Michael Donahue
Amanda and David Krog
It’s about to become a reality. Dory, the long-awaited restaurant owned by chef David Krog and his wife, Amanda, is slated to open this fall.
The restaurant will be located at 716 West Brookhaven Circle.
“We signed contracts this morning,” David says.
“A year and a half ago we wanted to open a restaurant,” Amanda says. That was after David left Interim restaurant as executive chef on January 1, 2018. “We wanted to do something for ourselves.”
The 3,500 or so square-foot house, which once was a medical office, will be completely renovated. “We will have private seating upstairs,” Amanda says. “We’ll have a private dining room downstairs as well. We will have four seats at the counter in the kitchen. Once a week, David will do a 8-to-10-course tasting and wine pairing at the chef’s counter.”
A bar will be separate from the dining room. And they will have an area for lounge seating.
As for the cuisine, David says, it will be “contemporary Southern” with “a French technique. We are focused on intentionally sourcing first generation farms — small farms, family-owned businesses within 100 miles.”
“Dory” is the name of David’s grandmother and his and Amanda’s daughter. “We named our restaurant and our daughter after his ‘Grammy,’” Amanda says.
They specifically wanted their restaurant to be in a house off Poplar in the 38117 area code. They were driving around one day looking for potential locations when their realtor called them with a house that had everything they wanted. It was perfect.
“I was about ready to throw in the towel and get a job,” David says.
The decor will be a combination of David’s taste and Amanda’s taste. “David’s style is more contemporary and modern. And mine is more Bohemian and rustic. And so we are working with somebody to meet in the middle.”
As for furnishings, Amanda says, “We’re going to have some very delicate pieces and some industrial pieces. And we have our friends at Iron & Design and CityWood helping with some focal points and doing our tables.”
“It’s a family-owned business,” David says. “It’s owned and operated by a husband and wife who most definitely want it to be a neighborhood restaurant. It’s a high-end restaurant, but it’s a neighborhood restaurant, too.”
David describes the kitchen as “a teaching kitchen” on the order of chef Erling Jensen’s kitchen at Erling Jensen: The Restaurant. “A lot of people have worked in that kitchen and a few really good business chefs and chefs who have left this town have come up in Erling’s kitchen,” he says. “The kitchen staff is already done. I’ve picked the first crew and there’s a couple of slots for new hires. That is the beginning of bringing in people we don’t know and see if they fit for us. It is important that we fit for them. We want a place where people can grow. And, being in a kitchen, we have to fit well together.”
David and Amanda will continue to conduct their Gallery dinners, which features David and other chefs cooking multi-course dinners at various locations.
And, Amanda says, “David cooks in some people’s homes and does dinner parties for people and other events. We still have that going on in the meantime.”
People will be able to follow Dory’s progress on the Facebook pages and Instagrams of David and Amanda. Their Website is dorymemphis.com.
