Author: Lorna Field

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Memphis Ranked Best Barbecue City in America

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

Ribs. Pulled pork. Brisket. Memphis is synonymous with barbecue, so it should surprise no one that we’ve just ranked #1 on yet another national BBQ list (eat your heart out, Nashville).

A new report from Apartment Guide has named Memphis the #1 Best BBQ City in the US. As the home of barbecue nachos, fries, pizza, and even spaghetti, it’s clear that Memphis is the place to be if you’re a barbecue fanatic.

The Apartment Guide report ranked every U.S. city by the percentage of barbecue restaurants to all restaurants to determine the top 10 best barbecue cities in the country.

The study recognized 6,300 cities across the U.S. with at least one barbecue restaurant each (based on a database of more than 8 million commercially available business listings.) They then weeded out cities with less than 50,000 people and divided the number of barbecue restaurants by the total number of restaurants in each city to determine the percentage of barbecue establishments for each. The cities with the highest percentage of barbecue restaurants were then deemed to be the best barbecue cities in the country.

Memphis tops the list at #1, with the highest percentage of barbecue restaurants (12.09%), followed by Minnetonka, Minnesota, at #2 and DeSoto, Texas, at #3.

According to the report, “Not only does the River City have the highest ratio of barbecue restaurants in the nation, but it also has the third overall most barbecue joints behind only the much larger Houston and Chicago.” The report lists the world-famous Central BBQ, Payne’s, and Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous as quintessential examples of our city’s best ’cue.

So there you have it: Memphis might not be the biggest or most populous barbecue city, but we sure do take our barbecue the most seriously –– proudly touting roughly 142 total barbecue joints in the city limits alone.

Read the full report at apartmentguide.com.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Wrap it Up: A Roundup of 2019 Food News Tidbits

This was the year of seafood, South Main, and comeback stories, with old favorites like Fino’s and Zinnie’s making triumphant returns. Here are a few items of note from 2019.

RIP

Mary Burns, longtime owner of Java Cabana, died on October 4th after a nearly three-year battle with lung cancer. Burns purchased Java Cabana in 1998 and had become a fixture of Cooper-Young, serving as a member of the Cooper-Young Business Association and the Cooper-Young Garden Club. Burns is largely remembered for making Java Cabana what it is today, a welcoming safe haven for artists and poets alike.

City of Sole

Several seafood restaurants — particularly those specializing in crab dishes — have opened or opened new locations, including Crab’N’Go, Crab Island, DeeO’s Seafood, Red Hook Cajun Seafood & Bar, Saltwater Crab, and others.

Saltwater Crab opened its doors over the summer with an expansive menu including sushi, sandwiches, and crab options such as crab cakes, king crab, snow crab, and a saltwater crab roll. Atlanta-based restaurateur Gary Lin opened Saltwater Crab in early July, but the kitchen is managed by Memphis chefs. The menu is entirely “coastal,” so you won’t find any catfish here.

The Juicy Crab, a Georgia-based seafood chain, opened its first Memphis location on Winchester earlier this year, and The Coastal Fish Company opened in Shelby Farms in October. Mardi Gras Memphis, which specializes in Louisiana-style seafood boils, recently reopened their restaurant across from the Crosstown Concourse. And Picasso’s — a seafood and pasta place — opened in August at 6110 Macon, making it the newest seafood addition to East Memphis. The Cousins Maine Lobster food truck also opened in March.

Downtown Dining

South Main is now home to quite a few new dining and drinking destinations, including the restaurants (Hustle & Dough, Longshot), coffeeshop (Vice & Virtue), and bar (Bar Hustle) inside the Arrive Hotel, as well as those inside Puck Food Hall, Memphis’ first and only food hall, which had its grand opening in May.

The Central Station Hotel also opened on South Main in October, and with it came a new bar, Eight & Sand, and restaurant, Bishop — Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman’s newest project.

Justin Fox Burks

BarWare

BarWare, a neighborhood bar that features craft cocktails and elevated bar food, opened on Front this year, too. And several other notable establishments opened their doors Downtown, including Comeback Coffee, Hu. Diner, 3rd & Court, and more.

Old Favorites Return

This was also the year we saw many old favorites come back to life. Fino’s, the beloved Midtown deli, reopened on June 6th, bringing their classic gourmet sandwiches back after closing in late 2018.

Old Zinnie’s — the “best little neighborhood bar in the universe” — first opened in 1973 but closed abruptly in 2018, leaving many Memphis barflies feeling abandoned. They reopened on Halloween, the perfect night to welcome the regulars back to their local haunt. As if it never closed, Zinnie’s feels very much the same, and they’re even serving popcorn again like in the old days.

The infamous and inimitable Hernando’s Hide-A-Way also celebrated its reopening near the end of 2019. The spot, famous for hosting music legends like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, closed in 2007 but was recently purchased and reopened by partners Dale Watson and Celine Lee along with co-owner Patrick Trovato of Long Island, New York. The owners plan to maintain the integrity of the original, offering plenty of local music and color, and, supposedly, the “best hamburger in Tennessee.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Longshot Opens at Arrive Hotel

Longshot is technically in the basement of the Arrive Hotel, but to find the main entrance to the restaurant, you’ll need to take a short stroll down Butler off S. Main.

When you walk in, the inspiration for the name becomes readily apparent: The entire space is just one long, narrow room with booths on the left and a bar on the right. In between, there are five long shuffleboard tables placed prominently in the center.

“As best I understand, the story behind the name is that when they were looking at this building, when they were looking at all the different spaces, this space was like a ‘long shot,’ like a long hallway,” says head chef David Todd. “And I think that’s probably where somebody had the natural urge to want to do shuffleboard here. That’s kind of where the genesis of the name and all that was, and I think it’s really a cool thing.”

Photographs by Lorna Field

Chef David Todd poses in Longshot.

Longshot serves elevated bar food and specializes in house-made sausages inspired by world cuisine. They source their ingredients from local farmers and suppliers.

Todd says of the menu, “We make and grind all the sausages in-house. When they hired me on, they wanted to go in the direction of house-made sausages, which I was fully on board with. And then I came to the table a little bit late in the game, just a couple months before we were going to open, so James, who is the director of the hotel and formerly a chef, already had direction on a few of the sausages. And then the rest of it’s me.

“The only real constraint that they’ve put on me is they don’t want me to do anything Southern,” he adds. “They wanted it to be world cuisine and be interesting, which, honestly, that’s right up my alley.”

Todd describes working at Longshot as a dream job, and, in many ways, he’s a perfect fit for the role.

“I was at Interim, and immediately before I was at Interim, I was at the Green Beetle. So I’ve definitely kind of dabbled back and forth from fine dining to bar food throughout my career,” Todd says.

“This is kind of like the perfect mash-up of both. This is probably the job I’ve been trying to have for the last six or eight years. Really good ingredients, really strong flavor profiles, really interesting food, but at the end of the day, we don’t want it to be too pretentious. We want it to be accessible.”

Many of the sausages on the menu represent different parts of the world. There is a Vietnamese sausage, a Korean barbecue sausage, and an al pastor sausage. The shareable items are just as imaginative: They offer a smoked catfish dip, crispy duck legs, whipped pimento cheese, and more.

There are even a few vegetarian items, like a butternut squash salad with mustard feta dressing and a charred curry carrot sausage.

The bar menu features cocktail staples like Sidecars and Manhattans made with premium ingredients. And, because it’s Memphis, there are plenty of local beers on tap from breweries like Wiseacre and High Cotton.

Longshot will also feature specials from time to time, like the pumpkin cheesecake rangoon dessert that was served on Thanksgiving or the Wise Fries they serve in honor of James Wiseman on Tiger game day — served with pastor sausage, queso, sweet potato and russet potato fries, enchilada sauce, lime sour cream, baby romaine, and pico de gallo.

“We are going to be creative, interesting, and exciting, but at the same time, the quality has to be there,” Todd says. “We’re not going to outpace the quality by just trying to be super creative all the time.”

Longshot is located at 477 S. Main in the Arrive Hotel.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Curb Market Unveils New Deli and Sandwich Menu

Curb Market introduced its new deli, formerly a butcher, on November 18th. The change includes the introduction of several new sandwich options, each named after streets in Memphis, like Watkins and Cleveland, as well as a selection of meats and cheeses sold by the pound.

“It’s just our way of celebrating this area,” says Robert Humphreys, who has been the general manager of Curb Market since July.

The deli also includes a prepared foods section with items like chicken salad and spinach dip.

“There’s not really a deli around in this area. So that was the biggest change that rolled out,” Humphreys says.

The sandwich menu features several options ranging from a French dip-style roast beef and Swiss cheese sandwich called The Somerset, to The Evergreen, a vegan smoked tofu sandwich with hummus, avocado, veggies, and tzatziki sauce.

Photographs by Lorna Field

There’s no need to curb your enthusiasm for fresh food at Curb Market.

The Garland, a chipotle chicken, bacon, and Swiss sandwich topped with spicy aioli, is the perfect mix of spicy and savory. Served on a fresh, soft ciabatta bun, it’s the ideal option for those who want a little extra kick in their sandwich.

They also offer the option to build your own sandwich or get it as a combo with a side and a drink.

“I came up with the general ideas for all of them,” Humphreys says of the new menu. “We brainstormed and tasted a lot of sandwiches and chose the ones we liked the most.”

Curb Market has been a mainstay of Crosstown Concourse since it opened because it’s the only place in the building for apartment tenants to grab basic grocery items like milk, cheese, and even some produce. It’s also a go-to lunch option for a lot of people who work in the many offices at Crosstown.

There’s a freshly stocked salad bar and a hot bar that serves a rotating menu of soul food, Mexican food, Chinese food, and even some Italian — the lasagna is a personal favorite of mine. In the morning, the hot bar serves a mix of traditional breakfast items like bacon, eggs, biscuits, and more.

“The mac and cheese is the best in the city,” says Humphreys.

Beyond the addition of the deli, Curb Market will remain mostly the same. So for those who, like me, have their own Curb favorites, there’s nothing to fear.

“The biggest change is just that we’re sort of trying to develop the groceries that fit for the area, the people who work here, and also for the people who live here,” says Humphreys. “That’s sort of been our concentration, as far as that area goes. The menu, or hot bar menu, also hasn’t changed significantly.”

Additionally, Curb Market sells a variety of wine, kombucha, local beer, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages like flavored seltzers.

“I really want to refocus on the groceries and just make this a place for not only people at work, but also the people in the neighborhood.”

As Crosstown Concourse prepares for its holiday lighting celebration, Curb Market will also roll out some new sides and special items for the holidays in the coming weeks.

“We’ve got wonderful homemade food,” says Humphreys.

The new deli at Curb Market comes at a special time for them and the concourse at large because business is truly booming. Since the concourse reopened in 2017, more and more businesses, shops, and restaurants have moved to the area, bringing an immense amount of foot traffic as well as visitors from across the country and around the world.

Between the Green Room and Crosstown Theater, events and concerts regularly pull people into the building. As a result, many businesses in Crosstown Concourse, including Curb Market, have experienced tremendous growth in the short time they’ve been open.

“You know, people come from out of town,” Humphreys says. “And they want to take their family to Crosstown.”

Curb Market is located at 1350 Concourse, Suite 163, in the Central Atrium.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Hot Diggity Dog: Doghouzz Opens in Crosstown

Doghouzz is finally open, bringing gourmet hot dogs to the Crosstown neighborhood.

The humble hot dog has long been a fixture of birthday parties, baseball games, and 4th of July barbecues, so it’s easy to equate them with summertime. But after stumbling into Doghouzz on a cold, rainy November afternoon, it’s clear that hot dogs are more than just summer food — they’re comfort food in its purest form, and no one does comfort food quite like Memphis, no matter the season.

Lorna Field

You’re in the Doghouzz now.

“Everybody loves hot dogs,” says Joey Betterton, manager of Doghouzz. “But Memphis didn’t really have any good hot dog spots before.” So restaurant partners Ray Rico, Steve Murphy, and Robert Taylor sought to fill that void by bringing a gourmet hot dog bar to the old Metro space across from Crosstown Concourse. The 4,400-square-foot space is equipped with a full bar, a pool table, a jukebox, and a patio in the back.

“Renovations have been going on since about May,” Betterton says. “The roof fell in at the beginning of the year. After that, we got everything rolling, but it’s been an endeavor.”

The menu features a number of specialty hot dog selections, including a Chicago-style dog and a New York-style dog, but there’s also the option to build your own hot dog by choosing from a variety of toppings like bacon, veggies, avocado, and different slaws.

Doghouzz currently serves three types of dogs: a classic Hebrew National all-beef frank, a slightly spicy andouille sausage, and a vegan braised carrot dog (served on your choice of vegan bun).

“Get the cheese,” Steve Murphy whispers to me as I’m perusing toppings, but it’s not a hard sell. I’ll put cheese on just about anything.

It was the right choice. In fact, everything I tasted at Doghouzz was outstanding. As someone who lived in Illinois for a year and New York for six years, I’m no hot dog novice — and it’s worth noting these are not your typical boiled, bland, movie theater-style hot dogs.

Doghouzz dogs are closer to what you’d find at a family cookout: each dog bursting with the smoky, savory flavor you’d expect of a hot dog plucked straight from the grill. It tastes like everything you’d want a hot dog to taste like: Americana.

Murphy, who is originally from Illinois, oversees the kitchen and brings a little yankee flare to the menu. The mac and cheese is cooked on a griddle, which gives it a nice, crisp texture. The chunky potato salad is served with the skins on and with a hint of dill, giving it a sharp, almost piquant flavor. The Doghouzz-style slaw is fresh, crunchy, creamy, and tangy without being sour or slimy like some slaws tend to be. And all of the sides, except for the chili, are made in-house.

“All of these are Steve’s secret recipes,” Betterton says.

The grand opening celebration was held on November 18th, but the party didn’t stop there; Doghouzz will continue to host Saturday night dance parties with DJ Record Player every week.

“We’re going to try to make it like a club vibe here,” Betterton says. “We’re going to be 21 and up after 10 p.m., but before that, we’re all-ages.”

Doghouzz is open from 11 a.m. until 3 a.m. every day except Sunday, making it one of the few places for super-late-night eats in the area — especially on weeknights. “People need an addition to our constellation of bar-hops,” Betterton says.

Doghouzz is also available to host events, and they’ll offer food delivery via apps like DoorDash and BiteSquad.

They’re also continuing to flesh out the space itself: “We have this library ladder that we have yet to install, so we’ll be able to glide across the bar and reach everything really well,” says Betterton. “It’s going to be really whimsical. I like that a lot.

“It’s been a long time coming, but we love this space,” Betterton adds. “Everything we did in here, we did ourselves. So it’s all made with love.”

The Doughouzz is at 1349 Autumn, 207-7770.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Grind City Coffee Hosts Caffeine Crawl this Weekend

CREDIT: Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Grind City Coffee is bringing Caffeine Crawl to Memphis on Saturday, November 16th, with three caffeinated routes.

Caffeine Crawl is designed to be a fun, educational, pub-style crawl from venue to venue that allows participants to taste, learn, and talk about different kinds of coffee with like-minded java enthusiasts. Stops on the crawl include Dr. Beans at Puck Food Hall, Comeback Coffee, Vice and Virtue, INSPIRE Community Cafe, and Ugly Mug Coffee, among many others.

“I think this is going to showcase that Memphis is more than just Beale and barbecue,” says Rachel Williams, co-founder of Grind City Coffee. “We are growing a lot. We have a lot to offer.”

Williams explains that not everyone is aware of the coffee scene in Memphis, and Grind City Coffee is trying to change that through events like Caffeine Crawl and Grind City Coffee Expo.

“A lot of people sometimes get a little nervous to kind of step out of their comfort zone,” she says. “So being able to have something more approachable that’s introducing people to this, whether it be through a caffeine crawl or through the [Grind City Coffee] expo, there’s something for everybody.”

Co-founders of Grind City Coffee, Daniel Lynn and Rachel Williams, love to promote a “community over competition” mentality when it comes to showcasing and celebrating local coffee spots.

“This is just another example of that,” Lynn says. “Plus, you know, people like to have non-alcoholic alternatives sometimes, so this provides that as well.”

Williams and Lynn see an opportunity for more and more people to get involved in local coffee culture, so bringing Caffeine Crawl to Memphis was a natural next step for Grind City Coffee in serving that mission.

“Every time I look on social media, there’s another home roaster or coffee shop. So, it’s fantastic to see all the growth,” Lynn says. “But that’s also what we’re hoping for this as well as other events to keep putting the voice out there about what we have right here in Memphis.”

Tickets are currently on sale at caffeinecrawl.com.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Dr. Bean’s Coffee at Puck Food Hall

Dr. Bean’s Coffee Roasters, which is co-owned by Dr. Albert Bean and Charles Billings, imports coffee beans from around the world and “roasts them with care” to ensure an unparalleled coffee-drinking experience.

“We have always been looking for a customer-facing location,” Billings says. “When the food hall approached us about the opportunity [to move in], we thought it was the best of both worlds.”

As an incubator, Puck Food Hall offers a safe space for culinary minds to show off their creations with very little overhead, as well as a sense of camaraderie among the chefs and creators involved.

Lorna Field

“I guess it’s like culinary heaven,” Billings says of Puck Food Hall. “It’s sort of like this beautiful melting pot of everything going on in the culinary side of Memphis.”

Bean, an E.R. doctor at Methodist University Hospital, had always wanted to start a coffee business.

“Where do young doctors spend most of their time when they’re studying? Coffee shops,” Billings explains. “Because they’re going to class for 12, 13, 20 hours a day in hospitals. So [Bean] had always had the idea to it.”

Billings and Bean met as neighbors when they were young, and it wasn’t long before the two started to develop Bean’s vision.

“We had always talked about wanting to do something together. And then he took a tour of a coffee farm when he was in Panama, and that sort of rekindled that fire for doing coffee,” Billings says. “Three weeks later, he’s at a medical conference in Portland and met the guys from Water Avenue Coffee. They’re sort of coffee royalty and really great people who started to inspire us.”

Billings and Bean realized that there was a burgeoning coffee community right here in Memphis and wanted to be part of it.

“For the last five years, we’ve been sort of hyper-locally growing and building our coffee community,” Billings says. “Memphis has always had that local feel to it. Now there are six or seven local coffee roasters.

“It’s just a really, really big coffee community and a really neat time for coffee in Memphis in particular. And the community itself is great. We’ll meet for cocktails and just sort of talk about the things we’re doing with coffee, what’s fun, what’s exciting to us — any technical stuff that we’re having problems with, we can reach out and communicate.”

Members of the Memphis coffee community seem less competitive and more collaborative and supportive, Billings explains.

Billings’ and Bean’s hard work has been paying off, too: Dr. Bean’s is winning awards across the country, including second place in Coffeefest’s best American espresso competition.

“We also participate every year in one of the biggest roaster competitions in the country, which is called Golden Bean North America. This year, we came home with 17 medals — three silver and 14 bronze,” he says.

A large part of their success comes from their commitment to sourcing coffee beans from only the most reputable and prestigious farms in the world, including the Elida Estate in Panama. And as head roaster, Billings takes his duties seriously.

“We are the stewards of all of those farmers’ hard work, and then it’s my job as a roaster to highlight the best I can of that and then to train the baristas to really tell the story behind the coffee,” he says.

Both through their kinship with the local coffee community and by participating in national competitions, Billings says that they’re “always learning, always teaching.

“You’re always challenging yourself to do a little bit more and be a little bit better.”

Stop by Dr. Bean’s Tuesday through Sunday at 409 S. Main, and be sure to try the Spiced Sweet Potato Latte before it’s gone.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Tamboli’s Pasta Finds a Home

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

The new Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza will provide a permanent space for fans of Italian cuisine to enjoy Tamboli’s recipes in a cozy, comfortable environment.

Justin Fox Burks

Miles Tamboli

Local farmers and those who frequent farmers markets will already be familiar with Tamboli’s pasta; those who haven’t yet experienced it will be pleasantly surprised by the pasta’s freshness and authenticity.

Miles Tamboli is a lifelong Memphian, but his passion for pasta-making didn’t fully take off until he took a trip to Italy years ago to reconnect with his Italian heritage. “I had never met the Italian Tambolis or been to the town where they’re from and where some still live, so I went to meet them,” he says.

Justin Fox Burks

“I remember eating pasta in Rome and realizing that it can be substantial, can be a real food. It can have its own flavor and its own texture, and it can work together with a sauce to create a pretty balanced, filling meal,” Tamboli says. “And I was interested in making it because I didn’t know where to find good, fresh pasta at home. So I started making it here.”

Tamboli immediately recognized a need (and a market) for fresh pasta here in his hometown. “Initially I was using eggs from the chickens in my backyard — really good, local, farm-fresh eggs,” he says. “And when I started making and selling pasta, it sort of dawned on me that pasta is really accessible for a lot of people. It tastes good. You know what it is.”

Delicious, freshly made food shouldn’t feel intimidating or elusive, he explains. For people interested in good food made well, fresh pasta is a great starting point.

Before becoming an experienced pasta maker, Tamboli worked in restaurants and sold his own produce at nearby farmers markets. Because of that experience, he’s always been able to procure fresh ingredients for his recipes through his connections with local farmers. He’s also developed a very specific vision for how he wants his restaurant to operate.

“I’d been growing produce because I wanted to feed people and provide opportunities for people to have access to good food, and I also wanted to create job opportunities, specifically for young people, that were in healthy, nurturing environments,” he says.

Justin Fox Burks

“I picked up a lot of bad habits working in restaurants, and I’ve always wanted there to be another option for young people to work in a place that’s going to help them build skills and good habits.

“I sort of started experimenting with pop-ups and the [Puck] Food Hall Downtown,” he continues. “I hadn’t really thought seriously about opening a restaurant until this space became available. That’s when it came to me that, yes, I should do this.”

The restaurant will have an open kitchen and an affordable, rotating menu that will change seasonally to showcase the freshest locally grown ingredients, with a variety of pasta dishes available year-round and a wood-fired oven for cooking pizza.

A big part of the philosophy behind Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza is to ensure that the menu only features the best and most exciting ingredients available from local sources. “This is a great place to grow produce,” he says.

Justin Fox Burks

“There are a lot of local growers who are coming out with really awesome food — even in the depths of winter. So, I can’t tell you what all of our options are going to be because it’s going to be ever-changing. But I know it’ll be completely seasonal and based on not only what’s in season, but what ingredients our farmers are most excited about.”

While it won’t always be easy to predict what will appear on the menu, it’s safe to say it’ll be fresh — because for Miles Tamboli, it’s not just about eating, but eating well.

“When I have a room full of people I’m feeding,” he says, “it feels good.”

Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza will open this month at 1761 Madison Ave.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Meet the Mushroom Man: Bluff City Fungi

CREDIT: Scott Lisenby

Bluff City Fungi, an indoor Certified Naturally Grown mushroom farm, has been providing fresh mushrooms to local and regional grocers, restaurants, and farmers markets for nearly five years.

Chances are that if you recently dined out at a place like 117 Prime, Sweet Grass, or Interim, you’ve already tasted Bluff City Fungi’s buttons and portabellas — but most people wouldn’t know that these delicacies were grown right here in the middle of our city.

Scott Lisenby, the mushroom mastermind behind Bluff City Fungi, first started growing mushrooms as a hobby while running a produce and flower farm full-time. “I tried to do mushrooms on the side because I was just fascinated with it,” he says. “I didn’t really know anything about mushrooms — I just loved the process.”

But he quickly realized that this hobby of his could be the best way to differentiate himself from other local farmers. “At first I was focused on flowers and vegetables, but that’s really hard work, and there’s a ton of competition here,” Lisenby says.

Scott Lisenby

Bluff City Fungi

“We saw that there was this huge need for mushrooms that nobody was filling and just sort of switched tracks and reinvested everything into mushrooms to see if it would work. From then on, it’s literally just been small iterations of building and putting everything back into the mushroom business.”

It seems that decision has paid off. Bluff City Fungi has experienced rapid growth in recent years, but with that, there have also been some minor growing pains. To account for their increased production, they’ve needed to move into a larger space; but with a staff of just three people and a packed calendar, that was no easy feat.

“The expansion has been insane because we haven’t been able to take a couple weeks or a month off, and then move, and then restart,” Lisenby says. “We’ve been running our old farmers market route from Oxford to Nashville to Memphis and Little Rock — and we’ve been doing all that while we’re building this, too. So it’s been like doing a regular day and then coming here and doing a whole second work day on top of that, almost every day for three months. But it’s been super worth it.”

One of the best things about Bluff City Fungi is the sheer variety of mushrooms they offer. “We grow probably five or six set varieties, but I’ve got like 30 to 50 species in my actual cultural library,” says Lisenby. “So we’ll bring out some specialty stuff every now and then, just to keep from getting bored.”

Whether you’re seeking out oyster, shiitake, or chestnut mushrooms — or something more exotic — there’s a lot to choose from. And the farm produces about 400 pounds of mushrooms per week, which is both exciting and chaotic for the people growing them.

“Farming takes a level of dedication and gluttony for punishment as it is. But with mushroom farming, you’re trying to create such a controlled system in an absolutely impossible-to-control world,” Lisenby explains, adding that finding a day off can be rare. “Just this year, I’ve finally been able to take some Sundays off. This is definitely more of a lifestyle than a job.”

What makes Lisenby’s dedication to growing mushrooms even more endearing is that he wasn’t especially a fan of them from the start. “What’s really funny — and I probably shouldn’t tell people this — is that I didn’t like eating mushrooms when I started doing this,” he says.

“I just found the blend of science and agriculture fascinating. But over time, working with so many great chefs, they taught me the right way to eat them. Since I got a couple tips and tricks on how to cook them, I eat them almost every other day now. Plus it’s, you know, right here. Easy to grab,” he says with a laugh.

You can grab some fungi for yourself at their next farmers market appearance or through their website at bluffcityfungi.com.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Local Restaurateur Launching AM PM Coffee Bourbon

Jeff Johnson (owner of Local) is launching a new Memphis-made bourbon whiskey.

Bars and restaurants across the city will be welcoming a new addition to shelves this season: AM PM, a bourbon whiskey infused with 100 percent fair-trade Arabica coffee beans, Madagascar vanilla, and a touch of pure cane sugar.

Local restaurateur Jeff Johnson (owner of Local and the soon-to-open Parish Grocery) has been developing the coffee-infused bourbon over the past two years and is releasing it across the city in the coming months, scheduling a series of events to introduce people to the product.

“We’re very excited about this,” Johnson says. “I’m going to be doing a lot of tastings.”

Johnson is betting that fans of bourbon and coffee alike will enjoy its robust flavor. AM PM is an easy sipping whiskey; the overall taste is “bourbon-forward,” and the coffee flavor is subtle and almost chocolaty. Though coffee is actually a fruit, Johnson and his team went out of their way to avoid creating a fruity whiskey. Instead, after multiple samplings, they opted for a flavor profile that’s warm and malt-like, rather than too sugary and sweet (as is the case with a lot of flavored bourbons). The result is a smooth, rich, flavorful bourbon that tastes delicious when mixed with coffee-based drinks or paired with a favorite dessert. AM PM also makes for an excellent addition to fall and winter cocktails, warm or cold, or chilled in a tumbler all on its own.

Beyond just its flavor, this coffee-infused bourbon has a lot of Southern personality. Johnson explained that the motto printed on the bottle (”Memphis, Tennessee: Ain’t No Place I’d Rather Be”) is “a nod to the Grateful Dead,” and that everything is distilled and bottled locally. “Even the label is printed in Memphis,” Johnson says.

Whether you’re looking for something to warm you up near the campfire, give you an extra jolt at brunch, or simply liven up your favorite seasonal drinks, AM PM is aiming to be a crowd-pleaser. So far, you can find it at Local and Hi Tone, with more bars and retailers to come. You can also follow @ampmbourbon on Instagram for the latest.