Author: Pamela Denney

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

One-Shot Wonder

After admiring the tulip displays at the New York Botanical Garden, Dale Skaggs, director of horticulture for the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, decided to celebrate spring by planting 10,000 tulips in 2010. Then things got a little crazy.

“One thing led to another, and our vision grew,” Skaggs says. Indeed. Called “20,000 Tulips,” the Dixon’s most ambitious horticulture exhibition opens this weekend, showcasing thousands of hybrid tulips plus 16 kinds of diminutive natives called sylvestris.

“Sylvestris means of the woods,” Skaggs explains. “Some of these wild tulips perennialize, so we’ll be watching closely to see if that happens here.”

More typically, tulips don’t naturalize in the Mid-South because of humidity and mild winters, so they need replanting every year. For the Dixon exhibition, gardeners started digging beds in late November. They planted 20,000 tulip bulbs with charming names like Lady Jane and Perestroyka for the next four weeks, following design directions from Dixon staffers Greg Francis, Manjula Carter, and Jesse Howley. They also threw in 7,000 other bulbs, such as crocus and foxtail lily.

“They worked with color and shape and whether the bulbs are early-, mid-, or late-bloomers,” says Skaggs, who hopes for peak blooms this weekend when the opening of “20,000 Tulips” includes events for children and adults. On Saturday, March 27th, there’s a bulb workshop and Easter egg hunt at 10:30 a.m. and balloon art for kids at 2 p.m. On Sunday afternoon, Brent Heath of Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, an exhibit sponsor, lectures on the acclaimed Keukenhof Gardens near Amsterdam, one of the most spectacular spring gardens in the world.

If you can’t make the weekend activities, don’t wait too long to explore the exhibition on your own. Tulip blooms are short-lived and don’t last past April. Also, be sure to take a stroll through the Dixon’s woodland gardens, where you can dial up the museum’s new cell phone tour or sit peacefully amid the drifts of daffodils and Lenten roses.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Product Test: “Southern Living Farmers Market Cookbook”

Farmers_Market_Cookbook_Cover.jpg

Are there any cookbook buzz-words more popular these days than “seasonal produce”? Apparently not, based on the number of new titles released over the past few months. Not that we’re complaining. When two copies of the Southern Living Farmers Market Cookbook arrived at the Flyer, Susan and I stopped everything to pour over the books. Then we happily toted them home and tried out some recipes.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Cookbook Sale at Central Library

casserole_cook_book.jpg

For the past year or two, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen: Casseroles are ready for a comeback. After stopping by the cookbook sale at Second Editions in the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library Tuesday evening, I’m either right (lots of casserole cookbooks) or wrong (lots of casserole cookbooks).

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

First Impressions

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Okay, I admit it. I’m a bit of a food snob about franchise restaurants, so I was surprised last week by the excitement I heard about Mellow Mushroom, a new pizza and hoagie restaurant in Germantown.

At Easy Way, two women picking through the green beans were ecstatic about the restaurant’s funky vibe. At the liquor store, folks were debating possible locations for the next Mellow Mushroom. “Just let it be near me,” someone said. Even Flyer staff writer Bianca Phillips tapped out this enthusiastic e-mail, and she’s a vegan: “Whoa! Do we have a Mellow Mushroom now?! Holy crap! I love the place.”

So what in the world is going on? How about pizzas with hippie names like Magical Mystery Tour (pesto, portobello mushrooms, spinach, feta, and jalapeno), calzones and hoagies (including Phillips’ favorite: teriyaki tempeh), 32 beers on tap (the list begins with Abita Amber and ends with Yuengling Lager), and a charming mural with caricatures of Memphis music icons.

“We had a thousand customers on opening day. It was insane,” said Cary Fairless, who owns and operates Mellow Mushroom with his wife, Lori Fairless. “A lot of people know the brand and the quality of the food. They like the cool environment and the type of service we are giving.”

After one visit, it’s easy to understand the restaurant’s reputation. The choice of pizza ingredients is a little mind-blowing. First, there are four kinds of pizza dough: olive oil and garlic, pesto, red, and barbecue. Next are the cheeses: blue cheese, cheddar, feta, Parmesan, provolone, ricotta, and fresh mozzarella. Fruits and veggies? There are 20. Proteins? Select from 20 more, including four kinds of tofu, anchovies, and jerk chicken.

Started in 1974 by a trio of college kids at Georgia Tech, Mellow Mushroom now includes 100 restaurants in 15 states. The Germantown restaurant — located on Poplar in the former Old Navy location — is the first of several restaurants that the Fairlesses plan for the Memphis area.

“Hopefully, by early summer, we’ll get focused on the next location,” Cary said. “There are lots of great possibilities.”

Mellow Mushroom, 9155 Poplar,

mellowmushroom.com (907-0243)

Marilyn Weber was an experienced baker before she opened Gigi’s Cupcakes last Saturday in East Memphis. But she still attended the franchise’s “cupcake college” to become swirl-certified.

“It was a humbling experience,” she said, laughing. “With Gigi’s, it’s all about the swirl.”

The three-tier swirl of butter cream or cream-cheese icing adorns every cupcake at Gigi’s, but no two flavors are alike. In fact, Gigi’s offers so many kinds of cupcakes that employees hand out cupcake menus so customers can keep it all straight.

“One of the things that makes us unique is that many of our recipes are family recipes that have been time-tested,” Weber said. “Our wedding-cake cupcake comes from a recipe that has been used for generations.”

Daily cupcake specials also mix up Gigi’s standard cupcake selection. A pecan-pie cupcake called “Memphis Mud” was available last Wednesday. “It’s gooey, yummy, and absolutely delicious,” employee Elizabeth Schriner said. (She was right!)

Cupcakes sell for $3 each, and already, bakers are cranking out 900 a day. “We’re not just selling cupcakes,” Weber explained. “We are selling the experience.”

Gigi’s is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Gigi’s Cupcakes, 4709 Poplar,

gigiscupcakesusa.com (888-2253)

Charley’s Grilled Subs, a worldwide franchise with 400 locations, opened its first Memphis restaurant last week in Oak Court Mall. Started in 1986 on the campus of Ohio State University, the sub shop sells six variations of a Philly cheese steak, another six types of deli subs, and finally, seven Charley’s “favorites,” including barbecue cheddar steak.

In addition to breakfast sandwiches and all-natural lemonade, Charley’s specializes in gourmet fries, loaded with cheddar, bacon, or ranch dressing. On my visit, I stuck with the originals: strips of fried potatoes with the skins, seasoned with a few shakes of Charley’s seasoned salt. Yum.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Let’s Eat Out

Call it a new spin on a much-loved meal, or simply say: Spindini Sunday brunch. Either way, it’s delicious Italian comfort food from Chef Joe Cartwright.

The popular dinner-only restaurant on South Main Street started brunch last Sunday to accommodate its downtown neighbors, said Kevin Darker, operations manager. “We are surrounded by lots of new condos, and people are looking for a neighborhood restaurant where they can relax and have brunch,” he said.

Served from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., the mix-and-match menu sounds delicious. A $6 cold buffet includes pastries, fresh fruit, bruschetta, and breakfast pizza. A hot buffet, also $6, offers potato and lobster hash, roasted garlic egg strata, creamy polenta with smoked mozzarella, and rigatoni with sausage and vodka sauce.

Entrées on the à la carte menu are $20, and that includes both hot and cold buffets. Among the seven entrées are Italian eggs Benedict and a frittata made with sausage, bacon, tomatoes, and mozzarella.

“We also have champagne and Bloody Mary specials, because this is downtown,” Darker said, “and everyone likes their drinks.”

If you can’t make Sunday bunch, consider stopping by Spindini on Monday evenings when all pizzas and bottles of wine under $75 are half-price. The restaurant opens at 5 p.m.

Spindini, 382 S. Main,

spindinimemphis.com (578-2767)

Here’s a good reason to get downtown a little early: Market Café on Madison has started serving breakfast, offering frittatas, burritos, and fried-egg-and-bacon breakfast burgers.

“We also have quiche: a Southern-style quiche with ground beef, bacon, and sausage and a whole-grain quiche with veggies only,” said Teresa Johns, the café’s new chef.

Along with quiche, the café is serving oatmeal, grits, biscuits, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and build-your-own omelets. Beignets are served for breakfast and lunch, along with apple strudel, six-berry cobbler, chocolate crumble, and cheesecake.

“I love to bake, but I love to cook too,” said Johns, who was the pastry chef at Blues City Pastry on South Main until it closed last year. “I’m fusing my French culinary training with Las Vegas international cuisine. It’s going to be fun.”

Johns’ culinary accomplishments are impressive. She apprenticed under Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in Napa Valley, served as a chef de cuisine at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, and worked as the executive pastry chef for Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

At Market Café, her creative flavor combinations kick up a straightforward lunch menu: The pecan tarragon chicken salad is mixed with apples and herb aïoli ($7); the pan-roasted salmon sandwich is served with cilantro slaw and house vinaigrette ($8.50); and the sexy Mexi burger is topped with jalapenos, avocado sauce, sour cream, pico de gallo, lettuce, and onions ($8).

Owner Ed Bell is enthusiastic about Johns reinventing his kitchen. “She brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and charm to our restaurant,” he said.

Market Café is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is closed on weekends.

Market Café, 149 Madison,

memphismarketcafe.com (577-0086)

The display of $5 Bears’ Lair stacked near the checkout of Liquor & Wine Depot in East Memphis caught the attention of everyone in line, including me. “What’s it taste like?” I asked owner Greg Cross.

“It’s good,” Cross answered. “It’s our version of Two Buck Chuck.”

Two Buck Chuck is the Charles Shaw label of wines sold exclusively by Trader Joe’s grocery stores for $2 a bottle. The California wine is made from excess grapes, so the taste can differ from one batch to the next.

“I’ve heard people buy a bottle, open it in the car and taste it, and if they like it, come back in and buy a case,” the woman behind me said.

Available in Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, Bears’ Lair was released this month in Memphis by the same company that distributes Two Buck Chuck. The grapes are grown in California’s Lodi district. “That’s a really high-end area,” Cross said. “We’re already seeing re-buys.”

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Sunday Brunch in Cooper Young

CREDIT: David Meredith

Last weekend was my friend Victoria’s birthday, and we celebrated with drinks and brunch in Cooper Young. We started at Blue Fish, where the Bloody Mary bar is part of the restaurant’s new brunch menu. It was a sight to behold: martini glasses filled with green tomatoes, olives, white asparagus, pepperoncini, pickled green beans, and large stalks of celery so you could have a little crunch with every sip.

bloodymary.jpg

  • David Meredith
Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Ain’t It Grand?

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

Local’s sea bass with asparagus risotto

Meatball sliders at 2 in the morning? Check. A quiet dinner with pan-seared sea bass and fire-grilled Tuscan rib-eye? Double check. A cold brewsky with a friend anytime after 4 p.m.? Got that too.

Local, downtown’s newest eatery on South Main, opened two weeks ago in the former location of Sauces, but the similarity between the restaurants stops with the address.

Fashioned after an English gastro pub, owner Jeffrey Johnson hopes to attract both drinkers and diners with a casual bar and restaurant on the main floor and a smoke-free bar and more formal dining room downstairs.

“We are a perfect blend,” said Chris Armes, a longtime bartender at Celtic Crossing who is now managing Local. “You can hang out and have a few drinks, or you can sit downstairs and have a great piece of fish at a table with a white linen table cloth.”

Justin Fox Burks

Owner Jeffrey Johnson and manager Chris Armes

The same menu is served upstairs and downstairs from 4 p.m. until the kitchen closes at midnight Sunday through Thursday and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. It is an elaborate spin on pub grub. Appetizers include house-smoked salmon ($9), mozzarella caprese ($8), and goat cheese and spinach salad ($5). Pub plates include seared sea scallops ($12), chorizo bacon burger ($11), and championship wings ($8). Entrées include a full range of steaks, chops, and seafood: sweet Italian sausage ragu ($14), grilled bourbon-marinated flank steak ($19), and Creole shrimp and grits ($19).

If you’d rather drink than eat, the bar stays open until 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday and until 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Better yet, sample food and drinks on Friday, January 22nd, when Local hosts a grand opening party.

Local, 95 S. Main, localgastropub.com

(473-9573)

The second Dunkin’ Donuts in Memphis opened Wednesday on Poplar in Germantown, offering the restaurant’s trademark assortment of donuts, breakfast sandwiches, and coffee drinks.

I stopped by a few days early with my husband Tony for a sneak peek and tasting. He tried the restaurant’s new turkey, cheese, and bacon flatbread; I went for the cheese and egg English muffin and a few donuts to go. We both got cranked up on lattes, a caffeine high Tony swears is unique to the brand. He should know because he’s been visiting Dunkin’ Donuts since the Fifties. “My grandfather would take me to this little Dunkin’ Donuts near Copley Square in Boston,” he reminisced. “There were donuts and coffee. That was it.”

He is right about the dates. The first Dunkin’ Donuts opened in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1950. Today, the company is the largest donut franchise in the world, with a dozen more stores slated for Memphis.

Here’s one more piece of donut trivia. Nationally, the most popular Dunkin’ flavor is Boston cream, but in Memphis, it’s glazed and chocolate.

Dunkin’ Donuts, 9077 Poplar, ddmemphis.com (753-1153)

David Meredith, manager of Blue Fish in Cooper-Young, understands that a great Bloody Mary is more than vodka, Clamato, and a stick of celery. That’s why his Bloody Mary bar, offered during the restaurant’s new Sunday brunch, includes Old Bay seasoning, horse radish, wasabi, Worcestershire sauce, dill pickles, green tomato pickles, olives, pepperoncini, pickled okra, and pickled green beans.

“For $5, you can build quite a drink,” Meredith said. “We wanted to do something different and have a little fun.”

Served from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the restaurant’s Sunday brunch includes a full roster of libations, food, and a kid’s menu for $6.95. On the breakfast side, there’s banana-bread French toast ($14.95), steak and crab Benedict ($21.95), and chicken and waffles ($15.95). Feeling more like lunch? Try mac and cheese with shrimp and scallops ($16.95) or oyster Caesar salad ($9.95).

In addition to brunch, be on the lookout for upcoming changes in the dinner menu at Blue Fish, along with a free-appetizer card being distributed door-to-door in nearby neighborhoods.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Tsunami Farmers Market Open Again on Saturdays

I stopped by the Cooper-Young farmers market Saturday, located in the parking lot of Tsunami restaurant, to buy my weekly ration of greens and sweet potatoes and was happy to discover that a handful of local growers are back after the cold Christmas break.

Also on hand were Michelle Naef and her two-year-old daughter, Zoe. Here they are talking to Thomas Dodson, who explained how the cold snap hurt his crop of kale.

market1.jpg

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Free Coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts

donuts_2.jpg

Germantown donut lovers, rejoice! The second Dunkin’ Donuts in Memphis opens Wednesday in the Stonecreek shopping center on Poplar, and the coffee is free, as long as you bring a donation for the Memphis Food Bank.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Happy New Menu

After the holidays, tired of the cooking from my own kitchen, I treated my family to the cooking from Ken Lumpkin‘s Midtown restaurant, Umai.

I’d heard that Lumpkin, who opened his Japanese and French cuisine restaurant three years ago, had rolled out smaller plates and lower prices, which sounded good to me after the excesses of Christmas.

“Now you can spend $15 and get two or three plates, but the quality of the food is still the same,” Lumpkin said, explaining how his new menu reflects more affordable prices and lessons learned from his mother, Sumiko.

“When I was growing up in Memphis, there weren’t many Asian markets, so we used Japanese techniques with whatever ingredients we could get. Instead of daikon, we used turnip greens; instead of Japanese spinach, we used American spinach. What mattered most was that our ingredients were as fresh as possible, and that’s my main focus at Umai.”

Lumpkin’s mother, who cooked for local restaurants in Memphis, also emphasized the responsibility chefs have to their customers. “My mom always said to make sure you were proud to serve your food, because customers worked hard for their money, and they were spending it at your restaurant,” Lumpkin said. “Integrity matters to me.”

So how does Lumpkin’s new menu translate into dinner? Here’s the bottom line: beautifully plated dishes that are flavorful and satisfying at half the former price.

My family still managed to spend about $75, but that’s not bad for three people who ordered wine; kimchee seafood salad ($8), house salad ($5), and Red Dragon roll ($9); Sumo wrestler hot pot ($15), Boston butt braised with Japanese spices and served with risotto ($11), and fish Grenobloise ($9); and — because we couldn’t stop ourselves — green tea and vanilla-bean crème brûlée ($7).

The kimchee salad served on a bed of baby arugula was particularly good, combining kimchee, a little mayonnaise, salt, pepper, chives, and fresh seafood: tuna, salmon, yellow tail, squid, and octopus, topped with crispy strips of salmon skin.

Equally delicious was Umai’s hot pot called Chanko Nabe, a rich Japanese stew traditionally eaten by Sumo wrestlers to gain weight. (Be forewarned!) Lumpkin’s version is a curry broth with udon, pork, smoked chicken, seafood, and seasonal veggies. “It’s our kitchen-sink-style noodle bowl,” he said. “We make the stock out of chicken bones, pork bones, and fish bones and use whatever fresh seafood is available.”

We didn’t try the seafood risotto, although many customers do. “It’s one of our most popular dishes,” said our server, Robyn Ladd.

Umai serves dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the restaurant serves brunch from noon to 4 p.m. and dinner from noon until 9 p.m.

Umai, 2015 Madison,

myspace.com/umairestaurant (405-4241)

Café Olé, the popular Mexican restaurant in Cooper-Young, reopened New Year’s day after a break for renovations. But don’t expect big changes in the decor, except for the charming gold lizard made out of the old bar tiles.

“We put in a new ceramic bar, and he’s all that’s left of the old one,” said manager Susan Davis. “Mostly, we did a lot of painting.”

Café Olé also tweaked its menu with lunch specials: a soup of the day, a soup and salad combo for $4.75, and another half-dozen choices (cheese quesadillas, nachos, burritos, fish tacos, tamale pies, chicken tenders, and “pick two” combos) priced at $5.99. “We’ve included things that are quick to put together so people can get in and out,” said Denise Johnson, the restaurant’s other manager.

Lunch specials include a beverage and rice or fries and are available Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you’re feeling extra hungry, be on the lookout for Café Olé’s upcoming dinner specials or stop by on Tuesdays when all appetizers (except bacon-wrapped shrimp) are available for half-price.