Nashville Food Blog

​Chef Jeremy Barlow, whose restaurant tayst has been wowing diners since 2003, is now ready to bring food to your house.

Barlow, a Culinary Institute of America grad whose achievements include earning tayst a certification as Nashville's first green restaurant, is launching a new venture, Local Kitchen Catering.

He says he'll offer catering for cocktail gatherings, dinner parties (plated or buffet) and business lunches. He also promises an intriguing option he calls an "Iron Chef" party.

"You'll invite, say, 10 people, each guest will source a different local ingredient, bring it along, then I show up and cook dinner with what they bring me," Barlow says.

The chef says other than that unique form of soiree, all catering food will be prepared in the kitchen at tayst, 2100 21st Ave. S. This ensures catering will benefit from Barlow's eco-friendly efforts, including biodegradable containers and the use of fresh, local ingredients whenever possible. Barlow says he'll purchase carbon offsets to match each party.

Because his kitchen is "so entwined with what's growing right now around here," each menu will have to be designed specifically for each dinner, Barlow says.

For now, Barlow is keeping the events small. "We're not going to be doing big weddings yet," he says. "We want to do this in a really intimate, environmentally friendly manner."

Barlow hopes to roll out a website for Local Kitchen Catering next week. Watch the restaurant site, taystrestaurant.com, for an upcoming link or call the restaurant at 383-1953 and ask for catering manager Molly Fitzpatrick.