Author: Lesley Young

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Two new food trucks, two food truck festivals

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

And the council declared, “Let there be food trucks in Memphis,” and so there were. Lots and lots of food trucks. At least four dozen, as a matter of fact, with the list tirelessly expanding. Two new food trucks have caught the eyes of Memphians as of late, with a flurry of Facebook posts and tweets and Instagramming broadcasting where to find them and what’s good.

JoyRide and RAWK’n Grub have joined the ranks of the food truck experience, and just in time for two upcoming food truck festivals — the Great River Indoor Food Truck Festival and Marketplace, this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Cook Convention Center, and the Midsouth Food Truck Festival on Saturday, May 7th at Tiger Lane.

Justin Fox Burks

Lunch on the run ­— new food trucks JoyRide (above) and RAWK’n Grub

Justin Fox Burks

JoyRide, owned by Joy Padilla-Anderson, of Memphis, hit the streets less than a month ago, serving up authentic Cuban sandwiches and Latin eats.

Fried plantains ($3), chicken, beef, veggie, or dessert empanadas ($5-$6), yucca ($5), and papa rellenas, or stuffed potatoes, Padilla-Anderson is doing what she knows.

“I moved to Memphis nine years ago from Tampa Bay. I grew up in the restaurant business with my grandmother, and she taught me all her great recipes,” Padilla-Anderson says.

She’s worked in the local restaurant scene for most of her tenure here, including the Cove and Chiwawa, until one day she took a leap.

“I just raised my hands to my higher power and said, ‘Open the next door,'” she says.

Three hours later her father-in-law called.

“He said he had a food truck for me,” she says. “I had no idea this was what I was going to be doing. I always planned on opening a restaurant by the time I was 40,” Padilla-Anderson says.

She’s 41.

In addition to the catering she’s been called in for, Padilla-Anderson sets up on Tuesdays at Audubon Park from around 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and at the same time in Court Square on Thursdays.

She has a presence on all the usual suspects — joyridememphis.com, facebook.com/joyridememphis901, and @joyridememphis.

“It’s been great. I’ve put myself out there, and people love the food,” she says.

Steph Cook is finally following his dream of running a food truck. This winter he launched RAWK’n Grub, which presents gastro-pub food using raw, local ingredients with rock-and-roll-themed handles.

“We play with comfort food and put a rockstar spin on it,” Cook says.

His No. 1 seller are his C.C. Sliders, made with ground beef chuck, which Cook grinds himself, sirloin brisket, chorizo, and applewood smoked bacon topped with tomato chutney and chipotle aioli ($8.50).

Or his Cheesy Like Sunday Morning, his version of the old standby, grilled cheese, which is layers of smoked gouda pimiento and cheese and fontina grilled on thick-cut wheatberry bread ($7.50).

Cook is not new on the Memphis food scene either, opening Memphis MoJo Cafe in Bartlett as well as cooking at eighty3 in the Madison and Hog & Hominy.

He’s been spotted at the Ridgeway Loop, the Baptist Memorial Hospital campus, St. Jude, and other locations, changing it up to keep people interested.

He lists his weekly schedule on his website, rawkngrub.com, or on Facebook, facebook.com/RAWKn-Grub-Food-Truck, and hopes to go 24 hours.

“We’ve been catching a lot of traction. We’ve had good responses on Facebook, and we just started getting on Yelp,” he says. “I love it. I’m having a blast.”

The Great River Indoor Food Truck Festival and Marketplace happens this Saturday in the Memphis Cook Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Look for more than 14 food trucks, a beer garden featuring local brews, live music by eight local performers, and local vendors. Tickets are $5, which goes toward the Hospitality Hub. For more information, visit the Great River Indoor Food Truck Festival and Marketplace Facebook page or go to www.ticketoven.com/foodtruckfestival for tickets.

For more information about the Midsouth Food Truck Festival in May, go to http://www.midsouthfoodtruckfest.com. Admission is $5, $2 for kids ages 5 to 12.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

International Flavor

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

César González is offering something broad yet very specific through his new restaurant endeavor Sabor Caribe.

Translated, Sabor Caribe means Caribbean flavors, and being from Venezuela, González knows the specialty well. He knows Venezuelan flavors and Cuban flavors and Colombian flavors and Dominican Republic and Puerto Rican, and he can point to any number of items on his new menu that are particular to these areas.

Take his patacones ($9), sandwiches that substitute fried plantains for bread and are filled with chicken, beef, or pork and dressed with coleslaw and a special homemade sauce. He brought that with him from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

“Memphis doesn’t have anything with this specific cuisine,” González says. “There’s a Cuban restaurant, but nobody in town is doing Venezuelan and Colombian and Cuban together.”

His cachapas ($10) made the journey from Colombia and are presented as cornmeal pancakes filled with beef, chicken, pork, or white cheese.

The quesillo dessert ($2.50) came straight out of his grandmother’s kitchen. Similar to Mexican flan, the egg and sweet-milk dish is cooked for three hours al baño de María, a double-pan cooking method.

González is not new to the restaurant world. He has two restaurants in Venezuela, one a bakery/deli, and a year ago he kicked off two food trucks by the same name, Sabor Caribe.

“The restaurant is different from the food trucks. I don’t have the specific grill I need for some of the dishes in my food trucks, so they don’t have all the entrees or the sandwiches,” he says.

González got the idea for a restaurant in his new hometown — he’s been in Memphis for more than seven years — after he received a phone call from the Polanias, who owned Arepa and Salsa.

“I’m friends with the owners of Arepa and Salsa, and when they decided to leave, he called me and asked me if I wanted to take the location,” González says. “I thought it was a good idea.”

He’s changed up the interior a bit, adding new booths, painting, adding a gallery wall which will lead into a new bar on the west side of the building where, once open and he has his beer and liquor license, he plans on having Caribbean music and a place to watch boxing matches or football (the Caribbean kind) on the big screen.

“I love this area. They’ve been very welcoming, and it’s very diverse. That’s the reason I wanted to be here,” he says.

And yes, there are arepas, lots of arepas.

Sabor Caribe is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The name Sheba is synonymous with mystery and power. She is thought to be the queen of Ethiopia, the mother of King Solomon’s son, Menelik, and associated with the possession of the Ark of the Covenant.

Under her rulership fell the region of Shaba, which is now known as Yemen.

When Yemeni gas station entrepreneur Kallead Isa was approached about opening a restaurant in Memphis, the name for it came easy to him.

“She controlled the whole region,” Isa says. “People know, when you see her name it refers back to the Middle East, especially Ethiopia and Yemen.”

On February 1st, Isa opened Queen of Sheba, his first restaurant and the only one of its kind in the Mid-South.

Located in the old Edo Japanese Restaurant at 4792 Summer, Queen of Sheba specializes in Yemeni cuisine, something Isa found lacking in Memphis.

“A lot of Yemenis and people in the Arabic community were asking about Middle Eastern food, particularly Yemeni food. You can’t find it anywhere,” Isa says.

Justin Fox Burks

lamb haneeth

Inside the doors of the site between Charlie’s Meat Market and the Jerusalem Market and Restaurant, Yemeni food devotees can find lamb haneeth ($15.99/$10.99), seasoned lamb; saltah ($7.99), a stew featuring cooked vegetables, topped with helbeh, or whipped fenugreek, and considered the national dish of Yemen; fahsah ($9.99), similar to saltah but with shredded beef, served with handmade, fresh-baked flatbread.

Justin Fox Burks

“You have to eat the saltah when it’s hot, like a volcano,” Saleh Nasher, one of the cooks, says.

A peek inside the kitchen finds a goat’s head and a tandoor oven, a traditional Middle Eastern oven that insulates and concentrates heat inside a cylindrical container.

Hummus ($4.99), black tea with cardamom and clove, and ma’soob ($9.99), or bananas and ground flatbread with cream, nuts, honey, and raisins, it’s all there.

As of now, Isa and team are still working on the interior. They plan on leaving the booths familiar to Edo regulars but adding decor including images depicting Sheba as well as Yemeni architecture and other regional references.

Isa’s idea also came from a phone call.

“A friend of mine gave me the phone number of the previous owners (of Edo), and I came by and talked to them, and they told me that if I have an idea to do something different, I could have this place,” Isa says.

Queen of Sheba is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Scoops Parlor and MBRW

My coworker and I decided to check out Scoops Parlor during Memphis Black Restaurant Week. So did a lot of people.

The creamery/creperie is located inside the old Rizzo’s Diner spot at 106 G.E. Patterson in the historic South Main district. With only a handful of tables, it was easily packed to the gills for lunch.

We both opted for the MBRW two-course lunch special for $15, wherein we could choose either an appetizer/entree combo or an entree/dessert combo. We were both on good behavior and went with the appetizer/entree combo, each choosing the Mushroom Asparagus Crepe, which came with Buttery Sweet Potato Mash, and a Scoops House Salad with Ranch dressing. The dessert options they offered included either the Apple Cinnamon Crepe or the Strawberry Lemonade Cake with a scoop of Vanilla Bean Gelato, and we could have had a Scoop o’ Cheddar Broccoli Soup for the app or the Pulled Pork Crepe with Homestyle Slaw. Sometimes you just have to be low-key.

The crepe was delicious. The pancake was cooked to the right consistency, fluffy yet thin yet a little firm, and the mushroom, asparagus, and cheese filling was just what I was looking for. Their regular menu comes with various drizzling choices, and the chef chose a butter sauce to dribble on the mushroom and asparagus crepe. With the sweet potato mash, who really needed dessert. 

Memphis Black Restaurant Week ran March 7-13th and was created by Cynthia Daniels in an effort to create awareness of and support minority-owned restaurants in Memphis. Other participating restaurants included DeJaVu (we ran into Chef Gary at Scoops) at 51 S. Main, Evergreen Grill at 6661 Winchester, the HM Dessert Lounge at 1586 Madison, the Bistro at 2945 Millbranch, Onix at 412 S. Main, the Office @ Uptown at 594 N. Second, and Mot & Ed’s at 1354 Madison. 

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Changes Coming to Agave Maria and Second Line

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Jeff Johnson has a hard time sitting still.

In 2010, he opened Local Gastropub in the old Sauces restaurant space downtown. Two years later, he expanded the concept to Overton Square. In 2014, he introduced a burger bar with an Asian twist in the form of Oshi Burger Bar on Main, and last year, Agave Maria opened its doors, offering Mexican-style dishes in an enchanting setting downtown.

Also in there are his recent event and pop-up restaurant space the Green Room on Overton Park, the Lousiana-style food truck Parish Grocery, forming the consulting group RFJ Concepts, assisting other restaurateurs with menu designs, traveling, and other stuff.

Recently Johnson sunk his teeth back into Agave Maria, and this week the industrious restaurateur launched a new menu at the establishment on Union.

“It’s exciting the direction we’re going back to,” Johnson said at the Brown Burch-prepared fund-raiser for Best Buddies hosted at Agave March 1st.

The direction is east, as in Vietnamese and Thai, while maintaining the Latin American base.

“We’re getting away from heavy Mexican and going for more of a fusion idea while still pulling from Latin American influences,” Johnson says.

He plans on keeping the crowd-pleasers, including his tacos, tortas, and the very popular build-your-own burritos, but patrons can plan on dining on Pork Belly Confit in soy barbecue broth with black bean puree, radish salad, and chili oil ($9) or Seared Tuna Tataki with chili lime salt, crisp garlic, radish jalapeño, ponzu, and cilantro oil ($12).

He’s most excited about offering small plates for sharing.

“When I go out to eat, the best part is being able to share things. With three people, rather than having three entrees, you order a bunch of food and share it,” he says. “How many bites do you need to say you tried something?”

There will be a few changes to the interior, replacing sconces, adding bar stools to the window to create a patio feel, and, of course, some new saints.

“We might have to retire one of our saints,” he says of the prayer candle-inspired poster and candle designs honoring Memphis saints such as Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and B.B. King.

He’s launching an online store to purchase said merch, along with several other items from his various projects.

“My intent is to be an awesome restaurant first with amazing dishes made with fantastic ingredients that you don’t see that often,” he says.

“I travel quite a bit. I have a thirst for knowledge, and I want to offer something fun and exciting.”

Agave Maria, 83 Union, 341-2096

agavemariacantina.com

Kelly English spins a lot of plates. Has his fingers in a lot of pies. Wears a lot of toques. You get the idea.

There’s his repeat award-winning Restaurant Iris, its more casual counterpart the Second Line next door, Magnolia House on the Gulf Coast, and, most recently, a second Second Line in the town of his alma mater, Oxford, Miss.

This Friday, English will fulfill a long-time dream of his — to offer casual New Orleans dining for lunch at the Memphis Second Line location.

“When I opened the Second Line, one of the things I really wanted to do was to present outside of New Orleans what you can get every day at your average casual restaurant in New Orleans,” English says. “I’ve been thinking about that for years.”

The O.G. devotees of this world can now have a roast beef gravy and French fries po’boy before 5 p.m. In fact, they can have one between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. on the weekends, and 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. on school nights.

English will first offer his menu for lunch Friday, March 11th and Friday, March 18th, then officially open for lunch every day on Friday, March 25th.

“I think the Second Line screams lunch,” English says.

The Oxford site has offered lunch since it launched in August, another dream from way back fulfilled.

“I’m an Ole Miss boy. That’s what brought me here,” English, a Louisiana native and 2001 graduate of the University of Mississippi, says. “Getting to open a Second Line there has been so cool for me personally. It’s great to be able to go down there and be a part of that community like I’m a part of this community.”

English plans on offering lunch specials; a $10 po’boy special, which includes half a po’boy — either the O.G., the Fried Mississippi Catfish, or the Verno (chicken) — a grocery (side), and a soft drink, tax included; cups of gumbo; and red beans and rice.

“The restaurant I grew up in [R & O’s] inspired what the Second Line is. It’s my baseline. It’s just really good casual New Orleans dining. It started in my eyes there,” he says. “I’m really excited about us doing this. One of my favorite things about the Second Line is showing people what an everyday restaurant in New Orleans is, without any pretense and not putting a spin on anything. The Second Line says a lot about who I am.”

The Second Line, 2144 Monroe,

590-2829, secondlinememphis.com

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Do it: Memphis Black Restaurant Week and Bacon & Bourbon

Each November Cynthia Daniels doesn’t just look forward to Memphis Downtown Dining Week — she has a game plan.

“My friends and I go every day. We have a strategy. We save our money. We do the whole nine yards,” Daniels, public relations coordinator for the Workforce Investment Network, says.

At the same time, the Atlanta native has a strong appreciation for the sense of community her new hometown of Memphis practices, and she wanted to get in the middle of it. So she came up with the idea of developing a dining week for minority-owned restaurants and has dubbed it Memphis Black Restaurant Week.

“There wasn’t a place to go and get the numbers, but African-American-owned restaurants are few and far between,” Daniels says. “I thought why not bring some awareness to those restaurants and get people spending money there. A lot of people don’t know who they are.”

The first annual Memphis Black Restaurant Week will run March 7th through 13th.

Eight local African-American-owned restaurants are participating.

Terrance Callicutt and QuaSheba Jones-Callicutt

They include: Scoops Parlor at 106 E. G.E. Patterson; the HM Dessert Lounge at 1586 Madison; DeJaVu at 51 S. Main; Onix at 412 S. Main; Evergreen Grill at 300 S. Main; Mot & Ed’s at 1354 Madison; the Bistro at 2945 Millbranch; and the Office @ Uptown at 594 N. Second.

“I focused on Midtown and downtown because of easy access,” Daniels says.

She tried to mix it up cuisine-wise to keep the African-American restaurant scene from seeming boxed-in.

“I didn’t want it to necessarily be soul food, because that’s what it’s generally known for,” Daniels says.

Sweet and savory servings from Scoops Parlor

Scoops specializes in savory and sweet crepes and gelato, and the HM Dessert Lounge offers unique savory cupcakes as well as desserts such as key lime cheesecake.

Each restaurant will offer a specialized menu of two-course lunch specials for $15 and a three-course dinner for $25.

“I wanted to keep it as easy as possible,” Daniels says.

Daniels, who has worked in the world of fund-raising, conference planning, and event planning, found it impossible to resist the community spirit of Memphis.

“I’m from Atlanta, and I moved to Memphis in 2009. This is a culture that supports local business, and I volunteer for a lot of different organizations, so I bought into the culture here immediately,” she says.

She says she sees MBRW as an annual event and hopes to grow it each year and let it do the work she set out for it to do.

“We have a committee, and we’ll be collecting data from the week, looking at the numbers and how much spending power it has brought. Then we will take that data and make it bigger and better going into the next year,” she says.

“It makes me feel good to be able to create a week that brings attention to these restaurants and hopefully get them some new customers.”

For a list of restaurants, their locations, and the menus, visit blackrestaurantweek.com.

BACON & BOURBON FEST

Peas and carrots. Chocolate and peanut butter. Coffee and cigarettes. Some things are just made for each other.

Take bourbon. While bourbon goes with a lot of things — water, Coke, mint, ice — the “it” food bacon probably takes home the gold when it comes to what best to pair with the oak-barrel-aged corn liquor.

The Flyer took one for the team and labored through a cumbersome amount of research, came to the same conclusion, and wanted to offer to its readership the same divinely inspired coupling while serving a good cause.

On Saturday, April 16th, the first Bacon & Bourbon event will take place downtown at the Memphis Farmers Market at Central Station, located at the corner of S. Main and G.E. Patterson.

“They just go so well together,” event planner Jackie Sparks-Davila says.

For just $35, bourbon enthusiasts, or pork enthusiasts, or some combination of the two, will receive a sampling card with 10 bottles marked on it.

Bourbon reps from all over the country will be stationed throughout the market to keep the alcohol flowing and talk about their product, while 20 local restaurants will serve up pork-inspired dishes and show off their bacon expertise.

Confirmed restaurants so far include: Central BBQ, Celtic Crossing, the Brass Door, Bardog, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, Paradox Catering, IPOP Gourmet Popcorn, Ray’z World Famous Dr. Barbecue, and Broadway Pizza.

Attendees will be able to sample as many of the bacon dishes as they can stand, and if after 10 shots of whiskey, the party just ain’t over, there will be a cash bar with alcohol available for purchase.

Papa Tops West Coast Turnaround will provide their usual bourbon-infused ballads and such, and if bacon is bourbon’s soul mate, its mistress will be lurking somewhere on the premises, as there will also be a cigar-rolling station.

Bacon & Bourbon is presented by The Memphis Flyer, Roadshow BMW, Miss Cordelia’s, and Southland Park Gaming and Racing, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Memphis Farmers Market.

The event is 21-and-up only, and ticket prices will increase closer to the event.

“We do expect to sell out. Tickets are limited,” Sparks-Davila says.

For more information and to purchase tickets, go to memphisbaconandbourbon.com.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open: LYFE Kitchen on South Main

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

LYFE Kitchen is now inviting downtown residents and visitors to Love Your Food Everyday inside the recently restored 1913 Chisca building, located at 272 S. Main.

“The Chisca is a fantastic downtown landmark, and it’s the perfect location to put a LYFE Kitchen,” LYFE senior brand manager Robert Griffin says. “We are serving a niche, but we also see ourselves as blending right in.”

The niche they fill is to offer appetizing food that happens to be good for you. They strive to serve as much locally sourced food as possible as well as use as many organically grown items as they can. And there are no processed foods, no white flour, no white sugar, no GMOs, no butter, no cream, no fryers, and no microwaves.

“We focus on delicious food that’s accessible to anybody,” Griffin says. “We focus on it being delicious so you will want to eat it every day.”

Justin Fox Burks

All flatbreads are naturally gluten-free.

The national corporation, which operates 19 other locations in six states, first set up shop in Memphis in August of last year at 6201 Poplar near I-240 after the Memphis-based, real estate development and franchise company Carlisle Corporation purchased a majority of the company and moved its headquarters to the Bluff City.

The new downtown location is similar but different to its East Memphis counterpart.

Most menu items are the same across the board at all locations, however the Chisca Kitchen does not serve breakfast, as of yet, but it does offer brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

Each LYFE Kitchen pays attention to its neighborhood’s identity, so the Chisca location’s decor is unique because its mothership is unique.

The Chisca opened as a hotel in 1913 as an accommodation for middle class clients. It became the site for DJ Daddy-O Dewey Phillips’ radio show “Red, Hot and Blue,” which first brought Elvis to the masses by playing his hit “That’s All Right” on the radio for the first time. It became the national headquarters for the Church of God in Christ, and then fell into disrepair in the ’80s.

After threats of tearing it down, locals rallied to preserve it and its history until Main Street Apartment Partners LLC purchased the building in 2013 and partnered with the Carlisle group to restore it.

Upon completion, it will house 150 apartments, a parking garage, and another Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman baby they’ll be calling Catherine & Mary’s.

Perhaps the most significant feature to the Chisca LYFE Kitchen is its patio, which, when it opens, hopefully during March Madness, weather permitting, will offer a unique dining experience right on S. Main.

“I can’t wait until spring. People will be clamoring to come see us,” Griffin says.

He says their No. 1 best-seller is the Mahi Tacos ($10 for two), hands-down, even with the most elite of connoisseurs.

“We have six locations in L.A., and they’re used to authentic Southern California fish tacos. They love it,” Griffin says. “Mahi is known as a good cut of fish, and our salsa is homemade.”

They pride themselves on their accessibility to anyone, particularly those with dietary restrictions, so they offer several gluten-free items and vegan choices.

“All of our flatbreads are naturally gluten-free, and we offer tofu as a protein add-on,” Griffin says. “We want anybody to be able to come in and enjoy a meal with their family, whether they are gluten-free by choice or necessity.”

Even their desserts are healthy and delicious.

The food is described as fast fine, with all items served on china, and every item on the menu is less than 600 calories and has less than 1,000 milligrams of sodium. Dishes range anywhere from $6 for a flatbread to $14. They have burgers and Unfried Chicken and wraps and quinoa.

They also have a bar.

“We have a full bar that’s perfect before a Grizzlies game or a Tigers game. We’ll be a great stop for the Trolley Tour nights. We will have happy hour,” Griffin says. “It all plays perfectly with downtown. Our presence downtown fits right in with the cool vibe going on on S. Main.”

“We’re excited. We’ve had a great response already,” Griffin says.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

A New Day for Newby’s

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Larry Thompson knows how to throw a party.

In fact, he’s so good at it that his neighbor asked him to come bartend for him, and for two and a half years, Thompson helped keep the party rolling at his neighborhood bar, Newby’s.

Life went on for Thompson. He graduated from the University of Memphis, moved to Boulder, Colorado, and opened his own business, a hot wing delivery place, South Mouth Wings, that stayed open until 3 a.m. and raked in the dough.

In the meantime, Newby’s closed on November 19, 2014 — a dismal day for his former neighbor, Todd Adams, and the numerous Newby’s devotees, until Thompson got word that he might could help bring Newby’s back to life.

By August he had sold his hot wing business and was back in Memphis.

After several months of moving bathrooms, opening up alleyways, installing garage doors, and landscaping, Newby’s is back on the University District map and has a whole new outlook (and much of the same heart).

Justin Fox Burks

Larry Thompson is keeping the party going at Newby’s.

“We tried to give it a facelift while doing as much as we could to keep it the same,” Thompson, 29, says.

Perhaps most importantly, the bathrooms are no longer in an alleyway.

“Girls don’t care about how cold your beer is. They want to know what the bathroom is like,” Thompson says.

The brand-new bathrooms are now conveniently situated in the southwest corner of the establishment.

Thompson installed an entirely new kitchen, one expanded further back with a walk-in cooler, new ventilation, and a keen pizza oven.

“I have a super pizza oven. It cooks the pizzas so fast. I’m in love with our pizzas,” Thompson says.

Much of the menu is the same with a few enhancements and some fine-tuning.

“It’s bar food with a twist,” Thompson says. “We’re really more aiming for speed.”

They still offer their Ribeye Sandwich but with blue cheese butter and horseradish mayo on a brioche roll. The Triple Bypass made the cut, with eight ounces of Angus burger, ham, turkey, bacon, Swiss, cheddar, and a fried egg. And it wouldn’t be Newby’s without the MCS, the chicken breast marinated in the Newby’s secret sauce (which if, as stated on the menu, you “ask nicely, [they’ll] probably tell you”. Oh, and you can find Willy’s Chili too.

Thompson brought in Jeff Johnson, of Local, Agave Maria, and Oshi Burger acclaim, to consult with him on the menu and to help train his staff, which numbers close to 35, and just figure the ins and outs of the new Newby’s.

“I worked at Newby’s for about nine years. I trained Larry. When he opened his business in Boulder, I went out there to help him open,” Johnson says. “I’ve helped him train his kitchen staff, work up the menu, and with cost analysis.”

As far as the menu goes, they wanted to honor the 40-year-old institution that Newby’s became.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel. We wanted to go back and pay homage to the old menu, but we shaped it up and made it a little nicer. It’s good food items with great ingredients done well. We use fresh ingredients, and hand-cut and hand-bread our chicken tenders and portobello fries. It’s fun, quick, and easy bar food with quality ingredients.”

“I wanted to surround myself with the best of the best on my team,” Thompson says.

Other changes include moving the back patio indoors to the front of the building where Thompson installed a garage door, which he opens seasonally; a media wall with four large, flat-screen TVs; and the latest in serving draft beer, the Bottoms Up Beer Dispensing System, where beer is poured by fitting a plastic cup with a hole in the bottom onto the dispenser and then is held in place with a magnet.

“There is no waste, and it’s fast,” Thompson says.

Thompson says he’s happy to be a part of the Highland Strip renaissance taking place in his old stomping grounds, and welcomes all the activity.

“We’ll be getting a steak restaurant, and with Loeb buying all of this property and fixing it up, it’s going to be like Overton Square.

“November 19, 2014, was a horrible day. It was like a funeral. There was so much love for this place. I had the opportunity to come in and save it, so I’m going to do as much as I can to keep it the ‘college bar you never graduate from,'” Thompson says.

Newby’s hours are 11 a.m. to 3 a.m.

Newby’s, 539 Highland, 730-0520

newbysbar.com

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Mardi Gras in Memphis

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

The first American Mardi Gras was celebrated in 1703 in what is now Mobile. The first krewe was the Masque de la Mobile. By 1718, New Orleans was a thing, and by the ’30s (the 1730s), they were doing Mardi Gras too. With a vengeance. In 1875, Louisiana Governor Henry Warmoth signed the Mardi Gras Act, designating Fat Tuesday as a legal holiday.

Somewhere in there the first pot of gumbo was made, and by the Great Depression, the Martin brothers threw some potatoes and roast beef gravy on French bread, and the first po’boys were served to New Orleans streetcar workers on strike.

Just as much as New Orleans is le centre Americain for all things Mardi Gras, its identity is also inseparable from its distinct cuisine.

Mardi Gras is just around the corner — Mardi, February 9th — and area restaurants are offering some traditional New Orleans dishes and signature drinks to save you the six- (or five or four-) hour trip. (And running around like an amateur.)

Chef Kelly English is synonymous with Louisiana in these parts — he’s a native — and if Mardi Gras means traditional New Orleans cuisine, it’s a party all year-round at his restaurant the Second Line. His menu of po’boys, including the O.G., short for original gangsta, short for the Martin brothers concoction of French fries and gravy; chicken and andouille gumbo; and barbecue shrimp will make you think you need to cross the neutral ground to go make some groceries.

For the big holiday, English will be offering drink specials as well as a bread pudding baby lottery, meaning one dish of bread pudding will have a king cake baby, and the lucky diner will receive dinner for two.

The Second Line, 2144 Monroe, 590-2829

Justin Fox Burks

Owen Brennan’s

Owen Brennan’s was one of Memphis’ original New Orleans ambassadors, taking home Best of trophies year after year. They’ll be Mardi Gras-ing it up this year with a celebratory menu of $5 small plates and drink specials. Their holiday menu will offer crawfish beignets with crawfish tails, andouille sausage, and tasso ham fried in a beignet and served with sriracha tartar sauce; Cajun calamari served with agrodolce and remoulade sauces; king cake; hurricanes; Mardi Gras Ritas; and Mardi Gras Mosas. They’ll also turn it up a notch with jazz music and a bead throw from the indoor balcony.

Owen Brennan’s Restaurant, 6150 Poplar, 761-0990

Lafayette’s is the new old kid on the block. After 38 years of shuttered windows, the Midtown music fixture reopened with a balcony that models those characteristic of the Big Easy. This week, from Monday, February 8th through Saturday, February 13th, chef Jody Moyt will serve up Carnival food specials such as red beans and rice for $4 a cup; muffalettas for $12 served on authentic Gambino bread shipped in from NOLA with mortadella, salami, homemade olive relish, and roasted red peppers; and king cake, either by the slice or whole — yes, the whole ones will have babies. “We’re the Mardi Gras spot in Overton Square. We’ve got the double-decker balcony out front and a mezzanine inside. We’ll have a horn band that will get a train going through the restaurant. It will be a big party. We’ll be as close to Mardi Gras as you can get without going down South,” Moyt says.

Lafayette’s Music Room, 2119 Madison, 207-5097

Chef Max Hussey at eighty3 Food & Drink at the Madison Hotel downtown says he loves Cajun cuisine and has been recognized with several awards for his gumbo. The New Orleans cuisine enthusiast added a Mardi Gras special to his menu for a limited time. For $15, revellers can get a crawfish po’boy and a cup of traditional New Orleans-style gumbo, made with clam and seafood stock, crawfish, shrimp, okra, scallops, lobster, rice, and creole seasonings. The special menu will run from Friday, February 5th to Tuesday, February 9th.

eighty3 Food & Drink, 83 Madison, 333-1224

It’s pretty much always Fat Tuesday at the Bayou. “Our menu is already suited for it,” owner Bill Baker says. This year on the big day they’ll have a crawfish boil as well as king cake, and the New Orleans-inspirited Mighty Souls Brass Band will carry you away to Frenchmen on their tuba, trombone, sax, et al. “It will start to pick up mid-afternoon, and by evening it will get crazy. We’ll have a bunch of beads. Beads will get thrown. Laissez le bon temps roulez,” Baker says.

The Bayou, 2094 Madison, 278-8626

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Up, Up! Farm Film Festival

Tonight various outgrowths of the local farm movement are interfacing to present the second film in a series called the Up, Up! Farm Film Festival, which presents independent films that focus on food systems. The festival was created by the Greenhorns, a nonprofit based out of Essex, New York, made up of young farmers and supporters who promote farming in younger generations.

The showing tonight, To Make a Farm, which documents five young, small-scale farmers and presents a hopeful future for agriculture, gets going at 6 at the Trolley Stop Market, 704 Madison, in the Edge district.

Christian Brothers University food justice professor Emily Holmes was approached last year by local farmer Brandon Pugh, of Delta Sol Farm in Proctor, Arkansas, about cosponsoring the festival, and later the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market got on board to bring the series to the Mid-South.

The first showing was held Jan. 19th at CBU and included The Sharecroppers, a short documentary covering the challenges of chicken farming in Arkansas and Louisiana, and American Meat, documenting both traditional confinement methods as well as the sustainable, pasture-raised method of raising animals in the meat industry.

The festival will present five more showings through the months of February, March, and April, wrapping up the series on April 19th at CBU during Earth Week with two shorts, including Sourlands, which covers the ecological challenges farmers in Sourlands, New Jersey, are facing.

A complete list of showings can be found at https://www.facebook.com/UpUpFarmFilmFestival/.

Posted by Up, Up FARM Film Festival on Monday, December 7, 2015

Up, Up! Farm Film Festival


“The festival is a series of independent films that explore sustainable farming, land access, and the relationship of people to place,” Holmes said. “The primary goal is to raise awareness of the value of our local farmers and their important contributions to our economy, our landscape, our culture, and of course, our meals. We should all know where our food comes from and what kind of labor goes into its production.

“Farming isn’t easy, especially when it’s done in a labor-intensive, environmentally sustainable way. So one goal of the festival is educational, while another is to encourage support of our local farmers. One way of doing that directly is by shopping at a local farmers market, such as the CYCFM,” Holmes said.

All films are free and open to the public.

For more information about the Greenhorns, visit thegreenhorns.net.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

City & State: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place


I spend a lot of time at City & State. It is a clean, well-lighted place (sic). Literally. It is flush with northern light from the sweeping wall of windows across the front — a great draw for an enthused iphoneographer. The decor is simple, industrial and graceful. The shop makes me feel creative just looking at all of the handmade goods, both local and national. And I can get a lot of writing done there.


At least these are the things I tell myself. Really, I’m pretty sure it’s the sugar demon that lives inside of me that disguises itself as someone with taste.


Because really, I want the Lumberjack Latte and the sticky bun from Porcellino’s.


The Lumberjack Latte is a latte with maple, pecan, and cinnamon. You forget that there’s an end to it, or you just don’t care, because you look down, and it’s gone. I think they named it that because it could serve as a meal. Or does it have something to do with the beard trend? Maybe that’s too last year?


The sticky bun is technically a bun made out of croissant bread flavored with lemon zest and fennel pollen and sealed with caramelized sugar. What that translates into is a croissant marinated in heaven and encrusted with God’s tears of joy. They’re fun to eat too. There are so many textures which lead to the gooey center, it’s like Candyland came to life and got a Pastry Arts Management degree.


Recently I went by and met with a friend, and because I did not want the extra caffeine (see: sleep issues), I got the Matcha Latte with honey and cinnamon. It’s made with tea and full of antioxidants. At least that’s what I tell myself, while it keeps the sugar demon, let’s call her Lucy, short for Lucifer, at bay.

I also picked up a jar of the Big Spoon Almond Cocoa butter from the Pantry, which offers small-batch, handcrafted edibles and mixables, including Maple Bacon-flavored Serious Cheesy Puffs, hot fudge, drink mixers, Himalayan salts, vegan-Paleo chocolate bars, and other fancy stuff.


And I dare someone to finish one of their pecan croissants. They are croissants filled with pecans, brown sugar, and butter, a sort of celestial paste inside the croissant that dopes Lucy up so much that she passes out, and I can’t finish them. So I dare you.