By Quint Qualls from Spring Hill Home Page
The Mockingbird Restaurant recently opened in Spring Hill and is now serving a menu of locally-sourced, made-from-scratch Southern cuisine.
Built into an old 1850s farm house in southern Spring Hill off of Reserve Boulevard, the restaurant combines Tennessee heritage with scratch-made Southern food in a casual, family-friendly environment.
The menu features dishes like cast iron seared quail, Maple Leaf Farms white duck, cast iron skillet chicken and dumplings and, of course, shrimp and grits. According to restaurant owner Tanya Prifitera, Chef Nadir Sherwani, a North Carolina native, focuses on scratch-made food very seriously, even curing his own locally-sourced meats and making his own preserves using locally-grown produce.
Prifitera said one of her main aims has been to keep prices reasonable to keep it affordable for families to dine at The Mockingbird Restaurant. Most of the entrees are $13.95 and the most expensive dishes on the menu are the cast iron seared quail, $24, and the braveheart ribeye, $26. There is also a kids’ menu.
David Snyder, general manager of The Mockingbird Restaurant, said the restaurant has been in the works for about the past six months, ever since Prifitera secured the lease for the 1850s farm house.
The house itself has been updated and modified over the years, and yet many of its features have been preserved, including the front porch with the original Victorian posts and trim from the mid-1800s, the original front door that was restored after 12 coats of paint were removed, and the bricks in the fire place that were hand carved and have mud mortar. The stone wall hearth in the cathedral bar room is actually composed of stones taken from some of the Civil War-era stacked fences found around the area, and its mantel is a solid rock slab taken from a creek bottom in Maury County.
The Mockingbird Restaurant is now open for dinner from 4-9 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday. It is open from 4-9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
In addition, Prifitera aims to begin opening up for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays sometime within the next couple of weeks.
The restaurant’s bar is already serving craft beers, but it will soon also be offering a variety of signature cocktails. Pour Taste, a Nashville-based ‘innovative cocktail creative,’ has created 11 signature cocktails for The Mockingbird Restaurant, which Prifitera said they will be offering as soon as they obtain their liquor license – within the next couple of weeks, she hopes.
The restaurant currently has a capacity to seat about 99 patrons, and expansions are planned for the outdoor pavilion area. The outdoor portion also allows for various events and Prifitera said they have already held one 50th anniversary party.
The Mockingbird Restaurant’s soft opening started last Wednesday, and it has already seen around 400 guests come to dine. A grand opening and ribbon cutting celebration is planned for next Wednesday, July 27, around noon.
To learn more about the history surrounding the restaurant or to view the full menu, visit www.themockingbirdrestaurant.com. The Mockingbird Restaurant 3035 Reserve Blvd Spring Hill, Tennessee 37174
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