Justin Fox Burks
Chef Kelly English opened Restaurant Iris eight years ago, in the former Midtown home of La Tourelle.
After eating at Restaurant Iris in early August, I wake up the next morning dreaming about the Queen Anne bungalow just off Overton Square, but in the dream, the restaurant is a theater, and my server looks like an Elizabethan lady-in-waiting in a green velvet empire dress. To serve our food, she reaches into a vivid mural of artfully stacked plates, and by the time the dishes float by my face, each one is fragrant and three-dimensional.
Now wait a minute. Did I eat a wacky mushroom appetizer for dinner instead of a rustic foie gras, seared on the flattop and plated with bite-size brioche, fig and orange jam, and fresh fruit picked from a backyard tree? No, certainly not, but my dinner was transformational, changing how I see Southern food and smashing my preconceptions about chef Kelly English’s Midtown restaurant, a superstar of Memphis dining.
In at least one way, however, my dream took a literal turn. In 2008, when English opened Iris in the longtime home of La Tourelle restaurant, the surrounding neighborhood only hinted at the thriving theater and entertainment district it is today. English himself, a native of southern Louisiana, was a newcomer to Memphis who never intended to leave New Orleans, where he cooked with chef John Besh at his award-winning restaurants. But on a weekend visit to Memphis for an Ole Miss/Florida game (English is an Ole Miss alum), he met restaurateur Glenn Hayes, who offered to show him the La Tourelle space. The first thing English noticed was the front door’s stained glass fleur-de-lis.
“The restaurant looked like uptown New Orleans, and it was everything I ever wanted,” English recalls. “And when we walked back outside, there was a rainbow, and I thought a unicorn was going to jump out and touch me.”
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Justin Fox Burks
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Restaurant Iris opened about six months later, earning local and national recognition from the start, including wins from Memphis magazine readers for best restaurant and best chef seven years in a row. I, on the other hand, had never eaten at Iris (a sheepish admission, I know) and I envisioned the restaurant only for special occasions, maybe a tad stuffy, with too-rich food in the lauded tradition of great French cooking. Simply put, my assumptions were dead wrong.
While the ambience at Iris is romantic in a pleasing and understated way, a fun and youthful energy permeates the place, both in the service and the food. I discovered a fine dining menu more flexible than formal that works as casually shared plates or multi-course meals for more serious eaters. Even better, the menu — organized into 16 dishes (eight “to begin” and eight “to continue”) — is new Southern, recognizing Creole cooking as just part of diverse foodways from a multicultural homeland.
“From the beginning, I said Iris was what people in New Orleans would have cooked if they settled in Memphis instead of settling in New Orleans,” English explains. “That hasn’t changed one bit. We work really hard to tell the current story of who we are and where we are.”
These days, the unfolding story of Southern food at Restaurant Iris includes chef de cuisine Camron Razavi, who came to Memphis in June from the Magnolia House, English’s restaurant at Harrah’s Gulf Coast Casino in Biloxi. Razavi’s father is from Iran, his mother is from Oklahoma, and he grew up in St. Louis. His roots — both Persian and Southern — are a new lens that still references New Orleans food. “I want to take familiar flavors and introduce them in a new way, not to scare people, but to challenge them,” Razavi explains.
As I dive into the menu for two different dinners, I find vibrant dishes that incorporate this broader view of Southern cooking. Razavi’s shrimp and grits riff off shakshuka, a traditional Middle Eastern dish served with stewed tomatoes and baked egg. At Iris, grits and roasted tomatoes build a mound for extra large Gulf shrimp, anchored in a circle around a plump poached egg like a ceremonial sun clock. Lift up the wide-brimmed bowl and breath in, and the spices — cumin and za’atar — are aromatic and intoxicating.
Although most of the Iris menu changes regularly, a few popular items stay put, and for good reason. Six shrimp swim in barbecue sauce, mysterious and irresistible, one of two secret menu items (the other is fried oyster salad) also served next door at sister restaurant The Second Line. But here’s a tip: On your next visit to Iris, try to resist the lure of longtime favorites like Surf and Turf and opt instead for Wagyu flat iron steak, plated with heirloom carrots, sauce Chasseur, and duck fat potatoes that are so good I fish one out of my to-go box at a stoplight on the drive home.
Yes, the signature dishes at Iris are exceptional, but sticking with the standbys means overlooking the new dishes from Razavi, sous chef Joe Semmes, and their experienced line cooks, a group English describes as “the strongest and most diverse line we’ve ever had at Iris.” In fact, English is so confident in their talents that he’s showcasing each chef at Tuesday Test Kitchen, a weekly three-course meal of experimental dishes served at the Iris catering venue, 62 S. Cooper Street.
“For so long, I’ve wished that every piece of notoriety we get at Iris could be a team award,” English says. “So for me personally, Tuesday Test Kitchen is the most exciting thing we’ve done since we opened.”
Restaurant Iris
2146 Monroe Ave. • (901) 590-2828
4 Stars
Food: An amuse bouche in August — cornmeal pancake topped with crab salsa — says it all in one bite: new Southern with French and Creole roots.
Drinks: Here’s to adult cocktails, like fun craft beers (Mississippi Fire Ant!) and a new favorite Fai Do-Do: vodka, Prosecco, lemon juice, and simple syrup garnished with red apple slices that taste like sangria.
Atmosphere: Our white-cloth table nestles into an open pocket door separating the restaurant’s front rooms with a glimpse out the front door.
Service: Servers understand the intersection between personable and professional. They also explain dishes with enthusiasm and detail.
Extras: Tuesday Test Kitchen sold out within days, but a new series will start after the holidays. A three-course meal paired with wines, tax, and gratuity is $62.
Reservations: Make reservations well ahead for weekends, but sometimes a day or two ahead can work earlier in the week.
Prices: Shared appetizers: $12 to $18: Entrées (also shareable): $27 to $36; Desserts: $8 to $9.
Open: Tuesday-Saturday from 5 p.m. to close.
Pam's Picks
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Justin Fox Burks
HALOUMI SALAD
How can schmaltz, or rendered chicken fat, served as warm vinaigrette over arugula and melon get any better? Layer in crispy chicken skin and seared haloumi, a salty and tangy Middle Eastern cheese.
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Justin Fox Burks
BRANDY ALEXANDER
The Brandy Alexander at Iris is a leading lady of the retro dessert revival, a sexy liquor milkshake made with brandy, ice cream, and crème de cacao in a curvy cocktail glass. Go ahead and slurp.
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Justin Fox Burks
GULF AMBERJACK
Let’s start with the grapefruit pan sauce poured over amberjack rubbed with powdered citrus zest, sautéed, and served with caramelized leeks and a pristine pale green celery leaf. Heavenly!
