Heather Pike and Abby Jestis plan to open Tart in a converted duplex at 820 S. Cooper by the end of February.
For those who can’t wait, Tart will open its doors from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, February 13th, for a housewarming party with food, music, crowdfunding opportunities, door prizes, and an art exhibit with work by Mark Nowell, Mary Jo Karimnia, and Shea Colburn.
In addition to acting as a patisserie with French and New Orleans-based foods, Tart’s ambitious identity includes coffeehouse, breakfast stop, post-dinner dessert destination and full-scale art gallery.
Operating under the tag line “taste the art,” the life partners, who have known each other nearly a decade, decided to combine their two ambitions into a single idea. (Jestis is a chef and Pike is a designer and art aficionado.)
“It’s difficult to calculate the concept into a single detail. There’s going to be so many,” Pike says. “The passion is the glue.
“The bottom line of Tart: This is a place for sharing passions. We’re going to share our passions. We’re trying to create an environment where other people can share their own passions.”
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The food menu will be rustic French — hearty, but simple.
It will include items like ham and brie tartines, ratatouille, shrimp and avocado éclairs with a homemade cocktail sauce, croissants, doberge cake, and pralines.
The “baked eggs en brioche” will include two poached eggs baked inside a carved-out brioche roll topped with a slice of gruyère.
Tart will not offer brewed coffee, instead using a French press on the spot with some pre-made for customers on the run.
The art portion of the concept follows a worldwide art thrust called “guerilla galleries,” largely alternative, underground community-based art found in bookstores and restaurants in places like Milan, Italy.
Pike’s design expertise led to folding tables (so they’re removable) and gallery-quality lighting. She stresses Tart is more than a café with some rotating art.
“We’re essentially treating the gallery aspect of it as a completely different identity,” Pike said. “I don’t want to denigrate any other place, but it feels a little more incidental. ‘Oh, yeah, we’ve got art on the wall.’ We’ll have specific gallery-opening events.”
One of Tart’s most unique aspects, the CooperLoo Gallery, is a restroom that will serve as a walk-in art exhibit complete with its own address. It will open resembling the inside of a Japanese cookie tin, with bright and kooky Asian packaging.
Tart will even offer a monthly prize for the customer who posts the best bathroom “selfie” on Instagram (hashtag #tartbathroomselfie).
Tart still must pass a few inspections before an official opening, which should come in less than three weeks. But they’ve already held a “construction party” complete with a collaborative art piece created by attendees on one of the walls.
When Tart becomes operational, it will open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
820 S. Cooper, www.tartmemphis.com
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