Cole Jeanes named his restaurant “Kinfolk” for several reasons.
The restaurant, which opens Wednesday, March 27th, is “based on a country kitchen,” says Jeanes, 34, chef/owner of the restaurant at 113 Harbor Town Square. “So, it’s a bunch of different things. But it means family and your blood. And when I think of food, that’s what I think about.”
Menu items include “Biscuits and Buns,” “Bowls,” and “Sweets.” One of the “Sweets” is “Banana Pudding Tiramisu,” which is made with coffee caramel, banana, and Moon Pie.
“Kinfolk” is a “Southern saying,” says Jeanes, who heard the word a lot when he was growing up. His father was from a small Mississippi town. “Those folks literally sat on their porch and shot squirrels out of the tree. They’re country country.”
In addition to evoking memories of going hunting and eating with his dad, “kinfolk” also evokes memories of his mother’s biscuits. “She made them and they were great. But I also liked the frozen ones she made.”
But more than the actual biscuits was the “great memory” of “sitting around” in the dining room or living room “eating sausage and biscuits.”
Jeanes, who was 12 years old when he lost his dad, says his “core” are the people in his life. “What I enjoyed with them most of the time was eating food. Going to Thanksgiving and being with all my cousins and all my aunts and uncles. Those were some of the best memories.”
As for that food, Jeanes says, “I grew up in the era of the South when Crock-Pots were big.” But, he says, “I love American cheese. I love Velveeta. I love frozen biscuits. I’m not knocking any of that stuff. I’m just trying to really do something that has a positive effect on not just this community, but the Earth in general.”
Biscuits were a big thing for Jeanes when he was in culinary school at the old L’Ecole Culinaire in Memphis. “I made them and put a little bit of herbs de Provence in there. Then I started adjusting it. Every time I made them I’d write it down and see what I didn’t like and what I liked and I went from there.”
Jeanes came up with his square biscuits, which he made with the folding method of building layers of dough with butter in between.
He included his biscuits in his first “Kinfolk” food stall in the old Puck Food Hall at 409 South Main. “I was the first tenant there.”
Two years ago, he began doing Kinfolk pop-ups at Comeback Coffee. “It was great. I sold out almost every weekend. I saw that there was a desire for us.”
That was a chance to “test the waters, get some data, see if it’s plausible to open a full space.”
He met his current business partners at the pop-ups. A buddy then told him about the Harbor Town location, which already had a new kitchen in it.
Jeanes still makes his biscuits, but he also serves a wide range of items. “You could only do so much at the coffee shop,” he says, adding, “Now it’s growing to, essentially, a fancier Waffle House.”
“The menu is based off of breakfast sandwiches you can either get on our buttermilk biscuits or on a milk bun with benne seeds.”
The breakfast sandwiches are served on an “egg plate. It has a French omelet on it or, basically, any two eggs you want. With grits or fries. Whatever side you like.”
He also serves rice bowls, including one that “literally has Japanese pickles in it.” It also includes Delta jasmine rice, crispy chicken thigh, chili crisp, jammy egg, and toasted benne seed. “There’s a thread that kind of goes through that menu that has Japanese and Scandinavian influences.”
Jeanes also serves “flattop griddle cakes,” but he uses oat flour instead of white flour “to give a gluten-free option.”
For now, Kinfolk, which is open Wednesdays through Sundays, is open for grab-and-go from 6 to 7 a.m. The full-breakfast menu is from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The full lunch menu begins at 10:30 a.m.
The Harbor Town restaurant location is great for Jeanes and his kinfolk. “I can ride my bike here from my home,” he says. “My wife can literally walk up here with our kids.”
