Josephine Brings Back X|X Dinner to Celebrate the Restaurant's Birthday

Usually, people really kick it out to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries that are multiples of five years, but I say why wait that long? Hell, any restaurant that makes it to another year any time is worth lauding. The traditional gift for an eighth anniversary is bronze, which is a mix of tin and brass, two decidedly nonprecious metals. And speaking of medals (sorta), the bronze medal is the award that the Olympics give to the second loser. 

I personally feel like Josephine deserves better than that as the restaurant celebrates eight years since it first opened in 12South. Andy and Karen Little have created a neighborhood institution that has been critical to the revitalization of that strip of 12th Avenue as a culinary corridor, and their consistently excellent cuisine continues to impress on every visit. And half-price bottles of wine on Wednesday certainly don’t hurt either!

To commemorate this auspicious anniversary, Chef Little is reprising his special X|X dinner service, in which 10 lucky diners are treated to 10 small courses of food plated in whimsical ways. Except since this is a birthday dinner, Little is going big. This will instead be an X|XX dinner, welcoming 20 guests each night on Dec. 3 and 4. As of this writing, the Friday dinner has already sold out, but limited seats were still available for Saturday night. Call 615-292-7766 to see if there still might be a spot at the table for you. If not, sorry about that, but it’s still an occasion worth sharing and celebrating!

The first X|X dinners were all seated around a single table, with some courses arriving on the table plated on a long plank. Since this will be a larger dinner, Little would probably need a sheet of plywood, and we all know how hard those are to find nowadays. Instead, diners will be seated at tables to enjoy a private presentation of the 15-plus small plates.

I’ve gotten a sneak peek at the menu, and not only is it a greatest hits of Josephine classics, it’s also a lovely representation of where chef Little is right now in his culinary journey. That means you’ll find fun little regional dishes from Little’s Pennsylvania homeland — think Utz potato chips with gorgonzola, and scrapple with lemon and olives. You’ll also see classic French preparations offered with a Little twist, like beef-heart tartare with onion jam and a tarte flambee with smoked Hinkelhatz chili crisps. 

The menu also features a few German and Alpine influences, a veer that Little has been taking lately that I greatly enjoyed on my last visit. Look forward to a schmierkase of apple butter and ginger crisp as the transition between savory and sweet dishes before the pastry team at Josephine buries you with desserts.

If it’s too late to snag a spot, my apologies, but next time we’ll all act faster. Congrats to the entire Josephine team on eight years of excellence!