Ocia Hartley, the owner and chef at St. Elmo’s newest restaurant, Syrup and Eggs, describes her menu as “Elevated breakfast.” If you’re trying to imagine exactly what that means, think of the breakfast classics—eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc.—and then add some serious pizzazz.
“I worked in fine dining for 15 years, so I always wanted to own a breakfast restaurant,” said Hartley. “Just trying to figure out the balance between the familiarity of something like pancakes but then being just a little bit better.”
Syrup and Eggs, which opened at the end of this summer, is a small breakfast/brunch restaurant located inside the old St. Elmo fire station. From a kitchen only 180-square-feet large (or small, rather), Hartley serves up comfort food with mouth-watering sophistication.
While at the restaurant, I sampled a few different items from the menu (read: I ate way too much). I ordered the lox plate with an English muffin, a side of chorizo, and the Southernly Scented pancake, a pancake prepared with cardamom, peaches, spiced pecans, fresh basil, and ginger butter. Just the fact that I finished EVERYTHING is a testament to its quality.
Each dish struck the perfect balance between highlighting the simplicity of the food, a goal that is evident in the matter-of-fact name of the restaurant, but with the complexity of a chef who knows her way around a spice cabinet.
And that is no small compliment from me. I can’t stress the frustration I feel towards all too many local restaurants that, in their noble effort to be fresh and “real”, forget to use flavor. This bland epidemic is particularly evident in the breakfast sector—a sad reality for a despondent bruncher like myself. Maybe these cooks allow their familiarity with these go-to Hallmark dishes to stifle their creativity. Or maybe they just don’t prioritize the most important meal of the day. Who knows?
But not Hartley.
Her passion for cooking and breakfast, in particular, goes all the way back to childhood. She decided she wanted to be a chef at 10 years old and that she wanted to own a breakfast restaurant when she was still a teenager. Why? Because breakfast is the people’s food; it’s not just for an elite few. And while enjoying some fine dining at what Hartley calls “special occasion restaurants” is great from time-to-time, for most, it’s not a part of your daily routine.
“But breakfast is more accessible,” said Hartley. “It brings people together. People are more likely to bring their families and their children. And, man, there’s something that really always bothered me, being a mother, about people who would go, ‘Ugh, I wish people wouldn’t bring their kids to fancy restaurants.’ And I’m like, ‘What if their kid is well behaved,’ ya’ know? ‘What if this is the only time they got out?’”
After many moves and a variety of culinary experiences, from chopping vegetables in Anchorage, Alaska, to working under a prestigious chef in Portland, Oregon, and, eventually, to making her way to Chattanooga, where she worked as a Sous Chef at Terra Mae, Hartley is finally fulfilling that life-long dream of restaurant ownership and enjoying the creative freedom that accompanies that role.
In no dish is her creative passion more evident than the Surprise Stack, a stack of pancakes that changes daily. Carrot cake pancakes, banana cinnamon roll pancakes, and Kahlúa pancakes are just a few examples.
“It’s one thing I get to fiddle with. So instead of trying to have a big, rotating seasonal menu, although I do tweak it when I need to, I can just have a rotating pancake that gives people variety,” said Hartley. “I have a lady who’s been back three times, and she’s awesome! Every time, she just comes for the pancake. Like whatever it is.”
There may, however, come a time for a repeat, she admitted. Because some of those recipes “are too good NOT to repeat.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Have you dropped by Syrup and Eggs yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments!
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