We’ve been waiting for several months for Elias Pope, the founder of HG Sply Co. and Social Mechanics on Lower Greenville, to cough up the dirty details on Remedy, the newest concept that’s still under construction next door to his other stores.
For a long time all we knew was that it was named Remedy, it was going to be an old-fashioned soda fountain in the old Public House space, and Pope derived the concept from a book called “Dispenser’s Formulary.”
Now he’s changing his tune a bit, calling the concept “a neighborhood restaurant/bar that will serve chef created American cuisine.”
“The concept has changed significantly since I first started working on it,” he explains. “What I thought was a restaurant heavily weighted toward the 1900’s explosion of the soda fountain has evolved into a personal lesson in early American hospitality. Thanks to our incredibly talented and dedicated team, we were able to convert my limited vision into a much more well-rounded experience.”
Pope has teamed up with Danyele McPherson, who will serve as executive chef, along with Guillermo “GMO” Tristan, who will serve as executive pastry chef. They hope to create a menu that is “all about back to basics but with polished technique.”
McPherson explains it thus: “This is food everyone has eaten before. We want to take these familiar food items and turn them into refined dishes. Remedy is not about sourcing exotic ingredients; it’s about sourcing the best ingredients possible and making the best fish sandwich, BLT, grilled cheese, pork chop, pot pie etc that we possibly can. The menu is inspired by food my mom would make when I was growing up.”
But she also plans to serve a large selection of vegetarian dishes because it’s “important to me that there be something for everyone at Remedy.”
Chef Tristan will head up the dessert program, which includes items like homemade pies and ice cream sundaes.
This conceptual transformation has involved a lot of travel, according to Pope. “When you are able to travel coast to coast with someone as talented as Danyele, eating ice cream at Salt&Straw in Portland, Fried Bologna at Aw Cheval in Chicago, and sipping on Phosphates at The Franklin Fountain in Philly, you quickly realize the possibilities in front of you.” Pope says.
“We want to create an experience that puts as much weight into the ingredients in the glass as we do the ingredients on the plate ”
They hope to open in late-November or early-December of this year.
