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Hungry Memphis

Food News Bites: New Outdoor Bar at The Lobbyist

Jimmy Gentry with bartenders Mitchell Marable and Austin Weisendorm (Photo: Michael Donahue

The spacious patio on the south side of The Lobbyist restaurant was where the Donahues used to swim back in the 1960s. My parents were members of The Variety Club, which was housed at the old Chisca Hotel, where the restaurant is now located. Members could use the hotel pool.

The Lobbyist’s chef/owner Jimmy Gentry has now added an impressive-looking outdoor bar to that beautiful patio at The Chisca on Main. “It can seat eight at the bar, but it’s capable of handling that whole patio area,” Gentry says.

As for patio seating, he says, “Depending on configuration I can put almost 70 people out there.”

The Lobbyist patio (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Gentry says he built it so servers wouldn’t be “running cocktails from the main bar to the patio. You can have a bar outside and not worry about how long it takes or anything like that.”

The bar is slated to officially open probably in about two weeks, he says. “It has been open, but we haven’t necessarily officially opened the patio this season.”

Gentry showed me the bar when I ate at The Lobbyist last week. Red fish with greens, couscous, and pot liquor was my dinner choice. It was so delicious. I wish I had another one right now. And I can’t get enough of the yams Gentry serves.

Red fish at The Lobbyist (Credit: Michael Donahue)

But after eating at the restaurant many times, I never knew why the restaurant was called “The Lobbyist.” I thought it had something to do with politics. But, Gentry says, “That whole space used to lead into what was the lobby.” 

So, he did what he did with his former restaurant P. O. Press in Collierville. “I tried to tie the restaurant into the space like I did the P.O., which originally was the post office in Collierville and then turned into the newspaper, P. O. Press. Paying homage to the space itself.”

Hence, The Lobbyist. “Instead of calling it ‘The Lobby,’” he says, adding, “‘The Lobbyist’ makes you think twice about it.”

But Gentry says he still gets people coming in the restaurant thinking it’s the “lobby of the hotel.”

The Lobbyist is at 272 South Main, Suite 101, in The Chisca on Main

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Welcome to JamRack

Damion Lumsden (Photos: Michael Donahue)

Damion Lumsden wants people to have “an authentic Jamaican experience.”

Without leaving Memphis.

Lumsden, 37, wants people to say, “I’ve never been to Jamaica, but I’ve had this experience in Memphis.”

The experience is JamRack Restaurant and Bar, Lumsden’s Caribbean restaurant at 150 North Avalon Street. The restaurant is in the heart of Midtown in the group of businesses near Home Depot at Poplar Avenue and Avalon. He features “the raw authentic Jamaican experience,” including food, and on the weekends, reggae music.

On my first trip to JamRack, I tried Lumsden’s tantalizing MaMa’s Stew Chicken (also known as Brown Stewed Chicken) encircled with my side order of fried plantains (I ordered mine ripe, not green). I can’t wait to go back for more of this sweet-and-savory dish.

I also ordered the tasty jerk chicken, which is the Jamaican version of barbecue. Lumsden tells me he plans to offer jerk pork at a future date.

Lumsden’s story is fascinating.

“I’m from Portland, Jamaica,” he says. “I’m a country boy. My dad is Wayne Lumsden, a survivor of 9/11.”

His dad was an accountant in the World Trade Center in New York. “He had just turned the corner, about to enter the building, when the first explosion happened. He said he just ran as fast as he could trying to dodge the debris that was falling at the time.

“Me and my little sister wouldn’t have made it to America if he hadn’t survived.”

His dad’s business relocated its employees. He got a job as an accountant at Flextronics in Memphis.

Damion, who was 18 when he moved to Memphis with his sister Khadine, didn’t like the city at first. He spoke English, but when he tried to play basketball with the neighbor kids, he says, “They couldn’t understand me and I couldn’t understand them because they were speaking so fast. They were using this Memphis slang, so I wasn’t familiar with it.”

He got a job at Jabil Circuit Inc., where he “climbed the ranks” to assistant manager.

Creating Jamaican food experiences for others began when Damion helped his dad do a birthday party at their home. “We cooked and invited a bunch of people from work.”

Guests tried jerk chicken and curry goat for the first time. “They went crazy.”

People asked how they could get more of that food. “We would cook and sell food at the house. He used to deliver almost 30 to 50 plates to Jabil every week.”

One of the dishes was MaMa’s Brown Stewed Chicken. “It has a very savory and flavorful sauce. The chicken is pan-seared first, and then we add that sauce. It does have a sweet base to it. And it goes really well with rice. It’s usually a leg and a thigh cut up.”

Damion and his dad continued to throw parties at their home, where they featured Jamaican food. “We would set up a grill outside, and my dad would be on the grill.”

The parties eventually evolved into his dad’s restaurant, the old Evelyn & Olive at 630 Madison Avenue. “He didn’t open it. He bought the business in 2018.”

His dad changed up the menu “but he kept a good amount of what they already had.”

Evelyn & Olive’s cuisine was “more like Jamaican and Southern cuisine” as opposed to the raw Jamaican cuisine.

When the restaurant’s lease ran out, his dad bought the Evelyn & Olive food truck he still operates. “I got a building that same year, which is the one I’m in now, and I started to build that out.”

Damion, who held his grand opening last August, named his restaurant “JamRack” as opposed to “Jamrock,” the Jamaican spelling of the word. “I just wanted it to be unique.”

And in Jamaica they don’t pronounce it “jam-ROCK”; they say “jam-RACK.” he says.

“Jamrock” is “another way of saying ‘Jamaica’ back home.”

It was popularized in the Damian Marley song, “Welcome to Jamrock”— “Which is ‘Welcome to Jamaica.’”

Damion didn’t want a “clichéd look” of a Caribbean restaurant with the traditional Jamaican colors of red, gold, and green. Entering JamRack, which seats about 64, customers see a colorful mural depicting Jamaican “heroes” — “impactful people from our time and before our time.”

They include singer-songwriter Bob Marley, Nanny of the Maroons, Michael Manley, and Marcus Garvey.

“The look inside is very generic but has the island feel to it. The bar is made from zinc, which is what many roofs and fences are made of in Jamaica,” Damion says.

The food is made from a fusion of recipes from both his dad and his mom Lorna Brown, who still lives in Jamaica. “More raw Jamaican authentic cuisine.”

It’s all fully cooked. What makes it “raw” is the imported seasonings they use. One of these is “season to the bone,” a seasoning that is “made of a combination of a few different spices combined together to create a unique flavor.”

Damion uses the seasoning in his two most popular items, the brown stew and his red snapper.

He’s already coming up with ideas for new dishes. “One thing we’re going to do in the near future is introduce a Jamaican-style mac-and-cheese. Without going into too much detail, think of a rich, flavorful mac-and-cheese.”

The dish will have a “crispy edge on it.” And, he adds, the different spices of the Caribbean will create “different notes and flavors.”

They have a full bar, but their signature cocktails are rum based — that’s their specialty. Their favorite rum is Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum.

JamRack also features “traditional sodas from Jamaica. The most popular is Ting. It’s like a grapefruit soda. Our version of a lemonade.”

Currently, JamRack is open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday. “We almost see a new face every day,” Damion says. “A lot of people are coming in saying, ‘Hey. I heard your food was good, so I’m going to try it.’” 

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

March Opening Planned for New Location of Half Shell

General manager Dorothy Vazzano and manager Trent Wicker (Photos: Michael Donahue)

The Half Shell’s second location at 9091 Poplar Avenue, Suite 101, is slated to open at the end of March.

And, yes, they’ll still sell oysters on the half shell just as they do at their location at 688 South Mendenhall Road.

And, yes, the toucan mascot is back — in many forms, including statues and paintings.

And, yes, the second location still feels like the Half Shell, which people have known and loved for a half century or so.

But customers are in for some surprises.

“I think it’s comfort chic, with a little play in the seafood scene,” says John May, COO of Forest Hill Partners, the umbrella group that includes Forest Hill Grill and both locations of the Half Shell. Gene and Rhonda Barzizza are the majority stakeholders in the partnership. “It looks nice. But it’s not too uppity, per se. It’s nice enough where you still feel comfortable. We just wanted to up our game a little bit as far as a local food dive.”

Forest Hill Partners already owns the nearby Forest Hill Grill, so, when former owner Danny Sumrall decided to sell the Half Shell, they decided to buy it, May says. “We were always interested in Half Shell because we love the seafood concept. We don’t think Memphis has enough seafood readily available.”

May was general manager for Flying Fish at one time. “I have a little history on that end. When Danny reached out to us — he was getting ready to retire — we wanted to pick up his legacy and run with it. We knew it had a great brand, had a great following.”

But, May adds, “As much as we love the legacy of Danny Sumrall, we want to pave our own legacy.”

Part of the new legacy was brightening up both places, beginning with the Poplar location. The Half Shell on Mendenhall has “the dark and local dive hole” look, May says. “But I think it’s time to turn the page and put our little touch on it, making both restaurants feel the same way, which includes the look and the menu.”

The second location “is not so dark and gloomy. I think that’s a little bit of what older restaurants used to look like in the early ’90s. We just updated.”

The color scheme is now neutral colors of brown and tan. Light fixtures, which resemble jelly fish, hang from the ceiling. Lots of paintings and artwork, including a tall wood carving of a mermaid, are featured. 

Along with toucan images, the new Half Shell also has netting on the walls, including in the bathrooms, as well as gecko figurine lamps and a ceiling light fixture shaped like a whale.

“It’s almost the size of the Mendenhall location, but it’s more open. It’s about 3,600 square feet. Instead of all the little nooks and crannies that Mendenhall has, this is just a square block.”

They converted the area, which formerly housed Mike Miller’s golf simulators when he owned the Let It Fly sports bar, into a private dining hall that can seat 55 people.

As for food, the Poplar location will still offer the popular Monte Cristo sandwich, but only on the brunch menu, May says. They won’t sell the popular steak sandwich, but it will be available on Mendenhall’s menu.

And never fear: The lobster bruschetta remains on the menu.

The new slant? “Taking a lot of the old recipes — what people are familiar with as far as the flavor of the Half Shell — and putting our little twist on it. Putting our touch on it. Having the old and new combined. The recipes are the same.”

The menu at Mendenhall is six pages. “All we’re doing is compressing it. We’re able to offer the majority of the same menu items.”

Both locations will eventually feature the same items, May says.

Sumrall recalls how he got involved in the Half Shell.

The restaurant used to be on the corner of Poplar Avenue and Mendenhall, where Belmont Grill is now located, then moved to its current South Mendenhall Road location in 1983, Sumrall says.

The late founder of Huey’s, Thomas Boggs, was the instigator. “He said, ‘We need to buy a restaurant,’” Sumrall says. “And then he calls and says, ‘How about the Half Shell?’ I said, ‘I’ve never been there in my life.’ I said, ‘Let me go check it out and I’ll let you know.’”

By then, the restaurant had already moved to South Mendenhall Road.

Sumrall had been in the restaurant business for some time. He opened the old Captain Bilbo’s, which overlooked the Mississippi River and is now fondly remembered for having hosted shows by such luminaries as jazz guitarist Garry Goin and singer Wendy Moten, back in the 1980s. 

Sumrall and his wife went to eat at the Half Shell. “We ordered some dinner. And I noticed the server just dropped off the food and ran away. And when I tasted the food I knew why.’”

The food wasn’t very good. Sumrall thought, “Well this is an easy fix. I can fix the food.”

They brought in chef Darrell Smith to rework the menu. Smith, who “improved the quality,” worked at the Half Shell until he retired about five or six years ago.

Around 2003, Sumrall opened the second location of the Half Shell at 7825 Winchester Road. That location is now closed. “It was declining in sales,” May says. “The lease was up for renewal and we didn’t want to re-sign.”

Sumrall finally decided to retire. He thought, “It’s time for me to put it down and take a break.”

He enjoyed his years at the Half Shell. “I got to know all the customers and their kids and their families,” Sumrall says. “We had families that started coming here when they were dating or before they were married.

“They had kids. Now these kids have graduated from college.”

But there is one thing Sumrall experienced that won’t change at all at either location of the Half Shell. “We really cared about the guests. Wanting them to have a good experience. And it was about the quality. I wanted the food to be really good.”

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Food & Drink News News Blog News Feature

Cxffeeblack, Castle Retail Group Collaboration Is More than Just “Coffee on a Shelf”

Credit: Castle Retail Group

A new collaboration between Cxffeeblack and Castle Retail Group will expand the Black-owned coffee brand’s reach, but the deal goes beyond the shelf, principals said.

Cxffeeblack’s products will now be found in Cash Saver stores, High Point Grocery, and South Point Grocery. The deal will also make Cxffeeblack the wholesale coffee provider for the in-house coffee shop at Castle Retail Group’s upcoming location, South Point Grocery at Silo Square in Southaven.

“This isn’t just about coffee on a shelf,” said Bartholomew Jones, founder of Cxffeeblack. “This is about partnership. About seeing each other. About making sure our kids and grandkids don’t have to fight the same battles we did. And most importantly, it’s about Memphis. Because Memphis is not just a place where things happen — it’s a place where the future is being built.”

The partnership “ensures that Memphis-grown Black coffee culture continues to expand,” the companies said in a statement.

“This is the kind of partnership that can change a city,” said Rick James, owner of Castle Retail Group. “Too often, we let barriers divide us — race, neighborhood, history — but at the root, our stories are more connected than we think. We’re all tied to the land, to labor, and to the pursuit of dignity. That’s what this is about.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

The Proof Is In The (Banana) Pudding

Martha Foose (Photo: Courtesy Martha Foose)

Except for a few years when I was little, I’ve never met a banana pudding I didn’t like.

Growing up, I went from liking bananas to hating them. I couldn’t stand the taste or the texture. But tastes change. As time went on, I still preferred the custard to the bananas in the pudding, but I gradually became more accepting of the other half of the dessert’s name.

Over the years, I’ve taken banana pudding for granted. But now I want to know more about it. And I knew if anybody could tell me about banana pudding and its place in Southern cooking, it would be the James Beard Award-winning author and chef Martha Foose, whose cookbooks include Screen Doors and Sweet Tea. Plus, she lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Foose told me that Gulfport, Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast is a “super major” banana port. “If it’s got ‘Chiquita’ on it, it’s coming up from the coast,” she says.

As for the origin of banana pudding, Foose says, “Once bananas got their stronghold, and polite society figured out ways to put them in their mouth without it looking like a banana, that’s kind of how banana pudding started gaining popularity.”

She believes banana pudding originally was a “back of the vanilla wafers box” recipe. But banana pudding recipes changed over time. Like when the “fluffy dairy topping” products like Cool Whip and Dream Whip were introduced. This enabled dairy toppings to stay whipped instead of dissolving in desserts like banana pudding.

“Banana pudding is one of those things that keep evolving. There’s a big whipped cream vs. meringue school. I’m a total meringue school. I like meringue. You’ve already got extra egg whites from putting the yolks in the custard if you’re making it homemade.”

Plus, she adds, “I don’t like dairy on top of dairy. The custard is dairy enough.”

Then there’s the “controversy” over vanilla wafers in banana puddings. “There are two schools of thought on the whole Nilla Wafer vs. vanilla wafer.”

Nilla Wafers are the Nabisco brand. The “common man’s” wafers are Jack’s Vanilla Wafers and the cheap generic food service type of vanilla wafers, she says. The food service varieties were the ones used in banana puddings in elementary school cafeterias. They’re “a little more yellow and squishy, where Nilla Wafers have got a little more snap to them.”

There are other options than just using vanilla wafers in banana puddings, Foose says. “If you want to go completely crazy at Thanksgiving, use ginger snaps.”

She adds, “Now the big in-vogue thing is for you to use those little Pepperidge Farm Chessmen.”

These domino-shaped short bread cookies, which are imprinted with chess figures, can be arranged on top of a banana pudding “like a little chessboard.”

Another controversy is the “sweetened condensed milk school of thought” as in “It needs to be in banana pudding,” Foose says. “I think, ‘No.’ Banana pudding should be like it is.”

Foose also isn’t a fan of big pans of banana pudding. She likes the individual serving dishes. Otherwise people are going to pick out the cookies or pick out the bananas. Then you just “end up with a swamp.”

As for the bananas themselves, Foose says the Cavendish banana is the most popular commercial variety. “It’s the quality that makes it shipped the most,” she says. “It’s one that can be shipped green. And its skin is sturdy enough. All those things.”

But Cavendish bananas might not be so prevalent in banana pudding as in the past. “They’re having problems with blight,” says Foose. “They’re trying to find a replacement mass market banana. They’re trying different varieties.”

If you want to whip up your own banana pudding, Foose includes a banana pudding recipe in her Screen Doors and Sweet Tea cookbook.

As for me, I’ve personally never made a banana pudding. I rely on restaurants to do that.

Also, banana puddings, to me, are like barbecue. They all have their nuances that make them different.

Here are my impressions of just a few (there are plenty more) made-from-scratch banana puddings in and around Memphis. 

Cole Hix at One & Only BBQ (Photos: Michael Donahue)

One & Only BBQ: I think Millie’s Banana Pudding is“magnificent.” It’s an over-the-top banana pudding, which is almost like a pie. Everything, from the bananas to the vanilla wafers, tastes fresh. According to the menu, it’s “house-made daily with fresh meringue.”

The menu also states that “last year alone, our guests devoured over 8,000 half-pans of Millie’s Banana Pudding.”

Ashley Anderson at Mortimer’s

The banana pudding at Mortimer’s reminds me of eggnog at the holidays. There’s no bourbon in it, but I conjure up a taste of that brown water when I eat this delightfully delicious banana pudding. It makes me wonder what banana liqueur would taste like in a banana pudding. I’m sure that’s been done a billion times. The closest I’ve come to that is probably in bananas Foster.

Tyler Clancy, owner of Clancy’s Cafe in Red Banks, Mississippi, says his “secret ingredient” in his banana pudding is sour cream. “We put sour cream in it to kind of give it that cheesecake richness,” Clancy says. And it’s so delicious. Perfection. This is where I began topping his banana pudding with vanilla ice cream. Believe me, it doesn’t need it. It’s great as it is.

Central BBQ: I love the crushed vanilla wafers on top of this delicious, creamy banana pudding. Something about it made me recall the taste of the old banana-flavored popsicles I used to love back in the 1950s.

Raven Winton at Makeda’s Homemade Cookies Downtown

Makeda’s Homemade Cookies: Of course, this cookie palace isn’t going to use vanilla wafers in its banana pudding. This super creamy pudding is topped with yummy butter cookies. On the bottom is a “crust” made of crushed butter cookies.

The Cupboard Restaurant: This is the banana-iest pudding I’ve run across. It’s loaded with bananas. I think there are more bananas than vanilla wafers in this banana pudding, which is only available on Fridays and Sundays. 

I remarked to my server Leodis Williams about the amount of bananas in The Cupboard’s pudding. He replied, “You’ve got to have a lot of bananas, or it wouldn’t be banana pudding.”

Nate Renner delivered the final word — for now — on banana pudding. He told me about the banana pudding at a Tennessee potluck he recently attended. He asked me with more than a trace of disgust in his voice, “Would you believe people would serve you warm banana pudding?”

Banana pudding should be cold, he said. “It should never be warm. Ever.” 

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Dance Like a Cupcake 

Photos: Alannah Williams

Growing up, Alannah Williams watched her younger brother Joshua struggle with many food allergies that prevented him from eating certain foods her family and friends enjoyed. This devastated her — having to constantly watch her brother being left out.  

Now, Alannah has her very own business, Dance Like a Cupcake, which provides her customers with sweet treats, including her popular gourmet cookies, that don’t contain eggs, dairy, sesame oil, or nuts for those with food sensitivities — or those who are living a healthier lifestyle.  

And she’s doing it all at the age of 18. 

Alannah comes from a military family, and for a while they lived in Seoul, South Korea. In Korea, they make most of their food with sesame and peanut oil, two of her brother’s allergens. So, at 10, she was determined to bake something allergen-free, and that is how Dance Like a Cupcake originated overseas. Once her family moved back to the States, specifically to Memphis, she revived her business.  

Though Joshua is the biggest motivation behind Alannah’s business, its quirky and catchy name was inspired by her childhood friend. “I started when I was 10 and one of my friends came to an event that I was selling at. She had food allergies, too. She asked for a cupcake, and I gave her one. She was so happy because it didn’t have any allergens that she started dancing,” Alannah says. “So, anytime anyone eats my dessert, I tell them to dance like a cupcake because of how good it tastes.” 

Alannah’s bakery has been in business since 2016, but she faced a few hardships in the beginning. “I think the biggest [challenge] would be my age because people don’t take me seriously, or they didn’t take me seriously when I started,” says Alannah. “And the second [challenge] would be the stigma around vegan desserts. They think it doesn’t taste as good or it’s too healthy.”  

She did not let the criticism stop her because Dance Like a Cupcake has made a huge impact in her customers’ lives — especially those who have food allergies. “Just listening to her story about her little brother, I think that there’s definitely a population of individuals who would like to enjoy those type of sweets, but not have to worry about this type of ingredient that [they] can’t eat,” says Brian Ford, a loyal Dance Like a Cupcake customer who lives in Colorado. “My wife and daughter have food allergies, so that’s another thing that kind of drew me to her because they can’t eat certain things with different ingredients in them.”  

Most of Alannah’s customers see her business as not only providing people with healthier treats, but also educating and making more individuals aware of people who have food sensitivities. “When businesses like this come and bring things to the table that we aren’t used to, we should embrace that. We should embrace the information, the knowledge that businesses like Alannah’s have because they are willing to share,” says Jasmen Richmond, a Dance Like a Cupcake customer and nutrition educator. “Not only is she selling a product, but she’s also giving back and supporting the growth of our community.” 

For young bakers, ages 8 to 22, wanting to learn how to master vegan desserts, Alannah even offers an internship program. “It’s really [about] being creative, helping out Dance Like a Cupcake, and getting to know other people in the community,” says Alannah. 

Right now, Alannah does not have a physical location, so she sells her desserts at events and several restaurants around Memphis, like City Silo and Cxffeeblack. And she ships her gourmet cookies nationwide through her website (dancelikeacupcake.org). She plans to branch out soon.

Alannah’s most supportive customer is, of course, her brother Joshua, the one who inspired it all. “I really like the fact that my older sister created a business in my image, thinking about me and my allergies. And about all the other kids around the world who can’t really eat desserts like me,” says Joshua. 

His favorite cookie, he says, “has to be oatmeal raisin. I love the oatmeal raisin cookie, especially with the glaze on it.” 

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Oh, Grate! Takes Great Care of Customers

Courtney Jones and Amy Bingham (Photo: Kristi Evans)

Oh Grate! is getting greater. Or “grater.”

They still use graters for the cheese on some of their frozen ready-to-heat meals, and sales of their Fiesta Sauce (formerly known as Tropical Dressing) as well as new innovations in their product lineup have been great, says Amy Bingham, co-owner with Courtney Jones of the store at 2028 West Poplar Avenue, Suite 104, in Collierville, Tennessee.

First the Fiesta Sauce: “It’s still going really well,” Bingham says. “We’re shipping it out all over the country.”

The sauce is based on the green dressing, a mustard-vinegar based salad dressing, that was served at the old Pancho’s Mexican Restaurants. “We missed the Pancho’s green sauce that everybody put on tacos and taco salads,” Bingham says.

Jones began making it when Pancho’s still had restaurants in Memphis. “I had made it for years at home,” she says. “Oftentimes it would be hard to find at Kroger. Once Pancho’s was sold, you could not find it any longer.”

It wasn’t difficult to unearth the original Pancho’s recipe. “Everybody likes to throw out the recipes. You can find them online. A copycat Pancho’s dressing.”

She made some changes to the original recipe, which she later had to adapt for shelf life and to make it in bulk while “trying to keep that quality as best as we could, true to the original sauce.”

“Next thing we knew our doors were blown off and everybody was here trying to get the green sauce.”

Sales of their Fiesta Sauce “went viral last year,” Bingham says.

They changed the name from “Tropical Dressing” to “Fiesta Sauce” last year because “people were confused about the flavors,” Bingham says. Was it salsa or tropical? Pancho’s referred to its sauce as “Tropicale Salad Dressing.”

But the “main thing that has really changed” at Oh Grate! is the inclusion of locally-made products in their store. “We kind of tapped into an audience of people who love food from Memphis.”

In addition to honing in on “the nostalgia from Pancho’s,” they wondered what else they could offer so people “could relive some of these Memphis memories.”

Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous was at the top of their list. “We formed a partnership with Rendezvous, and we sell their products here at our store. We sell ribs, smoked sausage, all their sauces and seasonings. And that has been wildly successful.”

Not everybody can just hop in their car and drive an hour or so from Collierville to the Rendezvous at the last minute. “You’re just craving Rendezvous, but you’re not going to drive Downtown unless it’s a special occasion,” says Bingham.

They also began carrying products, including juices and meals, from RawGirls. “It’s all fresh, all tailored to meet a targeted need. So, the Charcoal Lemonade is for detox; Sinus Shot is best this time of year. Everybody’s got the sniffles. It’s packed with ginger and vitamin C, so that really enhances the effectiveness.”

Arbo’s Cheese Dip is another item. This was founder Andrew Arbogast’s answer to Pancho’s cheese dip after Pancho’s moved out of Memphis.

They sell the chips and white cheese dip from Las Delicias as well as the “top-notch toffee’” from 901 Bakehouse in Germantown.

And they carry the homemade sourdough bread and pizza dough from Southern Flourery No. 6 in Collierville, not to mention short bread cookies and pound cakes from Made From Scratch Cookie Company.

Their counters now include Memphis Grindhouse Coffee, Dancing Peppers salsa, and products from Brim’s Snack Foods, which makes several products in addition to its popular pork rinds.

A line of mustards, including hot and spicy flavors, from Harvest Gourmet in Cookeville, Tennessee, is their newest addition. They discovered it at Harvest Gourmet’s booth at the recent Mid-South Sports & Boat Show at Agricenter International. “We tasted their mustard and just fell in love with their products.”

They “made a pretty large purchase” and put the products in their store, Bingham says. “It happened so quickly and unexpectedly. Less than 24 hours and we had met with them and had their products on our shelves.”

Another new product — Southern Chocolate Chess Pie — originated closer to home. Jones’ daughter Maddox Huey “started making pies at home,” she says. “And, of course, we have the facility here to help her with that. One day she made a chocolate chess pie at home. I tell you, the whole family was blown away.”

More pie flavors are on the way. “She’s about to begin making a key lime pie for us.”

Bingham and Jones enjoy helping people get their businesses off the ground. “It’s hard to know where to start a business,” Bingham says. “We want to help others along. We have this retail space that people have kind of come to know in this small area. But it can give exposure to smaller businesses as well.”

Oh Grate! also has had “great collaborations” with established businesses like the Rendezvous. “We’ve learned from them.”

They’ve been able to “share, grow, and help each other.”

As for the Oh Grate! heat-and-serve meals, all of which are made on-site, Bingham says, “We cover the gamut.”

They make soups, sliders, and ready-to-eat dinners with different entrees, including chicken spaghetti, shrimp Alfredo, meatballs, and marinara. They also carry lunch and party items, including chicken salad and pimento cheese. “We are your one-stop shop for not having to cook.”

Last year, Oh Grate! introduced a new item: Energy Bites, which Jones describes as “little power balls,” including oatmeal, flax seed, peanut butter, honey, and chia seeds. “We’re now making hundreds and hundreds of energy balls.”

Some Oh Grate! products are available locally at High Point Grocery, South Point Grocery, and Cordelia’s Market. “We firmly believe in local,” Bingham says. “Local grocery stores are vital to our success as well.”

They recently began selling their products in North Mississippi stores “all the way down to Batesville,” including Piggly Wiggly.

Much of their success is “due to our amazing team,” Jones says. “We now have 17 people that work with us part-time. Everyone is part-time but me and Amy. None of this would be possible without them.”

What’s next for Oh Grate!? “I would say our most requested item is the Pancho’s hot dip recipe,” Bingham says. “That is what we get asked for quite often. I feel it would do quite nicely in our lineup.”

People just referred to it as “the hot dip,” Jones says.

Will that be on Oh Grate! shelves one day? “It’s something we are looking into,” Bingham says. “It takes a while to launch a product.”

But, Jones adds, “There’ve been some test batches.” 

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis News Blog

Cxffeeblack Partners with COMOCO Cotton to Create First Black-owned Cotton Supply Chain

Photo: Courtesy Cxffeeblack

Memphis’ Cxffeeblack has announced a partnership with COMOCO Cotton, a sustainable textile company, to release a limited-edition T-shirt with the phrase “God Don’t Make No Junk. Cxffee Don’t Need No Cream” printed across the front. This partnership, in turn, has created what they say is COMOCO’s and the world’s first Black-owned cotton supply chain. 

“This collaboration is about more than a product. It’s about shifting the narrative — reclaiming what was once stolen and turning it into a tool for our collective liberation,” Bartholomew Jones, hip-hop artist, educator, and co-founder of Cxffeeblack, said in a press release. 

“Coffee’s a $465 billion industry, and it’s the most traded good for third-world countries after oil and is the most drunk liquid on the planet after water,” Jones said in a previous interview with the Flyer. “Amidst all of those things, the people who discovered coffee, which are people in Africa, receive less than 1 percent of that revenue.”

Bartholomew Jones and Stephen Satterfield, owner of COMOCO Cotton (Photo: Courtesy Bartholomew Jones)

Cotton, likewise, is another historically charged material for its role in slavery and sharecropping. “COMOCO is helping to reframe that narrative and reclaim cotton as a source of pride, empowerment, and prosperity,” its website reads, as the business works exclusively with Black farmers to address “the historical and ongoing marginalization of Black farmers and farms.”

In this way, as the press release states, “Through this partnership, coffee and cotton, once tools of oppression, are transformed into symbols of resilience and creativity, owned and driven by Black hands.”

The cotton T-shirts are dyed with the coffee company’s Guji Mane, sourced directly from Ethiopian farms. These shirts are limited only to those who invest or return to invest in Cxffeeblack’s WeFunder, the goal of which is to build a permanent headquarters as a community space and to establish the world’s first all-Black coffee supply chain connecting Africa to Memphis. Recently, the company has celebrated passing its halfway point to $1.2 million on capital raised.

“Investing in this collaboration means investing in a future where Black ownership is not the exception — it’s the standard,” Stephen Satterfield, owner of COMOCO Cotton and host of Netflix’s High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America. (Satterfield met Jones when he visited Cxffeeblack’s shop, the Anti Gentrification Cxffee Club, during a stay in Memphis. Ever since, Satterfield has supported the Memphis-based company.)

“Black creativity is the foundation of so many industries, yet we rarely own the means of production,” Jones said. “This collaboration proves that we don’t have to ask for a seat at the table — we can build our own, from the soil up.”

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Beloved Barksdale’s Returns

Bryant and Heather Bain and Ryan Glosson (Photo: Michael Donahue)

Rise and shine. Breakfast is almost ready.

Barksdale’s, the iconic eatery at 237 Cooper Street, is about to reopen after a fire in June 2024.

And I can’t wait.

“We’re hoping to open by the end of next month,” Bryant Bain says. “By the end of March.”

Bain, his wife Heather, and Ryan Glosson are the new owners of Barksdale’s. They’re also the owners of Bain Barbecue down the street at 993 Cooper Street in Cooper-Young.

Why did they want to buy Barksdale’s? “We’ve all eaten there,” Bryant says. “And it’s been in the community for so many years.”

When they heard Barksdale’s was going to close, they knew that couldn’t happen. It was, “Hey, if we can do something about it, we’re going to.”

They’re going to retain as much of the look and atmosphere of the old Barksdale’s as possible. “We’re trying to keep it feeling like it used to be.”

Barksdale’s in the early days (Photo: Courtsey Barksdale’s)

But, Heather adds, “They had a terrible fire. Because of grandfather laws and stuff, we had to redo the vast majority of it.”

They had to get “all new electric,” Bryant says. As well as “rebuild the bathrooms. The ceilings are new. All new light fixtures. Everything is new except the walls.”

They did save the bar and tables and chairs. “That kind of thing.”

Plates and cups were also saved, Heather says.

As for the employees, Bryant says, “They’re all invited to come back. Some of them obviously had to get other jobs.”

But, he says, “I know Miss Debbie [Miller] and Bert [McElroy] are coming back, for sure. Some kitchen staff are coming back.”

Classic Bob’s Barksdale’s breakfast (Photo: Courtsey Barksdale’s)

Asked what they ate when they used to visit Barksdale’s, Heather says, “I would just get eggs and bacon.”

Bryant got the plate lunch. “More of the veggies, to be honest.”

Customers can look for their favorites on the menu. “It’s going to be the same type of menu, but I’ve overhauled it to make it fresher,” Bryant says. “Everything is going to be homemade. A lot of things they were making out of bags. And I just don’t do that.”

Asked if they’re going to sell barbecue at Barksdale’s, Bryant says, “We will not be.”

In April 2024, I did a story about Barksdale’s, then known as Bob’s Barksdale Restaurant, for Memphis Magazine. This was my description of the place after I ate there that morning: “Every table is taken on my visit. Photos of smiling customers on memorabilia-covered walls look down on the smiling faces of customers talking and eating. Servers with coffee pots wind around tables pouring refills and taking orders.”

The original Barksdale Restaurant was at 227 South Barksdale Street, owner Beth Henry told me. The owner’s last name was Stamson, she said. He was from Greece.

The restaurant moved to where it is now around 1968. Stamson gave the restaurant to his son Jerry Stamson, who sold it to Bob Henry in 2000, Beth said. Bob changed the name to Bob’s Barksdale Restaurant.

Beth married Bob, who she got to know after she began visiting the restaurant from her job at an insurance company across the street. She took over the restaurant after Bob died. 

“We were just friends for years,” Beth told me in my interview. “I’d come over and have coffee. Then I got to know people. And I got to know some of the servers. And then later on in life it worked out to where we ended up getting together and got married. I just knew that he was a good man.”

Not much was done to the interior after she took over, Beth told me. When she pondered the idea of sprucing the place up a bit after she bought it, she said, “You could hear the Midtown gasps: ‘No, no, no. We like it like that.’”

She said customers told her they began going to the Barksdale with their dad and now they bring their granddaughter.

Beth did say she had interior painting done when they were closed for 82 days during the pandemic. And then she had to repair the foyer after a car crashed into the front of the restaurant on June 26, 2022.

She said half the customers are college students. “We have some customers who have been coming here 30, 40 years. When we don’t see them, we start to worry.”

And she told me over the years, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and the filming of at least one short movie took place at the Barksdale.

Now the beloved Barksdale’s is about to return.

Categories
Food & Drink Uncategorized

Food News Bites: Chef Judd Grisanti is Back

Chef Judd Grisanti at his "Gourmet to Go" food trailer (Credit: Carter Gober)

Judd Grisanti’s been cooking up something lately. Now he’s ready to spill the beans.

The popular chef from the Grisanti family restaurant fame is  ready for people to get a taste (literally) of his latest venture. He will launch “Gourmet-To-Go,” which is part of his new Green Apple’s Foods Co., Sunday, February 16th.

Grisanti is thinking healthy. Each week, he will prepare meals and deliver them to people’s homes. These aren’t frozen chicken-potatoes-and-beans combos. Here’s a sample of his cuisine: “Asian Inspired Wild Salmon Protein Smart Fluffy Coconut Sushi Lime Rice Bowl.”

“It’s a macro nutrient and micro nutrient meal plan,” Grisanti says. “Macro means carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Micro means the natural vitamins in our foods that our bodies need. for an overall balanced diet.”

Grisanti isn’t talking about just cutting out fats. “We need good fats, not bad fats. And the good fats come from nuts. They come from avocados. They come from olive oil, sesame seeds, cashews, tuna fish, salmon, edamame, or walnuts. We’re taking pills for our vitamins when our vitamins are already in our food, and easier for our bodies to digest than a pill.”

Foodies first met Grisanti when he was a server in the old Beale Street location of Ronnie Grisanti & Sons Italian Restaurant, which was owned by his dad, the late Ronnie Grisanti. Judd went on to work at his dad’s restaurant when it moved to 2855 Poplar Avenue. He also worked as chef/owner at Spindini and was owner of Ronnie Grisanti’s Italian Restaurant in Regalia.

Chefs Alex and Judd Grisanti and their dad, the late Ronnie Grisanti, in the early 1990s (Credit: Courtesy of Judd Grisanti)

Judd operates his new business out of a customized commercial kitchen food truck in Laws Hill, Mississippi, which is not far from his farm. “It’s basically a commercial kitchen on wheels,” he says.

As a chef, Grisanti says,“Mentally, we’re always evolving. We’re always learning.  We’re always exploring, especially in the culinary world. People call it ‘R and D’ — ‘research and development.’”

 Judd came up with the idea for his new venture while recovering from a surgery seven months ago. “During the time that I’ve taken off, I’ve been here at the farm thinking about the paths that I’ve gone down. And wondering, ‘Where is Judd Grisanti going next?’ Which direction am I going to go?”

When he was working in a commercial kitchen in a restaurant, he could make anything he wanted on a whim. “I’ve always had the ingredients at my fingertips.”

But now, he says, “Being out of the restaurant business for seven months and not being in a commercial kitchen, I’m cooking for one now. And going to the grocery store and getting what I need.”

“I would come in tired and worn out physically, and I had to cook something for dinner. It had to be something that had nutritional values to it, so, I could replace the calories I burned and give myself energy for the next day. I learned it’s not just me that has to worry about what they’re having for dinner that night, planning their meals, prepping their meals, and going to find the time to do the shopping and the cooking.”

That’s when he came up with Gourmet to Go. “Fully-prepared, chef-created, well-rounded, nutritional meals. Flare, culture, and the art of cuisine delivered to your doorstep — for a balanced lifestyle.” 

“A lot of people don’t have the full information of where all carbs come from. Your body has to have carbs.”

But there are good carbs and bad carbs, he says. “You want to eat carbs like quinoa, lentils, whole grains, sweet potatoes, different types of beans, and whole grain pastas. All those are okay, but you want to keep it high fibers.”

“People ask, ‘Oh why did you go to culinary school?’ I did go to culinary school to learn how to cook a steak or whatever. But,” he says “As chefs, we get lost sometimes in what we’re creating. We can definitely create incredible food that has micro nutrient and macro nutrient values to them rather than just putting out stuff with a lot of fat, heavy cream, butter, and all the stuff we love. Instead of using those ingredients that we would typically go to, there are alternatives. And we just have to put more energy and thought into what we’re doing. And it’s more simplified than what we think.”

Describing his Asian-inspired wild salmon bowl, he says, “It’s baked wild salmon with a home-made hoisin black garlic sauce. And that’s over shredded purple cabbage, shredded carrots, edamame, English cucumbers, shiitake mushrooms topped with fried shallots, furikake, and sriracha aioli.”

Another dish is “The Mediterranean Gyro Greek Chicken Smart Protein Bowl.” This includes quinoa, pearl pasta, and couscous. “I mix those three grains together. And then you have some green with it. More likely kale, if that’s what they wish. And on top you’ll have pickled red onions, English cucumbers, grape tomatoes, feta cheese, and a homemade tzatziki sauce topped with roasted garbanzo beans.”

Mediterranean Gyro Greek Chicken Smart Protein Bowl (Credit: Judd Grisanti)

Each meal comes in three parts. “Your main dish comes in a bowl with sauce or marinade or dressing on the side, along with greens or tomatoes. Minimal assembly. It can be ready in minutes. Microwave six minutes, or in the oven at 375 degrees and it’s ready in 20 minutes. And then you can add your sauce and your fresh herbs and whatever is on the side.”

Eventually, he says, “You’ll be able to pick out your protein, your mix of grains. And then you’ll be able to pick out the veggies you want to go on there. You might want it with lamb or shrimp or whatever. And then we’ll be able to customize it for you.”

His catchline is “Heat, Eat, & Enjoy!!!”

Grisanti says he will change the menu (which offers six dishes) weekly. “I have hundreds of recipes already written.” He also plans to add “some Grisanti menu items,” which are “protein forward.” And he’ll include Grisanti’s roasted chicken lasagna “with the fresh spinach and prosciutto” as well as the shrimp fried diablo.

For now, Grisanti is using his email address, grisanti909@gmail.com, Facebook address, “Judd D. Grisanti,” and Instagram address, “grisanti.restaurant” for orders. “We take orders for the week up until Tuesday night at 10:00. Wednesday, we set out for delivery and we bring it straight to you. There’s no hidden fee. No members fee. Nothing like that. We are just simply a chef providing a service to your door.”

In addition to Gourmet to Go, Judd’s Green Apple’s Co., which he describes as a “full menu line,” will include desserts and various types of snacks and starters, including hummus, and protein-forward desserts “We’re working on things every week. Testing and getting things done.” 

Judd’s slogan is “Fork it Up.” “Instead of saying ‘Cheers’ or whatever, it’s like, ‘Fork it Up with Gourmet to Go.’ You can eat good and eat as much as you want. And when it good food it’s actually  going to make you feel fuller.You’re getting everything you need. We’re doing these prepared meals to go straight to the consumer. It comes from our kitchen straight to your kitchen. You just eat and enjoy.”

Chef Judd Grisanti (Credit: Carter Gober)