Month: September 2006

Categories
Best of Memphis Special Sections

Nightlife

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Goods & Services
Food & Drink
Nightlife
Arts & Entertainment
Media
And The Rest

The category that got the most votes within the Nightlife section was “Best Place To See Live Music.” Forty-three venues received votes, and the total vote for the category was 1,070. The category that received the second-most votes was “Best Beer Selection,” where 939 votes were divided among a mere 25 places. Flying Saucer dominated this category, accounting for more than half of the total and, hence, its being named one of the Best of Best of Memphis winners.

Best Beer Selection

BOM 1. Flying Saucer Draught Emporium

2. Young Avenue Deli

3. Boscos Squared

With more than 200 varieties of beer on tap, the Flying Saucer has this category on lockdown. If you can dream it up, they’ve most likely got it. And with the recent addition of a branch in Cordova, it just got easier for beer lovers across the area to enjoy the Saucer’s massive selection.

Best Place To See Live Music

1. Hi-Tone Café

2. Beale Street

3. B.B. King’s — tie –Mud Island Amphitheater

Whether it’s local faves Lucero and Harlan T. Bobo or touring acts on a national scale, live rock in Memphis has a dependable home and has for years now: the Hi-Tone. Early evenings, it’s a good spot to have a drink and shoot some pool. Late nights, there’s a good chance your ears’ll be ringing. It’s a good thing.

Best Local Band/Singer

READERS’ CHOICE

The Dempseys

Harlan T. Bobo

Kevin Paige

Twin Soul

Lucero

Lots of votes in this category but no clear winner.

Best Karaoke

1. Yosemite Sam’s

2. Windjammer Restaurant & Lounge

3. Neil’s

Who needs American Idol when we’ve got Yosemite Sam’s? The regular karaoke crowd at this Midtown dive approaches the art form with a seriousness that cannot be rivaled. They don’t need Paula Abdul or Simon Cowell to cut them down. No sir. They’re good. (Well, at least they think so.) So forget that one-commercial-jingle-wonder Taylor Hicks and head to Overton Square to hear some real talent.

Best Bar

1. Young Avenue Deli

2. Flying Saucer

3. Blue Monkey — tie — Celtic Crossing

Where else can you order the best French fries in Midtown, choose from a great selection of beer, catch a show by some hip indie band, and shoot pool without having to fight for a table? Young Avenue Deli has all the essentials of the perfect bar.

Best New Bar, opened in 2006

1. Coyote Ugly

2. Jordan’s Karaoke

3. Majestic Grille

In the 2000 film of the same name, “coyote ugly” is a term used to describe someone who is so freakin’ ugly, you’d chew your own arm off if they were lying on it in bed. But the girls at the new Memphis bar are anything but. Wearing tight-fitting clothing, they dance on the bar night after night while men ogle from their seats. With that kind of gimmick, it’s no wonder Coyote Ugly was named Best New Bar.

Best Hole in the Wall

1. P&H Café

2. Alex’s

3. Newby’s — tie — Buccaneer

For someone who didn’t know better, the P&H Café would just look like another dive. But with pitchers of the coldest beer in town, a regular crowd of artists and thespians, live bands, and art shows, the P&H isn’t just another hole-in-the-wall. It’s the best in town.

Best After Hours Club

Justin Fox Burks

1. Raiford’s

2. Alex’s

3. Wild Bill’s

A night at Raiford’s is hands-down the most surreal experience one can have at a Memphis club. With your 40-ounce beer in one hand and your best bud’s hand in the other, practice your sexy moves on the mirrored dance floor, which features a stripper pole. Tired? No problem. Pop a squat in one of the fancy office chairs and roll around to the music.

Best Happy Hour

1. Chili’s

2. Flying Saucer

3. Blue Monkey

At most bars, happy hour is actually several hours long. But at Chili’s, it’s all freakin’ day. From the time they open until 10 p.m., Chili’s offers amazing drink specials. They should probably just call it Happy Day.

Best Place to Dance

Justin Fox Burks

Best After Hours Dance Club

1. Raiford’s

2. Senses — tie — Alfred’s

3. Club 152 Beale

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Raiford’s is awesome!

Best Jukebox

1. Alex’s

2. Young Avenue Deli

3. RP Tracks — tie — P&H Café

The folks at Alex’s are clever. They have two jukeboxes set up to alternate songs, a tactic that prevents jukebox hogs from playing every track off of one album (you know who you are!).

Best Place to Play Pool

Justin Fox Burks

Best Place to Dance

1. Fox & Hound English Tavern

2. Young Avenue Deli

3. Highland Cue

At the Fox & Hound bars, you don’t play pool: You shoot billiards. And you do it like a fine English chap. So saddle up and invite your blokes out for a bloody good game and some tasty ale.

Best Sports Bar

1. Fox & Hound English Tavern

2. Buffalo Wild Wings

3. TJ Mulligan’s

Okay, if you’re not into the British thing, there’s still a good ole American time to be had Fox & Hound. With numerous TVs, you can catch the football game (and we do mean American football), the Grizzlies, or whatever suits your fancy. Er, we mean whatever floats your boat.

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Low-Tech Dreams

In an era dominated by computer-generated special effects and other expensive production trickery, Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep is charmingly modest and tactile: The romper-room effects here are hand-crafted with cardboard and cellophane and yarn and plaster, like a grade-school crafts project turned installation-art opus. The resulting mise-en-scène is like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse via Salvador Dali. The cinematographic trickery is equally low-tech.

Prior to this highly personal film, Gondry had emerged a major filmmaker via two Charlie Kaufman collaborations (Human Nature and, far better, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and one Dave Chappelle collaboration (Block Party, still one of 2006’s best films). But before his rise as a feature filmmaker, Gondry made his name via creative music videos for arty acts such as Björk and the Chemical Brothers. The Science of Sleep, in which Gael García Bernal plays a young man who works out his waking-life problems through a rich dream world, is reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in its romanticism (a little more adolescent this time — sweet, wild, with undercurrents of melancholy) but is really a nod to this music-video heritage in that visceral and emotional impact takes precedence over storytelling.

Bernal is Stéphane, a young French-Mexican man who has been living in Mexico with his father. As the film opens, he’s returned to Paris to see his estranged mother, taking a job she’s arranged for him at a printing company that specializes in producing calendars.

Stéphane thinks he’s taking a graphic-artist position and hopes to sell the company on his morbid calendar idea, in which each month is accompanied by a drawing depicting a celebrated disaster. Instead, Stéphane ends up performing rote tasks in a colorful but stifling workspace that could double for a French version of The Office. Meanwhile, Stéphane’s personal life is also troubled. He doesn’t get along with his mother’s new husband, and he lives alone in an apartment that was his childhood home, growing obsessed with an equally artsy next-door neighbor, Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg).

Though Stéphane struggles with real life, he sorts things out in dreams that make up half the film. These dreams branch out from the cardboard-and-crayon set of Stéphane TV, a would-be late-night talk show in which Stéphane — dressed in a mod suit — is host, guest, and band all at once. This dreamscape gambit is a conduit for many witty visual eruptions. Stéphane battles his office superior with hands that have grown to comically huge proportions. There’s an electric razor that grows hair rather than removing it, giving its user a huge mountain-man beard. One dream sequence has Stéphane in a plushy costume, playing drums and singing a Velvet Underground song.

If The Science of Sleep seems old-fashioned in its effects, it’s notable just how old-fashioned. Gondry’s movie doesn’t merely evoke pre-CGI cinema. It’s a seemingly intentional nod to the dawn of filmmaking, to the now seemingly quaint wonderment of such turn-of-the-century films as Georges Méliès’ Voyage to the Moon or Edwin Porter’s Dream of a Rarebit Fiend.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Gentlemen, Start Your Deep Fryers

In Southern culinary circles, pork barbecue might reign supreme, but fried catfish and grilled hot wings are quickly gaining ground.

Case in point: former barbecue champ Randall Hearn, who, now that summer’s over, is spending a lot of time with two good friends: fellow cooking enthusiast Doug McGee and his Presto Fry Daddy deep fryer.

As the Bohicas, Hearn and McGee have been entering food competitions for nearly two decades, first making the rounds at barbecue cook-offs, then moving to catfish, chili, and hot-wings challenges. This week, the duo will be showing off their cooking talents at the 150th annual Mid-South Fair.

“Our name is an acronym for ‘Bend over, here it comes again,'” says McGee, who explains that they borrowed the term from black conservative radio host Ken Hamblin. “We called and told him that we’re gonna make him the honorary president of our team, but since he’s a Yankee, we’re not gonna let him cook.”

“We won the Memphis In May Barbecue Cooking Contest in ’96,” says Hearn, who admits that frying catfish is much easier than sweating over a barbecue pit for days on end.

“There were a lot of extra hassles about cooking barbecue and way too many politics,” McGee says, citing presentation requirements and out-of-pocket expenses as the two main reasons they abandoned the pit for the deep fryer.

The rules of the game at the Mid-South Fair seem rudimentary in comparison to the elaborate rituals that surround Memphis In May. For starters, the competition at the fair is determined by blind judging, meaning that there is no presentation involved. To further level the playing field, each team is given the same product — Pride of the Pond catfish filets or store-bought chicken wings. What combination of seasonings they decide to use and how they choose to cook their entries are the only variables.

“Flavor matters,” Eddie Harmon bluntly states. A judge in the hot-wings, chili, and catfish competitions for the last 10 years, Harmon says that he’s seen a little bit of everything at the fair.

“It’s all according to taste. With the catfish batter, some people make it hot, some make it mild. I’m always looking for a good flaky catfish that has a clean taste. If a fish tastes like fish, it’s not gonna be any good. With the wings, it’s the flavor of the sauce. Once again, everybody cooks ’em different. Some are sopping with sauce, and others are barely wet. Some people bake ’em, some fry ’em, and some brown ’em in a skillet. Some people put greenery around their entries, but most judges will immediately discard every bit of that. We eat a small cup of food from each competitor, and in between, we’ll eat cheese or grapes to cleanse our palates,” he explains.

Hearn uses the same recipe every year — cornmeal instead of flour, salt, a little bit of spice, and a secret ingredient which, he says, “gives a little kick” to the mix. He forgoes a buttermilk soaking to dredge the fish filets in the batter and instead immediately plop them into the Fry Daddy, which is bubbling with regular vegetable oil.

“It’s pretty much how my dad cooks it,” he says. “Most people don’t put enough salt in the batter, and they get bland fish. Or they don’t cook it long enough — you’ve got to keep it in there until it floats.”

For the hot-wings contest, McGee will bypass the deep fryer for a charcoal grill. “I take the skin off and then marinate the wings in a special sauce,” he says, refusing to elaborate on the ingredients. “When they’re cooking, I put more sauce on. They’ll stay on there for 15 or so minutes. I have it down pat,” he says.

Each contest has a total purse of $600 to be split between first, second, and third place winners, but for most competitors, it’s all about the camaraderie.

“You’ll see a lot of couples cooking together. The women doing all the prep work, and the men standing over the grease,” Harmon says.

“I like to win, but it’s more about hanging out,” McGee confirms.

“It’s the same folks every year, which is fun,” says Hearn, who confesses that at home he’ll only fry catfish once or twice a year, usually in the weeks leading up to the Mid-South Fair competition.

“It’s a lot of trouble,” he says. “Most of the time, we’ll drive out to Millington to eat at Miss Sipp’s.”

Categories
Best of Memphis Special Sections

And The Rest

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

The “And the Rest” section is what we call “just for fun.” No official winners, no prizes given. But it is a good measure of what’s going on in the city. For instance, in the current-affairs department, crime fighting came in number two in “Best Memphis Failure,” surely a reference to Memphis’ appallingly high homicide numbers, and at number three in this same category is the FedExForum garage scandal. Under “Best Success,” the Japanese prime minister’s visit to Graceland got more than a few votes as did the early-voter turnout in August.

And check this out: Steve Cohen, now in an increasingly nasty race for Congress, tied Elvis for third for “Best Memphian.” In the same spot last year? Harold Ford Jr.

Best Memphis Success

READERS’ CHOICE

Tiger Basketball

Downtown Renovation

Tennessee Waltz

Steve Cohen Election

Farmers Market downtown

DeAngelo Williams

While there’s no clear winner in this category, politics and sports dominate the top vote-getters.

Best Memphis Failure

Justin Fox Burks

1. Memphis mayor Willie Herenton

2. Crime Fighting

3. FedExForum Garage

Mayor Herenton has been keeping a relatively low profile these days but not low enough to avoid “winning” this category.

Best Category Left Out

READERS’ CHOICE

Bartender

Politician

Tour To Take

Strip Joint (Gentlemen’s Club)

Hospital

No clear winner in this category, but a couple of usual suspects — bartender and strip joint, to name two — show up once again. We’ve tried “Best Bartender” before, resulting in an uncountable single vote for about 1,000 different bartenders. (What can we say? Memphians love their bartenders.) But never once have we put up “Best Strip Joint” as a category. Maybe in 2007.

Best Memphian

1. Shelby County mayor A C Wharton

2. FedEx founder Fred Smith

3. Elvis — tie — Steve Cohen

No “Impeach Wharton” bumper stickers we’ve seen.

Best Locally Produced Product

1. Barbecue

2. Music

3. Gibson Guitars — tie — Brim’s

In Memphis, we know spring has sprung when national TV shows feature Memphis’ oh-so-quaint barbecue culture in conjunction with the Memphis In May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. But, outside TV-land, we all know that barbecue here is serious business. (Back away from the ribs and nobody gets hurt.) Barbecue has become as inseparable from Memphis’ image as Elvis.

Best Neighborhood

1. Cooper-Young

2. Midtown

3. Central Gardens

In the last decade and a half, Cooper-Young has blossomed into a thriving neighorhood, with some of the best restaurants in town, affordable housing, and a strong neighborhood association.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Bush Bashers Bashed

New York representative Charles Rangel speaks for me, as he does for many Americans, when he defended President Bush against foreign demagogues speaking at the U.N. Although I have been a constant critic of Bush, I do not believe that any tinhorn communist dictator or Islamic fruit-loop should be able to come here under our protection and call our president names.

In this country we have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. In their countries they do not allow their citizens to engage in similar freedoms. When they change to a constitutional republic with the same guarantees provided by our Bill of Rights, then they will get a second look. But until that time, they need to show a little respect and decorum. He is our president, whether I think he is an idiot or not.

Joe M. Spitzer

Memphis

Air America

Phillip Stephenson asked why Air America hosts “don’t move to a country whose president they admire, like Castro in Cuba or Putin in Russia or Chavez in Venezuela” (Letters, September 21st issue). Maybe it’s because the last time I checked, in the U.S. everyone is entitled to have a dissenting opinion. Perhaps Stephenson should consider moving to one of the countries he cites — where only one opinion is allowed — since apparently only one is all he wants to hear.

Rob Thompson

Southaven

Much to Phillip Stephenson’s chagrin, Air America is alive and well. He can hate AAR, but no one is forcing him to listen.

I hate conservative talk radio, and if anyone wins the prize for personal attacks, it is the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity. I don’t listen to them, but I will defend their right to be on the air because that is the American way — freedom of speech.

That old line of “love it or leave it” is garbage. It is the right of Americans to speak out and criticize their leaders. You may think this is Bush-bashing, but our president and his Republican cronies are responsible for a $9 trillion national debt (almost 50 percent of it owned by China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan); the waste of hundreds of billions of dollars on Halliburton and its subsidiaries because of no-oversight, no-bid contracts for Iraq; the hiring of workers for the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority who had no experience in any of the needed skills; gutting or rescinding most of the environmental regulations; the total mess in Iraq, a war that Bush started with justifications that all turned out to be lies.

If you have examples of how Bush has done such a fine job as our president, I think Flyer readers would be very interested in seeing them.

Sylvia Cox

Memphis

Corker Ads

After viewing one of Bob Corker’s anti-Harold Ford Jr. television spots, I am appalled at how manipulative Corker’s campaign strategy is. He blatantly misleads Tennesseans into believing that Ford’s views are inconsistent with their views. This is not a new approach for Corker, whose allegations against his primary opponents, Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary, were deemed “seriously misleading” and the hints of a “character problem” by the Nashville Tennessean.

Corker claims that Ford voted against reauthorizing the Patriot Act. In fact, Ford not only voted for the original and final authorizations of the Patriot Act but also voted to make it permanent. The ad also states that Ford voted to cut defense spending. The ad neglects to mention that Ford voted for the strongest possible defense budget that was proposed. Additionally, Ford supported every bill proposed by the administration that has dealt with the funding and appropriations of the war on terror. Finally, the ad says Ford voted to let judges “release felons from jail because of overcrowding.” It does not explain that Ford voted for a “Truth in Sentencing” amendment in 1999, in order to give states funding to ensure the resources for keeping murderers, rapists, and other serious criminals in jail for their full sentences.

 Perhaps Corker should focus on explaining to the public what it is that he stands for instead of hiding behind misleading and deceitful rhetoric about his opponent.

Van D. Turner Jr.

Memphis

Categories
Best of Memphis Special Sections

Food and Drink

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Goods & Services
Food & Drink
Nightlife
Arts & Entertainment
Media
And The Rest

To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr.’s momentous “Free At Last” speech would be inappropriate for the Food & Drink section, but don’t think we’re not tempted. For years and years, anytime someone would have a problem with the Flyer‘s Readers’ Poll results, they would say, “Hmmph. What do you expect from a poll that voted Red Lobster as ‘Best Seafood’?”

Sure, we could argue about Red Lobster’s tasty rolls, exuberant service, money-saving specials, and other things the chain has to offer, but now we don’t have to. This year, after an impressive streak of placing number one in the polls, Red Lobster didn’t even finish in the top three.

It’s only fair to point out that the Readers’ Poll has not loosed its chains completely. Of the roughly 110 restaurants that were voted into the top three, more than 20 are chains.

Best Japanese/Sushi

1. Sekisui

2. Benihana of Tokyo

3. Pacific Rim

Restaurateur Jimmy Ishii is the king of Japanese cuisine in Memphis, with sushi fanatics and tempura fans flocking to his four Memphis-area Sekisui locations. As if Ishii’s grip on first place in this category weren’t enough, his East-meets-West fusion eatery Sekisui Pacific Rim bookends the notables with a third-place finish.

Best Chef

1. Rick Farmer, Jarrett’s

2. Erling Jensen, Erling Jensen, the Restaurant — tie —

Ben Smith, Tsunami

3. Johnny Kirk, Stella

Rick Farmer preaches the gospel of buying fresh and local. He has earned a loyal following by bringing elements of classic French, Spanish, and Asian cooking to regional American cuisine. Angus filet of beef with mushroom-truffle Madeira sauce and gratin dauphinoise potatoes, anyone?

Best Lunch

1. Huey’s

2. Lenny’s Sub Shop

3. The Cupboard

No matter how hectic the work, you can always rest assured that there’s a Huey’s famous burger, amazing onion rings, and a full bar on a street corner near you.

Best Breakfast

1. Brother Juniper’s

2. Barksdale Restaurant

3. IHOP — tie — Blue Plate Cafe

On a Saturday afternoon this laid-back neighborhood breakfast joint on Walker is the hottest meal ticket in town. People from every corner of Memphis cram into Brother J’s to feast on homemade bread, fresh fruit, gourmet omeletes, and amazing whole-wheat biscuits that are denser and only slightly more precious than gold.

Best Romantic Restaurant

1. Paulette’s

2. Cielo — tie — Le Chardonnay Wine Bar & Bistro

3. Jim’s Place East — tie —

Folk’s Folly Prime Steak House

Ah, romance. It makes everyone act so very French. Walking into Paulette’s is like walking into an old neighborhood restaurant on Paris’ Left Bank. Hungarian flourishes aside, that’s about as French as it gets.

Best Sunday Brunch

1. Owen Brennan’s Restaurant

2. Boscos Squared

3. Peabody Skyway

Strawberries and cream to start, followed by turtle soup, then two poached eggs on an English muffin with ham, marchands de vin sauce, a fried tomato and hollandaise, with bananas Foster for dessert. Any questions?

Best Wine List

Justin Fox Burks

1. Le Chardonnay Wine Bar & Bistro

2. McEwen’s on Monroe

3. Texas de Brazil

With more than 130 choices and an average price of $30 a bottle, what’s not to love about Le Chardonnay? And it’s so divinely dark inside.

Best Steak

1. Folk’s Folly Prime Steak House

2. Ruth’s Chris Steak House

3. The Butcher Shop

The most beautiful words in the English language are “a filet mignon, piped with seasoned mushroom purée, wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon, and smothered with sautéed garlic mushrooms.” You’ll find them on the Prime Cuts menu at Folk’s Folly.

Best Barbecue

1. Central BBQ

2. Corky’s

3. The Bar-B-Q Shop

It’s not just that Central BBQ has great ‘cue, fine slaw, tasty beans, and friendly service. They’ve got great ‘cue, fine slaw, tasty beans, friendly service, and a great big deck.

Best Ribs

1. Charles Vergos’ Rendezvous

2. Corky’s

3. Central BBQ

Chomping down on a rack of spicy, chargrilled ribs at the Rendezvous is just about the single most Memphis thing a person can do. Maybe they’re the best ribs in town, maybe they aren’t. Either way, they sure enough represent. And the lamb riblets are nothing to be ashamed of, either.

Best Burger

Justin Fox Burks

Best Restaurant in Memphis

1. Huey’s

2. Back Yard Burgers

3. Dyer’s Burgers — tie — Alex’s

What, you were expecting someone different? Huey’s has so dominated this category that maybe we should change it to “Best Huey’s Burger.” The spicy Senor Huey? The guacamole-laced West Coast Burger? The extra yummy Smokey Melt? Or just the “World Famous” Huey Burger? Really, you can’t go wrong, and with seven locations in the Greater Memphis area, you never have far to go.

Best Hot Wings

1. Buffalo Wild Wings

2. D’Bo’s Buffalo Wings-N-Things

3. Hooters

In winning this category, the national chain with three East Memphis locations serves notice that men are not lured by skimpily dressed, well-endowed wait staff alone. Sometimes multiple big-screen TVs broadcasting sports, live video trivia, and crucial sauce-choice decisions are enough to keep the mind occupied.

Best Dessert

1. Paulette’s

2. Marble Slab Creamery

3. Big Foot Lodge — tie —

Perkins Restaurant & Bakery

What’s one measure of a Memphian? Answer: If you hear the term “K-Pie” and know exactly what it is and where to get it. The Kahlua-Mocha Parfait Pie at cozy Midtown bistro Paulette’s may be Memphis’ most beloved post-meal indulgence. There are also plenty of other delectables to choose from: crème brûlée, fresh Key lime pie, and various crêpes.

Best Italian

1. Ronnie Grisanti & Sons

2. Pete and Sam’s Restaurant

3. Bari Restaurant — tie —

Coletta’s Italian Restaurant

The jewel of the Grisanti family restaurant empire fits the bill whether you’re looking for red-sauce-soaked Italian basics like homemade lasagna and spaghetti or more upscale fare. And though it isn’t considered a steak house, Grisanti’s has some of the best.

Best Mexican

1. El Porton Mexican Restaurant

2. Molly Gonzales’ La Casita Mexican Restaurant

3. Taqueria La Guadalupana

In a city teeming with good Mexican restaurants, El Porton’s secret to dominance isn’t “location, location, location,” but “locations, locations, locations.” With five restaurants in the Memphis area, El Porton pulls in more burrito- and enchilada-starved diners than any Mexican eatery in town and satisfies them well enough to win this category consistently.

Best Chinese

1. PF Chang’s China Bistro

2. A-Tan’s

3. Wang’s Mandarin House

With a handsome décor and tastefully prepared variations on Chinese favorites (try the Mongolian Beef), this East Memphis-located fave is a cut above what many expect from national chains.

Best Thai

1. Bhan Thai

2. Bangkok Alley

3. Jasmine

Bhan Thai is located in a large, intimate, converted house (the former home of Maison Raji) on a largely residential stretch of Peabody in Midtown and not on any kind of restaurant row. So it’s a destination eatery — and one worth seeking out, as many Flyer readers apparently have — for its excellent cuisine.

Best Vietnamese

Justin Fox Burks

Best Burger

1. Saigon Le

2. Pho Saigon

3. Pho Hoa Binh

Though Midtown’s Cleveland Avenue corridor is bursting with good Vietnamese restaurants, this veteran establishment continues to be the standard-bearer with its generous portions of Vietnamese (and Chinese) favorites made with fresh ingredients at bargain prices. Given its proximity to the Methodist Medical Center, it’s a particularly popular lunch spot.

Best Indian

1. India Palace

2. Golden India

3. Mayuri

Is there anything quicker or tastier than an Indian lunch buffet? The colorful Midtown India Palace packs ’em in for zesty curries and tender tandoori and such flavorful off-the-menu favorites as chicken tikka masala and lamb saag.

Best Home Cooking/Soul Food

1. Gus’s Fried Chicken

2. The Cupboard

3. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

When legendary Mason, Tennessee, fried-chicken dive Gus’s decided to franchise a few years ago, they apparently couldn’t have found a better location than downtown Memphis. The South Front Street restaurant has become an enormous hit with the downtown lunch crowd, who find Gus’s intensely spicy battered bird finger-lickin’ good.

Best Vegetarian

1. Wild Oats Market

2. Jasmine

3. Young Avenue Deli

Whether you want to showcase your own culinary skills, get prepared foods to take home for dinner, or just grab a quick eat-in bite, Wild Oats has the diversity and quality to satisfy the needs of any vegetarian or just health-conscious foodie.

Best Seafood

Justin Fox Burks

Best Vietnamese

1. Tsunami

2. Half Shell

3. Bonefish Grill

Oysters Rockefeller with Thai lemon grass, Malaysian sambal, and Japanese sake; calamari with chipotle aïoli; shrimp with mango salsa: a few reasons why Pacific Rim-inspired seafood ranks high in the kitchen at Tsunami. Ranks highest according to the taste buds of Flyer readers too.

Best Pizza

Justin Fox Burks

Best Wine List

1. Memphis Pizza Cafe

2. Pizza Hut

3. Coletta’s Italian Restaurant

Memphis Pizza Cafe made a name for itself in Overton Square. Now it’s also cookin’ out east on Park and farther east in Germantown and Cordova. Which proves that Midtowners, East Memphians, Germantowners, and Cordovans know good pizza when they see it — and taste it. Tomorrow, Collierville? The world?

Best Deli

1. Fino’s from the Hill

2. Lenny’s Sub Shop

3. Bogie’s Delicatessen

Fino’s Midtown location can’t be beat (Madison at McLean), and the sandwiches and sides and pastas can’t either. The teamwork behind the counter? Same goes. Fino’s “does” a deli proud.

Best Service

1. Texas de Brazil

2. Chick-Fil-A — tie — Houston’s

3. McEwen’s on Monroe

You see that army of waiters with the skewers, the ones walking the packed dining room of Texas de Brazil in Peabody Place downtown? Don’t say a word. Just flip the “magic” marker on your table that says “feed me,” and there you have it: meat that’s hot off the skewer and onto your plate. Flip the marker over and those watchful waiters know just what you mean: bastante!

Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant

1. Chuck E. Cheese

2. McDonald’s

3. Chick-Fil-A

Pizza, games, party! Chuck E. Cheese can handle it. Chuck E. Cheese invites it. You’re invited too.

Best Patio

1. Cafe Ole

2. Boscos Squared

3. Celtic Crossing

Memphians love a good restaurant patio. Great case in point, at the happening intersection of Cooper and Young: the patio at Cafe Ole. It’s got all the ingredients: shade trees to cool things down; strings of lights to brighten the night. Go for it, frozen or on the rocks, with or without salt, day or night.

Best Delivery

1. Camy’s

2. Garibaldi’s Pizza

3. Papa John’s

How does Camy’s do it when it comes to pizza and other goodies, year in, year out, according to our Readers’ Poll? By delivering when it absolutely, positively has to be at your door, on your plate, and in your mouth.

Best Bakery

Justin Fox Burks

Best Seafood

1. La Baguette

2. Fresh Market

3. Buns on the Run — tie —

Perkins Restaurant & Bakery

Believe it or not, there was a time in town when you couldn’t come across a decent baguette. You couldn’t come across an authentic baguette, period. La Baguette changed all that how many moons ago. It’s still the champ and not only for its baguettes. Think of La Baguette’s other traditional breads, pastries, specialty cakes, fruit tarts, and sandwiches. Flyer readers do in winning numbers.

Best Coffeehouse

1. Starbucks

2. Otherlands

3. High Point Coffee

With locations all over town, the brand-name Starbucks says it all: great coffee for customers inside and out, coming and going. For a taste of the real thing, however, try the day’s house brew without the flavorings and without the special fixins’. Something so simple … you never had it so good.

Best Restaurant in Memphis

Justin Fox Burks

Best Pizza

READERS’ CHOICE

Tsunami

Texas de Brazil

Big Foot Lodge

Folk’s Folly Prime Steak House

McEwen’s on Monroe

Plenty to chew on in this category but no clear winner.

Best New Restaurant, opened in 2006

1. Soul Fish Cafe

2. Majestic Grille

3. Pei Wei — tie — Meditrina

A hit with Memphians from the get-go, Soul Fish does it right and that goes not just for the fried catfish and hushpuppies. Try the fresh vegetables. Try the spicy chicken and pork. And relax. The atmosphere’s stylish but welcoming. And the prices? Your wallet will thank you. Thanks to owners Raymond Williams and Tiger Bryant and a terrific wait staff.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Full Docket

CREDIT: Jacques Kloppers, Agency: Dremstime.com

Chrystal Barclift was working as a supervisor in Juvenile Court when she got hooked on crack over five years ago. She lost her job, got busted, and found herself at Jail East, the women’s correctional facility near Shelby Farms. There she was offered a choice: stay in jail or spend a year in rehabilitation in the drug-court program. If she chose rehabilitation, her charges would be dropped.

Barclift, now sober for more than a year and employed in the public defender’s office, is one of the drug court’s many success stories.

The drug-court program sentences non-violent drug offenders to a year in an outpatient drug-treatment program — and pays for it — in lieu of jail time. Clients must appear in the courtroom each week with evidence they’ve been attending treatment, submit to random drug tests, and meet with counselors. At the end of the year, their record is expunged.

“[Drug court] taught me accountability, responsibility, and coping skills,” says Barclift, surrounded by proud family members after a drug-court ceremony last week to celebrate its 100th graduating class.

The program costs about $500,000 annually. Funding is provided by the Memphis Police Department, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, state fines, contributions from clients, and other donations.

Tim Dwyer, the program’s presiding judge, manages the program on a volunteer basis in addition to his regular docket. Drug court also pays for client treatment at area outpatient facilities and for things such as trade-school tuition or bus fare to and from treatment for those who cannot afford it.

But due to a shortage of funding, the program is not helping as many people as it could. Scarlett Crews, president of the Drug Court Foundation (the court’s fund-raising arm), estimates that only 40 percent of drug offenders who would qualify for treatment can actually enroll in the program.

Despite that, the drug court has saved taxpayers $24.8 million in incarceration fees since its inception in 1997. It costs roughly $110 per inmate per day at the jail and only $8 per day for clients in treatment through the drug court.

“As of [last week’s graduation], we’ve had 835 people who’ve gotten through it,” says Crews. “The beauty is that we have a 23 percent recidivism rate, which means re-arrest or re-use. That’s phenomenal.”

The drug court will host a boxing match between Mayor W.W. Herenton and Joe Frazier at The Peabody on November 30th, and Crews says they’re hoping the event will raise significant funds.

“Joe’s a real character and the mayor’s a real character, so we’re not sure exactly what’s going to happen,” says Crews. “But it’s going to be fun.”

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: I’m No Einstein, But …

I got another one this week — a letter informing me that I am “no genius” and that my column is little more than the childish scribbling of a sadly misinformed fool.

And your point is?

Seriously, I understand that opinions are like, well, noses and everyone’s got one. I don’t take these things personally. It comes with the territory. And I understand that I’m not a genius or a rocket scientist, just a guy who happens to have a weekly newspaper column. But with the Internet sending the Flyer to the four corners of the globe (does the globe have corners? I need to ask a genius, I guess), I’ve gotten e-mails about my column — and about other Flyer stories — from Sweden, Kuwait, Australia, Brazil, India, and even Mississippi.

Almost all the negative mail comes in response to columns in which I question the intellect, intentions, and honesty of our beloved president. These folks sho’ nuff love their Bush, and they don’t take kindly to a pissant like me criticizing our fearless, feckless leader.

So what would a real genius have to say about President Bush? Funny you should ask. I did some painstaking research (coughgooglecough) and discovered that one of the most preeminent geniuses the world has ever known — Albert Einstein — had a lot to say about the prez and our current dilemmas.

Regarding Iraq: “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

Regarding Bush worshippers: “Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”

Regarding the war on terror: “You cannot prevent and prepare for war at the same time.”

Regarding weapons of mass destruction: “World War III will be fought with weapons of mass destruction. World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Regarding President Bush: “The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”

I’m no genius, but I’m not stupid either. I know when someone’s telling the truth and when they’re lying through their teeth. And so did my buddy Albert.

Bruce VanWyngarden, Editor

brucev@MemphisFlyer.com

Categories
Film Features Film/TV

Jet Li’s cumbersome farewell to the martial-arts epic.

Fearless is being billed as Jet Li’s final martial-arts epic. If this is true, it’s too bad for a couple reasons: One, the performer is abandoning the genre that has seen his best work; two, the martial-arts movie that he’ll last be remembered for is such a subpar product.

Fearless is inspired by the life of Huo Yuanjia, a Chinese martial-arts master from the turn of the 20th century who was famous for uniting various styles of wushu, or martial arts, under one banner, the Jingwu Sports Federation. The film opens in Shanghai, 1910, as Yuanjia must face foreign fighters to defend the honor of his homeland — a symbolic gesture of solidarity against the increasing impositions of the West and Japan. The story then flashes back 30 years, when Yuanjia was a child, and commences to show the path his life takes on the way to national celebrity.

Yuanjia is the son of a wealthy martial-arts master, and his early years as a burgeoning fighting champion are characterized by arrogance and lack of respect for his opponents stemming from, one is led to infer, the haughtiness inherent in being born with a silver chopstick in his mouth.

Yuanjia’s transgressions eventually catch up with him and cause him great personal loss. He leaves his hometown to wander in the wilderness, eventually befriending and cohabitating with a blind girl, an old peasant woman, and a gaggle of children in a pastoral paradise. Faster than you can say “Pei it forward,” you can bet these kindly simple folk will teach him valuable life lessons which Yuanjia will return to society to proselytize about.

Jet Li’s best work — from Hero back to the Once Upon a Time in China series — has been Chinese-produced, and if these films are often well-intentioned or principled, they at least aren’t cloying. The biggest flaw of Fearless is fundamental and it’s American: Take away the rickshaws and junk boats and leitai fighting rings and all you’re left with is just another bland formulaic piece of Hollywood-style feel-good trash, à la Cinderella Man.

The fighting in Fearless is above average, particularly a scene where Li and an opponent beat the hell out of a teahouse as they do to each other. But the audience is not given much reason for dumbstruck guffawing at the martial arts on display and Li is shackled tightly to that cumbersome story. No amount of clever choreography by Yuen Wo Ping can break him free.

Categories
Best of Memphis Special Sections

Arts & Entertainment

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Goods & Services
Food & Drink
Nightlife
Arts & Entertainment
Media
And The Rest

One of the new categories in this section, “Best Place To Meet Singles,” isn’t really new. At one time, we had it, or a variation of it, but quit for reasons long forgotten. In fact, in the Flyer‘s very first Readers’ Poll, in 1994, we asked for “Best Place To Meet Mr./Ms. Right” along with an awfully similar-sounding “Best Place To Meet 1st Date.” For the former, church and The Peabody got number one and number two. For the latter, the positions were reversed.

Flash-forward 12 years to the current “Best Place To Meet Singles” category, and the winners run in this order: 1) Church 2) Online 3) Grocery Store. It’s a case of everything old is new again and vice versa, with church being a mainstay and the Internet, still a novelty when our poll began, making its first appearance in this category.

Best Casino

1. Horseshoe Casino

2. Grand Casino

3. Gold Strike Casino

If you’re going to hand your money over, you might as well do it in style. Horseshoe’s wealth of bars, bonuses, and buffets almost makes you forget about the difference in size between your wallet now and your wallet three hours ago.

Best Museum

Justin Fox Burks

1. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

2. Memphis Pink Palace Museum

3. Children’s Museum of Memphis

The Brooks isn’t some stuck-up, high-society art museum. Sure, it has plenty of fine paintings and sculpture on display, but it also knows how to throw down. Each year, the museum hosts Brooks Uncorked (one of the largest wine-tasting events in the city). They’ve also earned their hipster cred by screening indie films and occasionally hosting local rock bands.

Best Art Gallery

1. David Lusk Gallery

2. Jay Etkin

3. Midtown Artist Market — tie — David Mah Studio

Nestled in an unassuming corner of the Laurelwood Shopping Center, David Lusk Gallery has been a staple over the last 11 years for anybody looking for that artful touch of sophistication — something really cool made with paper bags.

Best Live Theater

BOM 1. Playhouse on the Square

2. The Orpheum

3. Theatre Memphis

Playhouse on the Square had a strong 2005-’06 season that featured such hits as Aida and Fiddler on the Roof. The next season — with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Caroline, Or Change, and Big River, to name a few — promises to be even stronger, and we can’t forget the Batman-esque spotlight guarantee reminding nighttime Union Avenue traffic of the bigger and better facilities to come.

Best Movie Theater

1. Studio on the Square

2. Paradiso

3. Muvico-Peabody Place

If a film’s getting Oscar nominations or festival wreaths, expect to find it at Studio on the Square. Don’t forget your popcorn, wine, and cheese.

Best Golf Course

1. The Links at Galloway

2. TPC at Southwind

3. The Links at Overton Park

Rolling fairways, budding trees, grassy knolls, verdant greens — Galloway’s got it all.

Best Picnic

1. Shelby Farms

2. Overton Park

3. Tom Lee Park

“Let’s … go … fly … a kite!” and, like, chill with the bison at Shelby Farms.

Best Place to Meet Singles

1. Church

2. Online

3. Grocery

This year’s results prove that there’s still no better place than a pew to hang out and get your weekly dose of “God ‘n’ Girls” (or Guys).

Best Free Date

Justin Fox Burks

Best Family Entertainment

1. Mississippi River

2. Shelby Farms

3. Memphis Zoo on Tuesdays

There really is nothing like a nighttime river walk, with the DeSoto Bridge illuminating the background and the sound of the river current keeping you company. Guys, a word of advice: I know it seems like it’d be really funny to throw her in, but for some reason girls don’t tend to appreciate the humor in that.

Best Family Entertainment

Justin Fox Burks

Best Museum

1. Memphis Zoo

2. Redbirds Game

3. Putt Putt

The best part of the zoo experience is hearing the kids make that howler-monkey noise the entire drive home.

Best Sports Team

1. Memphis Grizzlies

2. Memphis Redbirds

3. University of Memphis Tigers Basketball

It’s good to see we’re getting our mileage out of that FedExForum. Now if we could just win a single game in the NBA playoffs.

Best Grizzlies Player

1. Pau Gasol

2. Shane Battier

3. Mike Miller

FIBA World Champion and MVP, NBA All Star, Grizzlies poster-boy — Pau’s done it all. Unfortunately, his broken foot from the FIBA finals will put a damper on his 2006-’07 season with the Grizzlies. At least he’s still got the beard.

Best Local Athlete

Justin Fox Burks

Best Free Date

1. DeAngelo Williams

2. Pau Gasol

3. Shane Battier

First of all, props to Houston Rockets maestro Shane Battier for cinching two of the poll’s spots despite his turn to Texas. But the focus really does belong on our man DeAngelo, whose name was mentioned in the same breath as Reggie Bush’s for the 2005 Doak Walker Award and who finished seventh overall in the 2005 Heisman race. Who would have thought that U of M football would ever be on the map?