When one door closes, another one opens.
The 100 block of Gay Street underwent some changes when Shuck Raw Bar merged with its neighbor Cru Bistro in mid-January. Chef Holly Hambright was offered the space, which she quickly turned into her third eatery in Knoxville: Holly’s 135.
“The opportunity just fell out of the sky,” Holly Hambright said. “This wasn’t even on my list, but I decided to go with it.”
She turned to friends and family to piece together the restaurant. The artwork on the coffee mugs and walls comes from her brother, Harlan Hambright.
Magpies Bakery, owned by Holly’s sister Peg Hambright, provides desserts like chocolate pie and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake. Each night the selection changes.
The cocktail menu, which includes Hot Buttered Britches – a warm drink served in a mug with a small wooden paddle — and a tequila-based beverage called The Margaret, was crafted by Hambright’s friend and catering cohort Chrissy Hai.
“She would do the catering, and I would do the bar-tending,” Hai said. “Beverages are my sweet spot.”
That sweet spot covers Knoxville’s first on-draft cocktail: The Bible Belt, which is made with Jefferson Bourbon, grapefruit, honey, vanilla and rosemary. Hai was inspired by a bar in Chicago and promises that more on-draft cocktails are in the works.
Holly’s 135, which Holly Hambright pronounces “one-three-five,” does not have a hood system, and therefore wide flame cannot be used in the building. These two factors present somewhat of a challenge for the kitchen, but Holly Hambright’s catering experience helps.
“We have to plan a menu that can roll out easily and still be delicious and still use quality products, but it has to be prepared someplace and finished over on this side. I think that being a caterer has certainly helped in the organization and preparation. We are our own clients,” Holly Hambright said with a laugh.
Despite the limitations, the menu offers a variety of dishes. Think roasted cauliflower hummus, a meat and three option and five entrees that feature local ingredients.
The hummus plates are served with enormous slices of carrot, cucumber and tortilla chips. With the meat and three, the guest selects a protein, starch, side and sauce. One combination for the bowl dinner could be lemon rosemary chicken, Shelton Farm grits, herbed wild mushrooms and a red wine demi sauce.
In the corner of the restaurant, Holly Hambright expertly plates a B@B Boggs dish: Caesar salad topped with seared salmon, olive salad and toast. Her pink tunic matches the sliver of dyed-pink hair that is barely exposed thanks to the clip holding her hair in a bun. She moves through the restaurant, back and forth, inside and outside with a smile and alert eyes.
“She’s just amazing, and she works non-stop,” Kyle Clark, one of the servers, said about his boss. “We opened a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been ‘go’ ever since.”
The very first night Holly’s 135 opened, Feb. 16, was the beginning of the ice and snow storms.
“We just decided to stay open,” Holly Hambright said. “Most of our customers that day were right from the 100 block, and that was awesome. One piece of feedback that we got was from someone who lives across the street. They said it already feels like a neighborhood bar.”
With deep red walls and chalkboard paint, seating for maybe 50 and a playlist with hits from Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, the restaurant feels like your best friend’s kitchen.
“That’s exactly what we were going for: a comfortable neighborhood feel and look where everybody knows your name,” Holly Hambright said.
Holly’s 135 is located at 135 S. Gay St. and is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Holly Hambright is the owner of new Knoxville restaurant Holly's 135
