Mar 18, 2009

Miss Tami’s Tea Room and Cottage ExpressionsBy Deanna Darr & Tara MorganBoiseWeekly.com

On the girly scale of one to 10—one being a girl who loves football and owns a sports jersey, and 10 being one who has lace curtains and owns floral dresses—Miss Tami’s Tea Room and Cottage Expressions in Meridian is roughly a 13.

From the delicate flower-patterned tea cups that greet visitors in the gift shop entrance to the floral-and-lace decor filling every niche of the cozy dining area, this is no-man’s land. The few men who enter its feminine confines look a little nervous that they somehow wandered into some kind of inner sanctum of the fairer sex.

Miss Tami’s started out as a small gift shop in the early 1990s but quickly grew into a tea shop offering high teas, and eventually into a full-fledged restaurant serving lunch, teas and Saturday morning brunch ($11.75 for adults).

Miss Tami’s follows the British tradition of tea as a meal in between meals, when everyone settles in around an aromatic brew and nibbles on savories, scones with Devonshire cream, finger sandwiches and miniature desserts. Tami’s offers a variety of packages for afternoon teas, some of which involve costumes.

But the majority of visitors who brave the flower-filled rooms of Miss Tami’s go for lunch, and even on a weekday, the small dining room often runs a wait. Hint: Reservations are a good idea. The menu is filled with an assortment of soups, salads, sandwiches and quiches, as well as weekly specials. Everything is made in a tiny kitchen behind the dining room, and each dish is thoughtfully prepared, balancing complex flavors for gourmet palates with a comfort-food quality we all secretly crave.

As the late winter sun filtered in on a recent afternoon, the dining room was filled with small groups of women—and one uncomfortable-looking man—huddled around tables topped with steaming pots of tea.

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