After months of sitting vacant, the restaurant space at Shelby Farms will soon be occupied by a new tenant.

Coastal Fish Company, owned by Russ Graham and Tom Powers, will open this fall in the large space on Hyde Lake formerly occupied by The Kitchen. In addition, Cheffie’s, which has locations on the Greenline in High Point Terrace and in Collierville, will open a casual spot inside the visitor’s center, an area formerly occupied by Kitchenette.

“When we made the announcement that The Kitchen was leaving, I was prepared to go into full-on recruitment,” said Jen Andrews, CEO of Shelby Farms Park Conservancy. “But when the word was out, people started coming to us. In total, we toured and interviewed about 15 operators and would’ve been happy to have had any of them here. It was an embarassment of riches.”

In the end, they chose Graham and Powers to take over the cornerstone site at the east end of the 80-acre lake. It boasts a spacious patio that can accommodate about 80 people and a glass-walled dining area that seats 120 as presently configured.

The partners also own Flight Downtown, which they opened in 2009, and Southern Social in Germantown, which opened in 2016. Porch & Parlor in Overton Square, which they announced last year and planned to open this summer, is now scheduled to open this fall.

While work on Porch & Parlor has involved extensive renovation to the former Bar Louie space, the Shelby Farms restaurant won’t require much work. Still, Graham is uncertain which will open first.

“You pick one and I’ll pick the other, and we’ll see who wins,” he said.

He said the bar at Coastal Fish, which is at the entrance to the restaurant, will be redone to make it more comfortable and to set it apart from the main dining area. The kitchen will be closed off from the dining room — it’s currently open — and the rest of the inside work will be largely cosmetic, just enough to give the restaurant a new identity. When it was built in 2016 as part of the $52 million Heart of the Park project, the permit for construction was $1 million; the area in the visitor’s center where Cheffie’s will be had a permit for $200,000.

The menu is under development, but Coastal Fish Company’s culinary focus is clear.

“As the name states, it’s going to specialize in seafood,” Graham said. “We think that’s an underdeveloped market in Memphis and something Tom and I, both being from the coast, are excited about.”

Graham is from New Orleans and Powers came to Memphis from South Florida.

Eduardo Murillo, executive chef at Flight and part of the team that led the restaurant to numerous national accolades – TripAdvisor named Flight one of 2017’s Top 25 Fine Dining Restaurants – will be corporate executive chef for all the properties.

Other chefs are in place for all the restaurants. “Our management team is staffed,” Graham said.

Michael Boren, sous chef at Flight, is taking Murillo’s position there. Chris Zelinski remains chef at Southern Social; Ryan Gall, previously at Ruth’s Chris in Biloxi and at Emeril’s in New Orleans, will be at Coastal Fish; and Paul Walsh, who was with BrickTop’s in Nashville, will be at Porch & Parlor.

Like the other properties, Coastal Fish will be open 365 nights a year. Lunch and brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday.

The Kitchen American Bistro, founded by Hugh Matheson and Kimbal Musk in 2004, opened the local restaurant in 2016 and closed it at the end of 2018 without providing a clear reason. At the time, the company said that Next Door in Crosstown, a sister restaurant, would remain open and that Musk remained committed to Memphis’ version of Big Green, a widely heralded school garden program in districts around the country. In November, Musk released the following statement, but the normally loquacious restaurateur would not offer more:

“Shelby Farms Park holds a special place in my heart so it is with great sadness that we will close The Kitchen on December 30th. This was not a decision we made lightly but one that will be the best for our business…. We are honored to have been the dining partner at such a pivotal time in the Park's history. It's been an incredible two years with unforgettable sunsets. As we close this chapter, our level of gratitude for Memphis runs deep.”

Other locations of The Kitchen have also shut down, though the original location in Boulder, plus one in Denver and another in Chicago, remain open.

“They were great tenants and taught us how to be good landlords and to work with a restaurant,” Andrews said.

She wouldn’t reveal the other restaurateurs who were considered, but it’s known that Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman – whose Memphis restaurants include Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, The Gray Canary and Catherine and Mary's – talked with Shelby Farms and suggested a management contract. Tandem Restaurant Partners was interested, as was Jimmy Gentry of P.O. Press Public House & Provisions in Collierville, who was considered a top candidate. Choosing was difficult, Andrews said.

“When we learned we would be seeking a new tenant, we started asking people what they wanted and the answers were all over the board, which wasn’t really a surprise as the park is so many things to so many people,” she said.

Some people surveyed wanted a date night restaurant, others wanted a place that was family friendly. She believes that with Cheffie’s and Coastal Fish, which is under a 10-year lease with two five-year options to renew, everyone can be satisfied.

And she’s glad the park will have local restaurants.

“We never even looked at anyone outside the city,” she said. “I think the most successful operators will be the ones who understand the park. Memphians know Memphians.”