Mimi’s Caf’ provides its patrons with a different dining experience. From the outside it looks like a French countryside cottage. Inside, the walls are covered with Mardi-Gras inspired art. The tiled roof and lemon-colored paint make the restaurant stand out in Murfreesboro’s new outdoor shopping plaza, The Avenue.
The restaurant is separated into three different dining areas: The Garden Room, The Bistro and The Winery. Each room has a specific ambiance created by the complementary d’cor.
Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, Mimi’s offers an abundance of entr’e choices ranging from Quiche Lorraine with fruit and red skin potatoes to smoky chicken enchiladas, topped with roasted tomatillo sauce and drizzled with a creamy honey lime sauce.
The menu is also full of bits of Americana. They have comfort food like country fried steak and chicken pot pie, all served with a dash of Mimi’s own style.
In addition, the desert selection is as decadent as it is delightful. The bananas foster mud pie, a customer favorite, is a mountain of banana-vanilla ice cream swirled with caramel and covered with a blizzard of whipped cream, candied pecans and sliced bananas.
’Everyone wants to know who Mimi is,’ Jennifer Chance, managing partner at Mimi’s says. ’She was a woman that [restaurant founder] Tom Sims met during WWII in France.’
Chance explains that Sims fell in love with her, but when his service was up, he had to return to the United States. Sims went back to France in search of Mimi, but was never able to find her. Her memory lives on though, in 124 Mimi’s Caf’s across the country.
’Mimi’s is also inspired by New Orleans and California cuisine,’ Chance explains. ’That’s why you find items like jambalaya and deep-fried zucchini and many dishes featuring avocado.’
The first Mimi’s opened in Anaheim, Calif., in 1978. In search of new markets and people accepting of new restaurant concepts, Mimi’s has spread across the country.
In addition to the Southeast, Chance says, Mimi’s is moving into the Chicago and Washington D.C. areas, solidifying itself as a strong nationwide chain. The Murfreesboro location joins Knoxville as the two in Tennessee.
’We’re busy all the time,’ Chance said. ’The Sunday breakfast crowd is huge and we are yet to go off wait on Saturday.’
My recommendation is to go during the slow times, after the breakfast and lunch rushes. Mimi’s extensive menu will definitely have something that tickles your palette, and if you arrive when the crowds are thin, you won’t be swarmed in Mimi’s hive of activity.
’Our waitress was very polite,’ Carla Hollamon, a resident of Jackson, Tenn., and visitor of Murfreesboro explains. ’And the spinach and artichoke dip was the best I’ve ever had.’
Across the table from Hollamon, her mother, Lavada Williams of Fruitbell, Tenn., said ’the best part of lunch was the atmosphere and the portions were very large.’
’What makes Mimi’s different is that we do breakfast, lunch and dinner,’ Chance says. ’We have a unique d’cor and our menu is large and there is something for everyone. We have a limited full bar and no happy hours. We try to focus on family dining.’
But even if you don’t have a family, Mimi’s is fresh, new, and an enjoyable dining experience. While it is a chain restaurant, Mimi’s has a unique feel.
The menu is affordable and the ambiance is one of a kind. The next time you go out for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, give Mimi’s a try.
THE DISH
Name: Mimi’s Caf’
Location: 2625 Medical Center Parkway
Phone: (615) 893-1352
Hours: Monday’Sunday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Prices: Black and Bleu Chicken Quesadilla’$7.99, Cajun Blackened Salmon’$13.29
