of Iris’ longtime Midtown home. (That space now houses the very different Pantà, a Catalan tapas bar that is also part of English’s culinary empire.) “It’s been great watching this come together, both front and back of house,” says English, a Louisiana native whose roots are evident in Iris’ menu. “But we’re open, and I think we have a good mix of old and new from the Iris brand.”

It’s the “new” that immediately jumps out. The reopened Restaurant Iris invites customers to the former Grove Grill, and there’s no doubt that the new tenant has an identity all its own. With English taking a step back from the kitchen, executive chef Russell Casey whips up a New Orleans-style menu full of Cajun and Creole flourishes, but a few Iris classics like trout amandine and the knuckle lobster sandwich are back. Meanwhile, the layout of the new space is spectacular, creating all at once a vibrant, twisty, mythical, and sometimes even magical feel to the restaurant, thanks to inspired work by Ann Parker and her team from Parker Design Studio.

The entryway’s white and green mosaic floor sets the colorful tone to follow. To one side are shelves carrying dry goods and prepared foods that customers can take to-go. In the 80-seat main dining room, multiple bright balloon-shaped light fixtures hang from the ceiling, radiating the whole spectrum of color at the flip of a switch, from blue, to yellow, to pink. They bathe the dining area in a festive atmosphere, and can be changed to suit any mood or blend with natural lighting from outside.

For the time being, they’re taking it step by step. “The process to open took longer than we thought,” says English. “But it’s really great to see smiling faces in here. It looks like people are generally happy to be back and see our new take on Iris.”

Booths and tables are placed beneath a mural by Dorothy Collier depicting a Louisiana swamp, full of bright colors and animals — an evolution of the swamp mural that ran above the bar at the old Iris. Snaking down the side of the room is a set of creative serpentine booths, forming alternating crescent-shaped sitting areas in a tribute to English’s hometown. At the old Iris, tables were tucked into corners, making customers feel as if they had their own private dining nook. The crescent-shaped booths here recreate that vibe, each table housed in its own cozy little section.

And it’s in such a booth where I’m treated to one of Casey’s favorite items, the pan-seared flounder. It’s a light dish that manages to be both soft and comforting, with the seared crispy exterior segueing into the flounder’s warm flaky texture. It’s savory without being too fishy courtesy of a mild vinegary accompaniment, just one of the notes from the thick buttery blanket of a classic bearnaise sauce gently dolloped over the flounder. The lima bean succotash is an excellent accompaniment, sweet vegetables blending together for a slightly harder texture than the fish. Mix all three components together for a bite and it turns into a masterfully creamy seafood stew.

“Always use white pepper on fish,” says Casey, “so we put a little salt and white pepper on one side, seasoning it perfectly. For the classic bearnaise, we use vinegar, tarragon, lots of butter, and hot sauce. Then with the succotash, we mix lima beans with corn, and add fresh basil and tomatoes. It’s about layering all the ingredients, and when everything comes together it just does so perfectly.”

After the fish, it’s a tour of Iris’ four private dining rooms that have their own signature looks. The fish room, for example, has a hanging fish-shaped light fixture that can change colors at will. Over in the garden room, the zany Alice in Wonderland-esque wallpaper makes diners feel as if they’re at their own garden party, seated at the table with the Mad Hatter himself.

No matter where you’re seated, it’s the perfect platform for Casey to show off some of his creations. “I came here from Bounty on Broad, and that was a great experience,” says Casey, “but I wanted to explore a new opportunity. I reached out to Kelly and said, ‘Look, I’m your guy. I’ve got the skills to work in the kitchen while you can focus on running the brand, and I think we’d make a great team.’ We got coffee, and here we are.”

A few Iris staples are still around, but for the most part, almost everything on the menu is Casey’s creation. For now, the restaurant is open for lunch seven days a week and for limited dinner hours, but those hours will expand as the team settles. Lunch fare has some casual options, like different styles of po’ boys and sandwiches. And again, there’s the familiar Iris trout amandine made with market gulf fish, toasted almonds, brown butter, and fresh-squeezed lemon. Plus plenty of oysters.

While Casey says that Iris marks his first time exclusively cooking New Orleans-style cuisine, he embraced the challenge, frequently collaborating with English as he spent much of the last year crafting his menu. “You’ll see my style, utilizing all of my previous kitchen experience,” he says, “but it all has a New Orleans flair to it.”

Salad lovers should enjoy a taste of Casey’s beet salad. The layering begins with a bed of greens on the plate, then topped sequentially with healthy servings of roasted golden and red beets. Spiced pecans are placed around the perimeter of the salad, and a crunchy crostini topped with warm fluffy goat cheese sits atop it all. The red beets’ earthy taste melts away into the sweetness of its mellow, nuttier golden counterpart. And the pomegranate molasses vinaigrette adds an extra layer of natural sweet to the whole dish. The cheese and crostini, at the end, offers a savory escape to balance the palate.

For something a bit more traditional, there’s always the Iris salad. Fresh greens provide a foundation for the sweet, oil-infused, melt-in-your-mouth cherry tomato confit to star. Toss in some slivered red onion, marinated cucumber and artichoke, and brioche croutons, and all that’s left is to drizzle the creamy house vinaigrette. I topped my Iris salad with fresh salmon, my fork gliding through and letting the tomato confit spread its juices throughout for a sweeter fish, and a wholly enjoyable dish.

Diners can enjoy plenty of other options from the bar menu of both the full meal or grazing variety, which the restaurant plans to serve all day. This is a New Orleans-style restaurant, after all, so expect plenty of po’ boys (fried oysters, fried or sauteed shrimp, or grilled gulf fish), andouille sausage or crawfish flatbreads, or a plate of NOLA barbecued shrimp. I had my eye on the smoked duck wings, served alongside the crunchy and light jicama slaw.

The bar snacks are, of course, best enjoyed at Iris’ large bar area. Just off to the right of the main dining room, it provides total seating for up to 40 people at both the bar and various tables and lounge chairs. The bar itself features spaces for bartenders to whip up Culp’s cocktails, like the popular Iris Sour, as well as provide oyster services, but the most exciting aspect is the brand-new Cruvinet that English ordered for the restaurant. It can hold up to 29 wines, and English says there’s nothing like it in Memphis. “What that system does is pump nitrogen into the wine bottle that creates a layer between oxygen and nitrogen,” he explains. “So it keeps wine fresh for up to three weeks. That will allow us to have bottles of wine by the glass that you can’t find almost anywhere else.”

While I can sense a slight grimace at my layman’s “wine on tap” comparison, English is excited about the options it offers to customers. “I’m not necessarily one for ordering a $200 bottle of wine,” he says. “But customers don’t have to do that if they see something that looks appealing. They can walk in and pick almost any wine off the list, and we’re able to open it on the spot and serve it by the glass.”

It’s easy for diners to focus completely on Casey’s delicious offerings or Culp’s cocktails, but they would be remiss not to check out pastry chef Inga Theeke’s dessert creations. The star of the show might be her take on chocolate cake (pictured left). “It’s a flourless chocolate cake,” says Theeke, “with milk chocolate and white chocolate mousse on top.”

I don’t eat too many desserts, but this cake drew me in immediately. The fork simply glides through with little resistance, and the sweet softness of the mousse creates the closest thing to a dream in food form, with soft, quick bites easily spoonable from the fluffy center. It’s like wrapping yourself into a soft blanket and falling into a bed of cotton candy atop a layer of feather pillows. The less chocolate-inclined can fix their sweet tooth with some interesting vegan options, like banana bread or red velvet cake.

I enjoyed my cake in Iris’ demo room, a private space that can seat up to 30 people and includes a full-service kitchen. English envisions it as the perfect place for meetings or large gatherings, or for up-and-coming businesses to provide food demonstrations. “We’ve got full audiovisual capabilities in there, so chefs, influencers, anyone can film their cooking in a professional way,” says English. “We’re also going to open that space up for minority-owned businesses so they can utilize the space.”

If it all sounds like a lot more than the old Iris, it is. But English knew he needed to expand to grow his business and create better opportunities for his employees. “I wanted to take this next step because going bigger meant that we have a space where people could enjoy working,” he says. “The whole team is doing a great job with this so far. I want this to be a career place for them — create an environment where they can get paid, and get paid for a long time.”

That team-first ethos is evident in almost every position at the new Iris. English’s lineup is strong, featuring some of the top names from his restaurant group alongside the newcomers. Larin Culp continues her fine work as corporate beverage director, helping to curate a list of excellent cocktails and fine selections of wine to stock Iris’ fancy new Cruvinet. Theeke, whom English credits as a calming force on the rest of the team, is utilizing the enormous, 3,500-square-foot kitchen as her base of operations, whipping up delectable desserts for both Iris and Fino’s from the Hill, one of English’s other restaurants.

To run the front of the house, English brought in Rob Roby IV as maître d’hôtel. A veteran of the Memphis restaurant scene, Roby worked for English as a server before making his name at other fine dining restaurants around the city like The Peabody restaurants. But he was easily convinced to help run the front of house at Iris.

“I had a good job before, but I sat down with Kelly to discuss the position here,” says Roby. “He really sold me on his vision for the place, what Iris could become here in Memphis. It was such a great opportunity, to work alongside great people, and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t join this team.” Working with Roby is Brian Thurmond, another Restaurant Iris vet who traded executive chef for an additional front of house role.

“There are plenty of other people making this possible,” says English. “You have team members like Jeannie Boyd, Dirk Meitzler over at Second Line, Aaron Ivory at Pantà, all chipping in. I think the really exciting thing is being able to fold over some of our longtime employees into management positions to take Iris forward.”

For the time being, they’re taking it step by step. “The process to open took longer than we thought,” says English. “But it’s really great to see smiling faces in here. It looks like people are generally happy to be back and see our new take on Iris.”

As we’re finishing our meal, a customer steps through the door and stands under the colorful lighting, gazing around at the new decor, the happy diners, and the staff carrying plates of Casey’s food. “I used to come to the Grove Grill every week,” he says to a bartender. “Now I think I’ve found my new spot.”

Restaurant Iris is located at 4550 Poplar Ave., 590-2828. Iris is open seven days a week with lunch service 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. and bar service 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Dinner service is available Thursday-Saturday 5 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.