Entry No. 46 — the Memphis file — filed under: cooper-young
The Beauty Shop Restaurant
Karen Carrier took a shuttered 1950s Cooper-Young salon — the one where Priscilla Presley sat for her hair — and left the evidence in place rather than gutting it. You eat under authentic hooded dryers, the mint-green wash basins now run as bar sinks, and the original terrazzo is still doing its job under the tables. Carrier layered her own taste on top of the bones: glass-block booths, hand-blown art-glass lighting, copper and silver-leaf walls. She trained in New York in the 1980s and came back to Memphis in 1987, and the kitchen has been written up in Gourmet, Bon Appétit and Food & Wine since. The house line is "Look Good. Eat Good," which is about as much explanation as the room needs.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Memphis — never the same twice
The story
The address was the Atkins Beauty Salon, where Priscilla Presley had her beehives put up, and the front of the building is still Jetsons-era Vitrolite. Karen Carrier opened her restaurant inside it in 2002 without erasing the evidence: the original mint-green wash basins sit behind a hand-built tiger maple bar and work as bar sinks, the terrazzo floor is the one the hairdressers stood on, glass-brick stalls serve as booths, and the choice seats are the ones under the hooded Belvedere dryers. Over that Carrier layered hand-blown art-glass lights and copper and silver-leaf walls. "Look Good. Eat Good." is painted on the front windows.
Carrier is a Memphian who took a BFA at the Memphis Academy of Art, studied under the painter Dorothy Sturm, and moved to New York in 1980 on a Hunter College MFA scholarship she never used. She met the caterer Susana Trilling in a restaurant restroom, went to work for her the next day, and never went back to school. Automatic Slims opened in Greenwich Village in 1986; she came home to Memphis in 1987 and started the catering company Another Roadside Attraction, then Automatic Slims Tonga Club downtown in 1991 and Bar DKDC in 2013. The Beauty Shop made Gourmet's Top 100 Restaurants in 2002 and Conde Nast Traveler's Hot Tables in 2003.
The kitchen is not a diner pastiche. Dinner runs to a saffron-coconut-lemongrass Lucky Pot with ramen at $30, sugar-and-spice crispy duck at $34, grilled pork and peach at $36. The menus print credits for lighting, art and design and thank-yous to spiritual advisers, and list the farms behind the food. Desserts change daily and are written on the mirror. Behind the building Carrier opened Back Do / Mi Yard, an outdoor Jamaican-Caribbean bar, in the fall of 2019; the pandemic closed it.
What it's like
You come in past the Vitrolite front and the room reads salon before it reads restaurant - dryer hoods overhead, wash basins plumbed into the back bar, terrazzo underfoot. The dryer seats are a handful of tables rather than the default, so ask when you book on OpenTable and take what you get. Standing at the bar first is the best way to see the plumbing. Service is unhurried and the menu is long and cross-hemispheric; ask what came off the Cooper-Young Farmers Market that week, and check the mirror for the day's desserts rather than looking for a printed list. A 20 percent gratuity is added to parties of five or more at dinner and to every check at lunch, so read the bottom of the bill before you do arithmetic.
The move: Book an OpenTable slot for 7pm and ask specifically for a dryer seat when you reserve — they're a handful of tables, not the default. Start with drinks standing at the bar so you can see the wash basins plumbed in, then move to dinner, then walk two minutes into the rest of Cooper-Young for a second round.
📍 Before you go Phone (901) 272-7111. Lunch Mon-Fri 11am-2pm; dinner Mon-Thu 5-10pm, Fri-Sat 5-11pm; brunch Sat 11am-2pm and Sun 10am-3pm. No dinner service Sunday — Sunday is brunch only, ending at 3pm. Reservations go through OpenTable and the dryer seats are limited, so request one in the notes rather than hoping at the door. Street parking in Cooper-Young gets tight on weekend nights.
- 📍 Memphis
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 966 S Cooper St, Memphis, TN 38104
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Burke's Book Store — Burke's is at 936 S Cooper, about thirty seconds' walk from the Beauty Shop's door, and a used-book room is a good way to burn the half hour before a reservation.
- Memphis Gong Chamber (at Memphis Drum Shop) — Also on South Cooper, at 878, and a gong bath followed by a saffron-lemongrass Lucky Pot is a coherent sequence of sensory events for one evening.
- Goner Records — Two blocks east on Young Avenue, so you can eat under the dryers and then dig through a punk label's own record shop without moving the car.
More weird in Memphis
Good to know
How do I get a seat under a hair dryer?
Reserve through OpenTable (opentable.com/the-beauty-shop) and put the request in the notes. The restaurant describes the dryer seats as the choice seating rather than the standard seating, so there are only a few of them and they are not guaranteed. Walking in on a Friday night and hoping is the losing move.
What does a meal actually cost?
Dinner starters run about $12-17, big plates $30-36 (Lucky Pot $30, crispy duck $34, lamb chops and pork-and-peach $36), sides $8. Lunch is much cheaper: sandwiches and salads mostly $12.50-14.95. A 20 percent gratuity is automatic on all lunch checks and on dinner parties of five or more.
When is it open, and when is it not?
Lunch Monday-Friday 11am-2pm; dinner Monday-Thursday 5-10pm and Friday-Saturday 5-11pm; brunch Saturday 11am-2pm and Sunday 10am-3pm. There is no Sunday dinner - Sunday ends at 3pm. Phone (901) 272-7111.
Where do I park?
Street parking in Cooper-Young, which tightens sharply on weekend nights when the rest of the neighborhood fills up. Parking a few blocks out and walking in is usually faster than circling South Cooper.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26