Nick Bumgardner
In these days of elaborate restaurant planning, where all concepts have to be thought out, branded, visualized, and revealed before a single carrot gets cut, the story behind a place is crucial to its first impression.
Whether the place is family owned, or inspired by a love for a certain cuisine, or an homage to a certain region, today’s new restaurants are practically required to tell a story.
At Tailor, the new concept from Vivek Surti, who started his cooking career as a pop-up chef, the story is personal. Due to Surti’s non-traditional restaurant background—no formal training, just a love for good food, cooking, and entertaining friends—Tailor is not a traditional restaurant.
Nick Bumgardner
Open Thursday through Sunday, there are two seatings each night, at 6 and 8:30 p.m. The set menu of about eight to 10 dishes is served to everyone at once, with plenty of storytelling in between.
Even the space itself, located behind Saint Stephen, is designed to feel more like a personal, studio apartment kitchen—like you’re at a casual dinner party inside Surti’s home. It’s an easy point of entry for both Surti, as he gets his footing in a permanent restaurant kitchen, and the diner, who may be experiencing Surti’s South Asia-meets-Southern food for the first time.
“We wanted to create a place where, basically, we invite you to our home,” he told diners during dinner service one night.
Nick Bumgardner
Tailor was chosen as a name because it was the profession of both of Surti’s grandfathers. Inside the space are mementos from the chef’s childhood home, most notably a massive crystal chandelier, which offers a touch of sparkle and glamour to the otherwise dark-paneled, high ceilinged space.
And, as a first generation American of Indian descent, his dishes are rooted in the foods he grew up with (he pulls directly from his mother’s and grandmother’s recipes in some places), but also explore greater themes from across various South Asian cuisines. (Notably, several of his team members are also first generation born Americans.)
WHAT TO ORDER:
(Pre-fixe menu available at two seatings, Thursday through Sunday | $60 per person, 8 - 10 dishes)
- Dhokla, mustard seed, coconut, cilantro
- Bhel, crispy rice, garbanzo beans, peanut, grapefruit, tamarind, mint
- Catfish, garlic, turmeric, cumin, radishes
There’s a formula to the meals: It starts with a snack on the table, Surti’s way of welcoming you to his space. Tiny bits of popcorn, popped from sorghum, flecked with crunchy bits of papadum, herbs, and salt. His grandmother used to send him to school with bags of the addictive snack. Dhokla might be next, a bit of spongy rice-batter cake crusted with mustard seed and cilantro with hints of coconut. Surti’s sister, he might tell you, used to eat the dish with ketchup. As you eat and listen, the chef shares not only flavors, color, and culture, but a glimpse in to his own personal history, carefully connecting you to his world.
Nick Bumgardner
Crispy rice with a crunchy garbanzo bean salad might come next, hiding bits of grapefruit, crunchy peanuts, chiles, and tamarind to hit all of the sweet-spice-heat receptors. On delivering a sweet potato dish, Surti discusses the farmer Eric Wooldridge of Bells Bend, who is cultivating a regional variety.
Along the way, if you’ve selected the beverage pairings, you might get a splash of orange wine to go with those sweet potatoes, or for the pork dish—rubbed with spices, roasted and sliced thin, and topped with a fennel, apple, and chiles—a bright, acidic Riesling.
One of Surti’s signatures, catfish, lightly dusted and fried, and served in a light broth with crispy radish slices over top, helps share the complete picture of this restaurant and what you’ll experience there. On the plate, it’s a bright dash of color and textures. On the palate, a delight of earthy, Tennessee-raised fish, subtle broth fragrant with cumin and turmeric, and herbal tang from cilantro and garlic. On the ear, Surti describes this as his version of an Indian fish fry—a marriage of his Tennessee home, Indian upbringing, and mother’s influence.
“When mom makes this,” he says, “she uses a skillet that’s older than I am.”
The American Southeast and Far East landing squarely on the plate, in harmony.
And then, he adds, “this is me, trying to explain what a first-generation of Indian descent feels like Indian food should be.”
With that, his story comes to life, taking you on a short, armchair journey in to his past and present, from bite to exploratory bite.
1300B 3rd Ave N, tailornashville.com