photograph by jordan finney
Crispy brown butter mushrooms with jammy egg over grits
The flaky buttery biscuit at Kinfolk is draped with a fluffy egg, melted cheese, and sizzling meat — simple ingredients that add up to nostalgic delight. Previously operating out of Comeback Coffee, Kinfolk’s first brick-and-mortar location is now open in Harbor Town — a welcome addition to the local breakfast scene.
“Comeback Coffee was proof that [the concept] would work,” says head chef Cole Jeanes. “We needed that year to find the right people, and find out what worked and what didn’t.” Kyle Taylor, designer, and part-owner, recalls, “Every week a line would form out the door. Every week Cole would deliver a consistent product, and every week we sold out.”
photograph by jordan finney
Cole Jeanes with his family
The inspiration for their new menu starts with the restaurant’s name. “‘Kinfolk’ is a term for people that you love, your family,” says Jeanes. “That’s what food is to me. Especially in a family, it’s sitting down at a table, eating, and sharing.”
Complementing the name, Kinfolk’s menu speaks to Jeanes’ childhood experiences and the tastes that defined his youth. The biscuit recipe is straight from his mother’s kitchen, and he derived menu inspiration from gas-station stops with his father while on hunting trips together. He designed the menu to focus on high-quality ingredients prepared simply, traditionally, with a few more modern accents.
Stand-out menu items include not only biscuits, bowls, and (new to the brick-and-mortar) cocktails. Classic Americana-inspired plates include a tender New York strip with herb butter, a golden French omelet, cheesy greens, and crispy hash browns.
Drawing from childhood memories and generational family recipes, Kinfolk builds on its sentimental vibe, and not only in the menu offerings. Of the interior design for the space, Taylor says, “Every square inch has been thought through. Down to the style of the seat that you’re sitting on, to the type of plate that you’re eating from, to the art that is around you. Every single aspect has been run through the filter of ‘does this conjure up a sense of nostalgia?’” Walking into Kinfolk is not a normal breakfast experience but an opportunity for guests to travel back in time.
photograph by jordan finney
Fried chicken biscuit with egg and cheese
Jeanes hopes guests will travel back to Kinfolk again and again, too, for consistency, the best hangover cures, and more of that trademark nostalgia. “I love Waffle House,” he says. “Our menu is basically a refined Waffle House menu with biscuits as the main character.”
This is especially true with their menu’s version of Waffle House’s iconic plates. “We’ll have something called the MVP, which is just literally the All Star,” Jeanes says, “but we do it with regenerative farms, and it has higher-quality ingredients.” Combining elevated ingredients with their nostalgic design is how Kinfolk creates an inventive taste on familiar foods. Taylor explains, “Listen, I could eat salmon for every meal, every day for the rest of my life. Cole’s take on salmon and biscuit is, well — I’ll just call it what it is. It’s stoner food. It’s some hangover-curing, stoner-munchy deliciousness. I love it.”
photograph by jordan finney
New York strip steak with French omelette, greens,and toasted milk bread
Kinfolk team also plans to have a breakfast bar with new specialty drink concoctions. Jeanes says, “We’ll be having drinks like a Yoo-hoo cocktail with bourbon mixed in, our version of a Bloody Mary, some bubbles and juices, Cheerwine Negronis, and a special sage gin drink with lemon and peppercorns that complements our signature biscuits and gravy.”
When operating out of Comeback, Kinfolk was weekend-only, but will expand to most weekdays in their new space. They also plan to expand their dining hours to 3 p.m., offering both breakfast and lunch. In the future, Kinfolk also hopes to open for late-night dining.
For their new opening, Kinfolk aims to achieve what they call a “streamlined customer experience.” As Taylor says, “Consistency is key. This has always been our mantra as we’ve explored the food scene and built relationships with restaurant jurors and friends of food.” Overall, Kinfolk’s refined flavors, nostalgic ambiance, and consistency create a happy addition to downtown daytime dining. “Life is so short,” says Jeanes. “We want people coming in, getting a chicken sandwich, but stepping into a different world.”
Kinfolk Restaurant, 111 Harbor Town Square, Memphis, TN, 38103.
