local flavor
Story By Shaila Creekmore, Photos By Dero Sanford

Fine linens and lace, china, a proper table setting and an eclectic grouping of dining tables and chairs create a uniquely southern atmosphere inside Jonesboro’s Simple Elegance Tea Room.

The tearoom has long been a dream of owner Paulette Horman, who opened the restaurant in July. Retired from Southwestern Bell in Cape Girardeau, Horman and her husband had worked in the catering business for several years. Her dream, however, was to open an old-fashioned tearoom where ladies could gather for lunch, showers, meetings or other events.

After moving to Jonesboro from Forrest City in November 2006, Horman spotted a building located on East Nettleton and thought it would be perfect for her business idea, but the building was occupied at the time.

“I had seen this little building and thought this would be perfect. It looked like a little house,” said Horman.

Several months later the building became available and Horner quickly took over the location and began freshening it up and collecting items to decorate the small restaurant. She painted the walls a soft shade of mauve and hung lace and ladies’ hats across the room for a touch of southern charm. Each table is set with a cup and saucer of mix-matched patterns. A teapot centers each linen-covered table and silverware and a linen napkin await each guest.

Many of the teapots, cups and saucers, as well as tables and chairs, come from items Horman has collected over the years from antique shops and other places.
“Some of it I had and some of it I picked up here and there. I had a garage full of tables and chairs,” said Horman. “In the back of my mind, I knew I was going to do this. I knew what I wanted it to look like.”

A few of the pieces have even been supplied by customers, including a teapot given to Horman to match a set of cups and saucers.

The unique look of the tearoom not only creates a southern atmosphere, it is also reminiscent of the past.

“For the older crowd, it’s something like they used to have. It’s more like a memory of something they used to have in their younger years,” said Horman. “It might be something similar to where they would have gone with their mother or grandmother. It might be something of a little comfort zone for them.”

Although the tearoom attracts customers of various ages, Horman said the majority of the restaurant’s customers are mature women. However, younger ladies are coming in for lunch more often now, she said, as well as men who are having lunch with their wives.

Each weekday, the tearoom is open for lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. After lunch and on Saturdays, the tearoom can be reserved for private groups including Sunday school class gatherings, showers, birthday parties, office receptions, retirement parties, card and book clubs, Red Hat Society meetings, private luncheons and just about any other gathering you might have. Groups can also meet during the open lunch hours, but Horman asks that they call so that tables can be reserved. Starting in January, special “Tuesday Teas” will be offered every Tuesday afternoon.

As patrons enter the restaurant, they are served a basket of warm scones and can choose from a selection of hot or cold teas. The scone selection varies each day and includes chocolate, raspberry and white chocolate, blueberry, and brown sugar and cinnamon served with Devonshire cream.

The tearoom carries more than a dozen teas by Mighty Leaf Tea, Horman said. The most popular tea has been African Necter-Rooibas, a calming tea that people claim has healing powers. Four of the teas, Earl Grey, Hojicha Green Tea, Mint Melange and Chamomile Citrus, are organic teas. Two of the teas most unique to the tearoom are flowering teas made from a pod that expands into a flower as it brews in the cup. Iced teas served at the restaurant include raspberry, blackberry and regular sweetened and unsweetened tea. Coffee is also available.

Boyce Hart Jr. serves as the Simple Elegance Tea Room’s cook. Hart prepares soups, salads, sandwiches, quiche and desserts each day. One of the most popular items is the Trio Sampler, which features a mixed green salad, fruit cup and tuna or chicken salad served with a yeast roll.

The sandwich menu includes tuna or chicken salad served on a croissant or pita bread with tomato and lettuce. Other sandwiches include ham and cheese or turkey breast, each served with a choice of chips or fruit. The tearoom’s chicken salad can also be served on a bed of mixed greens with cheese, tomato, carrots and walnuts with a choice of dressing.

The restaurant features a different soup each day, which can be ordered as a meal or served with a salad. Soups include broccoli and cheese, artichoke chicken Florentine, potato and bacon, and fire roasted chicken noodle and vegetable.

A variety of tempting desserts makes the tearoom experience complete. Dessert selections include cheesecake with toppings, bananas foster, bread pudding and pudding parfait. Cobbler served with ice cream in a sundae dish is the restaurant’s most popular dessert item. Blackberry, apple and peach cobblers are rotated on various days.

Horman said Simple Elegance Tea Room has turned out to be the restaurant she had been dreaming of for so long and she has enjoyed the business each day.

“People have been wonderful. I didn’t realize I would have people that have seemed to fall in love with it when they come in,” said Horman. “Business has been better than I even anticipated.”

Simple Elegance Tea Room, 2733 E. Nettleton, will hold its holiday open house on Saturday, Dec. 1. For more information or to make a reservation, call 931-5555.