Category: Hungry Memphis

OK. I’m just going to say it. Or write it, rather. The new Restaurant Iris is going to be the prettiest restaurant in Memphis.

It’s stunning.

Owner Kelly English, who says he doesn’t know when the restaurant will open, gave me a tour of his new eating establishment at 4550 Poplar Avenue in the Laurelwood Shopping Center. It’s where the old restaurant, The Grove Grill, was located. Restaurant Iris’s former location is where English’s restaurant, Panta, now is located.

The view when I opened the door at the new Restaurant Iris almost knocked me down. Not really. But mentally. It was a jolt. In a good way.

This is what a fabulous, elegant contemporary restaurant looks like in your dreams. A lot of color and energy.  

You move from the green-and-white mosaic floor at the entrance into the beautiful main dining room with Italian glass fixtures that resemble colorful balloons because of the light bulbs that are run by an LED lighting system. They feature the full spectrum of colors, including blue, purple, pink, green, and yellow. English showed me how the colors can be manipulated at a control panel off the main dining room.

Ann Parker and her team at Parker Design Studio designed the interior of Restaurant Iris. “That lighting system operates throughout the whole restaurant,” she says. “You are in control of the perfect lighting of light levels and clarity of light and color traces.”

And she says, “You will always look beautiful in the restaurant. So, be careful.”

The serpentine booths in the center give the restaurant so much movement and energy that I almost fell down again. Also in a good way.

Those who remember entering the old Justine’s restaurant will remember the chandeliers, the French-inspired antiques, and the black-and-white flooring at the entry way. Restaurant Iris achieves this same opulent sensation, but with contemporary furnishings instead of antiques. 

Both Justine’s and Restaurant Iris have that New Orleans feel. English, who everybody probably knows by know, is from New Orleans. So, the restaurant is a great reflection of the Crescent City. Come to think of it, those center booths in the main dining room are crescent shaped, actually. Was this an accident?

The whimsical and beautiful mural of a Louisiana landscape in the main dining room is by local artist Dorothy Collier. 

But don’t get me wrong. This place feels fun. Not stiff. People are going to have a good time here. And create memories. 

“The process was to create a space that was emulating the old Iris on lots of levels,” Parker says. “And we mimicked a lot of that in some of the color tones and then taking it to the next level: an elevated level of its old location and all that will offer.”

The concept? “We were wanting to play with your senses. The food will play with your senses as much as your environment.”

When I looked to my left on entering the restaurant, I saw shelving. That’s for the restaurant’s “grab and go” grocery store, English says. It will include everything from pickles and canned goods to prepared family meals.”

When I looked to my right, I saw the spacious bar and oyster bar. In addition to ordering by the bottle, the bar will feature 29 wines, two champagnes, and two sparkling wines by the glass.

The restaurant has four private dining rooms that can accomodate both small or large groups. The mural depicting a garden party on the wall in the larger private room is spectacular.

The kitchen is enormous — 3,500 square feet, English says.

The bathrooms are gorgeous.

And now — the food. It’s also going to be gorgeous and delicious. Executive chef Russell Casey says, “We’re going to do classic New Orleans cuisine. More upscale. Think Galatoire’s with my footprint, hand print, whatever you want to call it all through the menu.”

A menu item “closely related” to what Casey does is his “pan-seared flounder with speckled lima beans, succotash, béarnaise, and jumbo lump crabmeat.”

Casey also will feature “tons” of his sides, which will be featured à la carte. “But we’re putting that New Orleans stamp on it.”

Casey, who used to bus tables as a teenager at The Grove Grill, is amazed at the transformation of the space. He’s worked with many chefs at several restaurants, but, Stephen Hassinger, who was executive chef at the old Inn at Hunt Phelan, was his biggest inspiration. “Every person who was in that kitchen has gone on to do wonderful things. I think it starts with Stephen Hassinger. He’s been so influential in turning out some great chefs when Memphis really was kind of in its infancy stage of becoming a culinary destination. Which I think we are well on our way to if not already there instead of just a barbecue destination.”

When I asked how he felt, English said, “Great.”

“Iris will return to the true roots it set out at with added space to achieve it,” he says. “We will be a classic Creole restaurant in every sense of the term, with dishes you remember from the early years of Iris, an oyster bar, daily lunch. All of that and you get Russell Casey’s food, too.

“We really wanted to maximize the space we had — both in the dining rooms and the kitchen — to best support our team. I think we have done that. Ann Parker and team have done a phenomenal job of bringing a space that did not exist in Memphis to life that we think will be a great complement to the larger restaurant community that we already have here.”