Category: Food Reviews

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Food & Drink Food Reviews

On taking a new approach: Stanley Bar-B-Que and Red Fish

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

It’s never too late to find your passion, and for career bartender Andy Walker, that passion has turned out to be smoking meats.

“For the first 20 years of my career, I stayed as far away from the kitchen as possible,” Andy says. “Now, barbecue is a real passion for me. You’d be surprised what you’re really good at.”

Andy is one of the brothers and sons, behind Stanley Bar-B-Que, formerly Schweinehaus, in Overton Square.

He owns and runs the eatery with his brother, David, who is not new to the restaurant business nor to barbecue — he was on a barbecue-cooking team for Memphis in May for years, studied at the French Culinary Institute, and was an executive chef in New York before returning to Memphis to be with his family.

Andy and David opened Schweinehaus with their parents, Stanley and Martha, in 2014 once David returned to the Mid-South to be with his family while his father was being treated for congestive heart failure. Stanley passed away just after Christmas last year.

The brothers had already been adding more and more barbecue items to the menu in response to the demand they heard for it in the Overton Square area. They fully transitioned from a German beer hall to a barbecue restaurant in November, and officially changed the name to Stanley Bar-B-Que earlier this summer to not only match the name with the product but to also honor their dad.

“Dad always loved barbecue,” Andy says. “He would treat himself to ribs at the Rendezvous once or twice a year.”

They offer the full monty — ribs, pulled pork, chicken, turkey, and brisket. They can do Picnic Packs, ranging anywhere from a four-pack for $22 to a 12-pack for $59, with quarts and pans of sides that can feed from 50 to 300-plus. They have barbecue nachos, smoked whole wings, Texas chili, and homemade pies made by Mom.

“We have people who come in and buy whole pies,” Andy says. “They might be our best-seller.”

They kept some of the Schweinehaus favorites, more for survival instinct than anything else.

“We kept the things we would get murdered for taking off the menu,” Andy says.

That includes Beer Fries, with shoestring fries, beer cheese, chili, sour cream, and pico de gallo ($7); their popular pretzel, with beer cheese and Schweinehaus Mustard ($8); Sauerkraut Balls, with apple butter ($9); and Fried Brussels, with bacon, citrus vinaigrette, candied almonds, and balsamic onions ($9).

Lately they’ve been giving the space a makeover, giving it a “softer” look than the heavy wood tables and iron chandeliers.

“We’re painting, adding more chairs, finishing out the stage, and adding more TVs,” David says. “I like to say we’re a work in progress all the time. In the restaurant business, you have to constantly be your own worst critic.”

Stanley Bar-B-Que, 2110 Madison, 347-3060. stanleybbq.net, Facebook, UberEATS, Bite Squad. Hours Sun.-Thurs., 11-1 a.m., Fri. and Sat., 11-2 a.m.

After a short-term dance with high-end dining, restaurateurs Dana Chen and Shon Lin decided to refocus their efforts on what they know.

The couple opened Izakaya on New Year’s Day to much fanfare. Memphians clamored to get a look at the historic Nineteenth Century Club, which the couple restored for a $4 million price tag, but changeovers and other difficulties led them to shut the doors just four and a half months later.

They own three other restaurants, including two Red Fish Sushi Asian Bistros in Olive Branch and Lakeland and Kublai Khan in Southaven, and felt that a Memphis-based Red Fish would be a good fit.

On July 1st, the well-appointed mansion on Union reopened its doors as Red Fish, recently complete with a new sign and sculpture designed by local artist Yvonne Bobo.

“We felt like a lot more people in the area can experience the Nineteenth Century Club,” Chen says. “We have a new price point that everybody can afford.”

Bianca Phillips

Cashew Tofu from Red Fish

They offer a wide range of sushi options, hibachi dishes, bento boxes, stir fry, and a section of the menu dedicated to “Deep Fried Chicken” options.

Chen says sushi and chicken are their top sellers.

“We have the best sushi in town,” she says. “That’s what all of our customers tell us.”

Justin Fox Burks

Other top sellers include General Tso’s Chicken and Golden Sesame Chicken ($9.95 lunch/$12.95 dinner). Things expand quite a bit for dinner, with an appetizer menu that offers crab puffs and beef tataki and chef specialities like Chilean sea bass, served with roasted corn, jumbo lump crabmeat, onion, garlic, asparagus, and seafood sauce ($34.95) and yuzu filet mignon, served with julienned vegetables and Yuzu wasabi sauce ($31.95).

These days Shon is running the kitchen, and they’re waiting for the right time to open the upstairs again.

“It’s a beautiful building, and everybody can come in and experience it while eating some really excellent food,” Chen says.

Red Fish Sushi Asian Bistro, 1433 Union, 454-3926. redfishbistro.com, Facebook. Hours Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

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Food & Drink Food Reviews

Big Beer Is Back

As anyone who is likely to be reading this knows, the craft beer industry has been on one of the greatest underdog winning streaks in the history of corporate capitalism. Way back in 2010, craft brewers were hoping against hope to take — on some far off sunny day — a 20 percent cut of the domestic beer market. Most industry experts thought the craft brewers might have done a little too much product sampling before setting that goal.

Yet, craft beer continued to boom, growing year over year: 18 percent in 2014, 15 percent in 2015. Last year, the numbers got a little more sobering with 6 percent growth. But the stats can be misleading. According to the Brewers Association, craft brewers churned out 24.6 million barrels of beer in 2016, that’s up 1.4 million from the year before. This figure is around 22 percent of the beer market. So, naysayers vanquished; mission accomplished.

What this figure doesn’t include is that 1.2 million barrels that were considered craft beer in 2015 were not considered as such in 2016. That number represents the small brewers who sold out to Big Beer. The Brewers Association defines a craft brewery as producing less than 6 million barrels a year and no more than a 25 percent ownership by a non-craft brewer. So, those flattening craft beer numbers have more to do with ownership than production or sales.

Bart Watson, the Brewers Association’s chief economist, said, “As the overall beer market remains static and large global brewers lose volume, their strategy has been to focus on acquiring craft brewers.”

As a business tactic, buying up successful rivals certainly makes more sense than Budweiser’s awkward attempt to remarket itself as a Macro beer. If Anheuser-Busch InBev was trying to make me nostalgic for college, it worked. Not in the blissful cheap-domestic-beer-at-a-lake-party memories, so much as flashbacks to an economics class that was the academic equivalent of waterboarding.

So which of your craft brews are no longer craft? You might be surprised. Through a company called Craft Brew Alliance, InBev owns a 32 percent stake in Widmer, Kona, and Redhook. Heineken owns 50 percent of Lagunitas, and one of my personal favorites, Founders, is 30 percent owned by Spanish brewer Mahou San Miguel.

Purists argue that the quality can’t be maintained if the owners aren’t the brewers. There may be something to that, but it’s a slippery charge. The more concrete issues aren’t in the barrel, but the ongoing, behind-the-scenes battles that small brewers, no matter how great their product, are ill-equipped to fight. Before the buying spree, the big four brewers caught a lot of blowback for trying to strong-arm beer distributors into dropping small brewers from their product lists. They are still trying to muscle the little guy off the shelf, but because they’re doing it with a lineup of craft beers, it’s not so obvious. Using massive economies of scale everywhere from ingredient sourcing to distribution, huge brewers can offer their “craft” selections at lower prices to edge out the small brewers in shelf space and on the tap line.

In short, by simply brewing a better product, the craft brewers have been a victim of their own success.

Or have they? One of the founders of Birmingham’s Good People Brewing told me that he couldn’t afford to drink his own beer. In the tech sector, a huge buyout from corporate America is, more or less, the accepted endgame for most start-ups. Users don’t care who owns Snapchat, but the good people of Richmond, Virginia, were miffed when local Devil’s Backbone sold out to InBev. The owners, I understand, were delighted. If their goal was to make great beer on a national scale and ultimately make a lot of money, then they aren’t a victim of anything.

It’s just really hard to win and remain the underdog.

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Food & Drink Food Reviews

Up the Stairs to Bari’s Intimate Dodici

CREDIT: Courtesy of Vincent Hale

Imagine being led up a dark stairwell by a man of small stature with only a few candles to light your way, unsure of what awaits you at the landing above. Is this one of those Game of Thrones nightmares? Not in my case. The man of small stature was not Tyrion Lannister, but Matteo Severs, age 9. What awaited me at the top of the candle-lit stairwell was not death or any sort of mutilation (or marriage, for that matter), but a delicious cocktail. Welcome to Dodici, the heavily spirited, super-secret speakeasy from Bari Ristorante.

Dodici is the latest dream-come-true from Jason and Rebecca Severs (parents of aforementioned maître d’ Matteo), the owners behind Bari at 22 S. Cooper in Overton Square. Formerly an artist’s studio, the upstairs space has been transformed into a cozy, luxurious bar with delectable, carefully crafted cocktails from mixologist/magician (mixomagician?) Vincent Hale.

Calling them cocktails is hardly fair to the drinks, as they are truly works of art. Dodici is the Italian word for 12, the amount of people Dodici can seat. “We named it that to convey the intimacy of the space,” Rebecca Severs says. “It’s still Bari, but we added a room and wanted to give it a name.”

If it sounds exclusive, it is. But this is not a snobby place. Vince welcomes each patron with lively chatter and an in-depth description of each cocktail that is ordered. He handmakes nearly everything, from the ice to the bitters to the syrups. Each liquor is selected by Vince himself, and it is likely something you’ve never heard of. And if you and I have never heard of it, that’s pretty much a guarantee that your in-laws from Collierville won’t infiltrate this place. “When Vince came on board, we quickly realized he has such a unique and clever mind for mixology,” Rebecca says. He doesn’t disappoint.

Dodici is accessible from a “secret door” inside the Bari enoteca (loosely translated, that’s “wine library”). If Dodici is full, you are invited to stay at the enoteca downstairs until a spot upstairs is available. Once upstairs, you take your pick of velvety armchairs or a barstool at the handmade bar (also courtesy of Vince). If you’re lucky, Matteo himself will escort you.

On the menu, Vincent has included an “amaro rapido.” He describes it as a new style of mixing a drink. It translates to “rapid bitters,” and he builds the bitters in front of the patrons. Atop the bar he has several dishes of spices, barks, and seeds, including cinnamon, Angelica, cardamom, and even beet powder, for color and sweetness. Most bitters take months to sit and stew, but Vince’s bitters come together in front of you. “It’s much more aggressive,” Vince says. “Built quickly, you taste every little nuance; it’s much more active.”

The rapid bitters is ground up and mixed with gin and bourbon, double-strained into a coupe glass, and garnished with a sage leaf. “The bar is almost like an apothecary at this point. I can base a drink on a person’s palate and build to suit,” Vince says.

He’s also making a drink from aquavit, a Scandinavian spirit not offered in Tennessee. Because he is handmaking the aquavit, each batch will be different from the last. Similar to gin, it is driven by dill and caraway and backed by autumn spices and barks before being mixed with sugar and absinthe. “You can’t taste it anywhere else in the world,” Vince says. He is affable and funny and there are no dumb questions when Vince is behind the bar, which bodes well for someone who had no clue what aquavit was until he told me. (Now I feel all fancy!)

Dodici will stay open later than Bari’s downstairs bar, meaning that anyone arriving after closing time will have to be let in by Vince. This will probably eventually be done by phone or callbox, so bear with them while they work it out. The good news is, you can enjoy amazing craft cocktails until the wee hours, as long as Vince is willing to let you hang out. Dodici is open on Friday and Saturday nights at 5 p.m. It’s available for rental for private parties. The bar will begin offering meats and cheese plates within the next couple of weeks. Cocktails range between $14 and $15.

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Food & Drink Food Reviews

Southern Pantry Author Jennifer Chandler on the Beauty of Canned Tomatoes

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence

Jennifer Chandler’s latest cookbook The Southern Pantry Cookbook: 105 Recipes Already Hiding in Your Kitchen is a handy guide for anyone who’s stood before their fully stocked pantry and thought: What’s for dinner? And it’s particularly good for those who don’t know what it means to have a fully stocked pantry. Chandler offers a list of what every kitchen should have on hand in the pantry as well as the fridge and freezer — goods and produce that lead to such dishes as Tamale Pie, Creamy Vidalia Onion Soup, and Mississippi Mud Brownies. There’s nothing exotic in Chandler’s list — all ingredients are available at your neighborhood Kroger.

We asked Chandler to name what she considers her most essential pantry items. “Chicken stock. Salt and pepper — salt and pepper is underrated,” she says. “And butter. And chocolate, but that’s another story.”

Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence

We also asked her to come up with a list of the most versatile pantry items. Among them are frozen vegetables, ground beef, Creole seasoning, frozen shrimp, and pimentos.

And then there’s canned tomatoes. Chandler says she keeps cans of whole tomatoes and diced tomatoes in her pantry at all times.

“There’s nothing worse than a tomato that has no flavor,” Chandler says. “Tomatoes are good really only two or three months of the year. Canned tomatoes are picked at their peak. I would be lost without them.”

Dishes using canned tomatoes from The Southern Pantry, clockwise from top: Shrimp Creole, Chicken Fricasse, Freezer Veggie Soup, Jambalaya Pasta, Creamy Tomato Soup, Tamale Pie, Frogmore Stew, Lucky Black-Eyed Pea and Collard Green Soup, Grillades

Justin Fox Burks

Shrimp Creole

Shrimp Creole

from The Southern Pantry Cookbook

1 1/2 pounds large shrimp

(16/20 count), peeled and

deveined, thawed if using frozen

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion

(1 small onion)

1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper

(1 small pepper)

1/4 cup thinly sliced celery (1 stalk)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (28-ounce) whole tomatoes

with juice

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 cup chicken stock or water

Kosher salt and freshly ground

black pepper

6 cups cooked white rice, warm

Place the shrimp in a large mixing bowl and toss with cayenne pepper and paprika.

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, warm 2 tablespoons of the oil until a few droplets of water sizzle when carefully sprinkled in the pan. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are lightly browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the cooked shrimp to a plate and reserve.

In the same pan over medium-high heat, warm the remaining oil until a few droplets of water sizzle when carefully sprinkled in the pan. Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more. Add the whole tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon or fork. Add the tomato paste and stock. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Return the shrimp to the pan and stir to combine. Cook until the shrimp are warmed through, about 2 to 3 more minutes. Adjust seasonings as needed. Serve warm over white rice. Serves 6.

Cooking Tip: I find that canned whole tomatoes melt into a sauce better than canned diced tomatoes. To break them up, I like to cut them with my kitchen scissors while they are still in the can before adding them to the pot.

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Food & Drink Food Reviews

Alton Brown Live at the Orpheum

Back in the 1990s, TV cooking shows were all over the map. The recipes were often untested — think limp tacquitos and runny quiche — while the format managed to be both dull and uninformative. Then Alton Brown came along, and the kitchen has never quite been the same.

Brown started out directing commercials and music videos. (He was actually the director of photography on R.E.M.’s trippy video, “The One I Love.” Make of that what you will.) After attending culinary school in Vermont, he created the concept for Good Eats, his path-breaking cooking show, which he described as equal parts Julia Child, Mr. Wizard, and Monty Python.

The results were pretty tasty. Good Eats ran for 14 seasons on the Food Network, won a Peabody award, and made Brown a food icon. Its signature style — funny, fast-paced, and heavy on science — has been widely copied and changed the way we think about food.

Since wrapping up Good Eats, Brown has written several books and appeared on shows like Iron Chef, Cutthroat Kitchen, and The Next Food Network Star. Now he’s taking his show on the road. In “Alton Brown Live! The Edible Inevitable Tour,” Brown brings his signature mix of culinary science and tomfoolery to the stage, complete with standup comedy, cooking demonstrations, and live music.

The Flyer recently caught up with Brown to talk about splash zones, gassy sock puppets, and the Food Network executives who wouldn’t take his calls.

Flyer: So, let me get this straight. At the live show, there are splash zones?

Alton Brown: Long story. Basically, when we started doing the tour, we ended up shelling out about 150 bucks a night to people to help cover their dry cleaning. In the end we decided it would be cheaper to just hand out ponchos.

Back up. Why do I need a poncho?

There are two very large, very unusual culinary demonstrations during the show. One of them tends to produce a large amount of airborne particulate matter. Not because I want it to — it’s just a byproduct of getting this particular experiment done. And we have found that in certain theaters, some of that particulate matter tends to settle on people in the first couple of rows.

Can we talk about the sock puppets?

Anybody who’s a fan of Good Eats will recognize the yeast puppets. They’re really gassy. All they do is produce gas, so they have to express themselves through gaseous emissions. Let’s just say that 7- to 9-year-old boys really love the show.

When did you start cooking?

I got pretty serious about cooking when I was in college. It was strictly to get dates. I had a fairly miserable social life, and I found that girls who wouldn’t talk to me otherwise would occasionally come within range when I offered to cook for them.

What dishes were a hit with the ladies?

Really, anything French. I remember, I got a recipe out of Bon Appetit called Sole Au Gratin Florentine, which sounds very impressive. Of course it’s nothing but fish with spinach and cheese sauce. But anyway, that one went over pretty big.

When did you make your pitch to the Food Network?

I never made a pitch. Honestly, I never got the opportunity. The short version is that I couldn’t get a meeting. I had been told to give up, that the execs at Food Network were not interested. But then somebody saw part of my pilot [episode] online, and all of a sudden they were interested.

Are the people who wouldn’t take your calls still working at Food Network?

(Laughs) All gone. All gone. That’s kind of the sweet part of this. Yeah, all the people who said no to me are gone. I don’t know where they are now.

Your onscreen persona can be pretty diabolical. Is that really you?

Yes and no. If you’ve watched Good Eats, that’s pretty much me. If you’ve watched Iron Chef, that’s me busy and in a hurry. If you’ve watched me on any competition show — Next Iron Chef, Food Network Star — that’s a gruffer, more professorial version of me. And then, my game show persona on Cutthroat Kitchen — that’s the evilicious, diabolical, James Bond villain version of me.

You’ve said that eggs are your favorite ingredient. How can people start cooking better eggs today?

I’m a big fan of hard-cooked eggs, but I don’t boil them — I bake them. And that always seems to befuddle people. They’re shocked that you can put an egg in the oven, and 30 minutes later, it comes out perfect. But for me, it’s all about texture. It’s a much creamier egg white, and you never get that nasty line of blackish green around the yoke. [To find out how to make Alton Brown’s Oven Eggs, visit youtube.com/altonbrown.]

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Food & Drink Food Reviews

Q&A with Hungry Girl’s Lisa Lillien

Do you love potato skins but hate carbs? Are you powerless in the face of a Starbucks Caramel Macchiato? Do you feel that a life without waffles would not be worth living? Then Lisa Lillien has a recipe for you.

Lillien is living the food writer’s dream. Ten years ago, the self-proclaimed “foodologist” started a daily email service called Hungry Girl. In it, she helps people make healthy diet swaps so they can still enjoy the foods they love. Popular recipes include the De-Pudged Pigs in a Blanket (134 calories) using fat-free franks and reduced fat Crescent Rolls, and Banana Split Bits (182 calories), with strawberry yogurt instead of ice cream.

When she started, she had just 75 subscribers. Ten years later, that number has grown to 1.2 million. In the meantime, Lillien has become the head of a multimillion-dollar food empire. She has written nine New York Times bestselling books; she has her own show on Food Network; and she pens regular columns for Weightwatchers.com and People.com.

Lillien has a Memphis connection. She’s married to Memphian Dan Schneider, producer of such Nickelodeon shows as iCarly and Victorious.

This Sunday, she’ll be at Temple Israel to offer food tips and discuss her rise to fame. She will also sign copies of her new book, The Hungry Girl Diet.

The Flyer caught up with Lillien to talk about yo-yo dieting, pasta blindness, and the barbecue pizza at Pete and Sam’s.

So, you’re married to a Memphian. How’d that happen?

Well, Dan and I were both working for Nickelodeon at the time, and we met through a mutual friend. He was living in L.A., and I was living in New York at the time, so we had a long-distance relationship. I had the opportunity to visit Memphis a bunch of times while we were dating. I love Memphis!

What do you like to eat when in town?

Have you ever been to Pete and Sam’s? It is literally the best pizza in the universe. I was on The Best Thing I Ever Ate — the show on Food Network — and I took them to Pete and Sam’s and showed them the barbecue pizza.

Growing up, you had a difficult relationship with food. What was that like?

I grew up with a yo-yo dieting mom; she literally was on every fad diet you can think of. So, I grew up with this mentality that you’re either on a diet or off a diet. When you were on your diet, you couldn’t have one bite of anything that would be considered a non-diet food. And when you were off your diet, you were just gobbling up everything under the sun. It was a very old-fashioned way of thinking, and unfortunately, I think a lot of people still feel that way.

So what’s the right answer?

I try to live by the 80-20 rule, which means 80 percent of the time, I’m making the right choices and eating what I should be eating. The other 20 percent of the time, I have a little more fun and go a little crazier. What I finally learned is that it’s about changing your lifestyle and making choices that you can live with every day.

When did you know it was time to start Hungry Girl?

I remember, I had gotten these pastries from a local low-fat bakery, and I didn’t trust the calorie counts. I was eating them, and I was like, these taste way too good to have 150 calories. I think I’ll take them to a lab. And I actually did! It was a very Seinfeld moment. I drove an hour, I took them to a lab, and I spent something like $600 to have them tested. And it dawned on me that, you know, I think a lot of people want this information, but not a lot of people would actually take the time to get it. That’s what pushed me over the edge to launch Hungry Girl.

How do you order at a restaurant without loading up on starches and fats?

In Memphis? It’s not easy (laughs). But, when I go out to dinner and look at the menu, I’ve trained myself not to see certain things. I don’t see the cream sauces, and I don’t see the pastas. Instead, I’ll look at the soups — are they broth-based? And I’ll look for things like shrimp cocktail or mussels, things that I know would be smarter choices.

Think fast. There’s a box of donuts in the break room. What do you do?

I guess first I would say, “Why the hell is there a box of donuts at Hungry Girl?” (laughs) No, I think people should really try not to eat donuts at work. I feel like you always feel like you made the wrong decision if you eat a donut at work. You should always have something in your desk that’s a smarter choice.

Such as?

Keep a VitaTop muffin in your desk. They have 100 calories; they’re all-natural; and they’re loaded with fiber. Or keep a Quest Bar in your purse. I love Quest Bars. They come in great, sweet flavors like chocolate-chip cookie dough and apple pie. And they’re loaded with protein and fiber. I’ll have one of those, and it’ll keep me full for four hours.

What’s one tasty, healthy change that people can make today?

Invite no-fat Greek yogurt into your life. Seriously, it will change your life! My favorite brand is Fage. It’s loaded with protein, and it’s an ingredient that you can do so many different things with — whether you’re making salad dressings or sauces, or just eating it for breakfast with fruit.

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Food & Drink Food Reviews

Peabody’s 145th Birthday Dinner, plus Oysters and more at Local

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

This year the Peabody turns 145, and to celebrate, they’re throwing themselves a party on Thursday, September 4th. It starts with a reception in the lobby, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Anybody can come to that. But the main event is a seated, five-course dinner at Chez Philippe. The dinner is $85 per person (an additional $35 for wine pairing), and reservations are required.

For each course, the Peabody has recruited a different chef from the history of Chez Philippe. Jason Dallas — currently executive chef at Interim — opens the evening with leek-wrapped scallops. Then it’s Andreas Kistler‘s turn. The current chef at Chez Philippe will prepare pan-roasted pheasant with dried berries and Peruvian potato-truffle puree.

Did the Peabody’s 145-year history affect Kistler’s choice of menu? Well — not exactly.

Justin Fox Burks

The Peabody’s Andreas Kistler and Konrad Spitzbart

“I was going through some of the old menus,” says Kistler. “They’re fun to look at, but I don’t think I could spell most of that stuff, let alone make money with it. Back then they ate kidneys and livers. I don’t want to eat that!”

The evening closes with a strawberry shortcake by chef Konrad Spitzbart, served with mascarpone, basil gel, and a crisp pepper meringue. It’s certainly a change from 1869, the year the Peabody opened. Back then you could get a room and two meals for $4. But then, you might have had trouble finding any basil gel or Peruvian potato-truffle puree.

Jeff Johnson recently finished installing a 48-tap draft beer system — the largest in town — at Local in Overton Square. It’s a veritable bowling alley of shiny chrome and colorful tap handles, boasting craft beers from around the United States.

“Our goal is simple,” confesses Johnson. “We wanna be the place people come to get beer.”

The new tap system means that kegs won’t have to be stored behind the bar; chilled pipes allow them to be tapped remotely. The move has freed up space for a raw bar. On a recent Wednesday, oysters from the Gulf Coast and James River were offered.

And really, what goes better with craft beer than oysters? Start with the fried gulf oysters in wing sauce ($12 for a half dozen). They’re lightly breaded, so you can still taste the oyster, and the sauce is lusciously garlicky. Pair them with a pint of Goose Island Lolita, a tart Belgian-style beer aged in wine barrels with fresh raspberries.

Justin Fox Burks

Oysters from Local’s new raw bar

Interested in a classier bivalve? Try chef Russell Casey‘s grilled oysters with bacon, leek butter, and parmesan ($12 for a half dozen). Pairing bacon with oysters is almost always a good idea — the hearty crunch adds so much — and in this case, the leek butter seals the deal. Pair them with a Dogfish Head Sixty-One, a complex IPA finished with the juice of Syrah grapes.

Or you know what? Just eat ’em raw. Now that it’s September, the oysters have stopped spawning, the red tides have subsided, and this gastronome is eager for slimy delights.

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Food & Drink Food Reviews

Ryan Trimm takes the Farmers Market Challenge.

CREDIT: John Minervini

“Man, these farmers are so green,” mutters Ryan Trimm, “you’d think they’d use paper bags, right?”

Moments later, he smiles and accepts a plastic bag full of plump Tennessee lady peas from Yang Farms in Toone, Tennessee. It’s Saturday morning, and we’re up bright and early, shopping for lunch at the Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market. Trimm’s daughter, 3-year-old Emma Kate, has gallantly agreed to come along and help.

“What do you want to eat, baby?” asks Trimm, boosting her up into his arms.

But Emma Kate is suddenly feeling a little shy. She blinks her glacier-blue eyes and buries her head in her father’s neck.

In addition to his many other appealing qualities, Trimm also happens to be very brave. The executive chef at Southward Fare & Libations, Sweet Grass, and Next Door, he’s agreed to be my guinea pig for the Flyer‘s very first Farmers Market Challenge. That’s where I team up with a local chef, we go shopping at the farmers market, and the chef cooks a delicious meal with what we bought.

I know, right? It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta eat all that delicious food.

John Minervini

Chef Ryan Trimm and daughter Emma Kate shop for peppers at the Cooper-Young Farmers Market.

Today, Trimm is taken with the peppers from Tubby Creek Farm in Ashland, Mississippi. And no wonder, these peppers are works of art. The lipstick pimentos are little rainbows, grading in color from lime green to vermilion. And the Italian sweet peppers are downright sexy, long and plump with a taut, red skin. Trimm buys a pint of each.

Before we go, we stock up on tomatoes, okra, Texas sweet onions, herbs, and a butterscotch melon. The melon — from Hanna Farms, in Osceola, Arkansas — is like a cantaloupe, but smaller, about the size of a bocce ball. It’s got a delicious caramel flavor, with a scent of gardenia.

“Smell that,” says Trimm, holding up the melon. “You just can’t find that in the grocery store.”

food Feature By John Klyce Minervini

Chef Ryan Trimm eats lunch with son Thomas and daughter Emma Kate at their home in East Memphis.

Trimm lives with his wife and two children in a spacious, two-story Georgian Revival near Park and Ridgeway. When we get to the house, Trimm’s wife Sarah is trying to soothe 3-month-old Thomas, who has been sick this morning. Sarah, who teaches first grade at St. Mary’s, says she met Ryan in high school, when she was a junior at St. Agnes and he was a senior at Christian Brothers.

“At this point, I’ve known him for over half my life,” she says, burping baby Thomas. “I still can’t get over how weird that is.”

Everybody’s getting hungry, so Trimm slices the melon, serving it with feta cheese and a bit of lemon verbena. It’s an inspired combination. The cheese is just piquant enough to balance the melon’s honeysuckle sweetness, and the citrusy lemon verbena puts an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, so to speak.

Meanwhile, Trimm gets to work on the main course, what he playfully calls a “cornless succotash.” Succotash — from the Narragansett word for “broken corn” — is a dish that New England colonists learned from Native Americans back in the 17th century. In its simplest form, it consists of corn and lima beans, prepared with cream or butter.

Today, we’re cutting out the corn in favor of those scrumptious-looking lady peas. First, Trimm blanches the peas in boiling water. Then he fires up the sauté pan, and it’s go time. One by one, veggies start to sizzle as they hit the hot oil: pimento peppers, okra, lady peas, and herbs. Trimm cuts the heat before tossing the mixture with butter and tomatoes. (Get the full recipe at memphisflyer.com).

Finally it’s time to eat. We take our lunch in the sunroom, an airy space with a view of the family swimming pool. Alongside the succotash, Trimm serves the Italian sweet peppers, pan-roasted with parsley and garlic, and a crudité of tomatoes and onions.

“All right guys,” says Trimm, rounding up the family. “Time for lunch.”

It’s an embarrassment of culinary riches. The tomatoes — Brandywines and Cherokee Purples from Lazy Dog Farms in Bethel Springs, Tennessee — are a meal unto themselves, tangy and sweet with a perfect texture. They go well with the Italian sweet peppers, which are smoky and savory, with a hint of sweetness.

But the okra in the succotash definitely steals the show. The taste is both unforgettable and hard to describe, somewhere between eggplant and asparagus. On my way out the door, I confess that this is the first time I’ve had okra that wasn’t pickled or fried, and Trimm offers some tips for selecting okra at the farmers market.

“You really don’t want it to be any bigger than that,” he says, holding up his little finger. “Once you go bigger, the insides start to hollow out, and you get less meat for your bite.”

Categories
Food & Drink Food Reviews

Ordering up the Unexpected

If a place is known for its fried chicken, you order the fried chicken. End of discussion. Or… maybe there’s a restaurant widely revered for its specialty but offers a dish that is mind-blowingly incongruent and yet so very delicious. You’re going to want to try that too, right?

Elwood’s fish tacos

Fish Tacos at Elwood’s Shack

Elwood’s Shack is literally a shack adjacent to the Lowe’s parking lot on Perkins near Summer. It’s safe to say that it’s the last place you’d expect to find a mighty fine fish taco. The Steelhead Trout Fish Tacos ($11) come two to a plate. An eight-inch tortilla is baked with mozzarella to form the taco shell, and because the cheese coats the entire tortilla, it tastes as though the trout is wrapped in a crispy, deliciously gooey quesadilla. (Look out, Taco Bell!) Steelhead trout is a fish that spends part of its life in the ocean and can grow up to 55 pounds. The meat is very pink, and the flavor is not at all fishy. The trout is topped with fresh field greens, avocado, pico de gallo, and a creamy horseradish sauce. It’s really quite amazing. And filling. I have no idea how anyone could eat two. Sides are sold separately, so definitely hold off on those or get someone to share.

Elwood’s Shack, 4523 Summer (761-9898)

elwoodsshack.com

Pirtle’s burger

Hamburger at Jack Pirtle’s

Clearly Jack Pirtle’s is known for their chicken, as they should be, but they also cook up a damn fine burger. The Old Fashioned Grilled Hamburger is not fancy, and it doesn’t need to be. All of the basics are there — a nice-sized patty (grilled to perfection), crispy iceberg lettuce, thick cut raw onion, thinly sliced tomato, generous pickle slices, lots of mayo, and tangy mustard. The kicker is the buttered and grilled bun. (Butter = love.) It’s reminiscent of the kind of burger you’d order late at night in a bar, but it’s available all day long and you don’t need a buzz to think it tastes good! And for $2.79, it’s a steal. With prices that low, you’ll want to order a side of fries to dip in their signature gravy. Go ahead, get a little chicken too. Put it the fridge and eat it later.

Jack Pirtle’s Chicken, 1370 Poplar

(726-6086) jackpirtleschicken.com

Dino’s tamales

Tamales at Dino’s

The tamales at Dino’s are listed under “Italian specialties” on the menu, but they are made in South Memphis especially for the restaurant. They come plain, with chili, or “3 way” ($7.95) — with chili and spaghetti. Of course, I had to go with the latter. The 3-way tamales definitely fall under the “Things I never thought I’d eat sober” category. Although, honestly, they may in fact be the perfect hangover food. The tamales themselves are tender, meaty, and pack a nice, spicy punch. Four of them serve as a base for the spaghetti and chili (a combination known as spaghetti red). You can’t eat chili without cheese and onions, so it’s like three meals in one. Dino’s chili isn’t far off from its traditional sauce (aka gravy). I’d bet they just add some beans to it. Whatever they do, I like it. There’s enough tomato-y goodness to get a traditional spaghetti fix with the noodles and enough bean action to get the full-on chili experience. It is way too easy to eat way too much of this!

Dino’s Grill, 645 N McLean (278-9127)

dinosgrill.com

Categories
Food & Drink Food Reviews

Some of the Best Nachos in Memphis

CREDIT: Stacey Greenberg

The first ever plate of nachos was created in 1943 at a restaurant called the Victory Club in the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, by the restaurant’s maître d’. The maître d’s nickname was “Nacho,” and he called his dish “Nacho’s especiales.”

Now, we all know what happens next in this story, right? Some genius in Memphis went and put barbecue on top of the nachos. But it doesn’t end there. There are some exceptional plates of nachos served in this city.

Here are three:

Badass Nachos at Sweet Grass Next Door come in two sizes—1) huge ($14) and 2) who-even-knew-they-made-plates-that-big ($24). Walk in on a Saturday afternoon and you are likely to see an order on most tables.

What makes them so special? The heaping mound of beef brisket that boldly tops the chips, that’s what. This heaping mound also manages to make this gluttonous dish somewhat refined, as do the perfectly cooked onions and peppers. Even without the brisket, the Badass Nachos would be decadent because of the generous amounts of red chili sauce and queso. (I have vegetarian friends that swear by this.) The chili sauce is mild, as is the queso, but the jalapeños are cut thick, and they don’t play. Fresh tomatoes, cilantro, and a generous dollop of sour cream complete the badassery.

You need at least two or three people to polish off the regular (huge) order, and you definitely cannot achieve total destruction without the aid of a fork. The thin and crispy tortilla chips cannot hold up to the toppings for long, but the half-crispy half-gooey results are delicious. A tendril of beef, a juicy sliver of pepper, or, at the very least, a drop of sauce is going to land on the table or your pants or probably both, but you won’t care.

These bad boys can’t be contained by a “to go” box, so don’t even think about it. Have a seat, roll up your sleeves, and enjoy.

Sweet Grass Next Door 937 S. Cooper (278-0278)

sweetgrassmemphis.com

Stacey Greenberg

The Asian Nachos at Tsunami

The Asian Nachos ($10) on Tsunami’s Izakaya (snack plates) menu are definitely in a more delicate category than their across the street neighbors, but they boldly go where no one has gone before. Six thin, lightly fried wonton chips line the plate. Placed in the center of each is a perfect bite of tuna tataki. House-made cilantro crema and Sriracha are drizzled on top along with a sprinkling of the finest green onions you’ve ever seen. The thinly sliced jalapeño is serious, and the Sriracha seals the deal. These delicate beauties pack a serious punch.

Don’t worry, it hurts so good.

Incorporating a two-bite method on each chip is the way to go. Yes, use your hands. The first bite is for the tuna, and the second is for the last little bit of crema left on the chip. Go ahead and scoop up some more off the plate for extra cooling. Take a minute to appreciate the dish as a whole before digging in, and definitely save the creamiest chip for last.

Tsunami

928 S. Cooper

(274-2556)

tsunamimemphis.com

Stacey Greenberg

Arepa & Salsa’s Naked Arepas

If the wontons piqued your interest about what can constitute nachos, then the next logical step is to try the Naked Arepas ($7) at Arepa & Salsa. These are Venezuela’s version of the nacho. An arepa is a flatbread made of ground corn (maize) dough or cooked flour. It’s not clear why the dish is described as naked, because it is anything but.

The arepas are sliced into triangles and topped with your choice of shredded beef or chicken (or both!), chopped lettuce, thinly sliced avocado, crumbled cotija cheese, and a generous drizzle of “house sauces.” The house sauces taste like mild versions of ranch and Thousand Island dressings.

Overall the dish is very mild, but the arepas really make it pop. They are at once doughy yet crispy; fried but not greasy. They have a distinctive flavor and seem right at home under a mess of toppings. The shredded chicken is nicely seasoned and has a delicious tang. The arepas easily hold their weight and maintain their crunch. It’s hard to decide whether to use a fork or not.

The Naked Arepas are listed as an appetizer but can certainly be a meal for one. After one bite, you probably won’t want to share.

Arepa & Salsa

662 Madison

(949-8537)

arepaandsalsa.com