These days, restaurant openings seem to hold a great deal of significance given all the industry endured during the pandemic. For celebrity chef Tiffany Derry, that weight is magnified to the tenth power.
The birth of her new restaurant Roots Southern Table in Farmers Branch, which opens June 18, 2021, has been a labor of love for over seven years. And although COVID-19 slowed down the opening — originally set for spring 2020 — Derry feels the timing couldn’t be better, especially as it pertains to Southern food.
This go-round, Derry is less interested in filling bellies with predictable Southern staples like mac and cheese. She’s more interested in filling minds with new ways of thinking of what Southern cuisine stands for.
Before customers set foot into her 2,000-square-foot restaurant at Mustang Station, Derry wants them to throw away all expectations.
“Southern food can look different depending on who’s cooking it,” Derry says. “It makes it no less Southern. The idea for Roots Southern Table is that we are a Southern-inspired menu, but I want it to be more about the ingredients and the procedure of cooking than a specific dish. A lot of times when we say Southern food, it’s represented by fried chicken, mac and cheese, greens and sweet potatoes. And it’s so much more rich, so much more diverse.”
One of the most important representations of Southern cuisine Derry wants to highlight at the new restaurant is fresh, local fruits and vegetables. It’s a testament to not only her career experiences, but her upbringing as well.
“My grandfather and my uncle would farm,” Derry says. “They would cook down greens, and have raw salads, and we would pickle and preserve everything. They didn’t let anything go to waste.” Thus, Derry will be incorporating peaches from Cooper Farms in Fairfield, Texas, as well as loads of Texas okra. “We have a chargrilled okra dish that we’re doing, we’re using [okra] as a thickener in a couple of other dishes, and we also have it in the gumbo.”
And it’s a special gumbo. Derry’s mother is coming from Beaumont to teach the staff how to make it, along with desserts.
“She has something called her Orange Juice Cake,” Derry gushes. “It’s a butter cake that is soaked in orange juice, orange zest, and butter. It is so delicious. I’m going to bake it to order because I think there’s nothing better than when it comes straight out and it’s warm.”
What’s most impressive is the distance Derry is going to create bold, intricate flavors. She took a trip with her chefs and mixologist to get a very personal taste of the Deep South. The crew started in Beaumont at her mother’s home, then made their way to Louisiana through rice country, stopping for everything from crackling, to boudin, to hog head cheese.
“We even went to a Middle Eastern restaurant inspired by Southern cuisine. I wanted them to understand the depth of where we’re going,” Derry says.
Roots Southern Table is operated by T2D Concepts, Derry’s hospitality group with business partner Tom Foley, which also includes Roots Chicken Shak in Plano and Austin. The menu at Roots Southern Table features a whimsical marriage of classic Southern favorites presented in unimaginable ways — smoky black eyed pea hummus, fried shrimp and grits balls reminiscent of arancini, spring pea salad, crawfish boil ravioli with Zummo Cajun sausage and ricotta cheese, and Derry’s famous Duck Fat Fried Chicken. There’s also Pork Osso Bucco with Texas tamale, West African peanut sauce, and mustard green salad; and Cast-Iron Cornbread topped with Steen’s syrup, smoked salted butter, and preserves.
The cocktail menu includes the Kingfish, with house-infused plum rye whiskey, cognac, sweet vermouth, and lemon bitters; and a Kool-Aid Cocktail with vodka, hibiscus tea, strawberry, dry curacao, lemon, and pounded sugarcane. The bar will also have “craft temperance beverages” for those seeking alcohol-free drinks.
“This is a progression of myself,” Derry says. “Private Social [restaurant in Dallas] was my first full menu that was me, but me 10 years ago is definitely different than me right now, and what I want and what I stand for. Back then I wasn’t cooking Southern, I was just cooking food. Now I want to preserve history in some way.”
Roots Southern Table is located at 13050 Bee Street, Suite 160, Farmers Branch. Opens June 18 for dinner only: 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. rootssoutherntable.com.
