Category: Food & Drink

All across town, new signs, new menus, and new

designs are springing up in old spaces. Lorenzen Wright’s Sports Bar changes from a neighborhood tavern into a casual East Memphis lunch spot called Rambert’s. A group of friends upgrades a Grady’s to Vina Bistro. Cuban goes Mexican as Sabor Tropical moves out and Los Compadres moves in.

At first glance, it may not seem like much has changed at Rambert’s. A giant plasma TV still hangs over the bar where an ESPN announcer shouts the latest scores. The dining room looks the same, with the exception of a few feminine touches not likely to be found in most sports bars.

The biggest surprise is in the back, the Nathaniel Room. The door may look like it leads to a closet — because it did before husband-and-wife team Eileen and Anthony Collier transformed a storeroom into a VIP lounge.

With its burnished-wood bar, white tablecloths, and fireplace, stepping through the door is like stepping into a 1920s speakeasy. This little room, available for private parties, even has a separate entrance, sound system, and gated private parking.

Since the restaurant opened April 19th, the Colliers have used the room to host a special Mother’s Day brunch for Anfernee Hardaway and his family and a little girl’s English tea party.

Chef Eddie Spivey, who brings more than 20 years experience with the Radisson hotels in Chicago and Memphis, creates everything from home-cooked Southern soul food to baked salmon and grilled steaks.

Rambert’s, 3101 S. Mendenhall, is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the week and until 11 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

What makes Vina Bistro special is not the food, though Chef Todd Mallin draws on classical training, 13 years experience, and even a little humor to create a menu that would delight the most finicky epicure. No. What makes Vina Bistro stand out is the staggering variety of wines served by the glass: 93.

A group of friends, who worked together at Yia’s Yia’s in Germantown, wanted to create an upscale wine and cigar bar. They found financial support from Jara International, Inc., represented by Steve Baker, his wife Renata, and partner Maria Jara, and Vina Bistro rose from the ashes of Grady’s, 6080 Primacy Parkway.

The interior looks much the same with the exception of subtle color changes and a newly added sitting area in the bar. The group plans to add a humidor and will offer a limited late-night menu until 2 a.m.

Presentation is as important as flavor for Mallin, who sees the white linen tablecloths as a blank canvas, where he can build layers of color with food as his medium of choice. Some dishes are even served on artwork. Order the baked brie, and it comes with Chardonnay-poached pear, Granny Smith apple, lavender honey and toasted baguettes on a leaf-shaped plate made by local potter Susan Crenshaw.

Mallin, a New Jersey native, trained at Johnson & Wales in Charleston, South Carolina, and likes to add his own twist to recipes. For example, Todd’s Twisted Cobb Salad features fried chicken, and the potato-wrapped shrimp is served with Pepper Jack grits.

Open 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. daily, the restaurant offers reasonably priced food and wine with entrées ranging from $8 to $28 and wines from $6 to $14 a glass.

“We wanted to offer the attitude of fine dining without outrageous prices,” says manager Sean McClenden.

Los Compadres, 2617 Poplar, kicked off Cinco de Mayo with its grand opening. Once partners Roberto Ferie and Arturo Herrera (they also have two other partners) chose the location, the former site of Cuban restaurant Sabor Tropical, it took less than a month to renovate, add personal touches, and open for business. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., except Friday and Saturday when it closes at 11 p.m. n

It’s hard to believe that just three-and-a-half hours away is an award-winning wine region in southern Illinois — yes, I said southern Illinois.

Recently, I visited Winghill Vineyards in Cobden, stopped by Von Jakob Vineyards in Pomona, and attended the Spring Wine Festival at Alto Vineyards in Alto Pass. All three are in the picturesque rolling green hills of Shawnee National Forest, making this area a perfect region for growing grapes, as grapevines flourish in the well-drained soil of hillside sites.

My first sip was at Winghill, where I sampled three of its current releases. I started with the Chardonel Reserve 2001, a lightly oaked, dry white wine. It had soft butter tones with slight aromas of honeysuckle and citrus and a nice crisp finish. Next was the Whipporwill White 2000, with its sweet, fruit-forward taste and fresh bouquet of wildflowers and melon. This one was definitely a summer wine for those unbearably hot days that call for something fresh. By far the most interesting wine I sampled here was the Hallsberry Blue, a wine made entirely from blueberries. The scent was fruity and had a hint of allspice and cinnamon, which misled me to expect a rich, sweet wine. But that was not the case at all. At first sip, I was shocked to taste an off-dry, velvety, complex wine that would be perfect to begin a meal.

My next destination was Von Jakob, the first winery in Illinois to grow and sell a Cabernet Sauvignon. To give you an idea at how successful it has been, it takes only two weeks to sell out every year it is released. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to sample Von Jakob’s Cabernet, but the vineyard had other wines to try. The Hillside White is a white wine with hints of grapefruit and lime zest. My next taste was of the American Chambourcin, which was by far my favorite of the wines I sampled at this vineyard. This medium-bodied red had a full bouquet of blackberries, plums, and black cherries, along with soft tannins and a velvety smooth feel.

Finally, I headed to the Spring Wine Festival in Alto Pass, where two areas were set up for sampling Alto’s recent vintages. I sampled a handful of wines and was pleasantly surprised by every one of them. The most impressive was the late-harvest Reserve Gold, which is this vineyard’s version of an ice wine. It was a sweet, luscious dessert wine with depth and character that could stand up against any dessert wine from any region in the world. Another interesting and delicious wine was the Traminette, which is a hybrid of the Gewurztraminer grape. This wine had a soft texture and the big, juicy fruit flavors of honeydew and peach.

The festival’s second area sold by-the-glass pours of select wines for $5 ($3 refills), including a souvenir glass emblazoned with the vineyard logo and a full glass of estate wine. Along with the many wines to sample on the property was a quaint food tent where a local barbecue restaurant sold a scaled-down version of its menu. After spending a good amount of time in the tasting tent, I bought a glass of Rosso Classico and a plate of barbecue and sat down on the lawn to listen to a bluegrass band.

Along with other wineries in the area (Owl Creek, Pomona, Pheasant Hollow, Orlandini Vineyards, among others), there are many activities to fill up a long weekend. Just north of most of the wineries and right inside Giant City State Park is the town of Makanda’s Artisan Boardwalk, a classic row of buildings housing art galleries, glass shops, jewelers, and an ice cream parlor and café. The park’s beautiful rock formations are perfect for climbing, rappelling, or just hiking around. Little Grand Canyon, just north of Pomona Winery and Von Jakob Vineyards, is filled with large canyons, streaming waterfalls, and shimmering spring-fed pools.

In keeping with the wine-filled weekend, the best way to finish off a day of wine tasting is a dinner at Tom’s Place in Desoto. This annual Wine Spectator Award of Excellence winner is a rustic private-booth-filled restaurant with a stunning wine list and surprising menu. The wine list is reasonably priced and packed with boutique labels as well as the big boys in the wine world. Chef Lasse Sorenson’s menu reflects his years of training in Europe combined with his own creative flair with such offerings as rack of lamb with Dijon aioli and white truffle oil and grilled veal chop in cognac tomato crème reduction.

What a wonderful trip. I remember sitting at the festival with my wine and barbecue, looking out over the vines and the vibrant green hills of Shawnee National Forest. It was easy to forget where I was. I never thought of this area as being a part of Illinois. I’ve always thought of it as its own region, unclaimed by any state in the Midwest. n

For more information on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail, check out ShawneeWineTrail.com.

Is there anything more annoying than a blowhard? I know every profession has their nemeses, and mine are the numbskulls who insist on spewing their wine knowledge, attempting to impress spectators at wine tastings. These lingerers monopolize a pourer’s time (especially a celebrity winemaker), elbowing out others who might just want to taste and avoid getting sprayed with narcissism. Besides a kick in the ass, blowhards need a lesson in etiquette, and wine-tasting season is upon us. Here’s a list of etiquette points à la Emily Post that should help you navigate the sea of ascot-wearing wine blowhards:

· Although it ain’t pretty, spitting wine helps avoid embarrassing inebriation, lets you taste more without passing out, and reserves your tastebuds for more juice. It really doesn’t offend the pourers, so long as stray spray doesn’t hit their shoes or, worse yet, their face. But the spit bucket isn’t for everyone. Before debuting your spurting skills, practice aim at home. Tips: Purse your lips and roll your tongue to force it out in a steady stream. If practice hasn’t made your spittoon technique perfect, grab a glass or cup to serve as your mini-crachoir. (Sounds better in French, non?) If a small vessel isn’t available, lift the bucket and discreetly expectorate into it. Keep in mind that your aim worsens as you drink.

· Don’t block the spit bucket. The best way to get red wine spilled down your pants is to be the roadblock to dumping.

· When approaching a crowded table with a large wine selection, get your wine and get the hell out of the way. Camping around the pourer to wax philosophical only exacerbates everyone’s irritation. If the pourer is talking, listen from the side if you can. If you have specific questions, come back later when the crowd isn’t as thick.

· Respect the people behind the table. Pourers are there to educate about their wares, so pay some attention. Often, wineries have donated their product and time to introduce their selections to the public and if all you’re doing is stepping in front of them and saying, “Chardonnay, please,” then walking away, their trip from California or Europe is kinda wasted.

· Don’t wear cologne or perfume. Your nose is the entryway into taste when drinking, before the wine ever hits your palate. If you sniff a delicate Sauvignon Blanc with someone next to you drowning in Eau de Whatever, your olfactory glands will translate that sweet, rubbing-alcohol smell to the taste of the wine.

· Don’t wear light-colored clothes. You’ll regret it and get really miffed when someone accidentally spills a dark Cabernet on your pressed white pants. Red wine is really hard to remove; you might carry a spray bottle of Wine Away.

Recommended Wines

Sincerely 2003 Sauvignon Blanc Stellenbosch — Tastes like homemade grapefruit sorbet fresh from a frozen stainless-steel container. Aromatic with green grass and lemon zest. Great price for the quality. $13.

JackeRoo 2003 Shiraz — One of the best values out of Australia right now, this newly imported wine passes all the tests. It’s not too complicated, but for $6, it’s a perfect choice for everyday. Red fruits like cranberry surf on the tongue, while violets join in. $6.

Queen of Hearts 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Barbara — Rich, earthy, and fragrant with lush dark cherry and mushrooms. Even a bit of blueberry thrown in there. At this price, who could ask for more? $10.

When the salty, spicy essence of the crawfish étouffée spread throughout my mouth, I wanted to bang my fists on the table, cry “Great God Almighty!,” and hug everybody in the Bon Ton Café. I wanted to weep, run around the streets of New Orleans like a mad prophet, and never eat again. The fact that I had eaten only one bite was reason to celebrate and despair; I had so much left, yet I was on my way to being finished, and once it was gone, well

Once it was gone, there was the rest of the city to eat. And before that, there would be the bread pudding and the richest coffee this side of Europe, and after we walk the Quarter for a few hours, we can have beignets at Café du Monde and breakfast tomorrow at Croissant d’Or

Our first night in New Orleans we set off for some celebrity chef’s place — Paul Prudhomme, Emeril, somebody like that — but we weren’t up for a wait, and around one corner we saw a dark doorway with a sign reading “Napoleon House.” A flash of memory went off in my head: That’s the place that my writer friend Jeff in Dallas says is the reason he can’t move to New Orleans, because he would spend his whole life in the Napoleon House drinking beer. It got its name because some supporters of Napoleon met there to discuss his fate — in about 1810 — and a quick look around made me think the décor hadn’t been updated since. We ducked in and ordered gumbo.

That’s what it’s like eating in New Orleans: utterly overwhelming. No room at Prudhomme’s place, where the whole blackened thing started? Try the 200-year-old bar around the corner or put in a few more blocks and get the shrimp in sherry butter at Broussard’s, the creamy oyster stew at Arnaud’s, or the latest and greatest at Emeril’s. Why the hell not?

In less than a week, I experienced culinary bliss on several levels. I found myself walking in Jackson Square, eating a praline, which I’m sure is the sweetest substance on earth, and I looked up to realize I was halfway between, indeed less than a block from, Café du Monde and Krispy Kreme.

One day for lunch we went into the Central Grocery, ordered a muffuletta, and sat down at the counter. What we got was a sandwich about the size of a Frisbee, weighing a few pounds, made with ham, salami, mozzarella, and a salad of marinated green olives. Four adults can share one of these things. You eat half of one, and you’d better take a nap — or get some beignets and coffee.

At the far end of the spectrum, we ate at Galatoire’s to celebrate my brother’s wedding. Galatoire’s has been where it is, doing what it does, for 99 years, and I can’t imagine it needing to change. The fact that it’s on Bourbon Street, an island of elegance in that sea of idiocy, makes it that much finer. Men have to wear a jacket to get in, the waiters whirl about in tuxes under huge chandeliers, and they do, for example, potatoes about seven different ways, along with 13 salads, 18 shellfish items, 13 desserts, and so on. The menu looks like a Michener novel.

I had a classic New Orleans moment at Galatoire’s. I got the fish special, because it was trout and sounded good, and I didn’t even ask about the details. Trust the house, I told myself. I ordered julienne potatoes, because they were the only ones I hadn’t heard of, and I topped it off with eggplant béarnaise, because I like eggplant and béarnaise.

Out came the fish: fried, nothing on it. Julienne potatoes: cut into strips, fried. Eggplant: béarnaise sauce, yes, poured over eggplant, which had been fried. There is an art to frying food, and the masters of the trade are in New Orleans.

Compare this with the place my new sister-in-law took us, over by Tulane University, where they more or less swing by with a pail of boiled crawfish and dump it on the table. It was a little more civilized than that, but not by much. And, man, was it good. She also took us to a place called Domilise’s, which was out in a God-knows-where neighborhood, surrounded by shacks, more or less, but with a customer’s Rolls Royce parked outside. Two women stood behind a counter making po’boys that made me finally understand what everybody was talking about with the po’boys.

And then there are the beignets. Somehow, fried dough with powdered sugar seems to define New Orleans. It’s sweet, tasty, sinful, even a little scary, and you’d never do it at home, much less once — or, okay, twice — a day. You wait in line to eat something that does you almost no good, but once you get your order, plop one into your mouth, and sit back with the sugar on your face, the “mmmm” in your mouth, and the breeze coming off the river, you feel like calling on the Almighty and bonding with your brethren.

Every spring, 8,000 shish kebabs, 4,000 servings of Grecian-style chicken, 8,000 servings of spanikopita, 2,000 pieces of baklava, and 1,200 butter cookies are handmade with love and laughter by old friends and family.

Cousins and restaurateurs, Nick Vergos of the Rendezvous and Dimitri Taras of Jim’s Place, will help skewer and grill 3,000 pounds of pork tenderloin for the 46th annual “Our Big Fat Greek Festival” May 7th and 8th at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 573 N. Highland.

Like many of the nearly 200 volunteers who begin cooking in February for this event, the festival has been part of Vergos’ and Taras’ lives since they were children. Their mothers and members of the church’s ladies auxiliary began the tradition, which has grown to about 9,000 festivalgoers.

“The ladies were the big backbone of this; they still are,” says Taras. “Even though there’s more involved now and the men do all the grilling, the ladies are still the backbone.”

Admission is $2. You can get the complete dinner for $10, try the gyros or Greek pizzas that are sold separately, or take advantage of the drive-thru for lunch and dinner.

“It’s a great time to come at lunch and bring your co-workers,” says Kathy Zambelis, a volunteer who also grew up in the church.

A live band will play music and the children’s Athenian Dance Troupe will perform.

Before leaving the festival, stop by the Pastry Shop to take home some desserts or the cookbook It’s Greek to Me. The Marketplace will sell clothing, art, pottery, and jewelry imported from Greece. Athens Olympics shirts will also be available.

Father Paul Christy will conduct three tours of the sanctuary and offer a brief history of the Greek Orthodox Church at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The event will be held rain or shine from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. or until the dancing stops.

“Bring your dancing shoes so you don’t have to feel guilty about all the food you eat,” advises Zambelis.

Here’s your chance for once to tell Mom to clean her plate. Mother’s Day is May 9th, so take her to brunch.

At Equestria, 3165 Forest Hill-Irene Road, Chef Kevin Rains and his staff will prepare a buffet, complete with omelet and crepe stations and tables laden with fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood, and pastries. Brunch will be served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cost is $24.95 for adults and $9.95 for children. Call 869-2663 for reservations.

The beautifully restored 19th-century church Seasons at White Church,196 N. Main St. in Collierville, will serve a three-course prix fixe menu at 11 a.m., 1, and 2:30 p.m. The cost is $20 per adult and $11 per child. Make reservations by calling 854-6433.

Jim’s Place, 5560 Shelby Oaks Drive, will offer a special lunch menu with selections of steak, seafood, and Greek cuisine from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Prices range from $16 to $19. For more information, call 388-7200.

Paulette’s, 2110 Madison Avenue, will feature a selection of eight entrÇes, including some special additions to the brunch menu — lobster and Jarlsburg cheese omelets, ham palascinta, and crab meat and spinach crepes. Brunch will be served from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Prices range from $13 to $24 per person. Call 726-5128 for reservations.

Also on Overton Square, Boscos Squared, 2120 Madison, will open early at 10 a.m. EntrÇes are priced between $6 and $13, and Mom will receive a rose. The Joyce Cobb Trio will start performing at 11:30 a.m.

Downtown at The Peabody, Mom can choose between the annual buffet-style brunch in the Continental Ballroom for $40.05 for adults and $16.09 for children, including tax, or the three-course prix-fixe menu in the hotel’s Capriccio Grill, which costs $29.95 for adults and $12.95 for children under 12. Call 529-4000 for reservations.

To really make Mom — and daughter — feel like royalty, make a weekend of it with a traditional English tea at the Mallory-Neely House, 652 Adams on May 8th, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Enjoy games on the lawn and a proper tea complete with lace tablecloths, scones, finger sandwiches, and an assortment of desserts. Call 523-1484 for reservations.

Carl Wallin is a veteran of Erling Jensen’s, Jarrett’s, and most recently, Cheffie’s Market. His current culinary assignment: reinvent Miss Cordelia’s Deli in Harbor Town.

“I started [at Cordelia’s] six months ago,” he says. “But we’ve had to change things slowly. Before [me], Another Roadside Attraction catered the deli, and that’s what people were used to. That was what they wanted, so it was hard to change. I tried to do some complicated food at first, but it didn’t sell.”

Over time, Wallin steadily altered the menu, adding a few new items at a time while trying to please the store’s regular customers. Change, to this point, has been slow and steady, but the pace is about to pick up.

“Where we are sitting now,” Wallin says, referring to Cordelia’s break room, “this will all be my walk-in cooler. And we start knocking out the back wall in two weeks.”

Miss Cordelia’s, the tiny, overstuffed grocery, is expanding into an adjoining building. The new space, which has housed a string of coffee and smoothie shops, will become the store’s new, improved deli.

“I can’t believe I’m going to get to work on virgin equipment,” Wallin exclaims. “For me, it’s like a dream. Nobody ever gets to work with brand-new equipment unless they have a fortune to spend. The store is going to be twice this size. It will be wonderful.”

Wallin seems the least likely person to become ecstatic over something as mundane as a new oven. He was a commercial airline pilot in Sweden before an injury he received in a hockey game grounded him for life. He went on to teach aviation in American colleges before the food bug bit.

“My wife and I drove past this new restaurant at lunchtime,” Wallin says. “And every day there was a line out the door. I wondered what they had that would make people stand in line to eat. I wouldn’t stand in line to eat.” And that’s how the pilot, ski-fanatic, and hockey player became a restaurateur.

Miss Cordelia’s is a traditional community grocery. As the only market on Mud Island, it has a built-in clientele, and Cordelia’s employees know their customers by name and by habit.

“It’s an intimate relationship,” Wallin boasts. “If there is something that one of our customers wants, we will get it for them. We keep a list.”

Wallin conducted a community survey asking downtown residents to name their favorite sandwiches. He also went next door to the Montessori school to ask the kids the same question.

“We got 90 entries,” Wallin says. “I made them all and took them to downtown businesses. I asked the businesses to grade them, and from that we picked 14 sandwiches and four kids’ sandwiches. The kids like the ooey-gooey stuff. You know, with honey.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum from “ooey-gooey,” Wallin has been working with nutritionists from the Hope & Healing Center to develop a healthy, heart-friendly menu as well. There will be a gym opening across the street by the end of 2004, and all its health-conscious patrons have to eat somewhere.

The new deli at Miss Cordelia’s will feature more than 100 items, boxed lunches, and specialty sandwiches, as well as a soup, salad, and sandwich bar.

“It will mostly be take-out,” Wallin says. “But there will be some tables if you want to have your soup or sandwich here.

“We do not know the word ‘no,'” Wallin says. “If we have it in the store and you want it on your sandwich, we will get it for you. We literally bring in what you want.” That is, he says, the advantage of working in a grocery. “Our butcher has something like 25 years of experience. Our produce man, the same thing. It’s just a great place to do something like this.”

Miss Cordelia’s Deli will continue to operate throughout the renovation, and many of the jury-selected sandwiches are already available. The sandwich menu runs the gamut from items like “The Big Stinky,” with ham, turkey, provolone, red onion, tomato, red wine vinegar, dill pickles, jalapeno pepper, and spicy mustard, to a plain ole BLT. Entrees change on a daily basis.

Bread choices include ciabata roll, focaccia roll, and croissants from the French Bakery.

The Southern Food Festival won’t be on the menu at this year’s Memphis in May. The event began in 2000 to accompany the month’s finale event, the Sunset Symphony, a Memphis tradition since the first performance in 1977.

The two-day festival, which featured local restaurants, cooking contests, Southern chefs, arts and crafts, music, and kids’ entertainment, failed to attract the crowds desired.

“We established the festival to build a two- to three-day event during the last weekend of the month,” says Diane Hampton, executive vice president of Memphis in May. “It had been our hope that we would have another strong event that would grow to the size of the music festival or barbecue fest. This was not headed in that direction.”

The event has been fraught with difficulties since its inception. It was rained out the first year. The second year, the “no food or drink” policy upset picnickers. This along with poor attendance levels and market research led Memphis in May officials to cancel the event.

In November, the Memphis in May Marketing and Research Council conducted a telephone survey “to find out what people thought of our events and what people wanted to see out of Memphis in May,” says Hampton.

The Sunset Symphony will continue because research found that it is a treasured tradition in Memphis. Additionally, in response to the survey, Hampton says they will have a gospel performance to precede the symphony on May 29th. During the summer, the board of directors will consider expanding the event further.

“It costs as much in infrastructure and labor to set up Tom Lee Park for a one-day event as a two-day event,” says Hampton.

Cattlemen’s barbecue sauce, used over the years by many Memphis in May Barbecue Cooking Contest winners to professionals, is now for sale at Wal-Mart Super Centers.

“Although Cattlemen’s has been used for more than 30 years by chefs and professionals, it’s not a brand that consumers know,” says Stacey Bender, a representative for Cattlemen’s. “Now they will recognize it.”

To promote the Cattlemen’s sauces, the parent company, Reckitt Benckiser, is coming to the barbecue fest. On Friday, May 14th, Cattlemen’s will host the Frank RedHot Battle to the Bone Buffalo Wing Eating Competition. Like the contest’s title, the event will be a mouthful. The contest will be held at the Cattlemen’s booth in front of the main stage, where guests will also be able to talk with barbecue experts and pick up recipes.

In addition, the company will sponsor a barbecue sauce contest. The contest winner will receive hotel, food, and entertainment expenses to next year’s festival. Ten runner-ups will receive $100 American Express gift certificates.

To enter, send the recipe, which must include one of three Cattlemen’s flavors — Award Winning Classic, Hickory Smoke, or Golden Honey — by November 15th, to: Best of the Barbecue Contest, c/o BHGPR, 546 Valley Road, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043.

There’s a new delicatessen in town. Sweet Peppers Deli, located at 1250 N. Germantown Parkway, is billed as a “New York-style deli with Southern charm.”

Myril Bean and her sons John and Bernard joined forces with Robin Fant to create the first Sweet Peppers in Columbus, Mississippi, and then two more in Tupelo and Starkville.

“Sweet Peppers was developed by a family and good close friends, which makes it a family environment,” says Bernard Bean.

Exposed brick walls and an open design, with garage doors opening onto a patio, give the restaurant an airy, casual atmosphere. About 300 people attended a grand opening dinner to benefit Youth Villages of Memphis on April 19th.

The menu offers a wide representation of the four S’s — soups, salads, sandwiches, and spuds. The sandwiches can satisfy any craving, from vegetarian to the signature Bulldog, which begins with roast beef, kielbasa, pepper jack cheese, and barbecue sauce. There’s also a kids’ menu and an array of desserts.

“With the fast-casual concept, many restaurants tend to focus more on the fast,” says Bean. “Service is what separates us from other delis and other fast-casual restaurants.”

John Godwin, a Tupelo resident with no prior restaurant experience, liked the restaurant so much he purchased the franchise rights to Shelby and DeSoto counties. The Cordova location is the first of 10 sites planned by Godwin.

Godwin’s partner and friend, Adam Paxton, was also Bernard Bean’s neighbor.

“We would sit around and talk about it and they seemed interested,” says Bean. “A lot of people said they were interested. They actually did it.”

The restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., except Friday and Saturday when it remains open until 11 p.m. Catering is also available.

If there is anything better than the smell of coffee brewing, it’s the smell of coffee beans roasting. It begins as a slightly acidic tickling in the nostrils. Then, over the course of a half-hour or so, it swells to a chocolaty crescendo so complex it makes the nuttiest, earthiest, plumiest, jammiest wine you’ve ever sniffed seem plain as tap water.

It smells like a lifetime of wonderful mornings and leisurely afternoons. It smells like Café Francisco on a Tuesday night when 125 pounds of coffee beans are roasted in a gas-powered contraption that looks like a cross between a pot-bellied stove and a Rube Goldberg device. Large windows look in on the roasting room at the cafe so coffee junkies can watch while the beans are roasted, and, although the door to the roasting room remains closed, the intoxicating smell permeates. Visiting Café Francisco on roasting night is like taking your nose to a day spa.

“When I went out to California, I was really stupid about a lot of things,” says Café Francisco owner Julie Ray, a native Memphian who learned to sling the mud while living in San Francisco. “I thought Folgers coffee was it, you know?” she says, sifting through a white plastic tub of sage-green coffee beans that look like fat split peas. “I thought Folgers was the best you could get.”

Ray was scrambling for temp work in San Francisco when she stumbled into the original Café Francisco. As it turned out, the owner needed someone to manage his books.

“I think the place was taking in something like $150 a day,” Ray says. “And that’s not good. There was so much money going into the business, but there was no business.”

“One day I told [the owner] that I’d always dreamed of owning a little café, and he gave it to me,” Ray says, still sounding surprised. It wasn’t exactly a gift, but the conditions of the sale were sweet. But owning a failing coffee shop in a city of renowned coffee snobs was another matter.

“I didn’t know what a latte was,” Ray confesses. “I didn’t know anything. Literally, the neighborhood taught us what we were doing when we took over. It was truly a community effort.” Eventually, she learned the ins and outs of the latte thing, as well as a thing or two about roasting beans. In 2001, she brought her expertise back home and opened a second Café Francisco.

“The thing I like best about roasting our beans here,” says Christen Sterling, Café Francisco’s master roaster and chipper barrista, “is when people ask me about the coffee, I can really tell them about it.” Sterling, like Ray, didn’t know beans until she started pouring coffee for a living. Now she works the roaster like a pro.

“There are different kinds of roasters,” she says. “It’s sort of like ovens: Some people like electric, some people like gas.” Sterling clearly prefers gas. She compares the difference to oven-roasted meats and barbecue. “With the electric roasters, you just pour in your beans and push a button,” Sterling says. Not so with gas. The roaster is pre-heated to between 450 and 500 degrees, and samples are taken out regularly to check the color and aroma.

“And you have to listen for the popping,” Sterling says, referring to the snap, crackle, and pop of coffee beans shedding their outer husks. “On lighter roasts, they may pop once,” she says. “For the darker roasts [like Italian and French], they pop twice.”

Café Francisco isn’t the only place you can sample Ray and Sterling’s work. The café supplies coffee to a dozen local restaurants, including Jarrett’s, Ronnie Grisanti, Elfo’s, Midtown Books, and Epicure.

“Now I’m a total coffee snob,” Ray says. “And it’s amazing to me that in America you can still get a cup of coffee for about a dollar.” She runs through the difficulties of growing coffee: the sprouting, the raking, the picking of every bean. “You would think coffee would just be outrageous, a luxury. You would think it would be like oil.”

Café Francisco is located at 400 N. Main, 578-8002.

Now you can stop to smell the roses and the “carnivore” panini at the Memphis Botanic Garden.

Late last month, the folks at Fratelli’s, the Italian cafe and market, packed up the downtown Front Street store and moved to the garden, located at 750 Cherry Road.

Sabine Baltz opened Fratelli’s with Malcolm Aste, former director of marketing for The Memphis Flyer, in June 2002.

“It was a lot of work downtown — 60- to 80-hour weeks to make overhead, and now I can spend more time with my family,” says Baltz. “The Botanic Garden made us such an incredible offer because they hope to get more foot traffic.”

Though Fratelli’s will no longer sell imported gourmet pastas and oils, it will still offer its swanky sandwiches and colorful salad plates for lunch Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We will continue to do the box lunches, and we are really going to start promoting the catering more,” says Baltz. “We still have the same menu, same desserts. Everything is handmade.”

Memphis Botanic Garden interim executive director Bob FouchÇ says that he and the staff are excited about the move.

“It’s a good opportunity to take the Botanic Garden to another level by offering dining to the public,” says FouchÇ.

“We had some great loyal customers who loved the food, but there wasn’t enough foot traffic,” says Baltz. “In three or four years, after the south side of downtown develops, we would love to come back.”

Savor Sunday afternoon with rare wine and fine food at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Overton Park. Continuing “The Art of Good Taste,” an annual series of fund-raising events, the museum will present a classroom-style tasting of Mazzocco wines April 25th at 2 p.m.

Mazzocco Vineyards is a small boutique winery in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County, California. At this tasting, guests will sample single-vineyard Zinfandels produced from 80-year-old vines as well as Matrix, Mazzocco’s Bordeaux-style blend.

“Mazzocco in 1987 was a pioneer in the California propriety-blend movement to create what are now called Meritage wines,” says local independent wine broker Tracie Hogan of Hogan Wine Ventures.

It’s a rare opportunity to taste the winery’s first vintage as well as preview yet-to-be released 2000 vintages.

Mazzocco’s director of marketing, Ned Carton will offer insight into the history of the family-owned winery, its winemaker, and the winemaking process and results.

Chef Jennifer Dickerson will prepare hors d’oeuvres in the newly refurbished Brushmark restaurant. The restaurant now features 300 new mahogany and chrome chairs purchased with funding from the “Take a Seat” campaign. A mahogany hostess stand and buffet, handcrafted by local artisan Stephen Crump, complement the new design. Turn-of-the-century stained-glass windows from the Hill Mansion, which once stood at 1400 Union Avenue, adorn the walls in specially constructed light boxes.

Tickets are $100 per person and can be reserved by calling 544-6219.

No permission slip required. This field trip calls only for a healthy appetite for down-home Southern cooking and an interest in race relations. Anyone can join the Southern Foodways Alliance to celebrate the power food has in uniting people across cultures and races.

From June 4th to 6th, the SFA, a group of culinary writers, historians, and enthusiasts, will travel to Birmingham to explore the connection between food and culture in the South.

The 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which declared segregation of restaurants illegal, gives special meaning to the fourth annual SFA Symposium, “Alabama in Black and White.”

“Like music, food is universally loved and shared, and we want to elucidate the power of food as a means of racial reconciliation,” says John T. Edge, SFA director.

The weekend events will include a tour of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, speakers and panel discussions, entertainment, and lots of food.

The trip culminates with a “freedom ride” to Willie King’s Freedom Creek Blues Festival in Aliceville, Alabama. Renowned chefs, such as John Fleer of the Inn at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee, and Scott Barton of Voyage in New York City, will join Birmingham chefs to prepare Southern favorites such as Conecuh County sausage and sweet-tea-brined fried chicken.

The SFA is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, Oxford. Registration fees of $175 for members and $195 for nonmembers include transportation, some meals, and entertainment. Lodging is separate. For more information, contact the SFA at 662-915-7236 or visit SouthernFoodways.com.

Fondue, from the French word “to melt,” began in Switzerland as a clever way of using up hardened cheese. At the Melting Pot restaurant near Wolfchase Galleria, however, practicality isn’t really the point when a four-course meal can take up to four hours. The goal here is to be totally immersed in the experience, much like that piece of bread you’re dipping into a pot of aged cheddar.

The restaurant’s motto is “Dip into something different,” and the management team of Steve Evers and George Chaposky are passionate about its distinct personality. The music playing on any given night, for example, is tailored to the general age of the crowd. Customers who come later in the evening are likely to be greeted by a host or a manager offering to stay late and personally serve them. The restaurant’s other attractions include romantically dim, semiprivate booths and a quaint wine room with nearly 120 bottles.

The bottom line, says Chaposky, is that if customers aren’t impressed, “then we just haven’t done our job.”

“We’re not your average restaurant, and we want to leave an impression on people,” he says. “We want them to ask ‘What just happened?’ when they leave. We want them still talking about the experience days later.”

Though the Melting Pot’s Wolfchase location is roughly three years old, the restaurant was closed for about a year until Evers and Chaposky took over in September 2002. Evers, 50, is a former Nashville music-industry veteran, who came to Memphis from Nashville’s Melting Pot. Chaposky, 25, came from the Myrtle Beach Melting Pot and says the pair of managers has ambitious plans for their upscale eatery.

Evers, for instance, is adamant that “the outside world should stop for customers” once they come in the door. He knows it’s a tall order, but Evers believes its success lies in treating customers like kings and providing them with feasts. “You know, there are so many different places in Memphis, we feel like we really have to do something different to pull customers our way,” he says.

That starts with the four-course meal that’s central to the Melting Pot’s drawing power. Dinner begins with a creamy selection of five gourmet cheeses and dipping sauces, bread, and vegetables. That’s followed by a choice of salads and entrÇes, including beef, boneless chicken, duck, lobster, and shrimp. Customers ordering the full dinner cook their own entrÇes in a pot of vegetable-based broth in the center of the table. Capping off the meal is a dessert course of fruits and cakes served with a hot chocolate fondue.

The meal comes with a $65 price tag per couple, but customers don’t have to get the entire package. Many, for example, drop by after a movie just for the cheese or dessert course.

Chaposky says that the restaurant is committed to being a “romantic yet fun” place to eat. That’s where his eye for top-notch service comes in. Already, he and Evers are awaiting the end of the year when Melting Pot franchise officials distribute awards for performance and service.

“The award we’re shooting for this year is called the Service Pot, and it’s the first year we’re eligible for it,” Chaposky says. “It’s a huge award for me. When I was in Myrtle Beach, our restaurant won the award seven years in a row.”

No mean feat, considering the prize is given to only one of the 70 restaurants in the franchise each year. Evers and Chaposky, though, are constantly scouring every aspect of the restaurant, looking for areas to shore up and improve customer service. “Here, our waiters are going to take the time to get to know you,” Chaposky says. “That’s why people come back to us. We treat them like they are the most important person in the city.”

When Chaposky left the Melting Pot in Myrtle Beach, he told them not to get comfortable with their winning streak. “Wherever I go,” he says, “the pot’s coming with me.”

He’s already got a spot picked out on the bar, at the front of the restaurant, for this year’s award.

The Melting Pot is open seven days a week. Monday through Thursday the restaurant is open from 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday, 5-11 p.m.; Saturday, 4:30-11 p.m.; and Sunday, 4:30-10:30 p.m. The last seating for a full dinner is an hour before closing.