What We've Lost: Glenwood Tea Room in Shreveport.

The pandemic claims another restaurant worth visiting. Glenwood Tea Room, an antique shopping experience with a marvelous eatery within, officially closed in May. Here are my remembrances of a January 2020 visit.

Original headline: Glenwood Tea Room in Shreveport is Too Stinking Cute.

The Glennwood Tea Room opened in 1990 in the building that had once housed tGlenwood Drug. The previous business had opened in 1923 on Line Avenue in Shreveport. 

I was working on photo assignment for one of my clients when my partner Grav Weldon and I made our lunch visit. We'd heard about scones being offered here, and food lover that I am, I needed to try some of these delectable offerings. 

On entry, it appeared we'd entered a large gift shop All sorts of boutique items, from cute dresses and accessories, stationary and toiletries to British tea sets, jewelry and the like, were on display. A counter to our right was where we were motioned to be. I mentioned I was there for tea, and we were whisked up a few steps into the tea room, which was filled with themed tables and partitions.

At first, our hostess indicated we should sit at a tight table for two. Once I mentioned I'd like to photograph the food, she placed us at a table close to the large pane window and offered us menus.

There aren't many tea rooms close to home for us, so it took us a minute diving into the menu. While we perused, I asked for hot tea. There were many teas to choose from, including traditional and fruit teas. I took our waitress's suggestion and tried the maple blackberry tea - which was an unusual combination of flavors to my mind. It was actually quite splendid, a good pairing of flavors that even benefited a little from a dollop of honey and a splash of milk. I felt refined.

A tomato cream soup initially caught my eye. The menu described it as a soup of tomatoes, light cream, onion, carrot and and garden rice, offered with a cheese scone for a bit more ($2.50 a small, $5 a large). 

The Victorian soup seemed the more interesting of the two - advertised as an authentic Victorian cream soup of asparagus, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, cucumber, chicken and ham, made from a recipe from Queen Victoria's head cook, Chef Charles Francatelli. This was an unctious, multi-layered flavored green cream 

The salads included a fruit salad of strawberries, grapes, bananas and apples, offered drizzled with honey or poppyseed dressing. There was also a Chicken Chutney Pecan salad with bacon, sour cream and pecans.

There are also a variety of sandwiches, such as a Scone-wich, where one of the Glenwood Tea Room's fantastic scones is sliced and filled with the Chicken Chutney Salad. There's also a Chicken Waldorf Sandwich, with a chicken salad of apples, walnuts and dried cranberries; Michelle's Favorite Thing, which is a turkey, bacon and provolone sandwich with mayo and cranberry conserve on a toasted croissant; and the Glenwood's Maple BLT, a tall maple bacon packed sandwich with fresh greens, tomato, Provolone, honey mustard and mayo on multi-grain bread.

I decided to try out the Glenwood Tea Room Experience, an experience I suspect is usually consumed by multiple people on tiered trays. I decided to give it a try. It's listed thusly on the menu:

Grav, wanting heartier fare, went for the Canadian Bacon and Gouda Quiche, which included asparagus, diced tomatoes, herbs and seasonings and cream cheese in a really rich quiche, paired with fruit salad and a cheddar cheese scone. He swapped out the fruit salad (he's allergic to bananas) for the Glenwood Regal Salad, with apples, walnuts and mozzarella atop a green leaf lettuce bed, served with a lemon pepper cream dressing (the salad can be ordered separately with grilled chicken, just FYI). 

I didn't read the menu closely, initially, and ordered the Victorian soup with the experience. A bit of a taste and I realized my error. Grav happily took on the cupful of green soup, which was very much to his taste.

We had to get on to my assignment, so I didn't get a chance to peruse the shop. But you can - when you go for tea or a light lunch. 

Our plates soon arrived. In exchange for my soup, Grav granted me his cheese scone. While he loved the soup, I think I got the better end of the deal. Cheddar cheese should be in all savory scones. Okay, maybe not all, but this one was perfect. It needed nothing to shine, not even a dollop of butter.

His quiche, he told me, was quite the weighty experience, tasting sinfully heavy, a meal in a single slice. It had been heated and the steam rising from it was heady.  The salad was a very good choice as an alternate, a balance of sweet and fresh with the slightly salty mozzarella. Perfect.

My plate... looked like the sort of plate one might have at a child's tea, but it thrilled me. I am very much the type of person who wants to sample everything, and this gave me plenty to do so. In addition to the tea staple of a cucumber sandwich, there were sandwiches of turkey with dillled mayonnaise, pimento pecan, and strawberry cream cheese, along with a scoop of Chicken Chutney Salad. Very light, very cute, or as my daughter might say, totes adorb. 

I like that the Glenwood Tea Room has a specialized kid's menu, which offers an upscale PB&J with fresh fruit, a Nnutella and Banana sandwich, and an "Afternoonified" turkey sandwich with dillled mayo and provolone. I bet some kids really dig the idea of a tea party like this.

And then there are desserts. like a Chocolate Godiva Crepe, a Sticky Toffee Pudding, and a White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Apples. It's the scones, though, that I was after, and a scone came with my special tea. The selections include buttermilk, praline pecan, chocolate chip, cranberry, and orange, and the one I chose - white chocolate apricot. The lemon curd, so sharp, and the smooth and light Devonshire cream, were lovely accompaniments.
I asked for another pot of tea before diving into the lovely combination between delicate scone and its condiments. And yes, I did find it adorable that the scones come in heart shapes.

Glenwood Tea Room is located at 3314 Line Avenue in Shreveport. It's open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There's also a full breakfast offered Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.  For more information, check out the tea room's Facebook page or website, or call (318) 868-3652. Click on the menus below to enlargen.

UPDATE: The restaurant and shop announced its permanent closure in May.