Restaurant Renaissance

Does Branson really want French hens and blue olives? The answer is yes, and the Tsahiridis family is making it happen.

Elizabeth Farris is a member of Branson’s Tsahiridis clan. Her father, Dimitrios Tsahiridis, owned Dimitri’s restaurant for about 25 years before it closed in the mid-’90s, which makes the Tsahiridises a fixture-family in Branson. They’ve been there since well before the Branson-got-on-60 Minutes-and-became-famous era, much less the Branson-built-Branson-Landing-and-wants-to-modernize-
era.

Yet she’s part of Branson’s modernization; Farris, along with her husband, Brad Farris, and her brothers are behind several new interesting developments. In recent years, the Farrises developed the CastleRock office center, on Highway 248 in northern Branson.

As the name suggests, the center is French country all the way. It also houses many doctors’ offices. “We had this one space—it was the cutest space—but people were not clicking with it”—Farris says, meaning that she and her husband had trouble finding a tenant. “So we thought, ‘we have all these doctors here… why not do a little coffee house’?”

And that’s how the French Hen was born. Named girly-like, the place is emphatically not girly. “‘French Hen’ is a little fooling,” Farris says. “It’s for guys to get a good sandwich.” (French Hen also serves soups, ham-and-cheese croissants, salads and pastries.) She jokes that when creating the French Hen’s concept—a dude-centric breakfast and lunch place with just enough femininity to attract the ladies—her mantra was “If I go to another tea room, I’ll die.” The French Hen is aimed at Branson locals—attorneys sitting side by side with construction workers—not tourists with their tour buses. The idea is to fit a niche between Panera and Starbucks. “Panera doesn’t have the greatest coffee, and Starbucks doesn’t have any food,” she explains.

Farris’s brothers, Samson Tsahiridis and Peter Tsahiridis, are also involved in Branson developments. Samson opened Java Junction Koffeehouse last year. It’s open late and is home to a scene of Branson performers.

On Branson’s Commercial Street, Peter Tsahiridis is developing a block-long shopping center with the somewhat surreal name of “Chappy Mall.” The centerpiece will be the Eurocafé, a coffee house that’s intended to be a music venue for bands. Boutiques selling chocolates, wine and cheese will open over the next several months. Farris is opening Four Darlings, a children’s clothing shop named after her own four kids. Family friends from North Carolina are decamping to Branson to open a Mediterranean bistro called the Blue Olive.

The Tsahiridises’ legacy of Dimitri’s restaurant is even undergoing a rebirth. On October 30, Bass Pro’s Branson Landing location opened the 300-seat White River Fish Company in the floating barge that was purchased by Bass Pro a few years ago. Eric Alford, Branson’s Bass Pro’s assistant general manager, says the new restaurant is a specialized concept for the Branson market, created by the Islamorada Fish Company. White River Fish Company’s biggest draw is likely to be its transparent glass walls, which let diners view Lake Taneycomo and the fire-water fountains at Branson Landing.

Wanna Go?

The French Hen
1015 Highway 248, Suite D
6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mon.–Fri.
417-336-4436

Java Junction Koffeehouse
2410 W. Highway 76
7 a.m. to 11 p.m., daily
417-337-5282

White River Fish Company
Adjacent to Bass Pro Shops White River Outpost Marina, Branson Landing

Chappy Mall
The mall is located on Branson’s Commercial Street, one block north of Branson Landing.