Author: John Klyce Minervini

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open: Heritage Tavern & Kitchen and Mac’s Burgers.

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Some men wear their hearts on their sleeves. Mike Miller wears his underneath. When he rolls up the sleeves of his blue seersucker oxford, he reveals a full-color tattoo that covers most of his right arm: a bald eagle wreathed in a billowing American flag, its talons clutching a scroll that reads, “In God We Trust.”

“I consider myself a patriot,” he confesses. “My country’s very important to me. I want to celebrate our culture, but also our culinary history.”

Since 2005, Miller has been the owner and GM at Patrick’s, a home-cooking restaurant on Park. Now he has he opened a new restaurant, Heritage Tavern & Kitchen, in the Regalia Shopping Center in East Memphis. The idea is to celebrate American heritage by cooking affordable dishes from several different parts of the country.

From the Northeast, there are clam chowder and lobster rolls. From the Southwest, there are carnitas tamales and shrimp-stuffed jalapeños. Want to know where the zucchini fries come from? Heritage makes it easy — the menu is overlaid on a map of the United States, each dish appearing over its home region.

Justin Fox Burks

Alder Smoked Salmon dish

The portions are big, and the food is hearty, stick-to-your-ribs kind of stuff. Maybe my favorite was the Alder Smoked Salmon ($19). Quite often, restaurants overdo the smoke flavor in smoked fish, so it ends up tasting like a campfire log. But Heritage does it right — the alder wood doesn’t take over, which allows the rich flavor of the salmon to speak for itself. Also recommended: the Lobster Roll ($19) and the Deviled Eggs ($6), served with yummy candied bacon.

Justin Fox Burks

The food works well in the space: a bright-white, vaulted room that reminded me of an old parish church in New England. There are barn doors, sepia photographs, and an array of American flags, old and new. The most interesting, based on a political cartoon by Benjamin Franklin, features a snake chopped up into bits, with the caption “Join or Die.”

I guess I’ll join? In any case, the décor seems to connect with diners, who had crowded the lunch service on a recent Monday. Miller says it’s not about kitsch. He’s paying homage to the country that has given him such opportunities. He’s been in the restaurant business since age 14, when he started as a dishwasher. Now he owns his own place.

“The idea that we, as Americans, can go out and make things for ourselves,” Miller reflects, “and reap the rewards of that labor — I think that makes us unique among all the countries of the world. I think it’s a beautiful experiment.”

When it comes to burger joints … how do I say this? You don’t want a bunch of skinny guys running them. Fortunately for you, Barron Brown ain’t skinny. For 16 years, he’s been the area director of TJ Mulligan’s, the same guys who brought you LBOE in Overton Square. Last year, Brown’s team took fourth place at Best Memphis Burger Fest, and honestly? He’s still a little sore about it.

“We probably could have took first,” he opines, “but there was some confusion about when the judging was. That burger must have sat out for about 30 minutes before they tasted it.”

Brown is the general manager of Mac’s Burgers, which recently opened near Target on Colonial. It occupies the front room of Dan McGuinness Irish Pub and has the same owners. So why the switcheroo? Brown says this new concept reflects a shift in consumer tastes: Irish food is out, gourmet burgers are in.

I can’t really speak to consumer tastes, but my own taste buds are definitely happy about the change. When it comes to burgers, Brown and his buddies from Mulligan’s and LBOE are the best in town.

Take the Burning Love ($9.50). Now I’m gonna tell you what’s on it, and it’s gonna sound weird. But trust me — it’s really freaking good. Grilled jalapeños, red and green peppers, onions, pepper jack cheese, reaper hot sauce, garlic cream cheese, and a fresh-ground, grass-fed beef patty from Charlie’s Meat Market.

From the fat guy’s lips to God’s ears.

Mac’s other specialty is gourmet mac and cheese, of which they offer no fewer than 12 varieties. Order The Trio ($12.95), which allows you to sample three different kinds, and definitely include the Mushroom Mac in your lineup. The goat cheese and scallions set it off very nicely.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Two Great Beers, Two Great Causes

CREDIT: John Klyce Minervini

John Klyce Minervini

Church Health Center’s Marvin Stockwell and Citizens to Preserve Overton Park’s Jessica Buttermore enjoy craft brews for a tasty cause.

I’ve heard it said that Memphis is the biggest small town in America. To judge from the beer, I think it might be true. This weekend, Memphis Made Brewing debuted two craft beers, each tied to a local event and an important cause.

The first is Rocket #9, an IPA that will be served over the weekend at Church Health Center’s 9th annual Rock For Love concert series. (click here to see the complete schedule)

Where flavor is concerned, Rocket #9 is understated and oaky. Made with Pacific Gem Hops from New Zealand, it’s a contemplative pale ale with notes from the forest floor. Perfect for a late-night conversation, or unwinding after a punk rock concert. Pezz, anyone?

John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made’s Rocket #9 IPA will be served this weekend at Rock For Love.

The cause is even tastier. For 28 years, Church Health Center been providing low-cost health and wellness care for the working uninsured. Today, more than 60,000 people in Shelby County are counting on them.

“We’re helping this city get healthy and stay healthy,” says CHC communications director Marvin Stockwell. “And one of the ways we do that is by taking care of Memphis’s hardworking musicians.

“What an amazingly generous group of people,” he continues. “Not to mention, they make the best music in the world. I mean, come on. You can’t go wrong with that.”

This year, in addition to a badass music lineup, Rock For Love will feature a dunk tank, a comedy showcase, and a pop-up fitness park. So drink a beer already! It’s for charity.

The second craft brew is Memphis Made’s Greenswarden. It will be served this Saturday at Get Off Our Lawn’s Party for the Greensward, which features a great lineup of local bands.

Here’s the issue. The City of Memphis allows the zoo to put their overflow parking on the Greensward (the big field in Overton Park, the one by Rainbow Lake). They’ve been doing it for about 20 years. But Citizens to Preserve Overton Park (CPOP)—the group behind Get Off Our Lawn—say they’ve had about enough. 

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John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made’s ‘Greenswarden’ hefeweizen will be served at Saturday’s Party for the Greensward.

“It’s public land, and they’re making a profit off it. We think that’s wrong,” says CPOP president Jessica Buttermore. “They’re not planning for their parking needs. Instead, they’re dumping it on the city and the surrounding neighborhood.”

“Our mission is to protect the park,” she continues. “As public land, it should be free for us to use.”

As a hefeweizen, Greenswarden is slightly cloudy with a balanced, fruity flavor. Don’t laugh: at my tasting, we even thought we detected notes of bubblegum. Only we couldn’t decide which one. Bubblicious? Fruit stripe?

“I don’t know if I would go brand-specific,” cautions Memphis Made co-founder Andy Ashby. “I guess I don’t really chew enough gum to pin it down.”

As for Memphis Made, Ashby says brewing beers for important local causes is right in the brewery’s wheelhouse.

“We’re not like these big breweries,” Ashby says. “We can’t make it rain t-shirts and coozies. But one thing we can do is make a beer for a cause we believe in.”

John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made Brewing co-founder Andy Ashby

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

The Generous Pour at Capital Grille

CREDIT: Cara Greenstein

Cara Greenstein

The Generous Pour runs through August 30th at Capital Grille.

“There’s nothing wrong with Merlot.”

Depending on how you look at it, that’s either the understatement of the century or a call to arms. When George Miliotes says it, he means war.

Miliotes is more entitled to his opinion than most. He’s a Master Sommelier, one of just 229 in the world. In order to qualify for that title (among other occult rituals), he had to blindly taste six wines from around the world and correctly identify five of them.

Like, sip. Oh yeah! That’s a 2009 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache Grand Cru Monopole. Of course.

Although Miliotes is based in New York, tonight he’s pouring wine at the Capital Grille in East Memphis. He’s visiting to introduce their Generous Pour program, which runs through August 30th. It’s essentially a super-deluxe wine tasting at an affordable price. 

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John Klyce Minervini

The steak’s not bad, either.

Here’s how it works. First you go to the Capital Grille and order dinner. At my tasting, they weren’t 100% specific about what counts as “dinner,” so maybe ask? I’m thinking a few appetizers might cut it, or an entrée for sure. Then you pay an additional $28 dollars and get to taste eight pre-selected wines—three whites and five reds.

And now you’re thinking, yeah yeah. Wine tastings, dime a dozen. In my opinion, what sets The Generous Pour apart is a) the very high quality of the wines on offer and b) the intentionality with which they were chosen. (Visit their web site for the full list.)

Take the Galerie Naissance Sauvignon Blanc. If you had asked me, one week ago, whether I liked the flavor of oak in my wine, I would have answered with a weak “yes.” I mean, right? Oak is classic. It’s buttery.

Here’s the plain truth. Before last week, I had never tasted an oaked wine next to an unoaked wine, so I really had no idea. In the Galerie Sauvignon Blanc, tropical fruit (pineapple, apricot, orange zest) is balanced by natural acidity, and the resulting wine is deliciously crisp, without an oak in sight. Just for fun, pair it with the Pan-Fried Calamari with Hot Cherry Peppers ($15).

Moral of the story? Oak is for old people. Thank you, George Miliotes.

So what was Miliotes getting at when he said, “There’s nothing wrong with Merlot.”? Turns out, he was referring to the movie Sideways. In it, Paul Giamatti’s character repeatedly disparages Merlot, at one point snarling, “If anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving, I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!”

And then? All around the world, Merlot sales went into free-fall. No, for real. Experts call it the “Sideways Effect,” and poor Merlot still hasn’t fully recovered. Who’d a thunk?

John Klyce MInervini

Wine goes best with lots of dessert, I find.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Kale Yeah

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

The list of Memphis firms that reach a national audience is short. Say it with me: FedEx, AutoZone, St. Jude, International Paper, ServiceMaster, Ducks Unlimited. Then, last week, without much fanfare, a new name was added to the list. It’s a name you’ll be hearing a lot over the next few years: LYFE Kitchen.

LYFE’s mission is at once simple and breathtakingly ambitious. They’re cooking delicious, real food — things like corn chowder and fish tacos — and serving it at fast-casual prices. The majority of the company was acquired by Memphis-based Carlisle Corporation in June 2014. They opened their first Memphis location on August 6th.

Justin Fox Burks

Other locations (there are currently 17) include New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. But CEO Chance Carlisle says this concept is not just for big markets. Given time, he could envision a LYFE Kitchen in every city in America.

“For the average American,” Carlisle says, “just getting from meal to meal is a struggle because of constraints on our time and our pocketbooks. LYFE wants to solve that problem by being just as convenient and affordable as fast food — and a lot better-tasting. The fact that it happens to be nutritious is just a bonus.”

Take the Chocolate Budino. Of its five ingredients, four are superfoods: dark chocolate, coconut, pomegranate, chia seeds, and toasted almonds. As desserts go, it’s over-the-top decadent: a rich, chocolaty custard enlivened by a berry topping. And get this: It costs $3 and has just 206 calories.

“You can’t eat chocolate cake every day,” says Carlisle, grinning. “But you can have one of these every day, no problem.”

How can they sell it that cheap? Carlisle’s answer is deceptively simple: “volume.” In fact, he brings considerable expertise to bear on the project. With Wendelta, Carlisle and his family have been in the food business for 40 years; they currently manage 78 Wendy’s franchises in six states across the Southeast.

Even before the Carlisles came along, supply-chain savvy was baked into the concept. LYFE was founded in 2011 by two former McDonald’s executives, Mike Roberts and Mike Donahue, who decided to use their powers for good. To that end, they enlisted the service of top-notch culinary talents like Art Smith (Oprah’s personal chef) and Jeremy Bringardner (winner of Food Network’s Chopped).

You can taste that distinguished pedigree in dishes like the Quinoa Crunch Bowl ($7.50). Here, spicy arugula meets tangy edamame hummus amid a medley of fresh vegetables: things like cherry tomatoes, radishes, and broccolini. Served with fireman’s hot sauce over a bed of quinoa tabbouleh, it’s a dish I could enjoy multiple times per week.

Justin Fox Burks

Oh and hey, don’t tell anybody. It’s vegan.

Of course, most restaurants these days voice some kind of commitment to healthy food. But talk is cheap, so I asked the team at LYFE to back it up with facts.

Turns out, they’ve got the goods. Here’s a partial list of things you won’t find at LYFE: Butter. Cream. High fructose corn syrup. MSG. Trans fats. Anything GMO. Anything with hormones or antibiotics. Anything raised in a cage. Surprised? I was. Here, all the beef is grass-fed, nothing has more than 600 calories, and nothing costs more than $15.

“We bake, we sauté, we roast,” Carlisle says. “We don’t microwave, we don’t fry. We don’t have the equipment. It’s not in the building.”

Justin Fox Burks

That’s what’s so exciting about this concept. Affluent people have been eating this kind of food for years — or at least, they’ve had the option. But at $7, a frittata of fresh vegetables might actually find its way into the hands of a normal person, someone whose time and money considerations would otherwise condemn her to Arby’s.

Because ultimately, that’s how you move the needle on food: not with white tablecloths but with compostable take-out boxes. Carlisle knows it’s too early to start celebrating. So far traffic has been good, but the next few years will provide the true test for LYFE. Still, he has high hopes for this fledgling, Memphis-based company.

“It’s an American thing,” Carlisle says. “Everybody’s tried to eat healthy, and everybody’s gotten burned. What LYFE has to do is give you food you recognize at a price you can afford. We have to get you in the door and show you how delicious it can be.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Making pasta with chef Michele D’Oto

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Gluten is like booze — some people just can’t handle it. If that’s you, stop reading now. For the rest, I’d like you to meet chef Michele D’Oto. Today, D’Oto is going to introduce us to one of planet Earth’s singular pleasures: the fresh, hand-made noodle.

“We have all the different sauces,” D’Oto says, with a charming Italian accent. “Mushroom sauce, tomato sauce. And when you take a bite, it’s like a little explosion!”

D’Oto ought to know. The 51-year-old was born and raised in Modena, Italy, where he learned to make noodles at his mother’s elbow. Since then, he’s worked in fine restaurants across Europe: in countries like France, England, and Switzerland. Today, D’Oto is the owner and chef at Pasta Italia in Cordova, where he specializes in authentic Italian food.

When I arrive, D’Oto has arranged his ingredients on a stainless-steel worktable at the front of the restaurant. He’s handsome and gregarious and full of great one-liners (“I’m the Italian Jesus,” he quips). And I’m thinking, can someone get this man a TV show?

He starts by cracking eggs into a bowl of semolina and all-purpose flour. Getting the dough right takes fresh, high-quality ingredients. But that’s not all. A top-notch noodle, D’Oto says, requires a chef with the right frame of mind.

“If you really love what you’re doing,” he says, “it goes down through your fingers into the dough. You can taste the love.

“But if I’m stressed or in a hurry,” he continues, “the noodle comes out sticky. It breaks up in the pasta water. I can prove it.”

Fortunately, we’re in no danger of sticky noodles today. While D’Oto squeezes the dough, his assistant sings joyfully in the kitchen. The man, who identifies himself as “Lightning King,” stands 6’4″ tall and wears a cappello alpino — a pointy green hat with a big black feather.

“Even flow,” King sings, “thoughts arrive like butterflies. Oh he don’t know, so he chases them away. Someday yet, he’ll begin his life again …”

When the dough reaches the right consistency, it rests for 10 minutes in the fridge. Then it’s time to make noodles. D’Oto begins by slicing off a chunk and passing it through an electric pasta roller. Each time it emerges from the machine, the doughy sheet looks a bit more like a glider wing: long and slender and oval-shaped at the tips.

Justin Fox Burks

Pasta in progress

Today we’re making tortelloni — a stuffed pasta similar to ravioli — so the noodle needs to be a little thicker. To check it, D’Oto intermittently holds the doughy sheet up to the light. When it’s ready, he will be able to see the shadow of his hand. After about 20 passes, we’re good to go.

“Touch that,” D’Oto suddenly says, offering me the sheet. “It’s beautiful.”

I touch it with my fingers, and something weird happens. Soft and stretchy and lightly dusted with flour, this pasta has almost the exact texture of human skin. It gives me goose bumps and makes the little hairs on my arms stand up.

For the tortelloni, D’Oto has prepared two fillings. The first is a mixture of ricotta and Swiss chard. The second is zucca (pumpkin) with cinnamon and ground-up amaretti (ginger cookies). To make the tortelloni, he slices the pasta into squares and places a gobbet of filling in the center of each.

Then comes the cute part. D’Oto carefully folds each square around the filling and presses its edges together with the tines of a fork. To form dumplings, he wraps each one around his fourth finger, where it sits like a doughy engagement ring.

“Look,” he says, waggling his finger. “It’s like a little hat.”

Ten minutes later, the pasta is cooked, and D’Oto is pouring flutes of sparkling wine. We toast to Pearl Jam and pick up our forks.

Justin Fox Burks

Paired with a vodka cream sauce, the tortelloni with ricotta and Swiss chard is scrumptious and well-balanced. But the pumpkin may be the best pasta I’ve ever tasted. Served with the lightest possible sauce (a drizzle of olive oil, a dusting of Parmesan), it’s sharp and savory outside, sweet and gingery within. And the fresh noodles?

D’Oto says it best. They’re like a little explosion.

“It makes me think of home,” he muses, through a mouthful of pasta. “On Sunday, there is a feast, and all the family is there. Brother is there. Sister is there.

“It will cheer you up,” he continues. “It will put a smile on your face for sure.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open: Relevant Roaster, Doc’s, and Quench.

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Call it a Memphis moment. You meet someone who looks like she just stepped out of a DeLorean from the year 2025. And you’re like, how did you get here? It happened to me the other day at the new Relevant Roasters Coffee Bar.

Her name is Loma. She’s half-Asian with hipster bangs. Before she came to Relevant, she was a barista at Four Barrel Coffee in San Francisco. Before that, she pulled shots at Monmouth Coffee in London. These are among the best coffee shops in the world. So how did Loma wind up in Memphis?

Well, of course, she’s from here.

Justin Fox Burks

Loma of Relevant Roasters

“I’ve tried to move back so many times,” Loma says. “My family’s here, and I get homesick. But each time I came back, I felt like there wasn’t really a place for me.”

All that changed on her last trip home, in February of this year.

“There was a whole new energy. It just felt like things were happening, you know?”

Try Loma’s espresso, and you’ll be inclined to agree. On the day I visited, she was pulling shots of house-roasted, single-origin beans from the Sidamo region of Ethiopia. Most espresso shots just taste like coffee, but this one had a personality. It was bright and well-balanced, with floral notes at the front and citrus fruits at the back.

“That’s a really juicy shot,” says Loma, grinning as she hands me the demitasse. “It kind of sparkles on your tongue.”

Relevant owner Jimmy Lewis says he never thought he’d open a coffee shop. The founder of Squash Blossom Market got out of retail 18 years ago, and he says he wasn’t looking back. Now he’s eating those words — and they’re delicious.

“The fact is,” Lewis admits, “a coffee bar allows us to showcase the quality of our product in a way that nobody else can.”

He’s right. Coffee tastes best about three days after it’s roasted, and you just can’t get that at most coffee shops. But because Relevant sources and roasts the beans themselves, they’ve got an edge when it comes to freshness. While you’re in the shop, try the new Iced Horchata Latte. Made with horchata from La Michoacana, it just might become your go-to summer beverage.

Back in November, Memphis voters passed a referendum that will allow wine to be sold in grocery stores, beginning in July 2016. Since then, reactions have ranged from tepid excitement to outright hysteria. And the question remains: How will liquor stores fare in the face of a big, new competitor?

For an answer, turn to two new liquor stores at opposite ends of the city. They’re getting ahead by offering things that grocery stores can’t or won’t: liquor (obviously), special events, local food, and a wine selection that is simultaneously wider and more focused. So far, it seems to be working.

The first is Doc’s Wine, Spirits & More at Poplar and Kirby. Manager Ryan Gill used to line up concerts for the New Daisy, and he’s brought that skill set to his new gig. Doc’s offers live music once a month. Check their website for details. Then there’s the food: cured meats from Porcellino’s Craft Butcher and artisanal chocolates from Phillip Ashley Rix, to name just two.

How a liquor store in Germantown came to carry two of Memphis’ most prestigious craft foods, I’ll never know. But since you can, why not pair Porcellino’s Amatriciana sausage with a custom Dolcetto blend from Brutocao Cellars?

The second store is Quench Wine & Spirits, down the street from the Peabody hotel. Their big idea is so old that I think it qualifies as new: They’re a liquor store you can walk to. Add to that monthly wine tastings, local munchies, and top-shelf customer service, and you’ve got a winner.

“We’re keeping it classy,” says manager Meghan Bridges. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we’ve got chandeliers.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Kelly English takes the farmers market challenge.

CREDIT: John Klyce Minervini

It’s been a lively few years for Kelly English.

Back in 2009, he was named one of Food & Wine‘s Best New Chefs. Since then, he’s appeared in Bon Appétit, Garden & Gun, and Everyday with Rachael Ray. His flagship, Restaurant Iris, is consistently voted the best restaurant in Memphis. Now he’s opening a new Second Line in Oxford. What’s his secret?

“No secrets,” English answers, with an insouciant shrug. “Good food is good food. I just put a little salt on it.”

Which is a bit like David Copperfield saying he’s just playing around with cards — right before he pulls the ace of spades out of your ear. But here at the Flyer, we don’t take our magic on faith. So we signed English up for our Farmers Market Challenge, in which we take a chef to the farmers market and make lunch.

Today we’re headed to the Church Health Center’s tomato festival. Many people don’t know that CHC has a weekly farmers market — but they ought to. The market, at CHC’s wellness facility on Union, is convenient and well-curated, and it has the virtue of being open on Tuesday.

It also has a farm-fresh tomato festival. ‘Nuff said.

English and I start by making a run on the purple hull peas at Harris Produce. Tiny, green, and adorable, they’re practically flying off the shelf, but we manage to score a $5 bag. Next we stock up on peaches and tomatoes. Despite the heat — a blistering 93 degrees — English finds the energy to wax philosophical.

“So often, I think we try to cover up character with newness or perfection,” he reflects, holding up a blemished tomato. “And we lose a lot when we do that.”

He’s right, of course. Good tomatoes do not look like stock photos. They are ugly and delicious. These particular tomatoes — Cherokee purples from Peach World — atone for their funny shape by being rich and heartbreakingly sweet, with a bright, acid finish.

We round out our market basket with a few fresh herbs filched from the CHC Wellness garden. (Shh, don’t tell.) Then it’s back to English’s home, a one-story charmer in Memphis’ Evergreen neighborhood. We are greeted at the door by his brother, Todd, who will run the kitchen at Second Line Oxford.

So I’m dying to know — what was English like as a kid?

“I’m keeping my mouth shut,” Todd answers, “seeing as how he signs my paychecks.”

English, who has begun ostentatiously sharpening a large kitchen knife, nods his approval. Then he starts chopping. He’s dreamt up a medley of summertime produce — peaches, jalapeño, homemade ricotta, and fennel — but he can’t figure out what to call it. His working title is “peach situation.” But whatever you do, don’t call it a salsa.

“A lot of chefs don’t know what to do with fish,” English observes, “so they throw some fruit on it and call it a salsa. I’m thinking, come on. You’ve gotta try harder than that.”

After the “peach situation” is plated, English gets to work on the main event — a sauté of diced onions, purple hull peas, and Gulf shrimp. When it comes off the stove, he tosses it with mayo, Creole mustard, and lemon juice. Then he serves it with shredded basil on a bed of Cherokee purple tomatoes. Time to eat.

What’s astounding about this food is how simple it is. In all, there are about 12 ingredients. It takes about half an hour to prepare. Volume-wise, it probably wouldn’t fill a Starbucks cup. But the ingredients are so fresh, the flavors so intense, that it ends up feeling like a magic trick. David Copperfield would be proud.

While we eat, English remembers his time washing dishes in Barcelona. Back then, he was studying abroad at Ole Miss, paying his way through school by working in kitchens. Funny enough, scrubbing pots in Catalunya taught him that food wasn’t just a means to an end — it was an end in itself.

“We were working with sixth-generation farmers,” English recalls. “Farmers who were representing not just their wife and kids, but generations of their family that they’d never even met. So when they grew a bell pepper, it would have to make their great-grandfather proud. I thought that was amazing.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Okrapreneurs

CREDIT: John Klyce Minervini

It’s a sunny day in Frayser, and 16-year-old Zia Higgins is about to take her first bite of raw okra.

“It’s weird,” she says, rolling it around in her hand. “It’s kind of furry.”

She’s not wrong. The okra has a funny shape, and the fuzzy texture does not immediately scream “food.” But Higgins takes a bite anyway, and pretty soon the other girls follow suit. It’s crunchy and surprisingly sweet — and disappearing fast.

“Y’all better stop now,” Higgins warns through a mouth full of okra, “or we won’t have any left to sell.”

Higgins is one of six high school students employed at the Girls Inc. Youth Farm. Over the next year, she will be paid $7.25 per hour to build and run a sustainable food business. Naturally, that means planting, thinning, fertilizing, weeding, and trellising. But it also involves financial planning, marketing to restaurants, and selling produce at the farmers market.

The point, director Miles Tamboli says, is to raise up a generation of social entrepreneurs in North Memphis.

“Opportunities for young, black women in this city have been limited,” Tamboli observes. “I want to show them that they have the civic experience, the critical thinking skills, and the discipline they need to do whatever they want with their lives.”

Each day begins at 8 a.m., when the girls warm up with a series of yoga stretches. From there, they go on a “farm walk”: a trek around the 9.5-acre campus to see what needs doing. Today that means harvesting tomatoes, zucchini, and okra. It also means locating a treacherous hornworm that has been terrorizing the tomato plants.

While they search for the offending caterpillar, the girls sing “My Way” by rapper Fetty Wap.

They’re an inspiring bunch: energetic, hard-working, and whip-smart. But Tamboli is right. Many have not been given the opportunities they need to succeed.

“At school, they don’t care about us,” says Nikeishia Davis, a rising senior at MLK College Preparatory School. “But Mister Miles [Tamboli] cares about us. I learned more here in two months than I learn in a whole semester at school.”

The Girls Inc. Youth Farm came into being through a series of happy accidents. The first is the land, which was gifted to Girls, Inc. by the Assisi Foundation in 2003. The plan was to build a new headquarters, but the funding fell through.

The second happenstance is Tamboli himself. He graduated from Tulane with a degree in public health, then interned at an organic youth farm in New Orleans. The experience, he says, was transformative, and he dreamed of recreating it in Memphis, his hometown.

“I saw a creative solution to so many social ills,” remembers Tamboli. “It was not about pamphlets or awareness campaigns. It was about producing something real. Growing food with young people has an impact on so many different parts of their lives.”

Back in Frayser, Destiny Woody has spotted the hornworm. It’s three inches long and plump, about the size of a middle finger, but it’s nearly impossible to spot, on account of being the exact same shade of green as the tomato plants. At Tamboli’s urging, Woody snips it in half with a pair of garden shears, and a bunch of green goop squirts out. “Ew!” the farmers scream.

Over the next five years, Tamboli says he wants to make Girls Inc. Youth Farm self-sustaining. In the long run, he’d also like to sell 80 percent of his produce within Frayser.

“We want to feed everybody,” he says. “Not just 20,000 Midtowners who will pay $5 for a pound of tomatoes.”

It isn’t going to be easy. Transforming this land, which lay fallow for 20 years, will involve countless hours of hard work in scorching heat. It also means working side-by-side with millions of insects, including 500,000 honeybees from the farm’s nine hives.

But the biggest transformation here isn’t agricultural — it’s in the lives of these young women. Having been planted and watered, they are now beginning to bloom.

“I’m out there at the farmers market, stocking, doing inventory,” Nikeishia Davis says. “And I’m thinking, one day, I’m gonna be my own boss.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open: Blue Nile and Manila Restaurant

Since moving to Memphis from Ethiopia at age 16, Ermyias Shiberou has worn a lot of hats. He’s been a DJ, a cab driver, and a pizza delivery boy. He’s fixed houses, welded, and landscaped. But he says that all along, his true passion was for food.

“For me, this is soul food,” reflects Shiberou, chef and owner at the new Blue Nile Ethiopian Kitchen. “When I taste that lamb stew, it takes me right back to my childhood in Addis Ababa.”

How’s that for a recommendation? Sure enough, when I try the Yebeg Wat (lamb stew, $12), I feel as though I’m being transported to the spice market in Addis Ababa. The heady smells, the colorful fabrics — and heck, I’ve never been there. One tip: Order the spicy version of this dish, which blossoms with the heat.

Blue Nile opened last month, but Shiberou’s hardly new to this game. For three years, he’s been serving up top-notch kebabs from his food truck, Stickem.

What might come as a surprise to anyone acquainted with those kebabs is Shiberou’s facility with vegetables. Stickem is all about grilled fauna, but Blue Nile broadens its palate to include several scrumptious flora. (Bonus: Because Ethiopians don’t really mess around with dairy, all the vegetarian dishes also happen to be vegan.)

Take the Shiro Wat (chickpea stew, $9) — warming and savory and fragrant with Silk Road spices. You scoop up a bite with the spongy sourdough flatbread called injera — which is fun, it’s kind of like finger painting. But don’t worry: If you’d rather operate with a fork and knife, Blue Nile has those too.

Don’t leave without trying the Red Snapper ($15). The preparation of this dish is devastatingly simple: panfried and dressed with olive oil and lime. When it arrives at table, it looks like something prehistoric: a dinosaur fish, mouth gaping, eyes bugging. But — when I tasted it, at least — it was right up there with the best fish in the city.

Blue Nile Ethiopian Kitchen, 1788 Madison, 474-7214

facebook.com/BlueNile901

What’s in Millington?

It’s a question many have asked, but few have dared to answer. Turns out, there’s a navy base and a winery. There’s a farmers market, an orchard, and a goat festival. And now, there’s an authentic Filipino restaurant.

Yes, really. MANILA Filipino Restaurant is just off Navy Road, behind the Taco Bell. And if you can get past the irony of driving past ersatz tacos to reach authentic Filipino home cooking, it’s well worth the trip.

MANILA was started by four energetic Filipina women — Ruby, Rannie, Charrie, and Aida — whose husbands were stationed at the navy base. They missed Filipino cooking, and they noticed that there was almost none to be had in Memphis. So on March 10th, they jumped into the breach.

“I’ve been cooking since age 7,” says co-owner Ruby Guevara. “I would chop the tomatoes and peel the garlic. So it seemed like the natural thing to do.”

What’s fascinating about Filipino cuisine is the huge number of influences it displays. At various times, this small cluster of Pacific islands has traded with or been colonized by Malaysia, Spain, China, and America, and you can taste each of those countries in the cuisine.

Take the Lumpia ($5.99) — a crowd favorite at MANILA. These pastries have a crunchy crust like an egg roll, but they’re stuffed with ground beef and vegetables like an empanada. At MANILA, they’re served with a sweet-and-sour dipping sauce, but I say skip the sauce; they’re tasty enough without. Also recommended: the Tapsilog ($6.99), a breakfast dish of salty marinated beef, fried egg, and rice.

“We’re like IHOP,” observes Guevara. “We serve breakfast all day.”

Oh and hey, before I go, can I tell you about your new favorite dessert? It’s called Halo-halo ($4.99). Overflowing with ice cream, frosted flakes, and Filipino rice crispies, it looks like a sundae — but you don’t eat it like a sundae. Instead, you stir it up and eat it like breakfast cereal. I will close with a partial list of ingredients in this magnificent concoction:

Red beans. White beans. Sweet potato. Banana. Palm fruit. Coconut gel. Purple yams. Coconut strings. Vanilla ice cream. Frosted Flakes. Filipino rice crispies. Jackfruit. Leche flan. Tapioca pearls. Shaved ice. Milk. Sugar. Cherry.

MANILA Filipino Restaurant, 7849 Rockford, Millington, 209-8525

manila-restaurant.com

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open: Agave Maria and Tamp & Tap Triad.

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

As chefs go, Russell Casey may be one of the most undervalued properties in the city. Since 2013, he’s been turning out top-notch pub grub at Local. Then, earlier this year, he started beating other area chefs to win cooking contests — first place for his bouillabaisse in February, second place for his ceviche in June.

All this from a guy who never went to culinary school.

“I started in kitchens when I was 14 years old,” remembers Casey, now 35. “And I’ve been doing it ever since. I think the best school you can get is working for good chefs.”

Now Casey is bringing his culinary brio to the menu at Agave Maria. It’s a new Mexican restaurant near the corner of Union and Front, in the old Pa Pa Pia’s space. And, folks, it’s a winner. The combination of chic design and can’t-put-it-down cuisine make it the kind of place that will quickly earn a spot on your regular restaurant rotation.

Justin Fox Burks

the Seared Sea Scallops

Take the Enchilada Tinga ($11). Taste a little different? Well it should. The mole is built from a base of toasted pumpkin seeds and soy sauce. It’s the kind of flavor profile you’d never associate with Mexican food — until now. Rich and tangy, loaded with lime, chili paste, and shredded chicken, it’s a dish you’ll have to guard from fellow diners. Also recommended: the Seared Sea Scallops ($15) and the Salmon Sashimi Tostada ($12.50).

Justin Fox Burks

bottles of tequila

Agave Maria’s other great virtue is its bar, which boasts the largest selection of tequila (100-plus varieties) in the city. To toast the warm weather, owner Jeff Johnson and I raised a snifter of Casa Noble Añejo ($15). Grown in the Mexican lowlands and aged in oak barrels, it was silky smooth with notes of butterscotch and pear.

“Of course, we’re not above taking shots here,” says Johnson, swirling the tequila in his snifter. “But if you want to, this is a place where you can come to learn and savor.”

Johnson adds that he has plans for tequila pairing dinners and a tequila loyalty program.

Of course, the food tastes better for being served in such stylish surroundings. The interior — olive green with fuchsia accents — is by Graham Reese, whose inspiration was “Tijuana chic.” In practice, that means tufted leather, jewel-tone pendant lamps, and, of course, an enormous taxidermied bull. La Furia (“The Fury”) is said to have killed two matadors and injured 12 more between 1999 and 2001.

Tamp & Tap Triad inhabits the kind of sleek, industrial space you’d expect to find in downtown Chicago. For a color palette, think Oreo cookie: black and white with just a few pops of color. There’s even an egg-shaped meeting pod, walled off from the main dining area by a translucent, white curtain.

Pretty cool, right? Only it’s not in Chicago. It’s not even downtown. Tamp & Tap Triad is in East Memphis, near Poplar and I-240.

When you think about it, it fits. East Memphis has been crying out for good coffee — as far as I can tell, there’s nothing “craft” east of the interstate — and manager Maggie Swett says bringing artisanal third-wave coffee to an untapped market is a big part of her mission.

“There’s so much energy behind this cup,” Swett enthuses. “We’re talking about fair-trade beans from a single origin, and they don’t get roasted until I order them.”

Tamp & Tap Triad — an offshoot of the original Tamp & Tap downtown — sources all its beans through Metropolis Coffee in Chicago. The shot I tasted, a Redline espresso, was spicy and well-constructed. Although its license is still pending, the shop plans to offer beer and a light lunch, as well as wine, which the other location does not have.

“When I joined the project,” Swett remembers, “they didn’t have a woman on board. I told them, when I wind down after work, I want a glass of wine.”

As for the food, it’s perfect for a business lunch. I especially liked the Stanley Sandwich ($10.50), stacked with smoked turkey, fontina cheese, candied bacon, pickled red onion, and roasted artichoke aioli. The brioche, which is baked in-house, seals the deal.