photograph by samuel x. cicci
Just outside Talk Shop, the restaurant’s beer garden-esque patio looks out onto Front Street and features hanging wall greenery, plenty of seating, and assorted fire pits for colder weather.
The corridor on Front Street by the One Beale project and the old Wm. C. Ellis & Sons building has been under construction for what may feel like an eternity. But the second stage of the project is completed, revealing a chic-looking café and beer garden oasis nestled in the midst of Downtown. Open to the public since late June, Talk Shop aims to feed Downtown workers and visitors alike, as well as provide a hip, late-night hang-out spot.
photograph by samuel x. cicci
Adam Arencibia, who earlier this year was named executive chef at the Hyatt Centric and CIMAS, is also leading the kitchen at the Talk Shop.
The team at Hyatt envisioned a one-stop-shop to serve as the Caption by Hyatt’s food and beverage option. A long counter in the shared Talk Shop/hotel lobby runs throughout most of the space, and features the restaurant sections, a full-service bar, and a coffee roasting station. The Hearth Bar is the centerpiece of the counter, home to customizable breakfast options and other assorted baked goods for sale. Directly outside is the beer garden patio, perfect for getting some fresh air and people-watching folks walking by on Front Street.
Adam Arencibia, who earlier this year was named executive chef at the Hyatt Centric and CIMAS, a three-minute walk down Front, is also leading the kitchen at Talk Shop. “Over here, it’s a bit more casual than CIMAS,” he says. “For this menu, we wanted to have a super fun experience, a localized menu that can bring all kinds of people in. We wanted to avoid anything that felt too pretentious. Just good local fun, and good eats.”
Arencibia’s down-to-earth background makes him suited to juggling several different restaurants at One Beale. He came to Memphis in 2021 when he was named an executive chef partner at the Capital Grille and has long cultivated a passion for cooking. But at an early age, that passion had to compete with a love for Top Gun and a desire to become a pilot. The Las Vegas native ultimately found his high-octane thrills in the kitchen rather than the cockpit, working his way through some of the biggest hotels in Nevada alongside top professionals like Michael Mina and three-star Michelin chef Joël Robuchon.
Talk Shop is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week. For breakfast or brunch (served until 11:30), Arencibia points to the shop’s French toast, one of the restaurant’s most popular items.
photograph courtesy caption by hyatt
The Talk Shop’s French toast
“We soak [the bread] in this cereal-milk custard that’s prepared overnight, and it’s really delicious,” he says. “And then we layer it with a beautiful glaze that’s a caramelization of fresh sugar, berries, and local syrups.” Heartier options are also available, like the biscuits and gravy with pork sausage and black pepper country gravy, or the croque-madame made with a fried egg, hardwood-smoked bacon, and pimento cheese.
photograph courtesy caption by hyatt
Avocado toast.
For those seeking a bit more customization, the Hearth Bar section at the counter should be the first stop. Featured options to order include toast with smashed avocado, radish, oven-roasted tomato, and an everything seed shake over a brioche bun, or the lox with smoked salmon, Boursin cheese, red onion, a hard-boiled egg, and arugula piled on sourdough.
But the build-your-own station is where the hearth bar truly shines. Want béchamel on brioche topped with Boursin? You can make that happen. Or toss arugula pesto over a flatbread covered with capicola and parmesan, if you so desire. Each order includes a base, sauce, and two toppings. “It’s basically a build-your-own breakfast or snack over there with the amount of options we have,” says Arencibia. “It’s probably one of my favorite parts of our menu. And it goes on all day long, too.”
“We wanted to have a super fun experience, a localized menu that can bring all kinds of people in. We wanted to avoid anything that felt too pretentious. Just good local fun, and good eats.” — Adam Arencibia
The rest of the menu, titled “Beyond Breakfast,” comprises the lunch and dinner offerings, with plenty of savory snacks to please diners throughout the day until Talk Shop closes in the late evening. The meat-and-cheese plate is a large assorted charcuterie board, perfect for a group of grazers. Pigs in a blanket with Cajun honey mustard make for an easy snack, and the baked mac and cheese is delicious, with smooth pepperjack béchamel, bacon, and a pork skin crust.
photograph by samuel x. cicci
When the restaurant first opened, the Talk Shop food truck (BELOW) handed out Netta’s chicken sammies to hungry diners.
But the most popular Beyond Breakfast item by far is Netta’s chicken sammy, a spicy fried chicken sandwich topped with honey hot sauce and slaw, rounded out by dill pickle and butter lettuce. “I’ll admit, we were overthinking that one,” laughs Arencibia. “We were all coming at it from kind of an elevated cuisine viewpoint, spending too much time workshopping. One of our team members, Netta, basically said, ‘Whoa, slow down! Keep it simple, put some honey hot sauce and some slaw on there and people will love it.’ Sure enough, they did, and it’s one of our best sellers. She really got us back on track there.”
Talk Shop also has a station (just around the far side of the bar) for local grab-and-go snacks, but the place is designed primarily for comfortable dine-in experiences. The colorful furniture and tables of the long, rectangular interior make it easy to post up with a laptop for a long work session or meeting, or just as a fun place to hang out. The patio directly outside is set up as a beer garden, with greenery hanging from the walls, fire pits throughout, and plenty of exposed brick.
photograph by samuel x. cicci
If you’ve driven down Front recently, you know the exterior maintains the familiar Wm. C. Ellis and Sons logo and façade. For happy hour, enjoy the Wm. C. Pilsner, specially brewed for Talk Shop by Grind City Brewing. There are also colorful cocktails — or test your creativity and “Mix It Up” and make your own cocktail, served in a large pineapple-shaped glass. Guests of the hotel lucky enough to be facing West can pop upstairs to their room balconies with their food and drinks for a view of the Mississippi River.
Arencibia says of the future of Talk Shop and the One Beale project, “When the third hotel is up, I’ll be taking charge of their kitchen too. We don’t know what shape that will take just yet, but I’m excited.”
Talk Shop is located on the ground floor of the Caption by Hyatt hotel at 245 S. Front St. The restaurant is open 6:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 6:30 a.m. – 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday. TALKSHOPMEMPHIS.COM
