Michael Donahue
Bishop dining room
Meet “Bishop,” the newest restaurant brought to you by Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, chef/owners of Catherine & Mary’s, The Gray Canary, Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Hog & Hominy, and Josephine Estelle in New Orleans.
Bishop, a 3,500 square-foot space in the Central Station Hotel on the corner of South Main and G. E. Patterson, is slated to open to the public in mid-December.
It was named Bishop after the late Church of God in Christ Bishop G. E. Patterson.
The food will be French brasserie style served in a “more upscale environment,” says assistant general manager Pablo Villarreal. But still in a “more casual setting.”
Guests will start with “le comptoir” (the counter), which are “snacks high in acid and salt that will be great to start off to cleanse your palette and get you ready to enjoy the menu,” Villarreal says. These will include tinned seafood, which are “delicacies common in France – baby eel, baby squid, and calamari.”
They then will move on to “petite plats” (small plates), which include escargot and oysters, and “grand plats” (large plates), which include steak au poivre, chateaubriand, and lamb chops.
Desserts, including crepe cake, will be made in house by chef Kayla Palmer.
Ticer and Hudman always wanted to open a French restaurant. They worked under chef Jose Gutierrez (River Oaks chef/owner) for five years at Chez Philippe in The Peabody. “We learned our palette from him,” Ticer says.
He and Hudman fell in love with the French “philosophy and approach to food” when they went to cooking school in Southern France.
Bishop seats 130, the bar area seats 18, and a private dining room seats 18, says general manager Emily Stanford.
The interior, with its black-and-white Cathedral style flooring and lots of windows, is a perfect accompaniment to the food. The approach was “keep the old train station feel,” Villarreal says. As if you’re “still in a train station having a drink.”
Natalie Lieberman of Collect+Curate Studio with the help of art consultant Anna Wunderlich designed the interior of Bishop.
Lieberman says she “started with a story” when she began work on the restaurant. “The only info I had was the name ‘Bishop,’” she says. She began to “create a narrative.”
Earthly elements, including leaves and mushrooms, combine with objects, including keys and bells, that go along with “Bishop,” Lieberman says.
There’s also a “spiritual underlying theme” with the stars, beads, and tarot cards, she says.
A bishop’s cape from France is in a frame on one wall.
Butch Anthony of the Museum of Wonder in Alabama created the hand painting in the dining room.
“Moody and rich and textured” was the feel she was going for at Bishop, Lieberman says.
She succeeded.
Diners will agree.
Michael Donahue
Bishop
Michael Donahue
Bishop
Michael Donahue
Bishop
Michael Donahue
Michael Hudman and Andrew Ticer at Bishop.
Michael Donahue
Natalie Lieberman, Pablo Villarreal, and Emily Stanford at Bishop.