Month: September 2020

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Square Meal Opens in the Southern College of Optometry

CREDIT: Samuel X. Cicci

Chefs Derrick and Laquonta Clark have got their eyes on the prize. At a ribbon cutting yesterday at the Southern College of Optometry’s fourth floor, they officially opened A Square Meal Café & Catering in partnership with Chef Quan Anderson.

Samuel X. Cicci

From l to r: Chefs Quan Anderson, Derrick & Laquonta Clark

The Clarks opened their food truck, A Square Meal on Wheels, about a decade ago, and over the years have established several brick and mortar locations. Anderson is the owner of Aspiring Meal School Meals Dining Services, and has an extensive background in both kitchen-work and catering. Both the Clarks and Anderson were interested in the fourth-floor vacancy at SCO when it became available, and they pitched a dual-concept restaurant/catering business to the school.

“In just one night, we got our RFP together and came in to interview,” says Laquonta Clark. “We had been discussing a partnership with Chef Quan a few years back, so when we found out that he had interviewed for the space as well, my husband suggested we team together, and we love it so far.” With the restaurant up and running, Derrick handles the kitchen, Laquonta handles administration, and Anderson is in charge of catering.

Derrick Clark calls his menu simple, but it covers breakfast and lunch dishes including a salmon club sandwich, Philly cheesesteaks, pizza, southwestern chicken egg rolls. Meanwhile, a separate section has plenty of pre-prepared meals (think salads, sandwiches, fruit cups, desserts) to grab when in a hurry.

From Tuesday to Friday, A Square Meal mixes it up with specials. “We got Taco Tuesday. Wednesday we might do wings or lasagna,” says Derrick Clark. “On Thursday, we do a soulful meat and two. Different meats, different fresh vegetables from greens to asparagus, and everything in between. Friday is catfish, in everything from po’boys, to blackened, to deep-fried.”

Samuel X. Cicci

Sate your sweet tooth with A Square Meal’s banana cream pudding or strawberry parfaits.

The SCO branch is A Square Meal’s fourth physical location, but the Clarks aren’t worried about splitting time between their establishments. “Once we get our restaurants up and running, they’re pretty self-sufficient,” Derrick Clark says. “We also like to give opportunities to culinary students, so we’ve hired a few students from L’école Culinaire, and also have an intern from Escoffier [School of Culinary Arts].”

On the catering side of things, Chef Anderson is flexible in his approach. He can service large gatherings, or create individual boxed lunches for a large group. “Our menu has a variety of things, but we also allow you to build your own catering,” he says. “We’re open to suggestions, and we’re not locked in to just one menu.”

With things off to a great start, the trio hopes that the partnership can be the beginning of a new venture. “We want this to be a foundation where we’ll be recognized as the city’s first local-contract food service company,” says Anderson. “We’re going to try to expand and see if we can work with private or public schools; really, whoever wants us to use our gifts and our talent to serve meals to their kids. I do have a school background as a private school chef, so I’m familiar with that territory.”

A Square Meal Café & Catering is open Monday-Friday for breakfast (7:30–10 a.m.) and lunch (11 a.m.–3:30 p.m.). asquarem.sco@gmail.com; 901-722-3289. Southern College of Optometry, 1245 Madison Ave.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Raffe’s Beer Market & Deli to Seek New Location

CREDIT: Raffe's Beer Market & Deli/Facebook

In a Facebook post today, Raffe’s Beer Market & Deli announced its landlord LPI MEMPHIS has signed a lease with another tenant at the 3358 Poplar location. Raffe’s last day of operations at the Poplar location will be September 27th.

Read the full announcement from owner Sean Feizkhah below:

Categories
News News Blog

MATA to Restore Three Bus Routes Throughout Memphis

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

After discussions with the Memphis City Council, the Memphis Bus Riders Union, Citizens for Better Service, and the Boxtown Neighborhood Association, the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) announced that fixed route service will be resuming formerly retired routes.

The Route 6 Northaven, 31 Firestone, and 38 Boxtown will resume effective Monday, September 14th. The routes had been temporarily reduced in response to COVID-19. 

The resuming routes are listed below. 

Route 6: Weekday service only, frequency every 45 minutes from 5:40-9 a.m. and 3:15-6:15 p.m.

Route 31: Weekday service only, frequency every 35 minutes from 6-8 a.m. and 3:15-6:15 p.m.

Route 38: Weekday service only, frequency every 90 minutes from 5:30 a.m.-7 p.m.

The resumption of routes comes amid a push by MATA to implement a new on-demand micro-transit project in Boxtown, Westwood, and parts of Whitehaven in 2021. The project’s goal is to improve access to its fixed route service and combat declining ridership.

During the announcement, MATA also revealed that they would be making general service improvements. MATA plans to go into detail on the extent of the improvements via public virtual meetings occurring on September 8th and 12th.

Categories
News News Blog

Christ Community Health Services Moves COVID-19 Drive-Through Testing Site

Monday, Christ Community Health Services announced that it would be moving its drive-through COVID-19 testing site to expand access to testing services.

As of Monday, August 31st, all drive-through testing is being done at 1720 RKS Commercial Cove. Testing will continue to take place Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Chief nursing and quality officer Shayla Williamson says the move will allow for more testing to be done.

“The move allows us to increase our ability to test up to 500 individuals daily. We are encouraging people to pre-register to help speed the testing process,” she says. “Those wishing to be tested are asked to text: Test2020 to 91999 or call Christ Community at 901-842-3160. The Lamar site will allow for limited testing of individuals who have not pre-registered.”

Christ Church began testing in early March and has tested over 20,000 individuals with drive through testing at their Third Street and Hickory Hills locations.

Categories
News News Blog

Levitt Shell Vandalized

The Levitt Shell, the historic public venue in Overton Park, was vandalized last night, Monday, August 31st. Messages like “eat the rich” were spray-painted on the venue, which has remained closed due to coronavirus concerns during what would be its usual summer and fall concert series schedule.

Natalie Wilson, executive director of the Levitt Shell, says it was a tough message to wake up to on 901 Day, when she had planned to use her resources to celebrate the city.

“I understand some of these messages. I can’t say I understand everything because that would be acting as if I can walk in everyone’s shoes. I can’t. However, I’m empathetic,” Wilson says. “As you read it all, it’s language of pain, it’s frustration. ‘End homelessness.’”

Wilson continues: “While I will not allow the Shell to be used as a platform — we’re for everyone — I want the Shell to be a part of the conversation that has to happen. The conversation about how communication can start the process of healing. We need to start that dialogue in a much stronger way, and I believe the Shell can be a part of that.”

“What is wellness? That doesn’t just mean health,” she says, citing emotional health, psychological health, and civic responsibility as vital to both a person’s and a city’s overall health. “We are a public gathering space that has a responsibility to that. We have a deeper responsibility, and we did when we were built in 1936. Our responsibility was to build morale, to bring our city back from the Great Depression.”

The venue’s executive director reminds the Shell’s supporters that, as with all venues for performing arts, the Shell has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. “This is the most devastating year of our history. Tonight we were going to be lighting the Shell red as a reminder that we need help. This is a red alert time.”

So what will they do about the graffiti? Wilson says they can’t just slap up a new coat of paint. “Here’s the tricky thing with a historic landmark,” she says. “We have to be very careful in the way we do it.”

The vandalism is a potentially expensive hurdle in a year that has, thus far, been filled with complications and hurdles. Still, Wilson remains hopeful for the venue’s future and aware of its responsibility to the community it serves. “We’re hopeful to come back in ’21,” she says, adding: “If the public wants to provide me feedback, guidance, I’m a public servant.”


Categories
News News Blog

MLGW Suspends Utility Cutoffs for Two Weeks

Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) will suspend utility cutoffs to customers for two weeks upon a Memphis City Council request Tuesday morning.

MLGW suspended all cutoffs in March as COVID-19 began to disrupt the Shelby County economy. It began cutting utilities to customers behind on their payments on Monday, August 24th.

The utility said it was owed around $32 million from customers who hadn’t paid since March. On an average year, the amount from delinquent customers is around $15 million, MLGW officials said Tuesday.

Since cutoffs began last week, customers have made about $7.6 million in payments, lowering the delinquent balance to about $22.5 million, said Jim West, vice president of customer relations for MLGW.

On Tuesday, the council debated a proposal from council member Martavius Jones that would have sent $5.7 million in CARES Act funding for the Memphis Zoo to a different fund to help those whose utilities had been cut. Jones proposed that Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s office could cut the city’s police and fire budgets by $5.7 million (or 1.2 percent of their total combined budgets) to pay the zoo.

This discussion delved into all of the many different sources from which needful customers could get help to pay their bill and keep the lights on. Millions of dollars are available through different funds, though none of them are enough to wipe out the entire $22 million backlog.

While the council mapped these disparate funding sources, council member Edmund Ford Sr. asked that MLGW hold off on future cutoffs until the council could study the issue and, possibly, bring a measure to help in two weeks. The ask was not immediately approved by MLGW officials on the call. But MLGW president and CEO J.T. Young joined the discussion after Ford’s ask and said they would pause cutoffs until September 14th.

MLGW suspended cutoffs Monday and Tuesday as Shelby County Schools students resume classes online.

Categories
News News Blog

New Virus Cases Rise By 110

COVID-19 Memphis
Infogram

New Virus Cases Rise By 110

Shelby County added 110 new cases of COVID-19 on test results reported since Sunday morning.

The number is not the number of new cases on tests given yesterday. Tests results are not always returned within 24 hours. The new case count comes from numerous tests over numerous days from numerous laboratories.

The latest weekly data available shows 11.3 percent of all tests were positive for the week of August 16th. The figure is down slightly from the 11.6 percent rate recorded for the week of August 9th. It marked the fifth straight decline in the weekly positivity rate since mid-July.

The county’s overall average positive rate for COVID-19 was 10.8 percent on Tuesday. The number is the average of all positive tests from all test results reported since the virus arrived here in March.

The total number of COVID-19 cases here stands at 27,697. Two new deaths were reported since Monday morning. The death toll in Shelby County now stands at 384.

The total current number of COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Shelby County was 2,808. The number is 10 percent of all virus cases recorded in Shelby county since March. There were 10,386 contacts in quarantine as of Tuesday.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Launches Virtual Exhibit Featuring Memphis Artists

CREDIT: Courtesy of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center at California State University, Northridge

Courtesy of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center at California State University, Northridge

Billie Holiday at The Tiffany Club, Los Angeles, 1952


You read that headline right — the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, is launching a virtual exhibit, “It’s Been Said All Along: Voices of Rage, Hope & Empowerment,” focusing on the music of social justice.

So, why write about an Ohio museum in a Memphis paper (or music blog)? The exhibit is virtual — the museum’s largest and most ambitious virtual exhibit to date. What’s more, it’s filled with memorabilia highlighting Memphis’ contributions to the music of protest and progress. Isaac Hayes at Wattstax, Mavis Staples, Aretha Franklin — in the music of protest as much as in popular music as a whole, Memphis musicians loom large.

Courtesy the 1974 Collection of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Isaac Hayes’ vest from the Wattstax performance


“It’s Been Said All Along: Voices of Rage, Hope & Empowerment” will open on Tuesday, September 1st — just in time for the museum’s 25-year anniversary on September 2nd. A statement from the museum explains that the exhibit is intended to “highlight how music and visual artists have created art as a response to unspeakable tragedy and to promote social justice for decades.”

Courtesy of Bruce Talamon

Muhammad Ali and Gil Scott-Heron, 1977

The exhibit is curated by Nwaka Onwusa, director of curatorial affairs at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and can be accessed at rockhall.com. It will include a virtual walk-through of the exhibit; artifacts including an Aretha Franklin Valentino dress, a Mavis Staples dress, and an N.W.A jacket; rare photos captured by influential African-American photographers, including Chuck Stewart and Bruce Talamon; educator essays with audio recordings; and more.