Category: Food & Drink

So many restaurants throughout the community are stepping up to offer support for victims of Hurricane Katrina that it is impossible to recognize them all. Some are offering free or discounted meals to evacuees or donating food to church and civic organizations. Other restaurants are offering employment to colleagues from New Orleans.

Restaurants that want to continue support can sign up for Dine for America, a nationwide event slated for October 5th to benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The National Restaurant Association held a similar event after 9/11 and raised $22 million. Participating restaurants will donate a percentage of sales from that day to the relief fund and accept monetary donations from customers. Bol a Pasta owner Frank Grisanti, who is also a board member of the NRA, was the first in Memphis to sign up his restaurant for the event. In addition, Bol a Pasta customers are being offered free soft drinks if they donate $1 to the Red Cross.

Visit DineforAmerica.org.

The Southern Foodways Alliance is asking the restaurant community nationwide to promote fund-raising events and to help displaced restaurant employees find work. The organization, a nonprofit alliance of chefs, authors, and educators dedicated to preserving and cultivating the food cultures of the South, has partnered with the Council of Independent Restaurants and the James Beard Foundation to build a job bank for displaced restaurant workers.

Approximately 40 people from the Southern Foodways Alliance are asking each Beard Foundation member restaurant to offer at least one job to displaced workers. Job offers must also include temporary housing along with relocation funds.

Visit SouthernFoodways.com.

One week, three festivals: On Saturday, September 17th, Greekfest will be held from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at St. George Greek Orthodox Church, located at 6984 Highway 70 in Bartlett. Traditional Greek meals, served until 7 p.m., will be $12 per plate for adults and $6 for children 10 and younger. The 44th annual event also features live music, dancing, and a sanctuary tour.

For more information, call 388-5910.

The 18th annual Cooper-Young Festival kicks off Thursday, September 15th, and culminates Saturday, September 17th, with music performances and more than 300 food and merchandise vendors.

Visit CooperYoungFestival.com or call 276-7222.

And in Collierville, more than 20 area restaurants will participate in the 13th Annual Partners in Preservation Party & Taste of the Town on Collierville’s Town Square from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $40 per person or $375 for a table of 10 and are available at the Main Street Collierville office located at 125 N. Rowlett Street in the Historic Train Depot.

Contact Main Street Collierville at 853-1666 or visit www.collierville.com/mainstreet.

In other food news, Brontë Bistro, the restaurant located inside Davis-Kidd Booksellers, 387 Perkins Extended, will host “Girls’ Night Out with Chanel” on Tuesday, September 20th. In addition to wine, appetizers, and desserts, guest will be able to preview Chanel’s new fragrance, Allure Sensuelle, compliments of Macy’s. The cost is $30 per person.

Call 683-9801.

Whitman Cellars and the Madison Hotel will team up to host a wine dinner Wednesday, September 21st at 7 p.m. at Grill 83 in the hotel, which is located at 79 Madison Avenue. The five-course, prix fixe menu will be paired with an array of Walla Walla Valley wines. The cost is $80 per person plus tax and gratuities.

Call 333-1354 for reservations.

North-facing customers at Swanky’s Taco Shop, an aptly named taco bar on Poplar at Kirby, next door to the Macaroni Grill, have a view of some familiar — if not entirely scenic — golden arches. Chomping down into one of Swanky’s overstuffed, speedily delivered, and extremely affordable burritos, it’s almost impossible to wonder how long it will be before those arches — and the traditional model for fast dining — begin to crumble.

“It doesn’t matter if the line is out the door. You’ll have your food in front of you in five minutes or less,” says Thomas Pak, owner and idea man for Swanky’s. “Usually, in a counter-service restaurant, if somebody comes in with a large to-go order, it can be like 20 people cutting in line. But not here. We have a second line that is specifically for large to-go orders.”

Swanky’s is more than just a place to get bistro-quality eats cheap in a comfortable environment. It also offers a tequila bar, featuring top-of-the-line swigs and a number of signature drinks. There’s an unobtrusive flat-screen TV over the bar for sports fans. The restaurant serves food until 2 in the morning, and after 10 p.m., the DJs set up their turntables and the staff unbolts the stainless-steel tables from the floor to make room for a bar crowd that — after several slugs of tequila — might be in the mood for some dancing.

“This is our concept store,” Pak says. “We are also developing a lower-tier burrito bar [modeled after] Subway. And we’re working on an upscale store. We want to grow. We’d like five, 10, 20 stores. We want Swanky’s to grow nationwide.

“We have no secrets at Swanky’s,” Pak says. “There’s no special sauce or magic sprinkle. But we are probably the only restaurant in town that doesn’t have a freezer. We have all of our produce delivered daily, and we make everything fresh. I guess if we do have a secret that’s it.”

Though nighttime diners will eventually have the option of full-service dining, Swanky’s has modeled its service after the successful and innovative Subway chain, and customers at Pak’s upscale taco bar are greeted with the familiar question: white or whole wheat? In this case, however, they’re talking about tortillas, which can be stuffed with shredded (a bit too juicy) beef or spicy chicken. Tacos and burritos may also be augmented with cheese, rice, black beans, and a toss of sautéed veggies that go well beyond the usual mix of onions and peppers. Sauces and salsas range from traditional pico and guacamole to a fiery habanero sauce that manages to retain all the buttery flavor of the infamous hot chili without the overpowering burn. In addition to tacos and burritos, Swanky’s also serves up quesadillas and a handful of other Tex-Mex staples, including a hearty and flavorful roasted pepper and corn soup. Eventually, they will offer tapas on the dinner menu.

“We’re fond of tequila,” Pak says, explaining that his bar will soon have a number of fine tequilas that Memphis distributors don’t generally keep in stock. “We sip tequila here. We talk about it. Most people just shoot it and don’t realize that fine tequila is complex: It has a whiskey quality and picks up flavor from being aged in oak barrels. If somebody wants to try something, we’ll give them a sample because we don’t want people to be intimidated about anything.”

Tequila may be Pak’s passion, but Swanky’s sangria, rivaled locally only by the Beauty Shop, is particularly special. Though it’s been sweetened with cherry juice to appeal to Memphis’ notoriously sweet-leaning palate, it’s a far cry from the red, sugary concoction that’s passed off as sangria at most Tex-Mex establishments. At Swanky’s the blend of wine, brandy, and crushed fruit is refreshing with a distinct kick. For an alcoholic beverage, it seems downright healthy. And, for rather mysterious reasons, all of the ingredients are chilled prior to being combined.

“I don’t know what chilling the brandy, wine, and fruit does exactly,” Pak admits. “But that’s how I learned to make it. My parents call it the $120,000 recipe, because they sent me to college in Tampa [Florida] and that’s all I learned. But that’s not really true. I also learned a good margarita recipe.”

In 1998, Memphis native Ben Smith and his wife, Colleen, opened Tsunami, specializing in Asian cuisine from the Pacific Rim. The dishes were a hit, and the restaurant is consistently packed. Now, Smith has written his first cookbook, Tsunami Restaurant Cookbook: A Wave of Flavors Inspired by the Pacific Rim, which features many of the most popular dishes from Tsunami’s menu as well as Smith’s insight into Asian ingredients and cooking techniques.

The book is scheduled to be released September 15th by Pelican Publishing Company and will be available for purchase at the restaurant, area bookstores, and through Amazon.com. A preview party and book signing is being held at Tsunami, located in Cooper-Young, Sunday, September 11th, from 4 to 6 p.m.

“The cookbook is a greatest-hits collection,” Smith says. “Our menu changes often, and it includes the items that have had the greatest success.”

Much of the inspiration for the restaurant and the book came from Smith’s experience traveling and cooking in the South Pacific region. Although Smith was educated in traditional French cooking methods at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, he was attracted to Asian cuisine.

“I left the CIA with a growing interest in Asian food, and I went out and experienced it more and gained a lot of respect for the Asian style of cooking, ingredients, and health aspects,” Smith says.

Following graduation, he moved to San Francisco, where he worked for about three years for Jeremiah Tower at Stars restaurant. In 1989, he embarked on a self-guided tour of the South Pacific, working and living in Australia, New Zealand, and other islands in the region. He returned to the United States to work with a friend in Hawaii.

In the early ’90s, Smith returned home to Memphis, with the idea to open a restaurant and eventually write a cookbook. A few years ago, a friend asked if he’d like to co-write a book. Although Smith declined, it wasn’t long before he was writing his own.

“It was important to establish credibility and name recognition for the restaurant first,” Smith says. “Once I took the leap to open my own restaurant, it was an opportunity to create the environment I wanted to be in and cook the food I like to cook. Rather than create a restaurant that appealed to Memphians, I took a chance and created something that appealed to me. Luckily, Memphians took to it and have been supporting it for seven years.”

Tsunami, 928 South Cooper (274-2556)

The Dixon is celebrating its 10th annual Art on Tap beer-tasting Friday, September 9th, from 6 to 9 p.m. Boscos Squared has created a special Hefeweizen beer for this year’s fund-raiser.

Art on Tap will also feature a variety of domestic and import beers, including batches created by the Bluff City Brewers and Connoisseurs. Central BBQ, Holiday Deli and Ham, and Blue Coast Burrito will provide food. Venus Mission will be performing on the lawn of the museum. The festival is the largest beer tasting in Memphis. Last year’s event drew 1,000 people and tickets sold out. Advance tickets for Art on Tap (purchased by 5 p.m. Thursday, September 8th) are $15 for Dixon members and $20 for nonmembers. All gate tickets are $25.

The Dixon is also gearing up to reopen the Terrace Café, which is an opportunity to enjoy lunch while enjoying the view of the museum’s 17-acre grounds and gardens. September 27th through 30th and October 4th through 7th, lunch will be served inside the European-style Hughes Pavilion. The meal, prepared by Just Catering, will be accompanied by a table-side fashion show from Laurelwood Shopping Center. Cost is $20 per person and includes admission to the exhibit “Mary McFadden: High Priestess of High Fashion.” To reserve a seat, call Juliana Bjorklund at 761-5250, ext. 121.

The Vegan Sisters, a nonprofit group that provides education and support for people interested in living a vegan lifestyle, has created a festival exclusively for the herbivores in the community. The Vegan & Raw Food Serve will be held 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, September 10th, at the Cultural Connection, 2288 Dunn Ave. Lion’s Bread International will serve vegan and raw meals and play roots-reggae and dance-hall music. For more information, call 744-7313.

The man identifies himself as the “Bratmeister,” and his self-proclaimed expertise is why I’m in Wisconsin. The way a bratwurst absorbs the beer in which it simmers, I hope to absorb the Bratmeister’s knowledge in the ways of beer brats.

This can be risky territory, especially around members of that Midwestern tribe whose holy land is Sheboygan, Wisconsin, home of the Bratwurst Hall of Fame. Wisconsinites presume the right to hold forth on brats the way Memphians claim the right to lecture on barbecue. Bratwurst and beer are two things you don’t want to argue about with a Wisconsinite, especially as they relate to each other.

Wait, vegetarians, come back! This applies to you at least as much as to the meat-eaters. The technique described below will actually make tofu sausages edible.

Unlike hot dogs and many other cylindrical presentations of ground meat, bratwurst is a fresh sausage, which means it must be thoroughly cooked before serving. The time they spend in beer means less time for the brats on the grill.

“Simmer” is a strong word for the amount of heat the Bratmeister uses. Little bubbles form on the bottom of the pot, occasionally letting go and rising. Meanwhile, the volume of beer in the pan drops noticeably as it is absorbed by the swelling sausage.

“Since it’s already cooked when you take the brats from the beer,” explains the Bratmeister, “you could just serve it as-is and skip the grill altogether. But that would be gross.”

The grill’s job is to add flavor and browning to the already cooked bratwurst. On the grill, the brats lose their gray pall and come back to life with a juicy vengeance.

Some people speak of “parboiling the brats,” but this, I’m told, has never been done in Wisconsin. Such business can cause the brats to split, which is the ultimate no-no in bratology. A bratwurst is ready to serve when it’s cooked to the bursting point, swollen with juices but with the casing still intact. Never poke a brat, they say, to test for doneness. A gentle squeeze with the fingertips is all it takes. After grilling to the bursting point, most beer-brat chefs will place the brat in a fresh pot of hot beer and onions, often with butter, and hold it there until serving time.

Serving the brat on a hot dog bun can get you exiled from Wisconsin. A “hard roll,” crusty on the outside, soft and moist on the inside, is required. If you want to order real hard rolls, go to www.bratwurst.net. To order the current champion bratwurst of Wisconsin, go to www.miesfeldsmarket.com.

For dressing, don’t even think about yellow mustard. Only Dijon-style, please. As for the type of beer … well, these people are set in their curious ways.

“I like to use a high-end Budweiser,” says the Bratmeister. “You know, like an Old Milwaukee or a Miller Genuine Draft.”

My inner gourmet, however, rebels against the use of lesser beer in such an elegant preparation, so I bring an empty growler to my local brew pub and hand it to the bartender. When I tell him what it’s for, he hands my growler back, still empty.

“You need Old Milwaukee,” he says.

Only when I promise to run a side-by-side comparison with Old Milwaukee does he agree to fill my growler with the closest thing to a local equivalent, a light pilsner.

After lightly simmering my brats in separate pans of Old Milwaukee and microbrew pilsner along with black pepper, garlic, and onions (considered the holy trinity when cooking brats), I put my dueling bratwursts on the grill.

The Old Milwaukee brats have an appealing flavor that I could see getting attached to. I might need to join the Bratwurst Witness Protection Program for saying this, but the microbrew pilsner brats are richer, more complex, and a completely viable option as well.

I did not stop there. For many days, I simmer different brands of bratwurst in different brands of beer, always with the holy trinity. After this research, I feel confident in saying that different kinds of bratwurst will behave differently in different types of beer, and it’s definitely worth experimenting. Simmering in a dark, sweet porter, for example, might seem like sacrilege to someone from Wisconsin. But those of us not bound by tradition are free to play around with the options. Just be careful who you tell.

www.bratwurstpages.com

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This Labor Day weekend, the Center for Southern Folklore will host its annual signature event, the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. Five stages will be set up along Main Street, from Gayoso to Peabody Place Avenue. Musical performances will be held in the center’s main hall in Peabody Place, while the stage at the Peabody Place trolley stop will be the site of storytelling and spoken-word performances. Artisans will also be on hand to demonstrate traditional Southern crafts, such as quilt-making.

The focus of the Center for Southern Folklore is to preserve and present the history of Southern culture, but center director Judy Peiser recognizes the impact of global influences on the South, especially when it comes to cuisine.

“Food is that part of the culture that’s retained when everything else is lost. It evolves as new influences are presented,” Peiser says. “We don’t want to hit people over the head that Memphis is changing, but by presenting different foods or dance and music at the festival, we’re able to describe the expanding culture of Memphis by showing people parts of the community that they may not see every day.”

The center will team up with Viking, an event sponsor, to offer two days of free cooking demonstrations in the culinary school’s kitchen. Ella Kizzie, a chef at the center’s café, will prepare traditional Southern dishes, such as greens, hot-water cornbread, and peach cobbler. Another center employee, graphic designer Chang Zhi Yu, will give a tofu-cooking demonstration. Members of the Choctaw tribe will make fried bread, employees from Café Samovar will present Russian cuisine, and there will be traditional Puerto Rican dishes as well as Jewish challah bread. Each of the programs will last about two hours and samples of the foods will be available.

Viking will also host two classes on the art of grilling with “The Great American Cookout.” A portion of the $79 course fee will be donated to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), which helps support families that have been affected by the death of family members serving in the armed forces. For more information on this or other courses, call 578-5822.

The Center for Southern Folklore is located at 119 S. Main St. The festival will run from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, September 3rd and 4th. While the event is free, festival-goers are encouraged to donate to the center. For more information on the festival and cooking demonstrations, call 525-3655 or visit their Web site, SouthernFolklore.com.

While you’re downtown, you can also check out the new Healthy Lifestyle Bistro, located at 45 S. Main.

Janet “J.P.” Austin opened the market and restaurant last month because she wanted to share the value of holistic living through food, herbs, and oils, something she’s practiced for more than 15 years.

“We fill a niche that was missing from downtown,” Austin says. “Most of our healthy places to eat and shop are in Midtown, but we have a growing health-conscience community downtown.”

Customers can browse Healthy Living’s selection of herbal remedies and organic products or sit at one of the colorful tables and enjoy organic coffee or eat breakfast or lunch.

Austin is also a singer and her husband, James, tours with Sonny Turner’s Platters — currently one of several versions of the 1950s band that sang “The Great Pretender.” When James is not on tour, he’s in the kitchen at Healthy Lifestyle, along with his son Patrick and daughter Kym, preparing sandwiches, wraps, and salads.

“They have their own secret recipes, and they don’t even share them with me,” says Austin.

Austin is planning to offer live music and hopes to remodel the upstairs space to create a balcony. In addition to more seating, Healthy Lifestyle could also become a venue for yoga or Pilates classes on Saturday mornings.

Healthy Lifestyle Bistro is open Monday through Friday 8 to 10 a.m. for breakfast and 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for lunch. On Saturdays, the hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“Jon Stewart is the most powerful liberal in America, and there’s nothing Washington can do to stop it!” shouts Zach Whitten, pounding his fist on a table at Celtic Crossing, the new Irish pub in Cooper-Young.

The young, curly-haired man is seated with about 10 others in the bar’s back room. The room is usually reserved for nonsmokers, but on Thursday nights, a different crowd gathers here: the new drinking club for Democrats, Drinking Liberally.

Everyone laughs at Whitten’s comment. Then someone brings up Air America Radio, and soon Whitten & Co. are deep in conversation.

“Those people probably wouldn’t normally just start talking to one another in a bar,” says the club’s co-founder Sarah Rutledge during its second meeting. “That’s what this is all about.”

The social drinking club for left-wingers was started in New York in May 2003 by friends Justin Krebs and Matthew O’Neill as a way to offer Dems support and a place to strategize. But mainly it was formed to give Democrats a place to discuss politics over a few beers and meet some like-minded people. As their Web site states, “You don’t need to be a policy expert and this isn’t a book club — just come and learn from peers, trade jokes, vent frustrations, and hang out.”

Rutledge and her husband Brandon Fischer started the local chapter of Drinking Liberally about a month ago. Rutledge had run across something about the national group on the Internet and felt Memphis could use its own chapter, one of around 60 nationwide.

“Our point is not to take action or organize rallies,” Rutledge says. “This is just a place to discuss politics in an anxiety-free environment.”

In their first week, discussion topics included Harold Ford Jr., gay adoption, the city’s lax park maintenance, and why people should scoop their dog’s poop.

“I actually started scooping!” one guy exclaims.

At the second meeting, there’s less politicizing and more socializing, although Ralph Nader comes up as do questions over third-party voting. There’s also some talk about the rumor that Christopher Walken may run for president and why Oprah would be a good candidate.

Some chapters are more structured than others. One in Washington, D.C., hosts a speaker each week, and while Rutledge hopes to have some local politicians join in, she says she won’t push the group to have any certain structure.

“If someone shows up and doesn’t want to discuss politics but wants to talk about the latest style of blue jeans, they’ll still be hanging out with people who share their ideals, even if we’re not directly discussing them,” Rutledge says.

With a name like Drinking Liberally, one might expect the night to result in some drunk Democrats and heated discussions. So far, no one’s gotten out of hand.

“After a cocktail or a beer, you really open up,” Ray Rico says, as he sips his drink.

The national group’s site even has a “Guide to Politically Correct Drinking” that outlines which companies have donated to Republican causes and which ones support the Democratic way. For instance, did you know Bacardi is a contributor to Tom DeLay’s political action committee? Or that V&S Spirits, the makers of Absolut Vodka, tend to be progressive in their views?

In any case, Rutledge finds the guide overwhelming so she doesn’t use it. Most of the people at this meeting are drinking pints of Blue Moon or Guinness, while a couple others sip vodka tonics.

She picked Celtic Crossing because it serves pitchers of beer but isn’t a dive. “I was looking for convenience and something comfortable,” she says. “But it had to be nice enough for people in Germantown. I don’t want to drag them to some ill-repaired corner on Madison.

“Memphis is so isolated. It’s a strange social environment, and I want this club to offer a way for people to meet people from all over the city,” Rutledge says. “People may be from different neighborhoods, but we share the same beliefs. Here we can get together and talk about them.”

www.DrinkingLiberally.org

Drinking Liberally

meets every Thursday, 6:30 p.m.

Celtic Crossing (903 S. Cooper)

It’s a Saturday afternoon in Confederate Park, and Chester Claxton is witness to something far less contentious than rallies over park names.

Claxton is passing by when he notices a group gathered in the park. The volunteer organization Food Not Bombs has set up a table and is serving food to all comers. “You have a special spirit I could feel when I came up,” he says to members of the group. “You are bringing civilization back where it belongs.”

Food Not Bombs is a worldwide volunteer movement that provides vegetarian meals to the hungry and to protesters. It was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after an antinuclear protest in May 1980.

The Mid-South chapter was formed in 2002 and lasted about a year. In January 2005, the group came together again. This time they hope to stay. Food Not Bombs serves lunch on Saturdays around 2 p.m. in Confederate Park and sometimes serves meals at the Orange Mound Community Gardens. They also provide food to those involved in community protests.

Around 11 a.m. every Saturday, the volunteers — mostly in their teens and early 20s — arrive at the kitchen of Galloway United Methodist Church.

The meals are created from food donations by local businesses. A bruised plum won’t sell in a store but will taste fine in a fruit salad. The potato chips may be past the sell-by date but aren’t ready for the dumpster.

Today, the volunteers settle on a potato dish, fruit salad, Mexican rice, cherries (a no-brainer since they have 22 containers of cherries), a corn and green-bean dish, and garlic bread. All of the meals are vegan, to keep the risk of food spoilage to a minimum.

At Confederate Park, the temperature is 95 degrees. An occasional, slight breeze off the river makes things a bit more tolerable for the seven or so people sitting around the park. A minivan pulls up, and group members unload the food and tables and set them up in a shady spot.

A visitor to the park gets a plate for herself and a friend. “I am glad they are doing this,” she says. This is the second time she had eaten with Food Not Bombs.

Politics has always been a part of Food Not Bombs. The group supports an end to nuclear power — for both peacetime and war use. They want the U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel out of Palestine. They also support open borders and environmental causes. However, food delivery is noticeably nonpolitical.

“We don’t make them sit through anything in order to get fed,” says Food Not Bombs member Amanda Kohr. They may talk about social and political issues, but the idea here is to respect all world views.

But not all are happy. One man says, “You gonna eat your rice and your food, but they ain’t gonna give you a place to stay tonight.” Others say the food distribution encourages panhandlers and the homeless to gather downtown.

Claxton, a carpenter from Arkansas working in Memphis, does not fit the stereotype of someone looking for a free meal. He is drawn to the park because he admires the members of Food Not Bombs.

“They are reaching out where help is needed,” Claxton says. “They are looking for people out of their own comfort zone.” He says the connection between the people gathered today in Confederate Park is a refreshing change in a community overwhelmed with crime and other problems.

“This is a necessity,” Claxton says. “I thank God.”

If it’s hot when you visit Jerry’s Sno-Cones & Car Wash, a sun-bleached former gas station on the corner of Wells Station and Reed, be prepared to stand in a long, slow-moving line, where you will sweat and curse under your breath and maybe even cry a little. But sno-cone aficionados would be wise to take up their high-octane sunscreen and deal, because the cool payoff is well worth risking a touch of sunstroke. Jerry’s offers hundreds of combinations, from cinnamon-flavored concoctions named in honor of Jerry Lee Lewis to divine “blue coconut,” wickedly sweet “wedding cake,” and everything combos for sweltering nabobs who can’t make up their mind. The syrup is applied liberally, turning fluffy, shaved-ice snowflakes into a messy, slushy, tooth-aching pleasure for the overheated hedonist who’s not afraid to slurp. The Jerry’s crew will even mix its sno-cream with its soft-serve ice cream, if you’re kid enough to take it. — Chris Davis

Jerry’s Sno-Cones & Car Wash, 1657 Wells Station (619-8206)

Although he has lived in America for most of his life, Eddie Pao, the chef/owner of Mosa, a month-old Pan-Asian bistro at Poplar and Kirby, insists that his English isn’t very good. He makes frequent apologies for misunderstanding questions or repeating himself, but Pao’s linguistic problems don’t prevent him from translating a bit of ancient Chinese wisdom.

“If 50 people are unhappy, but 400 people are happy, you’re doing very good,” he says with a meaningful nod. “BUT! If there are 50 happy people and 450 are unhappy people, then you are not doing so very good.” So maybe Pao’s not so good with the sage aphorisms either. But he’s still got a track record for making people happy and keeping them happy. For 28 years Pao’s first restaurant, Formosa on Summer Avenue, was widely regarded as having the best Chinese food in Memphis, and that opinion was frequently reflected in local dining polls. When the Summer location closed last year, Memphis’ gastronomic hipsters mourned even though the Formosa on Quince continues to serve the same food, prepared to Pao’s high standards.

“I have a way of mixing the vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce,” he says of his Szechuan brown sauce. “I teach it to others, but – I don’t know – it just seems so very easy to me.”

When Pao closed the Summer Avenue Formosa, he claimed he was getting older and just wanted to slow down a little. But even as Pao was slowing down, he was also planning to speed things up. Mosa, which operates with the efficiency of a fast-food restaurant by day but a more traditional bistro atmosphere at night, has been three years in the planning. If the first restaurant is successful, Pao plans to open another, and maybe another, and another. The sky’s the limit!

“I think downtown is a good place right now,” Pao says. “Lots of office workers who want a good fast lunch that is also healthy.”

While the original Formosa was a classic Chinese restaurant, with its fortune-cookie color scheme and dragon and phoenix menu, Mosa is the polar opposite. With its blond wood paneling and long banquette, Mosa has been stripped of all kitsch and infused with a lean elegance. For all its austerity, it still has flavor. The black-and-white place settings highlight Pao’s simple cuisine. The gleaming two-alley kitchen is open, and wok burners shoot flames like a jet engine.

“I learned a lot from looking at [open] American kitchens,” Pao says. “And at 450 degrees, the food cooks very fast.”

So you want to do Mosa from top to bottom? You want an appetizer, a soup, a salad …

“No! You cannot eat that much. Nobody can eat that much. My salads are big,” Pao insists. “I had construction workers in here once, and they didn’t eat so much, but the salads were all gone. Ah-HA!” Still, Pao does recommend his chicken wraps, which are stir-fried in a garlic sauce and wrapped in a crisp lettuce leaf, as either a light lunch or an appetizer. His favorite entrees are Kung Pao (chicken, beef, or shrimp) with carrots, broccoli, and red pepper and also the Singapore Curry, which he describes as “very special.”

“I don’t use dried peppers in my Kung Pao,” Pao explains. “I grind my peppers into powder because nobody eats the peppers. But if you like the burn, you will taste my Kung Pao and say, ‘That’s not so spicy – oh wait, that is spicy.'”

Pao is interested in developing Mosa as a franchise and has had some offers, but he’s cautious about expanding too quickly.

“The Formosa name means something to me,” he explains. “When people hear ‘Mosa’ I want them to think ‘good.’ And if I’m going to [have a franchise] I want [investors] to be able to make a lot of money.” With its speedy service, sleek, easily replicated design, and a menu that’s composed of proven Formosa classics and other quickly prepared Thai and Japanese dishes, Mosa seems designed to do exactly that.

“You know, this building was first a Kentucky Fried Chicken, and it went out of business,” Pao says. “Then it was a barbecue restaurant, and it burned. A lot of people have told me that this place is unlucky. But I don’t think it’s unlucky. It’s a good location, and I feel lucky here.”

Mosa, 1825 Kirby Parkway (at Poplar), 755-6755

We’ve all done it: given a fond farewell to a half-empty bottle of stale, vinegared wine by pouring it into a sauce, soup, or, when half-drunk desperation surfaces, a glass. We’ve all done it, but it’s wrong. If wine’s been opened for more than two weeks, it doesn’t belong anywhere near your mouth. Instead, reach for a fresh bottle (or siphon from a decent boxed wine – that’s what I often do), one that you’d actually want to drink but didn’t pay out the wazoo for. You’ll be much happier with the end result.

Think “garbage in, garbage out.” Would you use rotten, stinky tomatoes for a marinara sauce or smelly fish for sushi? When you reach for a rancid bottle of wine, you’re essentially introducing an equally undesirable component. Quality does make a difference in the end product. But you don’t have to spend $50 to find something appropriate to use for a recipe. An $8 jug wine is fine for marinating meat, but don’t choose anything too sweet or it might overpower the overall flavor.

However, if you’re making a sauce that will define a dish (say, coq au vin), use only what you’re comfortable drinking. I’ve often used Yellow Tail Shiraz and Columbia Crest Chardonnay for my recipes.

Why cook with wine? The acids transform the composition of food, especially tough meats. They act as a tenderizer, penetrating the fibers and softening proteins to make chewy meat soft to the teeth.

Because of color, chicken and seafood are best marinated in white wine, while red or white can be used for red meats. But if all you have is red wine and a couple slabs of chicken, feel free to indulge in purple yet tasty meat. To achieve the best results, marinate meats for at least two hours or more in the fridge and soak seafood no more than one hour because the delicate flesh will begin to cook.

Sometimes it’s the wine flavor you’d like to emphasize. For instance, most mushrooms are fantastic when sautéed with garlic, butter, and a sweet, brawny port wine. But don’t overdo it. Too much port and all you’ll taste is alcohol, even if you try to boil it all out. A light touch is best, and a few minutes of simmering will mellow any sharp tastes.

Normally, you want to use dry wines for savory sauces and marinades, using varieties like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris/Grigio, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. But a sweeter wine like Madeira or late-harvest Riesling can add depth to a sauce for gamey meats like duck and give a dessert sauce some added zing.

So stop yourself before reaching for that dust-encrusted bottle of Merlot and pour fresh flavor instead. And be sure to drink a glass while you work.

Wine Recommendations

Mark West 2003 Pinot Noir Central Coast (California) – Smooth, velvet tannins and the characteristic earthy-feet smell of Pinot Noir. Light cherry and blackberries gush. $11.

Laurel Glen 2002 Reds (California) – These guys produce some excellent-quality, value-priced stuff. This one is a gutsy blend of Zinfandel, petite Sirah, and Carignan grapes. Huge flavors like roasted cherries, strong coffee, and bittersweet chocolate. $10.

The Bishop Riesling 2003 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (Germany) – Smells like a fresh-cut lime that cleanses your tongue. Light, delicate sweetness makes this a refreshing afternoon delight. $10.