When I was a kid, I begged my parents to take me to buffets. My little mind figured that so much food in one gorgefest had to be a good thing. When I got older, I learned about germ theory, and my buffet enthusiasm waned.

Wine buffets are another story.

Wine tastings have boomed in recent years as non-profits realize how many people want to get a buzz for a good cause. But these large tastings pose another kind of problem: the sheer number of wines to taste. So how does one navigate such copious amounts of wine without ending up face down in the spit bucket?

What you need is a plan, one which will include some calculated spitting. I know it seems wrong to spit out perfectly good wine, but if you’re trying to taste as many wines as possible, this is a necessary, albeit disgusting, evil.

Before getting drawn into the liquid smorgasbord, study the brochure the friendly volunteer distributes at the door. Look for familiar wineries, then ignore them. You paid big money to taste different stuff, right?

Most of the time, the larger tastings are organized by distributor and then winery. There will be a mishmash of wines everywhere, so you’ll have to dive into the pool and see what treasure you find. Start with white wine, since dousing your palate with reds will dull your tongue to white wine’s delicate flavors. If you’re into Sauvignon Blanc — likely the lightest of the wines available — scout those out first. If you like that winery’s offering, try their other whites. Then move to the next winery with a Sauvignon Blanc. Once you’ve tired of whites or just want to taste dark stuff, move to reds. Dessert wines should be left to the last round, since the sweetness can also dull your tongue for other wines. If you sense your tastebuds starting to numb, use sparkling wine and bread to revive your tongue.

Keep in mind that wine tastings aren’t Spring Break all-you-can-drink events, so don’t feel compelled to finish the serving, especially if you don’t like it. You won’t hurt anyone’s feelings.

And a tip for those people trying to look savvy: Don’t rinse your glass out with water after every taste. Not only does it make you look like an amateur (professionals rinse with wine, if anything, and usually only if returning to whites after reds), it wastes time and waters down the subsequent wine. Don’t let the people behind the table do it either. Some wineries don’t want to waste wine for rinsing, which is understandable, but watering down the wine won’t give you the full effect of the wine’s flavor.

Be sure to make notes about wines that intrigue you. It helps, especially after you’ve been sloshing for a couple of hours. You won’t remember the wine labels clearly in the next morning’s haze, I assure you.

A word of boring responsibility: After these big tastings, you probably won’t be up for the wheel. So be responsible and have a designated driver. DUIs are costly.

Recommended Wine

Torii Mor 2001 Pinot Noir Oregon — Pretty and fun, with lots of strawberry jam and cranberry personality. But it’s got gutsy acids that can stand up to any food. Layers of luscious fruit. $22.

Wine Events This Week

Madison Hotel Wine Dinner. Wines from David Ramey’s winery are paired with four courses. 79 Madison Ave. $150. 6:30 p.m. Thurs., April 7th.

Wild World of Wines. A Memphis Zoo fund-raiser featuring a wine tasting, music, silent auction, and animal presentations. Wines are from Shields Fine Wine and Spirits. Memphis Zoo, Overton Park. Members $50, nonmembers $60. 6:30-9:30 p.m. Fri., April 8th. n

What’s the principal difference between Caravaggio’s painting of an androgynous, leaf-clad Bacchus sipping on a goblet of wine and a medallion of veal sweetbreads with early porcini mushrooms, pearl onions, and roasted garlic?

The first is a masterpiece that, if properly preserved, will last throughout the ages. The latter masterpiece will be consumed within minutes of completion. That’s more or less the theory behind the Brooks Museum of Art’s third annual fund-raising series, “The Art of Good Taste.”

“I really don’t think of myself as an artist at all,” says celebrated Memphis chef Wally Joe, of the East Memphis restaurant Wally Joe. “I think that when chefs start thinking of themselves as artists it’s pretty pretentious,” he says.

Of course, anyone who has visited Joe’s exquisitely designed eatery and dined on cassoulet of quail with green and red lentils, thickly cut bacon, and rich poultry jus or his pork filet mignon with sweet potato gratin, bacon, red cabbage, and apple jam might suspect that the chef was merely being modest.

For the third year in a row, Joe has been called on by the Brooks to assemble “The Art of Good Taste”‘s patron’s dinner, a $600-a-head event slated for May 6th at the Brushmark. This year, Joe has asked Ken Frank, the fabled wunderkind of California cuisine and owner of critically lauded La Toque, to help in the meal preparation.

“I think that [Ken] would describe his style as ‘new French,'” Joe says. Though Frank didn’t invent California cuisine — that honor goes to Chef Alice Waters — the energetic veteran of many Parisian kitchens was one of its chief innovators and is one of its brightest stars. Frank’s name became synonymous with plates of fresh, quality foods beautifully presented and prepared with a healthy nod to French and Pacific Rim traditions. The left-coast native, who lived in France and pulled quite a bit of scullery duty throughout his late teens, was a star American chef by the age of 21, and two decades later, La Toque — a casual approach to the finest dining — is widely considered to be one of the finest restaurants in the U.S. His menus include items such as searedfoie gras with mango; mousse of smoked foie gras with pineapple chutney; New England skate wing with candied eggplant and toasted pine nuts; and pan-roasted quail with Picholine olives and twice-fried potatoes. The beauty of his plates comes not from an excess of preparation but from simplicity and perfect combinations of flavors.

“I’m not sure what Ken will be making yet,” Joe says. “I plan to let him decide what he wants to do first and then I will fill in around him.” That’s probably a wise decision, even though the chefs share a similar aesthetic.

“I’m not going to serve something that looks like a lot of people have had their hands all over it,” Joe says, wrinkling up his nose in distaste. “I’m not going to serve something with five different sauces. That sort of thing is for all the young chefs out there,” he jokes. Joe, like Frank, believes that quality dining comes not from excessive flash and dazzle but from fresh foods well prepared in a variety of traditions and served with minimum of fuss.

“The Art of Good Taste” kicks off on Sunday, April 3rd, with “Discover the Art of Wine,” a class exploring the styles, aromas, and grape varieties led by winemaker Rick Small of the 20-year-old Woodward Canyon winery, which is known for its award-winning Cabernets and Merlots as well as its barrel-fermented Chardonnays.

There are other wine-related events. On Thursday, April 7th, winemaker David Ramsey, known for his work developing Chalk Hill and Dominus wines, will pair five wines with five courses from the kitchen of the Madison hotel.

The “Brooks Uncorked!” event will feature a number of wines from around the world selected by winemakers Valentin Bianchi of Argentina and Joseph Phelps of Joseph Phelps Vineyards in Spring Valley, California.

“The Art of Good Taste” concludes with a grand auction on May 7th, featuring more than 150 items including — naturally — art, wine, and dinners, as well as jewelry and vacation packages.

So, what does Caravaggio’s famous painting of a lithe Bacchus swilling wine and munching on fresh fruits have in common with a lovely piece of antelope served with caramelized endive, foie-gras/chestnut ravioli, and wild-huckleberry sauce?

Everything. n

For more information on “The Art of Good Taste” series, check out the Brooks Museum’s Web site, BrooksMuseum.org.

After months of renovation, Miss Cordelia’s Grocery in Harbor Town is ready to reveal a whole new look.

Developer Henry Turley first opened the neighborhood grocery store and deli in 1998 to service the rapidly growing residential community on Mud Island. He named the store after his mother, Cordelia Jones Turley, who died March 26 at age 93.

The expansion, which began in November 2004, will nearly double the size of the store from 4,000 to 7,000 square feet.

“The neighborhood led the expansion because we wanted to offer a more full-service grocery,” says Henry’s wife, Lynne Turley. “In the last five years, the island has increased 10 percent a year.”

The most notable use of the extra space is “Cordelia’s Table,” an eat-in dining area where customers can enjoy sandwiches, fresh-baked breads, or some of the new items from the deli’s expanded menu. Cordelia’s Table also offers selected breakfast items.

“It gives our customers a place to mix and mingle, because Cordelia’s is really a meeting place for the community,” says Lynne. “It also gives us a place to offer more services such as wine tastings and cooking demonstrations.”

With added lighting, brighter colors, and improved displays, the store offers a more inviting décor. And thanks to the new wine and beer permit, customers can sit down and enjoy a glass of wine or a frosty cold one with friends and neighbors.

By mid-April, the store will offer a new check-out area and an on-site butcher shop with a wider selection of fresh meats and seafood and imported cheeses. Plans for May include remodeling the porch to create a farmer’s market with an expanded selection of locally grown produce.

Miss Cordelia’s also offers products grown or produced in the Mid-South, such as Delta Grind grits and cornmeal, Dinstuhl’s candies, Café Francisco coffee, and Robert Hodum Honey.

Miss Cordelia’s, 737 Harbor Bend Rd., 526-4772

The goal of the staff at Geeker’s Gourmet Coffee Bar isn’t just to provide a good cup of joe but also to support the artistic community. From those just getting started to established local performers, everyone is welcome on stage at this coffeehouse that opened February 28th in High Point Terrace.

Tuesday nights are open-mic, and Wednesdays are set aside for poetry. Just call 323-3339 to schedule a performance. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are for live music.

On April 2nd, Rick Murphy of the local band B Generation will do a solo acoustic performance. Also in the lineup for upcoming weeks are Michael Kerr, Paige Thorton, Joe Sanders, and Kim Richardson.

A musician himself, Geeker’s owner Ben Wolfe wanted to create an environment where college kids can use their laptops for a study session or kick back and enjoy a little artistic expression.

“I want to help support local artists, not only musicians,” Wolfe says.

The painted pottery of Mark Ramirez, whose work is heavily influenced by trips to Mexico and Spain, is on display, and the coffeehouse’s warm yellow and cherry walls are adorned with black-and-white photography by Becky House.

When it comes to food, there’s the usual coffee-house fare — coffee drinks, pastries, and smoothies — but Geeker’s also offers sandwiches and soups. As the weather warms, Wolfe plans to add outdoor seating and hopes to host a few block parties.

Though Wolfe resides near Shelby Forest, he says he chose the High Point Terrace location because “it’s a cool area. It’s like its own little Mayberry. Everybody’s real supportive of the neighborhood business.”

Geeker’s Gourmet Coffee Bar, 477 High Point Terrace, Suite 1, 323-3339

Throughout the month of April, indulging ice cream cravings at any Cold Stone Creamery will help Make-A-Wish Foundation fulfill the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. The proceeds from Wish Stars, which customers can purchase for $1, will be donated to the local chapter of the organization.

The celebration culminates with the “Ice Cream Cake Social” on April 25th from 5 to 8 p.m. During this fourth annual event, customers who makes a donation to Make-A-Wish will receive a free slice of ice cream cake created especially for the organization. Last year the national event raised more than $600,000. n

Spring will a busy time for the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, one packed with art, wine, and food.

The museum’s primary fund-raising season kicks off with the Brooks League Designers and Artists Showcase at the Agricenter International April 1st to 3rd and culminates on May 6th with the black-tie Patrons Dinner, the final event in the annual “Art of Good Taste” series.

The event at the Agricenter will feature a wine-tasting Friday night, a Latin fiesta on Saturday night, and the Mimosa Brunch Sunday. Fascinating Catering will prepare a buffet-style brunch and guests will be entertained with a fashion show by Chico’s.

Throughout April, the museum will host wine tastings, auctions, and dinners, including First Wednesday’s “Escape from the Ordinary” on April 6th. The evening will feature a lecture on pre-Impressionism and the “Quilts of Gee’s Bend” as well as food prepared by the Brushmark restaurant’s Penny McCraw.

For an overview of upcoming events, see BrooksMuseum.org.

Sunday, March 27th, is Easter and that means Easter brunches.

Since we’re already at the Brooks, let’s start there. There will be a buffet at the Brushmark on Easter Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person and $10 for children 12 and under. McCraw will prepare a feast of Grecian-style petite lamb chops, Gorgonzola and potato gratin, and haricots verts with almond butter.

At the Holiday Inn at the University of Memphis, “Helga,” a three-foot mermaid carved out of chocolate, will reign over the dessert table. Chef Edward Nowakowski will also be carving ice vases that will be lit and filled with fresh flowers to decorate each of the buffet stations. More than 700 people are expected for the three seatings from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom. Reservations are required (678-5410). The cost is $25.95 for adults, $22.95 for seniors, and $11.95 for children ages 6 to 12.

Equestria will host a brunch buffet from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Easter Sunday, featuring a selection of fresh fruits, meats, and seafood as well as homemade breads and pastries. The cost is $24.95 per person and $9.95 for children.

Chef Jeff Dunham will create a special à la carte menu for the Grove Grill’s brunch. An assortment of breakfast and dinner items such as eggs Creole, roasted sirloin, and fresh seafood will be served from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Paulette’s, voted as having the best brunch in Memphis magazine’s Readers’ Poll, will also offer a special à la carte menu, with eight different entrées served with fresh salads and the restaurant’s famed popovers from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For those planning on cooking Easter dinner at home, consider pairing the meal with wine from the Corkscrew. The downtown liquor store is having a spring closeout sale offering many wines at more than 50 percent off the usual price. The Corkscrew is located at 511 S. Front (543-9463).

Midtown’s Bar-B-Q Shop recently took Chili Pepper magazine’s “2005 Fiery Foods Challenge” and earned the top spot, first place in the Golden Chili Awards with its Dancing Pigs sauce.

Dancing Pigs was among 875 entries judged by the national food magazine.

“We’ve won awards before, but this is one of the biggest national awards that we’ve ever won,” says Eric Vernon, who owns the Bar-B-Q Shop with his parents Frank and Hazel. “One of the things that makes our hot sauce a winner is that it’s not only hot, it has a great flavoring.”

Though the Vernons have been using the recipe in their restaurant for more than two decades, the recipe originated at Brady & Lil’s, a well-known restaurant on South Parkway in the 1950s. The Vernons bought the restaurant and changed the name and location, first moving to East Memphis and then to its current Midtown address 17 years ago. The sauce, however, has stayed the same for more than 50 years.

“It was pretty famous in the day,” says Eric. “Mr. Brady taught my father and mother how to make the sauce.”

Ten years ago when the Vernons decided to market the sauce in Kroger grocery stores, the family once again took inspiration from Brady and Lil’s. The name “Dancing Pigs” came from the restaurant’s logo, which featured two dancing pigs.

Square Foods is adding beer to its shelves.

“Shop Well, Eat Well, and Live Well,” the motto printed on receipts from Square Foods may have to be amended to include the line “Drink Well.” After their license is approved this week, the three-year-old, natural-foods grocery, located on Madison Avenue in Overton Square, will finally be selling beer.

“I didn’t really want to carry beer, and there was an agreement with our landlord that we wouldn’t sell beer on the premises,” says Jeanice Blancett, owner of Square Foods. “But I had so many customers who came to me and said, ‘If only you carried beer, I wouldn’t ever have to shop anywhere else.'”

Blancett plans to carry singles and six-packs of high-end and microbrewery beers. “And, of course, we’ll also carry Pabst,” she says. “You’ve got to carry Pabst.”

In addition to its natural and organic grocery items and a range of bulk goods, Square Foods offers a full-service deli. Unfortunately, dine-in customers will have to wait until they get home to imbibe: Beer sales at Square Foods will be strictly “to-go.”

Some clichEs will never die, thank goodness. Take, for example, Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral, a new book by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays that explores the well-known relationship between death and food in the American South.

With chapters like “Dying Tastefully in the Mississippi Delta” and “I was So Embarrassed I Liketa Died,” the authors relate classic Southern tales of boozy black humor, crack on the difference between Baptists and Episcopalians, and pass along some deliciously heart-stopping recipes for everything from fried chicken to vodka cake. And there’s no discrimination between white trash and haute cuisine here: Formulas for hot-dog stew are listed right alongside the Methodist Ladies’ Chicken Lasagna Florentine. Recipes for Southern staples such as stuffed eggs abound, and there are several variations of Southern paté. (That’s pimento cheese to you and me.)

The authors will have booksignings at Square Books (662-236-2262) in Oxford on Monday, March 21st, and at Burke’s Book Store (278-7484) on Wednesday, March 23rd.

Art to Dine For, a fund-raiser for Experience Art in Memphis, brings a lot of creativity to the table. For each of the 25 tables, a chef and an artist will partner to create an “experience” with endless possibilities. For example, last year, a dancer and chef put out a spread that included frog legs arranged in basic ballet positions. Another artist made ceramic fish to complement the fish entrée.

Chefs participating in this year’s Art To Dine For at The Peabody March 20th include Erling Jensen, Scott Lenhart, Karen Carrier, and Michel Leny. Artists include Wayne Edge, Lester Jones, Fred Burton, and Susie Hendrix.

Experience Art in Memphis hosts community art programs, most notably Arts in the Park, which is moving this year from fall to summer, June 17th to 19th, and from East Memphis to Midtown at Christian Brothers University.

Individual tickets for Art To Dine For are $150; tables for 10, $1,500. A silent auction starts at 5 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. Di Anne Price will perform.

For more information, call 757-1373.

The specialty at Bach’s Lunch?

“We have many,” says Marla Howerton, a spokesperson for the restaurant.

Two locations of Bach’s Lunch opened last fall. One is in the Renaissance Center in East Memphis (1714 Aaron Brenner, Suite 114); the other in the Morgan Keegan Tower downtown (second floor, 50 N. Front).

According to Howerton, many people come specifically for the restaurant’s fruit salad, a super-sweet mix of fruit and raspberry sauce topped with brown-sugar-y, Rice Krispies-ish “crunchies.” Ditto for the Mediterranean pasta salad, the salmon, chicken, and turkey wrap sandwiches, the homemade desserts, the ramen-noodle slaw, and the “Red Bliss” potato salad. In sum, says Howerton, “It’s always delicious.”

Bach’s Lunch also offers catering and take-home dinners. Both locations can be reached at 432-BACH. n

Before my ancestors were shipped off to Virginia for lampooning the local gentry and skipping out on big bar tabs, they lived in a beautiful country on the west coast of Britain known as Wales. Wales is a very old part of the world that has long since been assimilated (not without some degree of argument) into the United Kingdom. But, like other members of the U.K., Wales still observes its own saint’s day, the Feast of St. David, which falls on March 1st.

I have Irish ancestors too, but I have to admit I think it’s a real shame that Patrick’s feast eclipses David’s. After all, compared to David, Patrick was strictly low-rent; David was able to make the earth beneath him shift and rise, whereas Patrick’s most notable claim to fame is the single-handed extinction of harmless native reptiles.

The Irish might praise the potato (another import, which throws a suspicious light upon shamrocks), but the Welsh glory in the leek, which has been cultivated in the Old World for millennia. Welsh warriors wore leek leaves into battle to distinguish themselves as early as the days of King Arthur, himself a Welshman, and if the Irish ever wore potatoes into battle, it would have been much later, since potatoes weren’t known there until the 17th century, when the Irish suffered their most humiliating defeats at the hands of the English.

Leeks are basically big, green onions, which places them in the very important culinary family of Alliaceae. All onions, as well as garlic, chives, and shallots, belong to this group of herbs. If you’ll pardon a brief horticultural digression, those wild onions that disfigure your lawn in the very early spring also belong to this family; known in earlier days as ramps, these blots on your landscape were once a folk treatment for rural people in the South, who would stew them to alleviate what they called the “winter colic,” a mild form of scurvy (vitamin C deficiency).

Leeks are often called “the poor man’s asparagus” because of their mild and savory flavor. Leeks take well to any sort of treatment you’d usually reserve for asparagus; they’re a beautiful addition to any stir-fry (working well with sweet peppers), and more formal preparations involve a gratin with a nice cream sauce or Mornay (try either, lightly peppered, simply with toast or as a side to braised pork). They also take a Hollandaise with ease.

But leeks are used mostly in potages. A traditional Welsh dish is a poultry stew with leeks, but as a concession to my cousin Celts from across the Irish Sea, I add potatoes.

Chicken Stew with Leeks and Potatoes

Wash, trim, and cut the white of two leeks into thin slices and mince the greens. Sauté these in butter with a bit of garlic, then stew with a whole fryer, two chopped stalks of celery, and two bay leaves in a weak poultry broth to cover. Simmer until the bird is just done. Remove chicken, skin and bone, chop the meat, and add to the broth. Cook the broth down until a good strength. Boil red potatoes separately until just done, cut into cubes, and add to the soup; season with salt, fine pepper, thyme, and a bit of rosemary. Serve with good bread; I like rye, but soda bread is more traditional.

Cymru am byth!

Even before you enter the WINCHESTER Farmer’s Market, you get an idea of what’s inside. Next to the big green letters spelling out “farmer’s market” are small signs. “Mercado Internacional,” reads one.

“The other signs are in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean,” says Ben Park, one of the market’s owners. “For everybody else, we’re just the Winchester Farmer’s Market.”

Winchester Farmer’s Market opened three months ago in the site of a former Seessel’s at the corner of Kirby and Winchester. Owners Park and John Kang took the concept from super-sized international markets such as Buford Highway Farmer’s Market in Atlanta and the K&S World Market in Nashville.

“John and I were small-business owners — he in Nashville, I in Atlanta,” Park says. “We thought it was time to start something big together, so we came back to Memphis, where we went to college together 20-something years ago, to open this store.”

The resulting market is big and colorful, a culinary wonderland. There is no rabbit wearing white gloves and fretting so about being late, but there is rabbit meat for sale. And the aisles aren’t labeled 1, 2, 3, 4 for crackers, coffee, cereals, canned fruit. Instead, they’re organized by country, so you might find Mexican soda and refried beans in one aisle, live fish tanks filled with lobster, crab, and tilapia in the next, and then just a few seconds later be in front of cans of Spam in the American aisle.

In the background, it’s mostly Mexican music, though it’s Jimi Hendrix in the meat department. The common language among the customers of myriad nationalities is some sort of English.

“During the weekend, most of our customers are from the Hispanic community,” Park says. “But during the week we usually have a good mix of nationalities and locals who come to buy groceries.”

Currently, the store is stocked with approximately 30,000 products. Not all of them are exotic, but most are different from the merchandise mix at a more typical American store. Beef tongues are lying next to a cow’s head in one of the freezers. Small beef intestines are next to beef tripe, liver, and “Chorizo Mexicano.” In the produce section, beside the apples, potatoes, bananas, cabbage, and okra, you’ll see green Thai eggplant, which looks like a small green tomato, and fuzzy squash, banana leaves, Taiwanese bok choy, gai choy, a choy, yu choy, and baby bok choy, among other hard-to-find foreign produce and herbs.

The store carries more than 20 varieties and 50 brands of rice. “People from different countries prefer slightly different types of rice,” Park says. “Africans, for example, prefer broken rice. We didn’t really know that, but customers told us and now we carry it.”

Park sees the store as a work-in-progress that will evolve with help from its customers. For instance, Park knows that products from countries such as India, Africa, and the Middle East are underrepresented.

There is room to grow too. The market has enough space for independent vendors and retailers. A jewelry store and a custom-order auto-accessories shop have just opened in the front of the store. Yung Kim owns and operates Glory Video, a small Korean video rental that also carries lingerie, Korean cosmetics, and magazines. A coffee and smoothie bar is set up opposite the deli, which offers “Quick Fixin’ Ideas” with what appears to be seaweed and sprouts salads (no English signs here) as well as fried rice to-go. A sushi bar, a Mexican deli, a check-cashing place, and a Latin American clothing store are in the works.

Park says Winchester Farmer’s Market is filling a void.

“A lot of our customers come from out of town,” he says. “Those from Arkansas usually drive all the way to Dallas to find what they need. Now that this market has opened, they might find it here.” n

The store is located at 6616 Winchester. Store hours are 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

Back in 1999, when Aimer Shtaya was preparing to open his restaurant on Echles Street near the University of Memphis (now the site of Azalea Grill), he chose a name, the Morocco Cafe. The name reflected the restaurant’s Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cuisine — falafel, hummus, roasted meats — plus, Morocco was that year’s Memphis in May honored country. But just before he was scheduled to open, Shtaya saw the Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman classic, Casablanca, and he changed his mind. Forget Morocco Cafe. His place would be called Casablanca. But it was too late. The restaurant’s sign reading “Morocco Cafe” was being made, as were the menus and banners and everything else. So that was that.

But now that is this: Casablanca, Shtaya’s new restaurant located at 2156 Young (725-8558) behind Dish at the Cooper-Young intersection. The menu’s the same as it was at Morocco Cafe, but the decor more closely reflects the movie that inspired Shtaya. The colors are deeper, and there are stills from the film on the walls.

After the Morocco Cafe closed in 2003, Shtaya traveled and took care of some personal business. He became restless, however, and he missed his customers. He picked the Cooper-Young location because of the other restaurants in the area, such as Do, Dish, Blue Fish, etc., and because most of Morocco Cafe’s customers came from Midtown.

Shtaya has put tremendous work into the restaurant. He had to build his own parking lot behind the building in order to get a business license. He also built the kitchen from scratch.

Casablanca is due to open sometime this week. The hours will be from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays and until 10:30 p.m. on weekends.

Speaking of renovating, the folks with Dan McGuinness Pub are busily turning what used to be Patrick’s (in the East Memphis shopping center on Spottswood off Perkins Extended) into an Irish-style pub. The goal is to be open before St. Patrick’s Day.

Dan McGuinness is once again using Guinness’ “Irish Pub Concept” to help them create a turn-of-the-century pub. Guinness developed the concept as a way to guide bar owners through the process of converting a bar into an Irish pub, from staffing and stock to decor.

This will be the third Dan McGuinness location. The original is in Peabody Place, and the second is in Nashville.

Remember the crepe craze? Remember the rounded pans and how carefully you had to manipulate the batter just so and then how the crepe tore anyway and you just got so frustrated that you sold your crepe pan at a yard sale, along with your macramé plant hanger?

This flashback comes courtesy of Le Creperie, located at 6641 Poplar, Suite 101 (752-4546). Le Creperie opened about three weeks ago and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Crepes include the “Peabody,” filled with chicken, Swiss cheese, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, and topped with Parmesan cheese, and the “Memphis Belle,” filled with chicken and spinach in a béchamel sauce and topped with cheddar cheese. There are a number of filling options for the dessert crepes, including pineapple, strawberry, pear, and blueberry. The “Klondike” is an ice-cream bar wrapped in a crepe and topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. The most popular crepe so far is the “Bananas Foster,” bananas in a rum sauce with vanilla custard.

Le Creperie is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Leadership Memphis is holding its annual auction and dinner. The dinner is being catered by Wendell Price of the World Beat Grill, and several food-related items are up for bid, including a wine-tasting for 24 and “Lunch with a Leader,” a chance to break bread with community leaders such as Shelby County mayor A C Wharton and Germantown mayor Sharon Goldsworthy. Kelley Hurt will perform.

The event is being held at the Pink Palace Museum on Saturday, March 5th. Tickets are $50. For more information, call 278-0016.

On Thursday, March 3rd, at 7 p.m., Glass-House 383 will host an “Around the World Wine Tasting,” with wines from such countries as Argentina and Chile paired with gourmet cheeses. The cost is $15 per person, and there will be reserved seating. To make a reservation, call 527-0055. GlassHouse 383 is located downtown at 383 S. Main. n

When I was a kid, my mother spent days in the late summer turning our garden’s fresh fruit into preserves. I remember a pantry that held mismatched glass jars filled with strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry preserves. Mom never bought any canning equipment or containers. Instead, she re-used empty pickle and mayonnaise jars, which she decorated with little square labels listing the content and date.

Modern-day home canners would surely shake their heads over Mom’s methods, which she applies to this day. For them, part of the success of preserving foods lies in the jar, in particular the mason jar. The mason jar is sturdier than most commercial jars and is better suited for preserving safely.

The mason jar was invented out of necessity. There were no refrigerators, no quick-stop corner stores. Food had to keep through long winters. It was preserved by pickling, drying, and smoking. For storage, early families used earthenware jugs sealed with corks, plugs, or parchment and tin containers that had to be soldered for sealing.

It was war that eventually led to the discovery of a new way to preserve food. Napoleon offered 10,000 francs to the person who could deliver nourishing food to his soldiers. Nicholas Appert, a French chef, won Napoleon’s challenge by preserving food hermetically using jars sealed with pitch.

Then a small revolution in home canning took place in the mid-1850s, when John L. Mason, a 26-year-old tinsmith from New York City, filed a patent for a reusable glass jar — the mason jar. What was special about Mason’s jar was its seal. The neck of the glass container was threaded so the top could screw on. The screw-on top plus a zinc lid with a rubber ring provided a tight seal.

Others had tried to improve seal mechanisms before Mason. A wax-sealed tin can eliminated soldering but didn’t do much to improve the food’s quality. (The acids in the foods tended to react with the metal and made the food inedible.) In addition, it did not make preserving foods more affordable because the cans were limited to one-time use. Things changed once glass jars, which were first sealed with a tin lid and wax, became common. Those jars, called the all-glass wax sealer cement jar (wax was commonly referred to as cement) or “standard” fruit jar, remained popular even after Mason’s invention.

Mason sold several of his early patents to Lewis Boyd and his Sheet Metal Screw Company. Boyd, who is most famous for inventing a white “milk glass insert” for zinc screw lids which reduced the risk of food and metal reacting in a non-tasty way, produced the mason jar for many decades, even after Mason’s patent had expired.

Mason’s jar made life during his time much easier. A family’s survival depended on the availability of food. Reusable glass jars made preserving food affordable and the tight-sealing lid was one step to guarantee that food could be eaten even months after it was preserved.

Today, old canning jars are collectors items. (eBay lists close to 1,000 items under the term “mason jar,” which cost from a penny to $700.) Grocery-store aisles are packed with commercially preserved foods, and home canning has become a hobby. Mason jar is now a generic term for any home-canning glass jar, some of which still use the basic sealing mechanism patented by Mason on November 30, 1858.