A Very Happy Anniversary

I really have been trying to be a better blogger, posting more regularly. But this was a rough week at work, combined with two baseball games, and visiting with out-of-town family. Oh, yeah… and there was the matter of our anniversary.

On Thursday, EAToo and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. (Happy anniversary! Love you!) Just saying that out loud makes me feel much older than I am, and makes me have to keep repeating to myself that I just got married very young. So, how to celebrate — and cheer me up? Food, of course.

When we started making plans, EAToo mentioned hopefully that the traditional 15th anniversary gift is “crystal”. After I patiently explained that this did not mean that I would be amenable to celebrating our anniversary with small, square hamburgers, we talked more about where we should go to dinner.

I made several suggestions, from which he chose Restaurant Iris. (He is ultimately responsible for choosing where to take me on Valentine’s Day and our anniversary each year. And for killing spiders. And changing lightbulbs I can’t reach. I’m pretty sure that was all in the wedding vows.) He made reservations for Friday night — Thursday was a baseball game — and we were off.

I simply cannot think of enough good things to say about Restaurant Iris. Owner and chef Kelly English, a transplant from New Orleans, opened his restaurant on Monroe Avenue in the space formerly occupied by Memphis culinary institution La Tourelle, which closed last summer just after celebrating its 30th anniversary. Chef English had a lot to live up to, and definitely rises to the occasion.

The evening began with an amuse-bouche of crab, in a homemade mayonnaise with horseradish, on a small crostini. It was just beautiful. If you have never had homemade mayonnaise, I can’t possibly explain it to you — with apologies to Elvis Costello (or perhaps one of my favorite movies), it’s like dancing about architecture. You’ll just have to experience it for yourself.

Things got more difficult after that, since the only bad thing about our trip to Restaurant Iris was having to choose what to order. Both EAToo and I are somewhat indecisive by nature, and it didn’t sound like there were any bad options on the menu. After much deliberation and negotiation (I even offered to try the oysters three ways if EAToo wanted), he finally chose the fried Boudin, a pork and rabbit sausage with caramelized onion and ravigote. The bit I tried was delicious, thoughts of fluffy bunnies notwithstanding.

I chose the Brussels sprouts salad, a warm salad with chunks of bacon in a sherry vinaigrette. I know Brussels sprouts aren’t for everyone, but they have been one of my favorite vegetables since I was a very little girl (surprisingly, not nearly the strangest thing about me). These were the best I have ever had, beautifully sautéed and tender, and the bacon and tangy dressing provided the perfect counterpart to the slight sweetness of the sprouts. I am going to have a difficult time passing them up next time in order to try something else.

Next up was entrées. Again, too many choices. Shrimp and grits always sounds good to me, and the grilled bass over lobster mashed potatoes sounded excellent as well. The server had kindly warned us that the amberjack was a more “fragrant” fish than the bass, and might not be to everyone’s liking. Undaunted — actually even more eager — after this description, EAToo chose the jack (amberjack the night we went), with ratatouille and bordelaise sauce. He was not disappointed.

I ultimately went with the scallops. They were grilled to perfection, and plated with house-made potato gnocchi in a vodka cream sauce, topped with a bit of fennel and citrus salad. “Good” doesn’t even begin to cover it. I have not had good kitchen luck with scallops, although my homemade gnocchi are passable. But these — well, I can say unequivocally that Chef English is simply a genius. I have never had gnocchi so light and perfect before, and by this time I was totally jealous of his kitchen skills. Again, I fear having a difficult time trying any other entrée the next time we go.

By the time we ordered dessert, I was toying with the idea of passing on it altogether, or at least sharing. Right up until the server described the bread pudding. One of my stranger food quirks is that I don’t like raisins in my bread pudding. (I also drink my tea completely unsweetened. I swear I really am from around here, I promise.) When the server mentioned that there were no raisins (his preference as well), I had to have it. And all to myself. It turned out to be one of those desserts that I get way too involved with, like crème brulée, the other option I had considered. I could have spent the rest of the evening with that brown butter caramel sauce. EAToo chose the molten chocolate cake, despite being mildly disappointed that it was paired with berries stewed in wine, rather than the blood orange sorbet he had read about on the website. He quite enjoyed it, and I’m pretty sure the promise of the blood orange sorbet will help me tempt him back another time.

In addition to exquisite food, the service and atmosphere at Iris were perfect as well. I can’t think of anything I would change about our experience there. As I may have mentioned, EAToo is a big eater (partially my fault for introducing him to good Southern food in the first place), and he often worries too much about the price-to-amount-of-food ratio at nicer restaurants. Fortunately, three courses each at Iris was plenty of food for both of us — in fact, I could have stopped about halfway through my bread pudding. Didn’t, mind you. But could have.

For those who do want to try more than three courses, Restaurant Iris offers a five-course “dégustation” menu. It sounded lovely, but honestly, I can’t imagine that sort of sensory overload.

I left Restaurant Iris immensely pleased and excited to return (hopefully soon, and possibly for brunch). I’m not above making up another special occasion to do so — I just know I don’t want to wait for our next anniversary.


Restaurant Iris
2146 Monroe Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 590-2828