Our surreal supper at Iris

On the heels of becoming only the sixth four-star restaurant in ten years of Commercial Appeal ratings, Kelly English hosted one of the series of farmers market dinners at Restaurant Iris on Sunday.

We ran into Kelly at the farmers market Saturday where he was stocking up on produce in preparation for the dinner. He told us that he had a surprise for me at the dinner. I was wondering if somehow he knew one of my favorite dishes and was preparing it.

Sunday evening, before dinner, I popped into the kitchen to say hello, and Kelly asked me if I had noticed my surprise yet. Since there was no food on the tables, I guessed it wasn’t going to be my favorite dish. When I got back to the table, someone showed me the menu.


I can easily say that this was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. Suddenly I had gone from being just a guy who talks too much and eats way too much to being a provider of locally grown gourmet products to the hottest restaurant in town.

It was a tremendously proud moment for all the Squad. It’s nice to go from being the nuts with the chickens in the backyard to being the nuts with the really good eggs.

As to the dinner, it was superb as is everything at Iris. Hopefully both Mama Squirrel and Bon Temps Squirrel will write more about the dinner soon. While you wait on their reviews, go ahead and call up for a reservation at Iris. They probably won’t have the good eggs, but they will have everything else. And it will all be good.

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