Beginning August 3rd, diners will order from a menu at Dory. They used to have to wait and be surprised to see what they were getting for dinner. The menu was a secret.
“We are switching models to what we intended to open as: a regular old come in and order off a real menu — not a fixed menu,” says Amanda Krog, who, along with her husband, chef David Krog, are owners of the East Memphis restaurant.
“It’s an open menu,” David says. “There are 18 items on it.”
Selections include scallops and mussels with herb risotto and citrus beurre blanc, as well as a pork loin with smoked white bean puree, chimichurri, and charred onion.
David is partial to his mushroom appetizer. “It’s seared oyster mushrooms from Bluff City Fungi, masa from Delta Grind, farmer’s cheese we made ourselves here, fermented onion powder, and olive oil,” he says. “It’s my favorite thing on the menu. We have it in what would be the appetizer section. And everything about it is homey. Everything about it is comforting. And it was a dish I had in my head and it came out exactly like I pictured it.”
The menu will “move and change as the growers change,” David says. “The thing about Memphis and in this part of the South is that seasonal is our seasons. Sometimes they’re longer and sometimes they’re shorter. And, for us, if there are any gaps coming from our aggregate or the few farms that we get from consistently, we have to be able to pivot on that.”
And, he says, “I made a commitment to not use big ‘ag.’ So, we’re committed to a mission that is attached to humans that are doing this at a high level in small farms around here.”
Dory is “intentionally sourced,” David says. “Which doesn’t mean local for us. There’s a big difference between hyperlocal and I can only go 200 miles in either direction from us. The intention when we first started was [to buy] as close to the door as we possibly can. But if something grows out West, I have to find a farmer or a grower or a forager or whatever whose mission aligns with us.”
They planned to open April 2020, but the pandemic hit. “Construction and deliveries and all of that slowed down,” Amanda says. “By the time we were able to actually open the doors, capacities at restaurants were 25 percent and we couldn’t open the bar.”
A tasting menu seemed the best plan for the new restaurant. “There’s no tasting menu in a restaurant in Memphis,” David says. “So, us opening one under the conditions that we did with very little research was kind of like winging it.”
They served a six-course dinner that included an amuse-bouche, intermezzo sorbet, entrée, dessert, and mignardise.
“You got nine things in the perfect order that is also offset by each table,” Amanda says. “So, nobody is on the same course at the same time.”
They only saw some people on special occasions or once a month. “It kind of made having regulars and seeing your guests as frequently as another neighborhood restaurant impossible,” David says.
About six months ago they made the “official decision” to change to the à la carte menu.
Another change, which will be coming soon, is a kids menu. “First time in my career that I ever worked in a kitchen that has a kids menu. And Doris is writing it.”
Doris is their 6-year-old daughter. They asked her to come up with what she’d like to see on a children’s menu.
One thing that isn’t changing at Dory is the atmosphere. “As I grew older and started running kitchens in my early 20s, I understood how important it was to treat the people in our dining room literally like our guests,” David says. “Like guests in our home.”
Even when they didn’t know what was coming next on the menu, people were constantly telling them how warm Dory made them feel. “And that’s pretty cool.”
Dory is at 716 West Brookhaven Circle; (901) 310-4290.
