Author: Michelle Lewis

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Look Inside The ASBEE 27th Annual World Kosher BBQ Championship & Festival

If you haven’t made your way to the ASBEE World Kosher BBQ Championship & Festival, you’re missing out! For the past 27 years, teams have competed at Anshei Shpard Beth El Emeth Synagogue for the best beef ribs, beef brisket, beans and best both. This year a category for best BBQ chicken was added. The only category you won’t see is pork because it isn’t kosher, but there are very cute pigs at the petting zoo.

I’m all about beef brisket and have volunteered to judge for three years. Mmm, brisket!

The competition is no joke. Over 40 teams compete. BBQ, hamburgers and drinks are also available for sale. You don’t have to be Jewish or kosher to attend. What’s more: the Grizzlies 3 on 3 basketball tournament; the pickle-eating contest; and free admission. 

Check out the photos in our gallery below and put it in your calendar for next year! Get all the information you need at ASBEEkosherBBQ.com.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

On the Scene at Cooking for a Cure

The annual Cooking For A Cure fund-raiser took place on Friday night at the Memphis Botanic Gardens. It benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Camp Sunshine.

The Noyes Brain Tumor Foundation, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide funding to the brain tumor program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, organizes the event. The foundation also supports Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine, a camp for families of children with cancer. The Noyes family started the foundation back in 2007 after their son, Matthew, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2002.

By raising funds for the St. Jude Brain Tumor Program, the Noyes Brain Tumor Foundation hopes to improve survival rates and decrease side effects for children who suffer from this illness.

The event featured a live auction and food was provided by Lafayette’s Music Room, A Taste Of Heaven Catering, Smokers Anonymous, Folk’s Folly, Bonefish Grill, Spaghetti Warehouse, Babul Tacos & Tapas, Itta Bena, Seasons 52, Outback Steakhouse, P.F. Changs, Nothing Bundt Cakes, DeJaVu, The Royal Panda, Boozy Bites Sweets, Bahama Breeze, More Than Coffee, and Ms. Shelbi L. Southern Belle. 

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Visit to Staks

Staks, the new pancake-centric restaurant, opened in East Memphis a few weeks ago. Expect a line. 

It’s fast casual: order at the register, take your number, and then grab a place to sit.

I started off with the toasted s’more latte ($3.95).

It comes with graham crackers, chocolate sauce, and a giant toasted marshmallow in the center. You sort of have to sift around the drink because the marshmallow is gigantic. (Hey, at the end you get a big and soft marshmallow to eat. Bonus!) The immediate taste that you get is the graham crackers followed by the coffee. The coffee is sweet and light. What I love is that the drink doesn’t have that taste of artificial flavoring. It’s fueled by the real ingredients that were put into it.

Then it was onward and upward to one of the sophisticated staks! I went with the Birthday Cake Stak ($8.95).

It’s their vanilla-glazed, rainbow-sprinkled “stak” topped with whipped cream. I didn’t know this when I ordered it, but the stak comes with a candle to help you celebrate any occasion. I loved that it was presented this way and couldn’t help but laugh out loud because it made me feel like I was the most special person in the world while I ate my breakfast. Talk about putting a smile on my face! 

There’s five light and fluffy pancakes. The vanilla sauce is delicious and sweet. I don’t think there’s any syrup on them but you don’t need it because of the vanilla icing. Overall, it’s absolutely delicious.

Lastly, I tried the gouda grits ($3.50), which are becoming a very popular menu item.

They are fantastic — cheesy, creamy, and smooth. The green onions on top are a nice touch. It’s also a decent portion size. 

Want to get creative? You can make your own staks at some of the tables. Order a squeeze bottle of their signature buttermilk batter, then pour, grill, flip, and serve yourself.

Egg and side dishes feature local West Wind Farms eggs and Hanna Farms grits. Meats are from local places as well and include Porcellino’s house-cured bacon and Winchester Farms spicy sausage patties, chicken sausage links and smoked ham.

By the way, you don’t need to have a craving for pancakes to go to Staks. They serve other breakfast items along with lunch. There’s everything from soup to salad and sandwiches. Many of those items will be available in a case that you can take “to-go.”

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Look Inside the Judging Tent at Best Memphis Burger Fest

The Best Memphis Burger Fest happened over the weekend at Tiger Lane. At just $10 a ticket, all the proceeds raised will benefit Memphis Paws, Inc. There was food and drinks available at the festival to buy, but everyone was excited to get their cooking on to claim bragging rights for best burger. Luckily for me, I got to judge the Best Memphis Burger category!

Now I can’t reveal to you my scores or the teams behind the burgers I tasted, but I sure can share with you the judging experience and the amazingness that I got to taste! The burgers were all brought out in a large cake box for the table of judges. Then, they were revealed one by one. Here’s a look at the four burgers that I got to judge.

Burger #1:

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, I think this picture says it all. From the bacon to the sauce to the beef patty, everything was big and fantastic!

Burger #2:

Spotted: Fried onions on a burger! How about cheese crumbles? Don’t forget the thinly sliced pickle! Sign me up!

Burger #3:

What a different way to present a burger! There were chips served on the side but one chip was actually inside the burger. Pretty cool! This burger even had what appeared to be some kind of fried cheesy potato pancake on it.

Burger #4:

You know it’s got to be good when the buns are glistening! Served with fries, this bad boy let your mouth water at the sight of multiple types of cheese, a thick and juicy beef patty and a mystery sauce!

I tried my hardest not to go overboard! Thankfully, I controlled myself and my roommates got the leftovers!

Here are the top three winners for the Best Memphis Burger Category:
1. Kemmon’s Wilson
2. Mac’s Burger
3. Pirates of the Grillibean

The Best Memphis Burger Fest Grand Champion:
High Lonesome Smokers (Based on the cumulative total of all three burger categories)

Below are the rest of the winners for the other categories:

Bloody Mary
1. Meet in the Middle
2. Babalu Tacos & Tapas
3. Cowboyardee

Veggie Burger
1. High Lonesome Smokers
2. Burgers Elevan
3. Fabulous Burger Boys

Margarita
1. TJ Mulligan’s
2. Prime Grind
3. Burger Deacons

Anything But Beef
1. High Lonesome Smokers
2. Slider Inn/ Bar Dog
3. Southland Park

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Belly Acres’ Southern Gentleman

I’ve been dying to try a burger from Belly Acres in Overton Square and I finally got there this week. The Southern Gentleman ($10) signature burger stood out to me on the menu. It’s a grass-fed beef patty with bacon, roasted sweet potato, shredded lettuce, pickled greens, and maple ketchup on a wheat bun.

OMG to the grass-fed beef patty! It was juicy, well-seasoned and filled with flavor. The bacon was cooked to perfection and gave the burger a bit of crunch and sweetness. As for the roasted sweet potato, it was smooth and hearty. It was the first thing I tasted when I bit into the burger. I would have never thought to put bacon and sweet potato together on a burger but my goodness… it works so well! The shredded lettuce and pickled greens are a nice finishing touch, but the real winner on the whole burger is the maple ketchup. It was ketchup on steroids! Run to Belly Acres to get the Southern Gentleman. Your belly and taste buds will thank you. 

Side note: the beer cheddar fries ($6.75) that you can get for the table are a winner as well. It’s not your normal cheese fries. They’re almost gourmet. The fries aren’t salty and I LOVED that. The focus is more on the potatoes and there’s a hint of seasoning. The cheese sauce is light, creamy and smooth. It’s a mild cheese sauce. Sit back and enjoy.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

The Second Line’s Natchitoches Meat Pies

I was told that I had to try Second Line‘s Natchitoches meat pies ($10). The crust is crunchy, a bit salty. Inside, the meat is very flavorful and spicy. I was surprised to see that they looked similar to empanadas. I was expecting them to be circular or square-shaped like a knish. Overall the meat pies are very well put together. I loved that they weren’t messy to eat and held together nicely.

Intrigue set in once I saw that the pies were placed on top of some white sauce. I asked the waitress what it was and she explained that it was basically a creamy buttermilk sauce. To me it was like a ten times better version of ranch dressing. It was fantastic and I kept going back to it. The sauce gave the meat pies a very different taste and took some of the heat away from all the spices. I started imagining how even more amazing the meat pies would be if the sauce were cooked inside of each one! I would have loved to have one more on the plate!

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

On the Scene at the Dixon’s Art on Tap

Friday night was “Art On Tap” at the Dixon. A ticket got you unlimited beer samplings from around the world and food from local restaurants. There was a wine tasting for an extra $10.

One of the first beers that I tried was from Memphis Made Brewing. It was a light golden ale called Soulful Ginger. The beer was sweet but layered. There’s candied ginger and peppercorn in it and it was fruity with a tiny kick. Definitely worth trying!

I was excited to try 4Dumplings because I haven’t been there yet. The staff was on site rolling and making the dumplings by hand.

The dumpling was light and airy. The pork was well cooked and sweet. The sauce that was poured on top of the dumpling was refreshing and fantastic. I don’t know what it was, but it was definitely delicious!

The next thing that caught my eye was the Apple Ginger Hard Cider from Bluff City Brewers. If you’re expecting to taste the sweetness of an apple, this isn’t the cider for you! It mainly tastes like ginger and is more of a bitter cider.

My favorite thing by far at Art On Tap though was the “hops-icles” from CFY Catering. If you haven’t had them yet, you’re missing out! “Hops-icles” are pretty much adult popsicles that have alcohol in them. CFY Catering had two kinds this year.

The first one was chocolate pudding with Guinness. It was creamy, thick and yes, chocolaty. It tasted like a chocolate popsicle. I didn’t really taste the Guinness. It was refreshing to have during the night.

The second “hops-icle” was Blue Moon with Mike’s Hard Lemonade. It was lemony, sweet, and you definitely could taste the alcohol more in this one. It was my favorite thing. I knew I was enjoying it a bit too much when a guy passed me and said, “They’re stupid good, right?” Yes, sir, stupid good! The winner of the evening!

Here’s a list of some of this year’s Art on Tap featured selections: Dogfish Head, Ghost River Brewing, Bernoulli Brew Werks, Blue Point Brewing, Bluff City Brewers, Boscos Squared, Buster’s Liquors & Wines, Sweetwater Brewing Company, Goose Island, High Cotton Brewing Company, Memphis Brewer’s Association, Memphis Made Brewery, Southern Prohibition Brewing, Straight to Ale, Tallgrass Brewing Company, Wiseacre Brewing Company, and Lagunitas.

As for the food that was available to try this year, there was Rock ‘n’ Dough Pizza, One and Only BBQ, 4Dumplings, Gus’s Fried Chicken, Frost Bake Shop, CFY Catering, Celtic Crossing, CFY Catering and Boscos Squared. 

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Patrick’s The Mempho

When I first moved to Memphis, Patrick’s was the first place I was taken to for a meal. How I skipped The Mempho ($10.45) on the menu I’ll never know. Even the description exclaims, “Elvis would have loved this!” I was feeling lazy on a weeknight and I felt like this sandwich would hit the spot. So I decided to use Meals In Motion to get my food delivered. By the way, if you haven’t used this ordering service yet, do it. It’s worth it!

The Mempho is made up of Patrick’s rich and creamy mac n cheese on white Pullman bread with Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, and pulled pork with their house BBQ sauce on the side. I also noticed some pieces of jalapeno in the bread.

The Mempho is very cheesy, just how I like my food. The mac n cheese is creamy, the bread soft and buttery. As for the pulled pork, it’s very juicy and well cooked. Even though it’s not in the description, I felt as if the meat had some kind of au jus sauce on it. The caramelized onions are a yummy and sweet touch. The bits of jalapenos in the bread were a fun and spicy surprise that shook things up. The BBQ sauce is sweet and really good. It adds a lot of flavor the sandwich. Also, the sandwich is a nice size. I was full!

If The Mempho was this good for a takeout order, I can’t even begin to imagine how amazing it tastes straight out of the kitchen! Yes, Elvis definitely would have loved this one!

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Tamp & Tap’s The Stanley

I couldn’t be more excited that Tamp & Tap opened an East Memphis location because I’ve been dying to have a local coffee shop in the area. Also, people rave about their coffee and food. I specifically hear phenomenal things about The Stanley, which I’ve been told is the best turkey sandwich I’ll ever eat. So I decided to put that to the test.

The person on line in front of me, who was also a newcomer, asked the employee what their favorite thing on the menu was. They immediately said The Stanley ($10.50). The sandwich is made with smoked turkey, fontina cheese, candied bacon, pickled red onion, arugula and roasted artichoke aioli. It’s served on house made brioche and you get to pick your side of chips or salad.

The Stanley is nicely presented and it’s a great portion size. The brioche bread is thick but soft and fluffy. It’s nicely toasted and rich in taste. I would even say buttery. OMG to the candied bacon… it’s amazing! It’s nice and sweet and it hits you immediately. I personally think it’s what makes the sandwich stand out. The smoked turkey has a great flavor to it as well and there’s a good portion of meat. The pickled red onion gives the sandwich a nice crunch. Everything on it is fresh, all the way down to the lettuce. The fontina cheese is smooth and blends in well. As for the artichoke aioli, it’s light and refreshing. Forget the mayo, you don’t need it! But I keep going back to that candied bacon! I can see why The Stanley is a favorite around town. It’s also perfect for lunch!

For my drink, I went with the Panamerican ($5). It’s a white chocolate Irish cream latte. The Panamerican is light in taste. If you’re like me, you probably thought that white chocolate and Irish cream sounds heavy. It isn’t. The white chocolate taste is faint with the creamy feel of a latte being more present. It’s a great mixture between the two and it tastes more like well-brewed coffee. I loved that. If you want a latte that isn’t over-powered by strong syrups or flavors and will hit the spot, this is for you. It’s very enjoyable.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Sneak Peek at the Cheesecake Factory

The buzz around town is all about The Cheesecake Factory that opens on Tuesday, September 1st. I got to attend a soft opening and let me tell you, they don’t mess around!

To start off, I had the guacamole made-to-order ($11.95). It had ripe avocado, onion, tomato, chiles, cilantro and fresh lime. The guacamole was served with tortilla chips, salsa, and sour cream. You can really taste the lime. The guacamole is chunky, lightly salted, has a hint of spiciness to it, and there’s a nice amount of cilantro. You can tell that everything was made fresh. The chips are thin and crunchy, just how I like it. To be honest, I didn’t even need the chips. That’s how good the guacamole was. I appreciated the side servings of salsa and sour cream. You normally don’t see that and the sour cream just made my guacamole creamier.

For my entrée I went with the Americana Cheeseburger ($13.50). The burger has American and cheddar cheese, crunchy potato crisps, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, pickles, and secret sauce. There’s a creamy vibe going on with the two cheeses blending together. It’s literally melting in my mouth. The burger is juicy and meaty. The ground beef patty is perfectly cooked. By the way, the portion is HUGE and messy. It’s a delicious and fun messy, though. I had to fight to get the whole thing into my mouth. Challenge accepted. However, I failed. I wound up packing half of it to go and got two meals out of it. The secret sauce tastes very similar to ranch dressing and the potato crisps are pretty much thin, straw-like fries. 

Last but not least, dessert. How could I go to The Cheesecake Factory and not have any cheesecake?

I went with the Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake ($7.95). With a name like that I should have just quit while I was ahead, but go big or go home! I wanted to do this right! Oreo cookies are baked into this cheesecake with layers of fudge cake and Oreo cookie mouse. Then it’s topped with a milk chocolate icing and a piece of an Oreo cookie! The cheesecake is rich, creamy, sweet chocolatey goodness. That’s all I’ve got for you. Really, you have to try it for yourself. It’s to die for! I will say that the Oreos on the inside of the cheesecake are soft and there appeared to be chocolate chips on the side of the cheesecake that were nice and crunchy. It made for a great texture change. The whipped cream served on the side with Oreo crumbles freshened everything up. I ate that separately! YUMMY!

Trust me, you’ll want to be the first in line when The Cheesecake Factory opens Tuesday. Especially if you’ve never been!

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