Tupelo Park City chef-owner Matthew Harris may have moved away from his Southern Georgia hometown, but he certainly didn’t leave everything behind. His restaurant, named for the trees in the region that also produce the famous honey, opened in 2015 to serve its brand of fresh, farm-to-table cu isine with a Southern twist. Housemade buttermilk biscuits served with honey butter, or a beef and barley entree made with a risotto from the ancient grain, are two consistent top sellers, but most of the menu changes with the seasons and Harris’ own inspiration.   This year, Harris said another Southern influence from his childhood made its way to the restaurant: Sunday Supper. “Sunday suppers are very much a Southern thing. It’s where most families get together, either immediate family or a larger family, and have dinner, and it’s usually something … like pot roast or fried chicken,” Harris said. He said he saw less of that after moving to Park City. But this summer, he decided to bring it to Tupelo. The idea was to have a set, shareable meal catered to friends and family of all ages. Now that he’s a father, he knows how important it is to have a kid-friendly option. In the summer, the entree was usually some kind of smoked meat, but that changed this month. “It got to be about October, and it was time for the fried chicken to come off the menu. I only run that fried chicken as the locals’ favorite during the summer,” Harris said. “(I thought) let’s do fried chicken Sunday Supper, where you can come in and have the fried chicken all year round. … I mean, nothing really represents Sunday supper like fried chicken.” Tupelo’s fried chicken is a recipe morphed from what Harris learned from his mother. The chicken is soaked in pickle brine for 48 hours, then marinated in plain buttermilk, tossed in a spiced flour and fried fresh to order. They use the whole chicken, cut into equal sizes, from legs and wings to the breasts. It’s served with a side of housemade hot sauce and pickles. Chef Matthew Harris says the fried chicken at Tupelo is soaked in pickle brine for 48 hours. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record While fried chicken is the star of the show, the Sunday Supper menu is packed with Southern classics, like the biscuits, of course, and Tupelo’s deviled eggs.  Harris said their biscuits, made daily, are also a family recipe — if it can even be called a recipe, he joked. “It’s not a real recipe, to be completely honest with you. It’s a technique I learned from my mom,” he said. “It’s a touch. It’s a feel on how they should be. I mean, it comes down to the humidity in the air. Same ingredients, but sometimes it’s a little bit more flour. Sometimes it’s a little bit more buttermilk.” Most days, the Sunday Supper will be served with macaroni and cheese, another crowd pleaser at the restaurant. The secret to a great macaroni and cheese, Harris said, is using high-quality cheddar in the sauce. Plus, having the right noodles. “My philosophy of mac and cheese is, it doesn’t have to be elbow macaroni. You gotta have something that holds the cheese sauce, right? So as many crevices that you can have in the pasta, the better,” he said. Tupelo uses a smaller style of rigatoni, with ridges along the cylinder-shaped noodle that catch the sauce, he said.  A market salad will be made fresh, with seasonal fruits and nuts like poached pears or house-roasted pecans. There’s also a side of vegetables depending on the day.  Deviled eggs, a Southern classic, are one of the family-style dishes for Sunday Suppers at Tupelo. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordA market salad for the Sunday Supper will change with the seasons. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record And to round it all out is a custom ice cream sundae cart, with classic toppings like chocolate chips, MMs and caramel sauce. That’s thanks to Harris’ own experience with a toddler. “My little girl absolutely loves it. Even though it’s just one scoop of ice cream, she gets to pick her little toppings, and she’s like, ‘Oh, this is the best thing ever,’” he joked. “As an adult, I love an ice cream sundae, too, but mostly it’s for the kids. … If they’re misbehaving just a little bit, you’re like, ‘Hey, calm down for a minute. There’s something coming special for you.’ So it makes it a family-friendly thing.” Fried Chicken Sunday Suppers will run every Sunday through the winter, priced at $136 for two guests and $68 per additional adult, $34 per kid aged 4-11. Kids under 3 are free. Wine pairings are available as an add-on. Reservations can be made at tupeloparkcity.com/sunday-supper.  “Sunday is a fantastic day to get together with the family, but sometimes you don’t always want to cook,” Harris said. “Just let us do it for you. We got you covered.” The post Fried chicken becomes a Sunday Supper staple at Tupelo Park City appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less