It’s fair to say that excitement for Pantà has been buzzing in Memphis for a while now. Chef Kelly English announced earlier this year that he’d be flipping Overton Square’s longstanding Restaurant Iris space into a new Catalonian concept, something he’s dreamed of for decades since a six-month trip to Barcelona in his early twenties.
Pantà finally opens to the public tomorrow at 2146 Monroe, and the building’s complete decorative and culinary transformation is sure to make a splash with hungry Memphians. Despite a hectic week getting ready for opening night, several key members of the Pantà team – English, manager and bartender Aaron Ivory, and designer David Quarles IV – made time to speak to the Memphis Flyer about their excitement for the restaurant.
Flyer: Pantà is a departure from your other restaurants. How did you come to settle on this style of cuisine?
Kelly English: When I lived in Barcelona, that was really when I fell in love with both food and wine, so this is something I’ve had in my head for a while. And during the pandemic, one of our pivots was a three-month pop up of Catalan food that we did here at Iris, and it really helped put food on the table for our staff. And we realized that operating a 12-table fine dining restaurant that needed valet parking wasn’t going to be sustainable.
So we made the deal to move Iris to the former Grove Grill space at Laurelwood, and it then just seemed so natural to turn this into Pantà. We’d seen the concept work and how much fun it was for us, and how much joy it brought to others. I really do live this type of food and the way they live. And what we want is to be known as a later night establishment. We’ll be open Thursday to Saturday from six to midnight, and then on Sundays, we’ll do a siesta service from two to six, for people who might not be up in time for brunch, or for those who work brunch and might want to do something when they get off.
What are some of the specialty dishes that diners can look forward to when they come to Pantà?
English: We’re not going to do anything that isn’t super specifically Catalan, with the caveat that we reserve the right to ‘Memphis’ anything that we need. A great example is patatas bravas. It’s a very traditional dish. They’re fried potatoes with a couple of different aiolis on it. Then there’s also a different version of that called a Bomba Barceloneta, which is the same idea, except they stuff braised meat in the mashed potatoes and they fry it. What we’re going to do is put Payne’s barbecue inside of these mashed potatoes.
So we’re really looking to put a lot of Memphis’ fingerprints on it. But our menu will be fresh, it will be vibrant; we’re going to have a lot of seafood, there will be a lot of vegetable-driven plates. We’ve only got a couple dishes on the menu that use red meat. And all our dishes are going to be small, and are meant to be shared among people while you order multiple things.
What was your approach when you started thinking about changing the interior?
English: Well, we wanted a space that simply didn’t exist yet. And that’s where David Quarles comes in. When we first met with him, we talked about what I thought about Barcelona, and we looked at Parc Güell, which is a big inspiration for how the space came together. When I look around now, we’ve got a really unique space here.
David Quarles IV: Kelly told me that they wanted a place where everyone felt welcome. It needed to be a place that kind of transported you out of Memphis a little bit. So I used the colors of Spain, and Barcelona, a lot to inspire the design. We landed on Antoni Gaudí. So I looked up a lot of his work, and we ended up landing on the Casa Vicens. And so I looked up the color inspiration there, the lines that are in his architecture, just everything, and used that as the base. That was one of his first projects, and since this is one of our first large-scale restaurant projects, it felt like it was lining up as it should.
The first design we came up with was the dining room. The colors in the wallpaper there are echoed in every single element outside of that space. I just wanted to really provide a visual experience for anyone who came in. The whole design style is based off a colorful memphis interpretation of art nouveau. You’re not overwhelmed, but you now have a problem choosing where you want to sit first.
Whenever I do spaces, I want the rooms to immerse with each other rather than yell at each other. I feel that now a lot of the spaces are speaking together, and having a good colorful conversation.
Aaron Ivory: It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It’s vibrant, but still has a good nightlife vibe to it, where we can control the lights and change the mood. I cannot wait for people to walk in and see what David has done.
In terms of drinks and cocktails, what can diners expect from Pantà?
Ivory: Me, my bartending partner Morgan McKinney [owner of Best Shot Co.], and our beverage director Laurin Culp have been working a lot on coming up with a great bar program. Morgan has come up with some really great cocktail ideas, and one of my favorites is the Naked Dragon, which mixes reposado tequila, some aperol, chili-infused yellow chartreuse, and lime juice. The dragon is kind of our mascot here.
Quarles: We came up with the idea of having our private dining are be the Dragon Room, since that’s the logo. It has a dragon mural painted by Frances [Berry] on the ceiling.
English: Laurin has put together a great list of curated Spanish wines, and we’ll have a whole section of the menu for gin & tonics.
Ivory: And I think the vibe we’ll have is something that will really complement Memphis. It’s a place that will be both low-key, yet high energy. You can come in, split a few tapas with your girlfriend or boyfriend or whomever, and drink some nice wine and just take it easy. You know, take the whole load off your shoulders here.
And it really lends itself to being a place you can go at any part of your night: pop in for a drink before or after dinner, or even stop by or a couple of cocktail before or after, say, going to the theater. We really want it to be an inclusive space for all of Memphis. And there’s been so much love and so much support going into this restaurant, so I can’t help but to be happy and ready and interested to see what types of people we bring in.
Pantà opens to the public tomorrow, October 30th. The restaurant is open from 6 p.m. to midnight Thursday-Saturday, and open from 2-6 p.m. for Sunday siesta service.