Come Monday morning, Memphians will once again be able to eat a hearty breakfast or tasty plate lunch at Barksdale’s restaurant in Midtown.

That’s because Monday, April 14, is the day that the Midtown institution at 237 S. Cooper St. will officially reopen to the public.

Barksdale restaurant bought by Bain Barbecue owners

A devastating fire last June forced former Bob’s Barksdale owner Beth Henry to close the restaurant and let all the employees go. Afterward, many feared the city had lost yet another of its down-home eateries.

But last October, Ryan Glosson and the husband-and-wife team of Bryant and Heather Bain, who own Bain Barbecue in Cooper-Young, bought the building with plans to return it to its former self. And now, after a renovation that cost nearly $500,000, that day is finally here.

“I’m excited and nervous,” Glosson said, as workers bustled behind him, finishing work on the diner. “I trick myself if I’m nervous into saying that I’m excited instead. So far, so good with that. We’re very excited here right now.”

“Dude, I’m euphoric. This is not just a job. It’s been part of my life for 16 years ...”

Bert McElroy
Barksdale server

Hungry patrons will also see some familiar faces, as longtime waitstaff Debbie Miller and Bert McElroy will be back, along with a few others from before the fire.

“Dude, I’m euphoric,” McElroy said. “This is not just a job. It’s been part of my life for 16 years, and I love it and I love the customers. It was like a death in the family, but now we’ve been reborn, and it’s amazing. You’re gonna love it. It’s the same but better.”

Patrons will also notice that the restaurant, while being spiffed up, will still resemble the place Bob Henry bought and decorated in 2000. It will still have wood-paneled walls. Sports memorabilia will still line those walls. And a special “Bob’s Booth” has been set up in remembrance of Henry, a massive University of Tennessee fan who died in 2014.

“It’s orange, and (we put) a lot of the specific memorabilia we have in the corner to be able to honor him,” Glosson said.

The kitchen, where the fire started, and the bathrooms have also been totally redone.

Glosson acknowledges that the menu prices have increased somewhat but says they are still lower than most other local restaurants. Beer and liquor will also be added to the menu, although that’s still a couple of months away.

“We think we’ve improved the quality of the lunch and the size of the ingredients,” Glosson said. “The things that we are most excited about on this new menu are the biscuits and the pancakes.”

Bob’s Barksdale to be sold — but expected to reopen

Jerry Stamson Sr. first opened the Barksdale in the early 1950s, taking the name from the Midtown street where it was initially located. Stamson then moved it to its current location on Cooper Street in 1967.

His son, Jerry Stamson Jr., took over the business from his father but sold it to Henry in 2000. Bob Henry took to calling it Bob’s Barksdale Restaurant, although people have called it any number of variations of that over the years.

From now on, the name will just simply be Barksdale’s.