What’s going on at Belle Meade Social?
A lot. The restaurant at 518 Perkins Extended has a new chef and a new direction, says owner Paul Stephens.
Belle Meade Social, named after the nearby residential neighborhood where Stephens grew up, opened in May 2023. It had formerly housed two restaurants, Jim’s Place and Strano by Chef Josh.
Jake Behnke joined as executive chef last January 1st. “He came in and didn’t make a bunch of noise at first,” Stephens says. “He just wanted to get to know everybody and wanted to know the space.”
But Behnke’s first menu was “a huge success,” he adds. “Since then, the items coming out of the kitchen have been extremely consistent and extremely good.”
“He basically focuses more on trying to get local food,” adds general manager Chad Weatherly. “Getting locally sourced items.”
“We’ve got a lot more sources for our food products and, I would say, our ingredients, actually,” Stephens says. “We make everything in-house. We prep all day long. And the sourcing of the food was something he was very big on.”
Behnke also made sure “his hands were on every plate before it came out,” Weatherly says. And Behnke doesn’t hesitate to try to improve on a dish to make it better, like his wild mushroom risotto with scallops. “That’s one of our favorites now. One of our top sellers.”
When they first opened Belle Meade Social, the vibe was casual, Stephens says. “I opened to compete with Houston’s.”
Weatherly, who previously worked at Colonial Country Club, the Flight restaurant group, Coastal Fish Company, and Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Fayetteville, Arkansas, joined Belle Meade Social in August 2023. “I walked in and I didn’t feel like we had a true identity of who we were and where we’re going,” he says. “I just didn’t feel like we knew where we were.”
They were making “a wider variety of food” than they needed to, he says. He thought they could narrow the menu down to more items people wanted. They ended up “shrinking it down and doing a more intimate menu.”
Weatherly wanted to cater to everybody with food that “looked good, tasted good” and had a “reasonable price point.”
He and Stephens “picked the brains” of customers and staff to see what items they wanted to see on the menu. Prime rib and crab cakes, both of which they now offer, were two suggestions.
One customer “wants a good shrimp cocktail with the huge shrimp,” Weatherly says. “Jake is working with him on it.”
Behnke is “getting his feedback and rolling with it.”
And, Weatherly says, “Guest interaction is our biggest driver in making sure of the direction we go on food and features.”
Originally, they were looking for a kitchen manager, not an executive chef, when they found Behnke. “He was like, ‘Let me cook for you,’” Stephens says. “Kind of Gordon Ramsay style, he went back there and made a five-course meal that knocked our socks off.”
While preparing the meal, Behnke called his dad and asked him to bring him a blow torch so he could make crème brûlées.
“I said, ‘Don’t let him leave the building without giving him the job as chef,’” Stephens says.
“We basically all turned to each other and said, ‘We didn’t find a kitchen manager, but we found an executive chef,’” Weatherly adds.
A lot of the previous menu had to do with the kitchen equipment they already had, says Stephens, noting that it was “what was here in the kitchen that we could salvage and make work.”
They closed the restaurant for a week last July. “We did a deep clean and reconfigured the kitchen. And now it’s run more efficiently.”
Behnke told them what new kitchen equipment he wanted. “We had two large flattops. He wanted to get rid of that and bring in a chargrill. He sourced it and brought it in himself.”
They also added a vacuum sealer to preserve spices sous vide, new mixers, and a new meat grinder “to make our own burger meat and to help with breaking things down for the Philly cheesesteak and French dip.”
“We knew his background and ability to butcher meat,” Stephens says. “We’ve taken that to the next level.”
As for the new bartenders they’ve brought in, Weatherly says, “They’re smiling. And they’re nice to people. And they can make a good cocktail.”
The restaurant now offers more bar finger food, including “fried honey whipped feta balls.” Behnke “made them originally for the Greek salad and people kept wanting extras,” Weatherly says.
Belle Meade Social offers a “social hour” from 4 to 6 p.m. every day except Monday when the restaurant is closed.
They’re talking about opening for lunch during the week instead of just Sundays. “Now that Houston’s isn’t there to fill that void,” Stephens says.
And people can now order lunch and dinner items online at bellemeadesocial.com.
They also do a lot of catering as well as hosting private parties and events at the restaurant, Stephens says. And they’re “trying to get involved with the local community” by hosting fundraisers such as the one they did for STREETS Ministries.
Live music might be featured one night a week, Stephens says. “I thought about putting a piano where the high-tops originally were before we opened.”
He adds, “We’re working on something with our patio next year.”
The restaurant is still casual as well as elegant. “The bar side is the casual and the garden dining room is the more intimate side,” Weatherly says.
Belle Meade Social is still a neighborhood bar, but not just for the immediate neighborhood, Stephens says. “A lot of our regulars live close by, but we have some regulars that come in from Lakeland.”