Tart Memphis to open in Cooper-Young

What is Tart Memphis? Well, that depends on what you want it to be, says co-owner Heather Bryan-Pike. She, along with partner Abby Jestis, plans to open the coffeehouse/pâtisserie/art gallery in May. Having already invested nearly $65,000 in upgrades and equipment for the one-time duplex at 820 S. Cooper Ave. since last October, they are eager to see their dreams come to fruition.

Bryan-Pike calls the restaurant a “multiverse” and says it will function as a coffee shop serving croissants and pastries with a light lunch during the day, offering a menu of artwork by night.

The building has kept many of its interior rooms, and walls are painted white to allow for better art viewing, with fixtures of reclaimed wood. The ceilings are low, yet instead of that being a negative, the owners have embraced it and painted them with chalkboard paint; visiting artists will be asked to add to the artwork there.

In another twist on unconventional gallery space, the restrooms have been christened the “Cooper Loo Gallery” and have become a project of Bryan-Pike’s, with eclectic wall paint and thematic artwork adorning every wall. The look of the restrooms, and the café itself, will be ever-changing.

It is this evolution that intrigues Bryan-Pike and Jestis, who have partnered with Clif Lee of Bardog Tavern to bring Tart Memphis to Midtown.

“We designed this place with as much attention to the gallery aspect as to the restaurant aspect,” Bryan-Pike says.

The idea was to cater more to the community than to any one idea, and to mitigate the risk of being pigeonholed. “We’ll let the community decide what it wants us to be.”

That said, there will be French-pressed, Nicaraguan coffee supplied by Café Las Flores and, to start, croissants and other pastries baked fresh in their commercial kitchen on Madison Avenue downtown. A wholesale bakery as well, clients already lined up include the recently opened James Lee House bed and breakfast in Victorian Village and Le Chardonnay in Overton Square. Fresh-baked bread is planned for the near future.

The pair is hiring and have already added a baker and head barista. A tea barista will be added as well, with high-quality teas offered.

In a nod to the community and the neighborhood of Cooper-Young, and in line with neighbors such as Celtic Crossing and Tsunami, they have added patio seating to the front of the building that edges the sidewalk for the best possible place to sit and watch the neighborhood go by.

 by Richard J. Alley