Evergreen Grill is now open. In more ways than one.
The new Midtown restaurant at 212 North Evergreen Street officially opened for business March 1st.
So did the interior, says chef/owner David Todd. “We wanted to open it up a little bit,” he says. “And we wanted to make it feel a little more casual. Spruce the place up. Brighten it up.
“It’s a cool building. An interesting building. So, like a lot of those Midtown buildings, you don’t want to update it too much because then, in my mind, it wouldn’t fit any more.”
In short, Todd says, “Pay homage to what was already there. Spruce it up a little bit, but in a way that kind of leans into the area.”
The enlarged black-and-white photos on the walls were one way for him to achieve that, he says. “One is the intersection of Poplar and Evergreen,” says Todd, who believes the photo was taken 60 or 70 years ago.
Another one that shows an old Piggly Wiggly grocery store between Union Avenue and Peabody Avenue.
Todd got the photos, many of which he believes were taken in the 1940s, through the Memphis Public Library. “I’ve got a guy that does some graphic work for me. He was combing through all these photos online and narrowing them down and sending them to me.”
Also, as far as the look, Todd says, “There was carpet on the floor that we removed from the dining areas.”
He put in a tile floor and “We painted the ceilings dark and the walls white.” They also removed a wall to open up the bar area and create a “pass-through lounge.”
As for the kitchen, Todd says they “brought in some new equipment and reconfigured it.”
In an earlier interview, Todd described Evergreen Grill, which is where the old Cafe Society restaurant used to be, as “a neighborhood bar and grill.” The fare is “Southern cuisine comfort food.”
Instead of “lofty fine dining food with foams and that kind of stuff,” Todd is serving “approachable food.”
He includes items people might get at other places, but not the way he’s going to prepare them. “I have no problem making one of the best cheeseburgers in town.”
Todd was executive chef at Longshot restaurant at Arrive Memphis hotel as well as owner of Grub Life, a fully prepared meal service.
