I went to the open house for a new business in my part of town: Cooper Street 20/20

It’s a new prepared foods place that’s open Monday through Friday from noon to 7 pm. The owner, Kathy Katz, used to run a diner and sells food at the Memphis Farmers Market.

Cooper Street 20/20 now features prepared soups, entrees, side dishes, and sauces.

I was excited about the opening because of Kathy’s vision. Focus on Fresh is the mission of Cooper Street 20/20 and the food is prepared with fresh, quality, local ingredients where possible. It’s almost as good as if you were cooking yourself.

Here’s how they describe it on their website:

Cooper Street 20/20 is the new venture of Kathy Katz, veteran restaurateur at the Southern College of Optometry. Cooper Street 20/20 is NOW OPEN Monday through Friday 8AM-7PM. Kathy also serves her prepared soups, sauces, entrees and side dishes at the Memphis Farmers Market, the Botanic Gardens Market and the Tsunami Farmers Market. After 25 plus years in the restaurant business, she is now focusing soley on prepared foods, which have become so popular. Kathy’s vision for her new business is to Focus On Fresh: preparing fresh, quality foods with local ingredients whenever possible. Enjoy your meal tonight, straight from her kitchen to your table.

We went to the opening to see if the food was good and check out the new place.

There was a lot of people there (yay supporting local businesses!) and everyone was enjoying samples of the prepared foods sold at Cooper Street 20/20.

You better believe I tried a little bit of everything.

And everything was delicious.

My favorites were: black bean hummus, feat/walnut/egglant dip, African peanut soup, and cowboy crackers. Oh and the chicken dish. Oh and Russian cabbage soup.

Oh wait, everything was good. Really, it was.

The menu looks like it contains a lot of other yummy dishes I’d like to try over time. Roasted Eggplant Lasagna and Seasonal Quiche sound pretty tasty.

I ended up buying a pint of African peanut soup because I loved it so much. It’s a weird flavor unlike anything I’ve had before but I found it rather enjoyable. My little sample last night definitely made me want more so I brought it for lunch today.

Kathy was nice enough to pose for a photo after ringing up my order. She is such a nice lady and I really hope her new venture is successful.

I’ve since been back to order more of the African peanut soup because it’s sooo good. I’ve also had some spicy pimento cheese which made delicious sandwiches!

If you’re in Memphis, go visit: