A new fine dining restaurant, currently under construction in a former Downtown food hall, is expected to open early next year. 

Fable will be located on the first floor of 409 S. Main St., where Puck Food Hall once was.

The restaurant’s name was inspired by the original use of the circa 1910 building as a grocery store selling Puck Brand goods. Near the building’s roofline is a crest emblazoned with a representation of Puck.

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“(I’m excited about) the stories that we can tell, that each customer can tell, and the things that we want to see happen in that space,” building owner Jared Welch said. “I’m really excited about letting that building come back alive in that area right off of South Main.” 

The restaurant will have 190 seats, a lounge area and a “beautiful bar,” Welch said. 

“It’s got quite a bit of capacity, but I would say it’s going to be pretty comparable to Catherine & Mary’s and Bishop’s aesthetic,” Welch said. 

The food at Fable will also try to tell a story. Fable’s executive chef Rickey Leslie said he wanted the menu to speak to Memphis and its history. 

“We landed on a concept that no one is doing,” Leslie said. “My fellow chef Rocky Tran and I are in the works of developing a menu that is going to take international dishes and international cuisines and give them a Memphis and Southern touch.”

Welch, Dan Butler and Bill Ganus purchased the 35,000-square-foot building in 2021 alongside other investors, but the COVID-19 pandemic slowed their work on the building. The total project includes office space on the second floor, the continuation of an existing reception hall on the third floor and a small deck on the roof. A speakeasy is planned for the basement. 

For the $1.4 million restaurant project, the development team has asked for a $180,000 loan from the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Center City Development Corp. The CCDC is expected to take up that request Wednesday, Oct. 18. 

Most of the loan would be used for foundational repairs and interior improvements, according to the loan application submitted to the CCDC. 

The basement Lucky Cowboy bar should open at the end of this month. Lucky Cowboy was previously a pop-up selfie museum, but Welch said he wanted to bring it back with more flare and add a bar. 

“It’s basically multiple art installations ... that we turned into lounges that have these kinds of immersive art themes,” Welch said. “We’re excited to get it back open to be a permanent staple in Memphis.”

The building’s third floor had been renovated for event space before the building was purchased in 2021. Welch said that it will continue to be an event space for weddings, corporate events and large-group-type bookings. 

“The excitement around 409 South Main, the building as a whole being reactivated and open in the Arts District, in the location it’s at, it really becomes the backbone of South Main,” Welch said. “We’re excited to be a part of all that is happening in Downtown.”