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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

FOOD NEWS BITES: Elwood’s Shack Park Avenue Goes Out of Business Today

After a year and a half in business, Elwoods’ Shack Park Avenue at 4040 Park Avenue closed today, April 25th.

“Just not making a profit,” says owner Tim Bednarski. “I lost my butt. We’re doing decent sales. We’re just not making a profit like we used to. I’ve been doing this 45 years, and I can’t make a profit.”

Park Avenue, which includes a spinet piano and antiques Bednarksi has collected, “does a thriving business, but my debt was so great. I was determined to make it work.”

He says, “Utilities are too much. Last year they went up so much.”

Elwood’s Shack Park Avenue owner Tim Bednarski (Credit: Michael Donahue)

As for his original Elwood’s Shack location at 4523 Summer Avenue, Bednarski says, “Summer is hanging in there. I’m going to try to keep it. Make it work. I need all the help I can get.”

But, Bednarksi says, “It’s just that everything costs so much.” He adds, “I can’t double my prices. I can’t charge $26 for a one patty bacon cheeseburger. I’ve raised my prices three times in the last year and it’s still not enough.”

Bednarski still gets customers at his Summer location. But, he says, “We’re busy, but we’re never busy enough.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Flew the Coop

In addition to being in a new location, Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken will be in a new episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network.

His restaurant is now at 1725 Winchester Road, which is “one-fourth of a mile” from his old restaurant at 3633 Millbranch Road, says owner/founder Lou Martin. “A six-minute walk or a two-minute drive.” 

And the episode, titled “Sweet, Spicy and Savory,” will air at 7 p.m. on April 25th.

Martin’s new building was formerly a Wendy’s location. He wanted the building for years. “They came down to my asking price, which I thought was great.”

He didn’t have to do a lot to the building, but he did a lot anyway, Martin says. “My plan is to set it up as a model. Get more of them. Get people interested in opening Lou’s around the city, around the country. That’s the plan. That’s why we went so in depth. To make it a franchise-able model.”

Asked about the interior’s color scheme, Martin says, “My wife [Renee Martin] is in charge of colors. I’m in charge of the bills.”

One area of the restaurant, known as Daphne’s Area, is in pink because of his daughter Daphne Martin, who died in June 2024. “It’s an honor to her, her legacy. Everything is pink. That was her color.”

Martin has white table tops in honor of his mother Mary Martin, who died 10 years ago. “She had that dream a few times that I had a restaurant with white tablecloths. And I told her, ‘Mom,’ — we kind of joked about it — ‘I might have a white table top one day.’’’

The chair cushions are green. “My mom’s favorite color was green.”

The new restaurant is 2,700 square feet, as opposed to his old place, which was 1,800 square feet. Martin now has more space for shipping his Uncle Lou’s products, which include his sauces, seasonings, and chicken breading mix.

The new restaurant, of course, continues to offer Martin’s chicken breasts, thighs, legs, and his award-winning marinated chicken tenderloins slathered with his signature Sweet Spicy Love sauce, as well as hamburgers and other items. 

Martin came up with the sauce, but the fried chicken recipe came from his great-grandmother Rosie Gillespie. In a Memphis Magazine story, Martin said he was about 15 when his mother told him the secret to Madear’s fried chicken. And she told him again when he decided to sell chicken at his new restaurant.

New Uncle Lou’s side items include homemade macaroni-and-cheese. “We start with elbow macaroni noodles. Cook those. After those are cooked, we add our cheddar cheese sauce. And after that we add some black pepper, some Corruption — my own personal seasoning — and a little bit of honey. Cup it up and sprinkle shredded cheese on it. A five-cheese blend.”

Corruption is “an all-purpose seasoning. Kind of like Lawry’s or Season-All, but much more flavor and less salt.”

The seasoning dates to Martin’s days when he owned Turkey Express, a turkey leg booth he set up at the Mid-South Fair and at Memphis in May events. Daphne, who was about 10 years old at the time, helped him make Corruption, he says. “Probably 30 plus years ago.”

Daphne continued to help him over the years. “She was my right hand, but she was left-handed.” 

Martin talked about Corruption when he was on his first Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives show with Fieri in 2008. Asked on the show why he called it Corruption, Martin said, “Once you taste it, you’ve been corrupted.”

Corruption also is in Sweet Spicy Love Beans, another new side item.“It’s a Northern bean with a Southern kick.”

Martin says, “People swear up and down it has meat, but it doesn’t have meat. Just seasoning, seasoned green beans, and we add diced potatoes and Corruption.” 

That’s another nod to his mother, who made green beans with diced potatoes for their Sunday dinners when Martin was growing up. She made Sunday dinner on Saturday. So, on Sunday she’d put the already-cooked beans and potatoes on the floor heater before the family went to church. The slow heat marinated the dish. All his mom had to do when they came home from church was “fry chicken or warm up the roast or whatever we were having that day.”

Martin recalls the aroma from those beans and potatoes after church. “Talking about smell — oh, my goodness.”

Born and raised in Memphis, Martin opened his first restaurant, Catfish Express, where he sold farm-raised catfish, in 1988.

He then went into the concession business with his Turkey Express booth. He also owned the short-lived Turkey Express restaurant in Downtown Memphis.

In 2001, Martin opened what later became Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken. He originally sold hamburgers and sandwiches before he added the fried chicken made from his great-grandmother’s recipe. 

Mary enhanced the fried chicken with his Sweet Spicy Love sauce, which is made with honey, red wine vinegar, Louisiana hot sauce, and Corruption. He originally called the sauce Honey Dip, but during a Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives appearance, Fieri told him he should call it Sweet Spicy Love.

Martin has been on Fieri’s show four times, including the upcoming episode. As he said in the Memphis Magazine story, business picked up “immediately” after the first show in 2008. “It didn’t stop,” Martin said. “And it hasn’t stopped.”

Business is booming at his new location, Martin says. And, for the first time in his career, he owns a restaurant with a patio. “I’ve got a patio that’s out of this world. I want to say 35 by 40. It’s enough to have six six-foot tables.”

The patio is intended for families who want to let their kids move around and “stretch their legs.”

The centerpiece in the restaurant’s landscaping is a “long stem pink” rose bush, which belonged to his mother. “My niece was a baby when she planted that thing, so I know it’s 40-plus. I’m saying 43.”

Martin had the rosebush transplanted to the restaurant. “It’s flourishing down here.”

Hydrangea bushes and various flowers also are included in the restaurant’s landscaping. “I like color. I like low maintenance and something that comes back every year. Some yellows. Some oranges. Some purples. And the flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

“If you’re sitting out there on the patio and you’ve got butterflies, hummingbirds, good music, and a good day, what else could you need besides good-flavored chicken?” 

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Maeve’s Tavern Coming to Collierville

Google describes the Irish Queen Maeve, who is believed to have ruled in the first century A.D., as “a warrior of great strength, resilience, and at times, ruthlessness. With a name said to mean ‘intoxicating,’ it is certain that she wielded enormous power and sway during her reign.”

All of which sounds like a great name for an Irish drinking establishment. And that’s what DJ Naylor is calling his new restaurant/bar. Maeve’s Tavern is slated to open in mid June at the site of the old Highlander Scottish pub at 78 North Main Street in Collierville, Tennessee. Naylor, Reny Alfonso, and Brad Allbritten of the Brazen Restaurant Group are the guys behind those other Irish watering holes, Celtic Crossing and Bog & Barley.

“Maeve was a mythical queen in the Connaught region in the west of Ireland,” Naylor says.

He had his daughters Kyla and Teagan in mind when he chose the name. “An Irish figure that would represent them,” he says.

Maeve was a “very fierce warrior,” who was “ambitious, courageous.”

Asked why Colllierville, Naylor says, “We want to expand our footprint, our reach, our business,” he says. “We’d always planned to have a larger number of restaurants. We were leaning towards Lakeland, but the opportunity presented itself.”

Maeve’s Tavern is more intimate than the other two bars/restaurants, says Allbritten, who is director of restaurant operations for the group. “It’s 120, 130 inside with a 50-seat patio,” he says. “We’ll really be able to be serving some outdoor entertainment.”

They will feature Irish music and dancing. “It’s very important for us to keep our authenticity to the Irish culture.” 

It will have “a family atmosphere. It’s going to be a casual tavern you’ll feel comfortable being in.”

And it will be a great place to bring the kids and for groups who want to “have nice lunches and enjoy tea” with their friends.

Inside, Maeve’s Tavern is going to be very Irish-centric. “All the interior furniture, bar furniture, and dining room furniture are going to be sourced in Ireland,” Naylor says.

The color scheme for Maeve’s Tavern will be “some nice reds and greens.”

Maeve’s Tavern will have “a more feminine and softer approach to your average pub,” Allbritten says. “Not just leather, but a lot more design appeal.”

Also included will be artwork and Irish bric-a-brac, including “antique mirrors from Ireland.”

And they want to tie in symbols of Maeve, including “the bowl, the crown, the raven,” Naylor says. “Tying all those aspects of her mythology into the design.”

As for the food, Naylor says they will “maintain the staples” at Maeve’s Tavern. “The tradition will stay with us, but we’ll definitely show the community a different side of our culinary scope.”

Alfonso, who is director of operations for the group, does the menu development and works with the chefs in each restaurant. “Currently, I’m leaning towards more Irish countryside,” he says. “Cottage-style food. Like heartier composed plates.”

Maeve’s Tavern is “going to be a tavern, but we also want to make it fresh and exciting and new. Focused on things you’d find in the countryside in Ireland. More emphasis on seafood like you’d find on the coastal side.”

But he says, “I’m trying to lighten it up as well, if that makes sense. Sort of make it healthier and not so heavy.”

Alfonso also will feature traditional items, including shepherd’s pie and fish and chips, along with some new items.

He’d like to do a “lighter and less pungent version of liver and onions.” It will have “caramelized onions.” But he’ll lighten it up with grape vinegar. “The acidity in it will brighten up the richness of the sauce in the liver. I’m using influences not only from Ireland, but Scotland, England, and maybe some Australian. They were also colonized by England. A mishmash of United States and Ireland.”

His other ideas include a version of stuffed leeks, but he’s not sure what he’s going to stuff them with. Maybe shrimp paste or something similar, he says. “They’ll be glazed in some Irish cider.”

Alfonso also plans to make a brunch item called “boxty,” which is a “traditional potato pancake,” and a“cabbage cake.”

“I do want to do a version of — I don’t know what I’m going to call it yet — chicken cordon bleu with Irish ‘rashers’ — Irish bacon — and smoked Irish cheddar.”

And, he wants to do a fish “in some kind of a curry.”

He’s playing with an idea for a salmon en croûte. “Maybe coulibiac, an old Russian dish, traditionally. It’s salmon that’s rolled in puff pastry with mushrooms, eggs, rice, and spinach. I’m going to find a kale or cabbage to make that more Irish.”

“I want to do a curry-marinated chicken paillard and salad-type thing. I’m definitely going to try to do proper English roasted potatoes. The potatoes are peeled, and they’ve got to be gold, with a little bit of baking soda. They’re boiled first in baking soda and water, and then you toss them to beat them up. Then they go in a hot pan with beef tallow.”

He wants to do something called an “Irish spice bag,” which is “a thing that you’d find on the streets in Ireland. Like stands and stuff.”

You “fry little pieces of chicken and vegetables and sometimes seafood and toss it in a paper bag with seasoning.

For dessert, he’s thinking of a “mulled fruit trifle,” which he says is “stone fruit mulled with Irish cider and layered with cream sauce and some scones crumbled into it.”

In keeping with the rest of Maeve’s Tavern, Alfonso wants to make his menu items “warm and inviting.” He wants it to be a place people will visit “multiple times a week.”

The experience will be like “going to a cottage and eating dinner.” Like “mom is cooking for you,” he says. “But more refined at the same time.”

Naylor, who is from Ballina, County Mayo, in Ireland, moved to Boston, Massachusetts, before moving to Memphis, where he opened Celtic Crossing in 2005 and Bog & Barley in 2023. “The hospitality of Memphis was far more akin to Ireland than Boston,” he says.

His mother said she’d “much rather come here,” Naylor says. She said the people are friendly. And she loved to go to the department store because the people are “so nice.”

Each of his Irish bars is different, Naylor says. “We don’t just open Irish pubs and sling beer and shots.”

He maintains the quality of each place so they’re “not being a beer joint” like other cities “where Irish pubs are a dime a dozen.”

Each of his Irish bars has its own personality.

“Celtic, for me, is the neighborhood bar that is the soccer headquarters for the city of Memphis.”

The elegant, majestic Bog & Barley, which is “more of an upscale Irish pub,” is “the cathedral to Irish pubs,” he says.

Maeve’s Tavern will be “a third experience to the Irish dining scene.”

“I love openings,” Alfonso says. “They’re just challenging. Getting all the pieces together. Finding out what’s going to work in a new area. New kitchen. New team. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle getting all the pieces together.”

He adds, “We’re just looking forward to welcoming the community into our new home, if you will.” 

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Hungry Memphis

FOOD NEWS BITES: Belmont Grill Is NOT Closing

Contrary to rumors going around, Belmont Grill isn’t going anywhere.

“We’re not closing,” says Belmont owner-manager Jeff Anderson. But, he says, “We may be selling soon.”

It will remain the Belmont Grill, he says. 

And that’s all he can say right now.

But, he reiterates, they’re not closing.

The menu gives the Belmont’s history. The beloved restaurant/bar at 4970 Poplar Avenue and Mendenhall Street, with its famous hamburgers and hot wings “was constructed between 1910 and 1920 and was originally operated as a general store by Italia Bianchi and her family on what was known as Poplar Pike in the town of White Station.”

Belmont owner-manager Jeff Anderson (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Businesses on that corner included Bianchi Bros. Grocery and Louie’s Grill, which became Louie’s Bar & Grill in 1948. Then “sometime in the early ’60s the property was leased to Bob Lloyd, who turned it into the (infamous?) Sir Robert’s, where apparently half of East Memphis ate ham sandwiches, drank beer, and played shuffleboard.

“Alan Gary (who also founded Huey’s) acquired the business in 1974 and renamed it The Half Shell.” And, the story goes on, “10 years later, in 1983, The Half Shell moved to its current location on Mendenhall and the former Half Shell became The Belmont.”

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Food & Drink News

Memphis Flyer Podcast April 11 2025: Michael Donahue

This week on the Memphis Flyer Podcast, Michael Donahue talks about his cover story on Memphis chef Ann Barnes. Plus, dive bar revival, and does Memphis still know how to party?

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Food & Drink

Keeping Dive Bars Alive

Louis Connelly, owner of Louis Connelly’s Bar for Fun Times & Friendship in Midtown, is continuing his brand of buying “dive bars” with his latest addition, Kickstart Bar & Grill at 5960 Highway 51, about 10 minutes from Millington, Tennessee.

“This is just OG dive bar feel,” Connelly says. “You can tell it’s been around for many years.”

People are going to see motorcycles parked outside. “It’s always been a biker bar. Back in the day, it was probably pretty rough, but from what I hear, all the bikers consider it neutral ground,” says Mickey Blancq, Connelly’s business partner. “So they won’t be aggressive to each other while they’re there. Iron Horsemen or Outlaws or whatever biker club has claimed its own territory.”

Small diamond-shaped windows flank the entrance to Kickstart. A 15-foot Miller High Life beer glass made out of concrete stands on one side of the building. “There’s two wooden doors,” Connelly says. “And the door is incredibly heavy. You kind of yank it to pull it open.”

Inside, the place explodes with the colors of the neon beer signs that dot the walls along with photographs and old album covers. “Weasel,” one of the regulars, attached various things to the walls over the years, Blancq says. “Every inch is covered,” he says. “All kinds of stuff. Old beer signs, license plates. You name it. Elvira cutouts.”

“You look around and you’re in a totally different world,” Connelly says.

Two pool tables stand in a separate room to the right of the bar. And a “really beautiful shuffleboard table” stands to the left when you walk in. Adam Phillips, who, along with his wife Mitzi, previously owned Kickstart, “services shuffleboards all around the city,” Connelly says.

The clientele ranges from “young 30s” to people “in their 80s,” Connelly says. 

“Everyone here looks out for everybody else,” Blancq says. “If they have a bad character, they all band together: ‘You’re not welcome here’ kind of deal. ‘This is our house,’ you know.

“They have a list of people who have been banned over the years,” Connelly says. “It’s passed down. People who currently work there have never met them. They’ve been banned in previous administrations, so to speak. We’re keeping that list going. Somewhere in a file are pictures of some of those old characters that have received lifetime bans.”

Outside, a lone truck door stands next to the giant concrete Miller High Life beer glass. The door belongs to one of their regulars, says Kickstart manager Nate Cox. “He was getting body work done at a body shop and it got absconded by some people who didn’t need to abscond it,” Cox says. “And we had to go on a little recon mission and get his door back for him.”

They found the door “at a meth head’s house,” Cox says. “We’re a ‘family network’ out here. I’ll use quotation marks on that. If something happens to one of us, we go take care of it. We handle business ourselves.”

Connelly is impressed with his customer base. “Every time we’ve been out here, everyone is so super nice,” he says. “They all know each other and they’ve all got names for each other. That’s how they introduce themselves: ‘My name is this, but people call me this.’”

One guy goes by “Bobby Two Hats.” Another goes by “Dog.” “He barked at me,” Connelly says.

Another “Bobby,” Bobby Crisel, goes by his “Bobby Big Head” nickname. “Ever since I was in elementary school I’ve been called ‘Big Head,’” Crisel says, adding, “I’ve had it my whole life. I just have a big head.”

Crisel, 56, who lives in Shelby Forest, owned Kickstart for about four years around 2016 when it was known as The Point. But he’s been around the bar most of his life. “I kind of grew up in that place.”

He’d go to the bar with his dad. “I’d go to work with him doing construction and we’d stop by. It’s always been like a buddy bar. Everybody hangs out there, drinks a few beers, stretches the truth about a few things.”

Then, he says, “Got to the age where I was driving him home. And next thing you know, I got to the age where I’m hanging out.”

“If Bobby gets too drunk, he calls his son and his son comes and picks him up in the tow truck and takes his car home,” Connelly says. (Bobby’s son has a tow truck.)

“If I sit there a little bit too long, I call him up and say, ‘Come get me, boy,’” Crisel says.

Kickstart Bar & Grill went by other names over the years. It was known as The Point before Crisel owned it. Then it changed to Tom Cat’s and then Chuck’s before going back to The Point. “It’s an old dive bar,” Crisel says. “Been that way my whole lifetime.”

It was called The Point because it’s at Old Millington Road and Highway 51, Crisel says. “Right there at the point of them. Still today, all the old people say, ‘We’re going to The Point.’”

For now, Kickstart serves “just beer and a couple of nice hard lemonade-type drinks,” Connelly says. “We have applied for a liquor license, and we’ll be adding liquor in a couple of weeks.”

As for its cuisine, Connelly says, “There’s a small food menu. All bars are required to serve food.”

Kickstart’s menu is “not as extensive” as their Midtown bar at 322 South Cleveland Street in Midtown. “They don’t have fryers. It’s pizzas and nachos. We may end up changing that a little bit. We just bought a new pizza oven. The current pizza oven was Bobby Big Head’s dad’s pizza oven they were borrowing.”

They’re considering putting in one of those “gas station hot dog grilling stations,” Connelly says. And bringing in food trucks is “probably something down the road,” Blancq says.

We don’t want to change too much, but we want to put a slightly more professional face on this,” Connelly says. “Make sure the equipment is up to code.”

Like its regulars, Connelly and Blancq love Kickstart Bar & Grill, which is about a 15- to 20-minute drive from Midtown. “We want it to succeed,” Connelly says. “This is a nice place to be when you’re not home or at work.” 

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

FOOD NEWS BITES: Mix Odyssey Is Back

Mix Odyssey returns.

The Volunteer Odyssey fundraiser, where bartenders compete with each other to make the best drink of the night, will be back after a five-year hiatus. It will be held from 6 to 9 p.m., April 30th, at Baron Von Opperbean (BVO), the site of the old Mississippi River Museum at Mud Island.

Bartenders Mitchell Marable (The Lobbyist) and Nick Lumpkin (The Cove) were the instigators. “We wanted to start the competition back up,” says Marable, who is also a butcher at Buster’s Butcher. “We missed it and figured it was about time. The last one we did was the end of February 2020 right before everything started locking down.”

The event is “a fun time for bartenders to get together and see each other. We’re usually working on the same evenings. We can’t get out and have cocktails with our other comrades. We’re just working the same schedules. It’s a good cause. A good organization and just a fun night.”

Mitchell Marable (Photo: Michael Donahue)

Caroline Norris, Volunteer Odyssey president/CEO, is grateful for Marable and Lumpkin. “If I did not have their support and expertise, it could not have happened,” she says. “They have such big hearts and they’re really good at what they do.”

The previous Mix Odyssey was the last, or close to the last, big fundraiser before Covid hit in March 2020, Norris says. “We just want to make sure that people remember how much fun it it is. And they can come and vote for their favorite bartender.”

And, she says, “With each ticket you get a couple of votes. And with each donation you get another vote. You can cheer on your favorite bartender and support work to build capacity for our hundreds of nonprofit partners to provide technology platforms, recruiting, and best practices to manage their volunteers.”

Nick Lumpkin (Photo: Rachel Mary Harris)

Bartenders come up with their own cocktails with spirits provided by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. “Each bartender will basically be crafting their signature cocktail to compete.”

Guests get six tastings. Snacks will be provided by Paradox Catering  & Consulting, thanks to owner Jimmy Gentry, who also is chef/owner of The Lobbyist. Beer and wine also will be available.

Norris says, “The whole event is to celebrate the end of Global Volunteer Month,” which begins April 1st.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

FOOD NEWS BITES: Barksdale’s Set to Reopen

Sunny side up, everybody! Barksdale’s will reopen Monday, April 14th.

The iconic eatery at 237 Cooper Street that closed after a fire in June, 2024 will be back in action with breakfast and lunch. It will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week, says Ryan Glosson, one of the owners along with Bryant and Heather Bain. They also are the owners of Bain Barbecue down the street at 993 Cooper Street in Cooper-Young.

Heather and Bryant Bain and Ryan Glosson at the recent A Taste of CBHS (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The walls will feature “lots of memorabilia from before,” Glosson says.”We got the (Ameican) flag that’s back up in the hallway. New flooring, new ceilings, new booths.”

As for the food, Bryant says, “It’s the same type of food, it’s just updated to be fresher and scratch made every day. Some new items on the menu, but I don’t know what they did on their daily lunch menu off the top of my head. Just tell people to come in and eat.”

Asked in an earlier interview why they wanted to buy Barksdale’s, Bryant said, “We’ve all eaten there. And it’s been in the community for so many years.”

They weren’t going to let Barksdale just belong to the ages. They wanted it open again. It was “Hey, if we can do something about it, we’re going to,” Bryant said.

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Hungry Memphis

Food News Bites: Kelly English’s New Food Truck

Kelly English has added a new business to his roster of eating establishments, which include Restaurant Iris and Second Line.

Meet “Rocket Greens & Things.” 

Think “salad food truck.”

I asked English a few questions about this new endeavor.

What made you decide to open a salad food truck?

“We saw an opportunity to put our company and our employees in a better position filling what we found to be a voice in Midtown. There are plenty of places to get a salad, but no spots that center around salads.

We named the truck “Rocket Greens & Things” because we all love arugula, which means ‘rocket.’ The salads will come out fast like a rocket.”

What’s on the menu? Is this an ever changing menu or will it stay the same? Anything other than salads on the truck?

“We have a bunch of different signature salads and a build-your-own option. We plan to add a lot more in the coming weeks. Including non-salad items. That is where the ‘& things’ comes in. Those are the ‘things,’ but we are starting with salads because that will always be our core.

“Our guests will dictate by what they buy with what stays and what evolves. But we expect to have a good solid handful of mainstays with lots of seasonal options.”

What makes these salads special? How will they stand apart from other salads?

“They are special because we spend days talking about just salads. And we have personal nods to people and places that mean things to us on the menu.

What color is the truck?

“Our colors are green and orangey red.”

Where will the food truck be located?

“We are located at the corner of Cooper and Linden behind CVS and across Cooper from Fresh Market.”

Will this be in operation daily? 

“We are open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday and lunch on Friday and Saturday and open into the afternoon but not for dinner on Saturday.”

Is there a Website people where people can find menu items and where the truck will be?

“The truck won’t move, so that is easy. Our menu will be on Instagram at @rocketgreens.”

Who is doing the salad preparation? Are you going to ever be working on the food truck?

“Derk Metzler will oversee it along with the Swamp Bar and Second Line. Derk is such an important part of our entire company. And I feel so lucky he is on our team. I worked there both days this weekend and am scheduled there during lunch this Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. So, yes. Sometimes.”

Is this the first food truck you’ve ever done?

“This is the first food truck in this restaurant group (Iris Restaurant Group), yes.”

Is this the first of more food trucks to come?

“I can neither confirm or deny that.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

It’s Mudbug Time

The robin redbreast is a sign of spring. 

So is the red mudbug.

Just about the time brave daffodils are beginning to appear, the red Crazy Crawfish & Seafood food trailers owned by Bryan Freeman and Gary Rapp are stocked and open for business — at 8271 US-72 in Byhalia, Mississippi, and 2053 Houston Levee Road in Cordova, Tennessee.

Freeman and Rapp sell crawfish Fridays through Sundays beginning in February and running through the Fourth of July.

People, who travel from as far as Nashville to their trailers, also refer to the crawfish as “mudbugs” or “crawdads,” Freeman says. “I never heard it called ‘crayfish’ ’til I moved to Memphis,” he says. “That’s a new one on me.”

They get their crawfish from Louisiana. “We pride ourselves on the freshest and the best quality crawfish,” Freeman says. “We pride ourselves on quality and customer service.” 

Gary Rapp (above) and Bryan Freeman (below) serve up
crawfish and more at their food trailers.

He and Rapp feature an extensive menu at their food trailers. “We do crawfish, shrimp, gumbo, crab legs, all the fixings.”

They also sell boudin. “It’s chicken or pork with sausage and some other ingredients — I don’t even know, but it’s so good — in a casing.” And it’s a popular item. “We sell probably 300 sticks a weekend.”

His dad and uncle taught him how to cook crawfish when he was about 8 or 9 years old, says Freeman, who is from Petal, Mississippi, just east of Hattiesburg. They cooked crawfish on weekends, “just for family.”

Freeman was about 14 when he cooked crawfish solo for the first time. And it “wasn’t so good,” he recalls. “It just wasn’t the same taste as my dad’s and uncle’s.”

The number one thing to remember when cooking crawfish is “making sure the crawfish is clean. You have to wash them really good. You want to get all the mud off. Make sure the water is clear before cooking.”

Next is getting the water hot. “Put in butter and seasoning.” Their seasoning is a secret, of course. “We have our own ‘home seasoning.’ We’ll just put it that way.”

After his secret ingredients, Freeman adds potatoes and sausage and brings the water to a rolling boil. “Dump your crawfish in. Let them boil for three minutes. Bring back to a boil. Cut the heat off. Put in your frozen corn and let it soak for 25 or 35 minutes. Then it’s done. [It takes] about an hour.”

Freeman moved to Memphis in 2008 and eventually opened his own construction company, Freeman Builds and Designs, which he still owns and operates. He’s also national director for Wow Factor Baseball, a travel baseball organization.

He got into the seafood business four years ago after a friend of his, who owned Southbound Seafood, told him he was getting out of the business. He wanted to know if Freeman wanted to buy it. “I called my good buddy Gary Rapp and asked him if he wanted to invest in a crawfish company, and he said, ‘Yes.’ So we bought Southbound.”

Rapp, who is from Bartlett, Tennessee, was the football coach for Freeman’s son Caden Freeman, 20. Caden, who now plays college baseball at Jones College in Ellisville, Mississippi, “helps a little bit when he can.”

A year after the Southbound purchase, Freeman and Rapp bought their first Crazy Crawfish trailer in Cordova from John Stanford, who was moving to Pickwick. “When we bought Crazy Crawfish, it was already established. We just took it over. It already had a customer base.”

Two years later, they bought another trailer, “Cajun Crawdads,” from Jimmy Pegram. Now, both trailers have the same name, Crazy Crawfish & Seafood.

Owning a crawfish food trailer was a good fit, Freeman says. “I love crawfish. I love cooking it. That and just the camaraderie and getting to meet new people. Doing festivals. We do Overton Square Crawfish Festival. We cook a lot of crawfish down there. This year it’s May 3rd. We’re doing 6,000 pounds. We do catering and all that good stuff.”

Rapp says he knew “nothing” about crawfish when he got in the business. “I had them a time or two at some events, but that was about it,” he says.

“The thing I like about it is being able to serve the people in the community,” Rapp says. “I have worked in the food industry through high school to college in my 20s, and then I got into sales. It’s serving the public and providing them good quality, tasty food.”

That also goes for his It’s a wRAPP restaurant, where he sells deli wraps, salads, and quesadillas. 

Their cookies come from a recipe by Rapp’s sister-in-law Rachel Rapp. 

They eventually want a brick-and-mortar location for Crazy Crawfish, Freeman says — and they want to expand.

All of their Crazy Crawfish items are online at crazycrawfishandseafood.com. “Customers can order their live crawfish sacks and all the sides and items they need for a crawfish boil,” Rapp says. That includes their newest item: Cajun boiled eggs — “a boiled egg we soak in water and our seasoning,” Freeman says.

So, just what is the proper way to eat a mudbug?

“I don’t know if my way is the proper way, but you pinch the tail and pull it away from the head,” Freeman says. “Then you twist off the head. “Take the first ‘ring’ or ‘shell’ off the tail. Squeeze the back of the tail and pull out the meat.”

Finally, you can “suck the head,” he says. “If you want to get the juice out.”

The quote Rapp came up with for their website says it all: “Tastes so good it makes your lips go Flippity Floppity Flip Flop Flop.”