In addition to taking an important leadership role with the Tennessee Action for Hospitality coalition, Julia Sullivan has been working hard to maintain her own two businesses — Henrietta Red and The Party Line catering service. To say it’s been a moving target is an understatement, but Sullivan is especially good at aiming her resources in the right direction.
As if she wasn’t already stretching herself thin enough by trying to operate her popular Germantown restaurant and bar as well as occupying part of the cavernous unused catering kitchen in the basement of the Schermerhorn, Sullivan has been contemplating a new model that might combine the businesses. Good news: She’s found it with her upcoming Henrietta’s Fish Camp and The Party Market.
“The current market is tough,” Sullivan says. “Mentally, it’s been very hard on our people, and all the changes have put a strain on our human resources. We’ve decided to hunker down for the time being.”
The dining room at Henrietta Red had reopened when Metro regulations allowed inside dining, but Sullivan decided to convert back to carryout only about two weeks ago. Since then, she has moved all of her satellite equipment up to Germantown and converted the dining room at Henrietta Red into prep kitchen space for her new venture.
Starting on Thursday, July 30, diners will be able to order from a new hybrid menu featuring some of Henrietta Red’s greatest hits chosen specifically for ease of traveling and eating. “We’re offering a lot of stuff that still shows our style and sensibility,” explains Sullivan. “We looked at some of our most popular casual items and narrowed them down to those that were easy to eat. So we probably won’t have any of our crudos, but we’ll offer ceviches, a baked Caesar salad, a fried fish plate, crab dip, lobster and oyster rolls, our burger and a summer gazpacho that you can add seafood to. We’ll also have a shrimp cocktail and these salt cod hand pies that everybody loves.”
Julia Sullivan
The menu exudes a whimsical fish-camp vibe overall, but you’ll still be able to order a dozen oysters and a glass or two of rosé to enjoy on the restaurant’s patio or in their courtyard. “Champagne and oysters has still been a popular order through all this, so we’re definitely going to offer that," notes Sullivan. A sneak peek at the menu reveals that Henrietta's Fish Camp will offer a variety of warm- and cold-water oysters for $2 to $3 apiece, plus other apps and snacks similarly affordably priced, such as three of those salt cod empanadas for less than 10 bucks and an order of jumbo lump crab dip for just $5. Sweets lovers will be excited to see plenty of dessert options available, like a key lime ice cream sandwich, grasshopper brownies, and rotating items like ice cream sundae flavors of the week, slices of pie and cake.
In addition to the prepared foods that Sullivan offered through The Party Line, Sullivan’s team has maintained their catering business, although at a greatly reduced frequency. The chef also taught online cooking classes, and she's actually seen an uptick in people asking for those for private groups. She is planning to bulk up her prepared items and expand her pantry, produce and protein offerings as part of the The Party Market portion of the new venture. She explains: “Out of all the things we’ve been selling, people have been looking for good sourcing of fresh seafood and meat, so we’ll provide that, too.” The popular family meal boxes that can be ordered for a single week or as part of a subscription for a discounted price will also still be available. A weekly box includes several entrées, side dishes, dips, salads and desserts that you can use to augment your own cooking or as a couple of full meals if you need a night off from the kitchen.
Henrietta’s Fish Camp and The Party Market will operate Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon until 7 p.m., a schedule that was dictated by the customers of Sullivan’s previous carryout efforts. “We had a pretty heavy takeout rush from 4 until 6:30,” she says, “so we’re expanding the hours to try to capture some lunch and more neighborhood business.” The operation will offer online ordering for carryout or delivery, or diners can walk up and order in person while shopping from the market side for baked goods, prepared foods and even beer, wine and cocktails to go.
If this sounds a little complicated, it is. But that’s just because Sullivan is trying to draw from the best practices of the models she has experimented with during the pandemic. An extremely talented and driven chef and entrepreneur, Sullivan is ready to take on the challenge. “It’s good to have a plan and a path," she says.
Your dining plan and path should definitely include Henrietta’s Fish Camp in your regular rotation!
