Sweet New Menu and Decor at Sweet Grass

Sweet Grass has gone back to its roots.

Guests were invited to a reveal May 21st to check out the Cooper-Young restaurant’s new menu and new look.

“So many changes were made to the Sweet Grass menu over 10 years,” says chef/owner Ryan Trimm. “When we first opened, we catered to groups and parties that wanted to taste a lot of food and pass around the table, family-style. I enjoy eating with a group of friends and share more than I enjoy a three-course meal. We wanted to bring that back. A service style, an atmosphere, a cocktail list, and our menu have been shifted to the original Sweet Grass style, but we have focused more on tapas and shared cocktails portion of the menu this time.”

The renovation actually began after brunch Easter Sunday, Trimm says. Instead of going home, his staff decided to stay and clean up the place so work on the restaurant could begin the next day.

Sweet Grass has new flooring, a new wall on the South side of the restaurant, new tables and chairs, banquette seating along one wall, chalk boards, new chandeliers, and shelves that span the length of the 30-plus-foot bar.

Baskets made of sweetgrass from South Carolina hang on one wall. Trimm says he chose the name “Sweet Grass” for the restaurant because sweetgrass grows in the South Carolina low country. Low country cuisine is what he began serving when the restaurant opened.

On another wall is a piece made of oyster shells. Sweet Grass also is known for its oyster bar.

The restaurant interior was painted in antique cream with an accent called “Jasper,” Trimm says. Ann Parker from Parker Design Studios did the interior design work.

Guests tried a variety of new dishes, including braised pork dumplings, goat cheese crostinis, lamb lollipops, lump crab cakes, pan-seared sea scallops, and tonkatsu pork santos made of crisp pork loin, spicy mustard, white bread, and cabbage.

Trimm says Sweet Grass now offers “pintxos,” which are “one to two bites” items as opposed to small plates. Servers will walk amongst tables with the pintxos. If people want to try them, they’ll leave them at the table. If not, they’ll go on to the next table.

Bartender Nick Lumpkin says two of the most popular cocktails on the spring menu are the “plum sour” made of wheatley vodka, lemon, black plum, fernet branca, and sage; and the “rye thyme” made of Wild Turkey 101 Rye, honey gastrique, lemon, angostura, and thyme.

Sweet Grass is at 937 Cooper; (901) 278-0278