Category: Food & Drink

Although I used to pilfer mom’s Andre sparkling wine and guzzle it with my post-pubescent friends, the first “serious” wine I ever tried was Black Tower. I still remember the syrupy-sweet sensation smacking of steel not fruit and the cloying aftertaste. I’m surprised I ever tried wine again.

Unfortunately, many Americans cling to this image of German wines, and no amount of marketing can erase it. It was only a couple of years ago, after 10 years of wandering in the restaurant and wine business, that I saw the light, long after my colleagues started worshipping German Rieslings. I was converted, and I’m here to spread the word that there are, indeed, lots of delicious German wines out there.

Because of the cool climate, Germany’s best wines are whites. The best of those are Rieslings, a noble grape with deep roots in Germany. The chameleon Riesling can be fermented dry or crafted into a rich dessert wine. Because of this versatility, Germany invented a six-level PrÑdikat labeling system, signifying the ripeness — or sweetness — of the fruit at harvest: Kabinett, the least mature; SpÑtlese; Auslese; Beerneauslese; Eiswein; Trockenbeerenauslese. The last three are the nectar-like wines, made with dried, shriveled, or frozen grapes, whose sugar is naturally concentrated.

But wait, wait, there’s more confusion. Since it is legal in Germany to add sugar and/or grape juice during the winemaking process to counteract the high acidity, the PrÑdikat level doesn’t necessarily indicate the level of sweetness in the final wine. If you’re searching for the bone-dry German Rieslings — and there are many — look for “Trocken” (dry) on the label. Speaking of sweet, who decided drinking wines with some fruitiness was dÇclassÇ? Americans consume everything else laden with sugar, so why is sweeter wine the bastard child? A German SpÑtlese or Auslese is a beautiful thing with spicy food, and we should really embrace them as much as Coke, Twinkies, and milkshakes.

The Gothic lettering on German labels is pretty confusing to those not fluent in the language. Like most European wine, Germany labels the wines with the area the grapes are grown. The long names you find on the label indicate the vineyard where the grapes live. For example, Bernkasteler Badstube, literally translated, means “the district of Bernkastel’s Badstube vineyard.” Also listed on the label is the main wine-producing area. The biggest: Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Rheingau, Pfalz, and Rheinhessen.

An up-and-coming fad in Germany is Dornfelder red wines. There’s a pocket in the southern Pfalz region that has enough heat to ripen red grapes. It yields an earthy, cherry-driven, fingerprinted drink, kind of like the unique Pinotages in South Africa.

With white wines back in favor as summer fast approaches, ’tis the season to eschew the anti-German, anti-sweet cobwebs of the past and embrace the future of wine: Drink what tastes good. There’s a helluva lot in Germany to love.

Recommended Wines

Thanisch 2002 Riesling Kabinett Bernkasteler Badstube Mosel — The long, sultry finish equals the long name. Silky with flowery honeysuckle and honeydew melon. Some sugar present but it’s so balanced, you love it. $14.

Josef Leitz 2002 Riesling Kabinett Rudesehimer Klosterlay Rheingau — A bit richer than most of the Kabinetts I tried for this column but sports a gushing apple tartness on the finish. $13.

Dr. H Thanisch 2002 Riesling Classic Mosel — This is the Riesling for non-Riesling people. Dry, Sauvignon Blanc-like, with grapefruit and tart green apple. Definitely a food wine, especially good with seafood. $14.

Graff 2001 Riesling Auslese Urziger Wurzgarten Mosel — Damn nice stuff. Bathes the tongue in honey and a touch of lime zest. White grape-y yet elegant; sweet yet not cloying. Melt down into this wine. $22.

Anselmann 2001 Dornfelder Pfalz — A unique red wine, and Dornfelders are worth exploring. Earthy, cherry, and steeped with wood-like flavor. Fascinating. $13.

Cooking may be your business, but cookbooks are big business. Just ask the people at Wimmer Cookbooks, a company founded in Memphis and a company still operating out of Memphis. The specialty of the house: reasonably priced but profitable community cookbooks.

Let the titles speak:

Have You Heard …, by the service organization Subsidium, Inc., of Memphis; Celebrating Our Mothers’ Kitchens, by the National Council of Negro Women; Great Performances, by the Symphony League of Tupelo, Mississippi.

Now let the numbers speak:

The Kosher Palette, by fund-raisers at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva High School in Livingston, New Jersey, has sold more than 46,000 copies since 2000.

The Cotton Country Collection, by the Junior League of Monroe, Louisiana, has sold more than 565,000 copies since 1972. (“One of the finest, most exacting regional cookbooks to be found in America,” wrote Craig Claiborne in The New York Times.)

And the three volumes of River Road Recipes, by the Junior League of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has sold more than 1.7 million copies since 1959, with the first volume going into its 73rd printing.

Wimmer Cookbooks, though, does more than print the recipe collections of nonprofits, along with a growing number of books by individuals, chefs, and restaurants. Under the ownership now of Mercury Printing and under its parent company, the Houston-based Consolidated Graphics, Wimmer has made a national name for itself by guiding organizations through the nuts and bolts, start to finish, of cookbook production. Soup to nuts, so to speak, and that means conception, development, marketing, and distribution. Which means editing, designing, printing, warehousing, and shipping. And it’s all under one, very large roof off Shelby Drive in South Memphis.

Wimmer’s hands-on attitude is the very one Joe Wimmer adopted when he set up a print shop in his garage to earn extra money in 1946. His son Fred was suffering from rheumatic fever, and Joe’s salary at Rotary Lift wasn’t meeting the medical costs. With his brother Jack, Joe turned that side business into Wimmer Brothers Fine Printing and Lithography in downtown Memphis, the so-called can-do printer.

Fred took on that same attitude when he headed the company and steered it into new territory. (The company’s “I AM A MAN” placards for striking Memphis sanitation workers in 1968 have since taken on an iconic status.) Fred’s younger brother, Glen, saw the company become a national leader after it successfully produced and marketed a cookbook by the Woman’s Exchange of Memphis in the 1970s.

“We were primarily a commercial printer,” says Freddie Strange, senior consultant for Wimmer Cookbooks, who’s been with the company for more than 20 years. “We soon recognized the peculiar needs that a nonprofit has in trying to put together a cookbook as a fund-raiser. Once we’d helped the Woman’s Exchange, people from outside Memphis began to call. The Panama City [Florida] Junior Service League wanted us to come down and do a presentation. We didn’t have a presentation! Today we conduct an annual seminar on the entire publishing process.

“Our business has been built on what customers need, what they can’t get on their own or from anybody else,” Strange says. “We’ve implemented free storage. We warehouse books that are still selling after 30 years when the shelf life among cookbooks by major publishing houses is somewhere between milk and yogurt.

“In an odd sort of way, we’ve become advocates for regional cooking. These books aren’t just collections of recipes. We look at them as an opportunity for people to tell their stories, make their presence known — people in charity organizations, schools, churches, Junior Leagues, and auxiliaries who are working their tails off to make a difference in their communities.”

That sentiment is echoed by Sarah Wood, director of marketing and distribution: “We say to our clients, ‘This book is about YOU.’ It helps them to take ownership, but it also helps them to make money. No, we don’t necessarily choose the recipes or test them, but a cookbook isn’t going to stay on the shelves the way ours do if those recipes aren’t true, if they haven’t been tested over time.”

That doesn’t mean that tastes and gadgets don’t change over time. But for every new kitchen gadget and diet breakthrough, there’s a surprising amount of wisdom and resiliency in those handed-down recipes. The Atkins diet? According to Ashley Schilhab, vice president, “Quite a few of those old recipes are already low-carb, high-fat. Plus, there’s no sense in updating. People are using these books to relate to the past.” Immigrant cooking? Again according to Schilhab: “We’ve been working with a lady originally from India, and these are very traditional recipes and methods. But she’s in Louisiana. She’s substituting alligator meat, crawfish, combining customs.”

That Indian cookbook joins the roughly 200 titles currently available out of an estimated 1,600 produced by Wimmer over the years. Which makes the company’s current staff of close to 30 sound small. But, as Wood says, “We’re close-knit. We’re family. A lot of businesses say that, but here it’s true. And we’re all foodies. We have to be foodies.”

If you could be anyone for one day, who would you be? Paris Hilton? Donald Trump? A world leader?

What about a vegetarian?

Let’s face it. We live in a fast-food nation where greasy cheeseburgers and oily fried chicken dominate the American diet. And while we know those things are bad for us, making a change seems like too much work, especially if it involves giving up meat all together. But what if it was just for one day?

On March 20th, people across the country will trade burgers for textured vegetable protein patties during the Great American Meatout — a spinoff of the Great American Smokeout. Vegetarianism isn’t just about rabbit food anymore, and health-food stores in all 50 states and several other countries will be hosting special meat-free festivals and cookouts featuring the numerous faux-meat products on the market.

At the Midtown Food Co-op, employees will be outside (weather permitting) grilling up everything from barbecue soy riblets and faux-chicken patties to tofu dogs and veggie kabobs. For a donation of five bucks (if you’ve got it), you can eat all you want from a smorgasbord of meat-free grub. And they’ll have all the fixin’s like potato salad and coleslaw to make the meal complete.

“We chose to grill out because Memphis is such a barbecue city, and people assume that if you’re a vegetarian, you can’t eat barbecue. They think all you can eat is bread and carrots, but vegetarians can actually have a barbecue that’s pretty much the same as any other,” says Ariel Roads, event coordinator for the co-op.

Co-op members also will be handing out pamphlets with instructions on how to order a free vegetarian starter kit — a booklet filled with recipes and tips on how to make the change without losing essential nutrients, such as protein and iron. You can even sign a pledge form promising to give up flesh for a day, a week, a month, or even a lifetime.

The Farm Animals Reform Movement (FARM), a national organization that advocates a plant-based diet and the humane treatment of farm animals, started Meatout back in 1985, a time the group classifies as “the dietary dark ages.” Back in the those days, there was no such thing as Tofurkey (tofu turkey) or Fakin’ Bacon (tempeh strips). When a vegetarian needed protein, they were pretty much reduced to soy burgers, plain tofu, or beans. But things have changed.

“As far as meat substitutes go, it’s almost endless these days,” says Roads. “There’s fake chicken, fake ground beef, fake sausage, tempeh. Those are just a few of the products we carry in our store. Some people have made the transition but are still baffled by the products. I think the Meatout barbecue can help them with that.”

According to Dawn Moncrief, the national coordinator for Meatout, about 1.4 million Americans die each year from diseases related to their diets. She says cutting back on meat can reduce heart disease, cancer, and any disease associated with saturated fats. A meat-free diet also reduces cholesterol.

FARM champions a meatless diet for two reasons: health benefits and animal welfare.

On Meatout day, they encourage health-food stores and organizations to promote better health by eliminating meat, and on October 2nd (World Farm Animals Day), they ask groups to focus more on the inhumane treatment of animals on factory farms. While Meatout is considered a festive event, World Farm Animals Day is a somber look into animal abuse.

“People have this image of farms where the farmer has all this land and his animals roam free on it. He forms relationships with them and goes out and feeds them. Well, that’s not really the reality anymore because factory farms have taken over,” says Moncrief. “Factory farms are concrete buildings where animals are kept in cages, and a lot of times they can’t move or turn around. And they never get to see the sun.”

According to Meatout’s statistics, about 30 million Americans have “explored” a meatless diet, meaning they’ve at least pledged to abstain from meat for one day during a past Meatout event. Meatout promotes a vegan diet (no eggs, dairy, or animal by-products), but according to Moncrief, any reduction in meat intake is a step in the right direction. The group encourages the single meat-free day as a way for people to sample the vegetarian lifestyle.

“It helps when people can try it out for a day and not have to be gung-ho about it,” says Roads. “You don’t have to throw everything away in your kitchen and start over. You can just see what’s it’s like and maybe start doing it once a week.”

The Half Shell at the corner of Mendenhall and Poplar has created a nice niche as a neighborhood restaurant. On two separate Friday nights, we found the place packed — our fellow patrons clearly at home in the Half Shell’s cozy, casual atmosphere.

The menu is welcoming too, with a variety of seafood, steak, sandwich, and salad choices. It is a good menu for entertaining when you are not sure what your guests will like.

For starters, we had the oysters Rockefeller, which came on a bed of rock salt and was topped with puréed seasoned spinach, bread crumbs, and creamy Parmesan cheese. It arrived bubbling hot, and the plump oysters were prepared perfectly. I liked the oysters Bienville even better. A spoonful of butter, minced onion, mushrooms, and shrimp blended with a Béchamel cream sauce, white wine, lemon juice, a dab of hot sauce, bread crumbs, and finely grated cheese made this dish irresistible. The shrimp and lobster tamales, however, were a little disappointing. The flavor of the masa and ancho chili sauce mixed well with the medium-size shrimp, but we could not locate any lobster meat.

Next up was the seafood gumbo, a rich copper-colored soup with large shrimp and Cajun sausage served with rice. I would definitely order it again. Ditto for the Caesar salad with our choice of blackened yellowfin tuna. Be warned: Both the gumbo and the salad are big enough for a meal.

The Half Shell combo I ordered for an entrée proved a bit frustrating. The spicy blackened catfish came perfectly prepared as did the three fried gulf shrimp, but the crabcakes were overly seasoned and breaded and then deep-fried, causing the meat to lose its texture and true taste. Many chefs broil the crabcakes so the oil from the fryer doesn’t steal the flavors.

Things definitely got better. My dining companion complimented his filet mignon and Alaskan crab legs — the steak cooked as requested and the crab legs succulent and sweet. The “voodoo” catfish and grilled amberjack were winners as well. The spicy catfish came over a fluffy shrimp stuffing with a side of steamed broccoli, and the juicy grilled amberjack came with rice pilaf and spinach sides.

On our second visit, we had the grilled salmon and grilled mahi mahi. The salmon came over three strategically placed fried green tomatoes. (These meals were offered in a lunch- or dinner-size portion, an excellent touch I thought.) The salmon, drizzled with a velvety hollandaise sauce, looked as if it came straight out of a culinary magazine. The succulent mahi mahi also came with fried green tomatoes and was surrounded by a chunky fresh tomato mixture and tiny pieces of green and yellow squash. Heavenly.

For dessert, the Half Shell’s version of the Key lime pie had the perfect tang to it. The other dessert of note was the cräme brñlÇe — a very rich custard topped with a delicate caramelized layer of brown sugar.

I have to say that the Half Shell exceeded my expectations on both visits — nice atmosphere, a friendly staff, and a large variety of tasty cuisine. It’s a good place to kick back and relax after a long week. Go see for yourself.

The Half Shell has two locations — 688 South Mendenhall (682-3966) and 7825 Winchester (737-6755) — and is open Monday through Friday 11 a.m.-2 a.m., Saturday 11:30 a.m.-2 a.m., and Sunday 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m.

All-Natural

Guava offers Cordova a healthy alternative.

Meredith Yates, owner of Guava, the Healthy Gourmet in Cordova, knows a thing or two about healthy living. When she was 3 years old, her mother Anne opened Nature’s Pantry, a health-food store in Knoxville. While other kids’ moms were packing bologna sandwiches in their lunchboxes, Anne was filling Meredith’s with tofu dogs. She was allowed only one natural soda and candy bar per week, and Anne relied on herbal cures to heal her daughter when she was sick.

Those 29 years of healthy living have given Meredith the experience to run the only natural-foods store in the Cordova area. Guava, which opened in November, specializes in products that contain no dyes, no hydrogenated oils, no aspartame, and “nothing artificial.”

“There was recently a shortage of coconut oil, and a company called me and said they had some. So I placed an order,” Yates recalls. “When it came in, the labels were all misspelled and you could tell it wasn’t a quality product. People kept coming in wanting to buy some, but I wouldn’t sell that. I sent it back.”

Guava is located at 1890 Berryhill Rd. #104 (at Chimneyrock), 507-9033. — Bianca Phillips

The Glass Onion is named after a Lennon/McCartney-penned Beatles song from the “White Album.” The restaurant’s philosophy is lifted from this lyric: “Where everything flows. Looking through the bent backed tulips, to see how the other half live.” When we met some friends there a couple of weekends ago, seems that the other half was there, as well as the other, other half. I’m talking standing room only.

The building formerly housed Lilly’s Dim Sum, and the first thing you notice about the Glass Onion is the change in character. The restaurant now has gleaming hardwood floors, an additional dining room, and a bar area. The atmosphere is casual — dim lighting, neon signs — and I would guess it seats about 60. Though we had to wait for a table, we whiled away the time at the bar, which had plenty of available seats.

To start the meal, we tried the coconut-battered shrimp, which was served with a pineapple, jalapeno, green onion, green pepper, and cilantro relish. This sweet, robust relish enhanced the shrimp without overpowering it and gave an island feel to a chilly evening. We also ordered the three-onion pastry, which came in a wonton wrapper rather the standard phyllo dough. I think the wrapper is a better choice because its texture handled the caramelized onions, shallot, and sherry glaze and kept this creation contained in a perfect little package that looked as wonderful as it tasted.

There are three salads on the menu: Caesar, Greek, and Italian. The traditional Caesar — romaine, fresh Parmesan, and homemade buttery croutons — is a sure thing. I also really enjoyed the Greek salad with the crumbled feta cheese, kalamata olives, sliced green peppers, and pecans. I would never have thought to add pecans with feta (goat cheese, sure, but not feta). The crunchy nuts really enhanced this salad. The Italian salad, meanwhile, was a simple bed of greens with prosciutto and anchovies.

For our first entrÇe, we had the tasso-stuffed shrimp. (Tasso is smoked pork that is highly seasoned.) This dish came on a bed of melt-in-your-mouth Gouda cheese grits and six large Gulf shrimp drizzled with a garlic cream sauce that calmed the spiciness of the tasso and enhanced the sweet flavor of the shrimp. Terrific, though it should have been served warmer. Next up: the chicken breast marinated in beef juice. This succulent bird came served over a Thai curry risotto with mint yogurt to cool the curry.

The special this evening was a large filet of halibut with lobster sauce. The mild fish was prepared perfectly — flaky but not overcooked. It came with cheese potatoes topped with crunchy fried noodles. It tasted great. Of course, we couldn’t resist the peanut-butter pork chops. (Curious, we asked the waitress how it was prepared, and she told us that the chops are smothered in peanut butter prior to cooking.) The two large chops were accompanied by a sweet cinnamon-brushed grilled banana and a spicy apple slaw. This dish is a must-try. Its only flaw is the slaw. While I love spicy food, I would suggest the preparers ease up on the pepper. The side was beautiful with fettuccini noodles, cabbage, red peppers, and apples, but I found it too strong and almost inedible.

Desserts are not listed on the menu because they are made from scratch and change frequently. On this night we ordered one of each of the offerings: pecan pie, amaretto cheesecake, Oreo cheesecake, and Snicker pie. All the desserts are worthy of mentioning and tasting. Just be careful to not fill up before you get to them.

The Glass Onion is a nice addition to the Cooper-Young neighborhood. It’s a place that stretches to meet that “other half” with its creative menu and welcoming vibe. Enjoy it. n

The Glass Onion is located at 903 South Cooper Street (274-5151). Reservations are not required. Lunch is served until 5 p.m.; dinner is served from 5 to 10 p.m.; and the after-dinner menu 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Lunch prices range from $5 to $6.50; dinner $6.50 to $17; and appetizers and salads $4 to $8. Separate checks for parties over six are not permitted, and gratuity will be automatically added.

I am a major fan of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion show on NPR Saturday nights. One of my favorite skits is “Guy Noir, Private Eye” — “one man still trying to find the answers to life’s persistent questions.” So, of course, I couldn’t resist when I stumbled upon a little hole-in-the-wall with an attitude and definitely not the same old, white-table-cloth-and-fine-dining establishment. Did I mention the restaurant has the same name as Guy Noir’s favorite watering hole?

The 5 Spot is what you might call a mini-restaurant tucked behind Earnestine and Hazel’s, located on the corner of South Main and G.E. Patterson. I know many of you are thinking: behind Earnestine and Hazel’s? Yes, indeed. The kitchen sits in the middle of the room with a couple of tables surrounding it. (During the summer months, there will be additional outdoor seating along the sidewalk on G.E. Patterson.) The lighting is dim, probably a good thing since the room is ancient all the way down to the concrete floors. To say this place is rustic is polite, but it is comfortable and does have character with its unusual display of memorabilia on the walls. And with Earnestine and Hazel’s in the front of the building, the 5 Spot in the center, and a bar for private parties in the back, the restaurant certainly isn’t lacking in its cast of characters.

After we sat down a man took our beverage order. He was friendly and quickly gave us the menu for the evening. He then retreated to the kitchen where he doubled as the chef.

To add to the unpretentious nature of the restaurant, the menu is hand-written on a piece of brown stock paper. The dishes are revolving. I like the idea of having a different experience each time you go. This evening, the menu included one salad and nine entrées — or so we thought. While entrée choices included a beef tenderloin, grilled or blackened grouper, and blackened catfish, many of the dishes included shrimp as a main ingredient. Unfortunately, we were informed they were out of shrimp and pasta, so pickings were slim.

First, we each enjoyed a mixed mesclun green salad with a ginger lemon and sesame vinaigrette — light and refreshing. For his entrée, one of my dining companions chose the beef tenderloin, which was prepared to order and arrived smothered in a bordelaise sauce. The velvety tenderloin and rich bordelaise were exquisite with the Southern-style sides of creamy cheese grits and a mix of black-eyed peas and turnip greens. (The menu said the sides for the evening were sautéed veggies, but these were also not available.) Another treat we had: the grilled grouper. It was a lean, firm, and moist piece of white fish that came in a lemon garlic butter sauce, which was delicious. It too came with a side — black-eyed peas, turnip greens, and cheese grits — though I think the unavailable sautéed vegetables would have made a more agreeable accompaniment.

I ordered the blackened catfish. A large fillet of perfectly seasoned catfish came with the same lemon garlic butter sauce as the grouper and the same side items. Not the best catfish I have ever had. The chef gets credit for trying to be creative, but the butter sauce was a bit acidic and too rich for the catfish.

No desserts were offered that evening, but the server/chef was apologetic. His delivery did not arrive that day.

Overall, the 5 Spot is a great little neighborhood restaurant. It is fun and relaxed — a place to kick back and enjoy a good meal after a hard day’s work. We will positively go back to try some of the dishes we were deprived of, though I’ll probably make like my friend Guy Noir searching for answers and call ahead to check if all the deliveries have arrived.

The 5 Spot, 84 Bishop G.E. Patterson Boulevard (523-9754). Dinner is served Wednesday-Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. Entrées on our visit ranged from $12 to $20. There is no full bar, but you may bring your own wine. Reservations are not required.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hasn’t always had the best image when it comes to protecting the environment. But the corps’ Memphis District hopes to improve its reputation with a study called the Lower Mississippi River Resource Assessment (LMRRA). The study would help determine natural-resource and wildlife-habitat needs as well as recreational access along the river’s lower half. The problem: Congress authorized the study in 2000 but has yet to allocate the funding.

The corp’s primary goals are to ensure the river remains navigable and to maintain flood control. However, according to the National Wildlife Association, artificially altering waterways is one of the principal causes of the decline of aquatic ecosystems.

“We don’t have the authority to do all we can for the environment, and we’re kind of limited as to how much we can personally lobby Congress,” says David Reece, chief of the Memphis District’s Environmental Branch. “One thing they have authorized is the LMRRA. It was introduced into legislation in 2000, but we’ve not gotten the funds to do that study. The LMRRA would involve us looking at the river’s needs with the Department of the Interior and the seven states in the lower river area.”

In the LMRRA study, the corps would use existing information to determine a “snapshot status” of the lower 954 miles of the river. The corps would then prepare a report for Congress with its recommendations for restoring the river’s environmental health. The key is determining what can be done for the river’s ecosystem without impacting navigation or flood control. Reece says the corps would need $500,000 to get started, but there’s nothing for the project in the 2004 budget.

The study, which was authorized under the Water Resources Development Act of 2000, involves Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Since the corps isn’t able to lobby Congress, it’s turned to outside environmental groups such as the Tennessee Parks & Greenways Commission. In late July, representatives from several conservation groups in the lower Mississippi River valley joined corps members on a boat ride down the river to discuss how the groups can help get the funds.

“From a wildlife point of view, there are so many things we could do,” says Gary Myers, executive director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “The corps is authorized to do the work. We just need to convince Congress that it would be money well spent.”

If the corps had the LMRRA funding, Reece says it would be able to do much more for fishery habitats because the projects wouldn’t have to be directly tied to navigation. For example, if an oxbow or side channel closes off and begins filling in with sediment, the corps would be able to dig it out and reconnect it to the river, even if the project had no effect on navigation. They’d also be able to do more for the lower river’s two endangered species: the least tern and the pallid sturgeon.

In the meantime, the corps is increasingly trying to incorporate environmentally friendly measures into its navigational projects. One way is by notching rock dikes mini-dams perpendicular to the river’s bank. The dikes maintain a navigation channel for barge traffic but can also be the cause of fish kills because they trap sediment from agricultural run-off.

The corps has begun creating openings in dikes to allow some water to flow through. The notches not only protect fish from trapped sediment, they also create a place for fish to thrive without being disturbed by river traffic.

“What we’re trying to do is take the existing navigation work that we do and make it more fish-friendly and environmentally friendly,” says Reece.

Ron Nassar, coordinator for the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee (LMRCC), wants to see the fishery habitats improved in the Mississippi, but at the same time, he’d like to see the river attract more tourists. He says a recreational river would better sustain its geographical character. As a result, the LMRCC has jumped on the bandwagon of supporters for the corps’ LMRRA project.

“This is one of the last great wild places left in the Eastern U.S., and you never hear about it unless there’s a flood or a navigation problem,” says Nassar. “The river deserves more attention. It’s an important natural resource. There’s no question about that whatsoever, but it’s also important to the heritage and culture of the South.”

To cap off a great day at the new Stax Museum, a group of us decided to continue the soul theme with dinner at Isaac Hayes Music ™ Food ™ Passion located downtown in Peabody Place. It was Saturday night, but early Saturday night, and we weren’t expecting the $10-per-person cover charge when we came only for dinner. But, going with the flow, we paid and were seated promptly. (Though we had asked for a booth, the only one empty belonged to Mr. Hayes, and not just anyone is worthy of his throne.)

The musicians are center stage so everyone can see them. And if your view is obstructed by someone or something, there are monitors strategically hung from the ceilings so you won’t miss anything the band does. The emphasis on music is continued with the menu, which looks like an album cover and is sorted into “tracks,” such as appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches and burgers, entrées, steaks, ribs and “hot buttered soul” (entrées that are not barbecue), and desserts. The menu also includes interesting snippets about Hayes’ career.

We started with the Delta catfish fingers, which were served with rémoulade and sweet-and-sour sauces. The crispy fish, coated in cornmeal and fried golden-brown, held up to the thick rÇmoulade, making a tasty snack. We didn’t care for the sweet-and-sour sauce, but the kitchen gets credit for trying to be different. The Rib Ticklers should have been an entreée. A huge platter was piled high with smoked rib tips bathed in a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce. These ribs pulled easily from the bone and melted in your mouth. I would definitely recommend this appetizer, but make sure you and your dining companion are big eaters.

The garden salad was your basic medley of greens, tomatoes, and assorted veggies. Nothing wrong with that. But the Caesar salad’s romaine lettuce came drenched in an overpowering, lemony dressing. Not a bad flavor, just way too much of it.

While we waited for our dinner, we enjoyed an awesome band. The wait took longer than expected, however, and as I looked around the room, it appeared the staff was rather sparse for a Saturday evening and they were busing their own tables. The long wait and the fact that our drink orders arrived after our appetizers and then were not refilled in a timely manner were probably a result of the skimpy staff. I realize needs are difficult to predict on any given night, but a Saturday night with live music should indicate that more staff will be necessary. In addition, the staff should be focused on their customers, and there should be a separate bus staff for a restaurant of this size and caliber.

For dinner, one of my companions chose the 16-ounce rib-eye steak. This steak, ordered rare, had a beautiful red interior and came with onion rings and macaroni and cheese. This mac and cheese was the real deal — large noodles and creamy, velvety cheese sauce with a golden-brown crust. My companion beamed with happiness.

Another companion, however, was not so pleased with the tilapia fillets. According to the menu, the fillets would be basted with Isaac’s Jivin’ Jerk Sauce then charbroiled. What came to the table was soggy and the sauce pungent to the point of sour. The tangy fried green tomatoes that came with the fish, on the other hand, hit the spot.

I chose Isaac’s herb-roasted chicken — half a hen seasoned perfectly with lemon pepper and garlic and slowly oven-roasted. The meat was oh-so tender, the best lemon-pepper chicken I’ve ever had. Other notable entrÇes include the turkey meatloaf and passionate pasta.

We finished our evening with Isaac Hayes’ homemade desserts. The bread pudding came served warm with a bourbon sauce and vanilla ice cream. The combination of cinnamon, raisins, and bourbon sauce mixed with vanilla ice cream is spectacular. The warm and chewy chocolate brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream is a chocoholic’s dream. But my favorite was the warm pecan pie Ö la mode — the largest piece I’ve ever seen. I wished I had skipped dinner and simply ordered it.

All in all, Isaac Hayes’ restaurant and club is a great value: ample portions, good food, and reasonable prices. If they tweak their service slightly, I think they will be a wonderful addition to downtown, although I still have an issue with having to pay a cover charge at 7 p.m. just to have dinner.

Isaac Hayes Music ™ Food ™ Passion is located at 150 Peabody Place (529-9222) on the second floor. Hours: 11 a.m.-1 a.m. seven days a week.

Though naive to the fundamentals of basketball, even I know the talent Shane Battier displays on the court. But would that same level of professionalism be apparent at the restaurant bearing his name?

Shane Battier’s Prime Minister’s steakhouse is first challenged by its location. Seems to be some bad restaurant karma at 135 South Main. Ciao Baby, the Italian Fisherman, and Rialto, among others, are all now memories. And while we fretted about going on a Saturday night without a reservaton, there were not more than five or six tables occupied in a dining room large enough to seat about 100. But the hostess was very pleasant and the place was nice — upscale in tone with white tablecloths, intimate lighting, soft music, and waiters in tuxedos. I thought to myself: This is the perfect way to start an evening.

For beginners, we tried the coriander- encrusted ahi tuna. The center-cut tuna filet had been quickly seared to maintain its medium-rare, rich flavor. A chunky pineapple and ginger fruit salsa spooned over the fish was absolutely beautiful. The Maryland crab cakes came next and were served atop mesclun greens drizzled with a light lemon-cream sauce. These golden-brown crab cakes were packed with pieces of white lump crabmeat, lightly seasoned with bread crumbs, herbs, and small chunks of onion. The cream sauce and the succulent crab melted in your mouth. Not to be outdone — the marinated beefsteak tomatoes with fresh buffalo mozzarella and a basil-pesto vinaigrette surrounded by crisp grilled bread. On a warm summer day, this platter could not be beat.

The traditional house salad is a sampling of mixed baby greens, red cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, croutons, and your choice of dressing. My recommendation: Try the house vinaigrette, which is packed with herbs. The Caesar salad is not a bad choice, either: large romaine leaves, shaved Parmesan cheese, and big crunchy croutons tossed with a classic Caesar dressing. However, the big score was the New England clam chowder, which was rich and creamy with chunks of clams and potatoes.

The wait between appetizers and our soup and salads was typical for an upscale restaurant. What took place after is not. One of my companions ordered the lobster, and the waiter returned a few minutes later to request that he make another selection since the restaurant was out of lobster. The perplexing thing occurred when the waiter came back 30 minutes later and informed me that they were now out of veal. The menu does offer a variety of choices, so there were other items to tempt us. Unfortunately, our lovely evening went downhill from here.

After a two-hour wait, our entrÇes were served. The menu claimed the blackened scallops and shrimp came tossed in a sherry cream sauce with red onions, bell peppers, and sliced mushrooms served over angel hair pasta. This eye-catching dish, with its array of colors and sweet seafood, fell prey to a dash of cayenne pepper. The pepper overwhelmed the seafood, cut the sherry, and made it too spicy. Don’t get me wrong. I love hot and spicy food but only when the dish is intended to be that way.

The New York strip steak, the 8- and 12-ounce filets all ordered medium-well, appeared burned and had to be sent back. It is difficult to justify keeping an overcooked steak when prices are from $27 to $35. The 12-ounce filet had been ordered accompanied by creamed spinach, but what appeared on the platter were very charred spears of asparagus. At this point, the manager offered to cook our steaks himself; a gracious effort but what returned to the table were rare to medium-rare cuts of meat. One of my companions could not enjoy his steak so rare, so we took it and the overly doused-in-butter garlic-smashed red potatoes to cook at home. The highlight of the entrÇes was the blackened tuna — sushi-grade tuna topped with a roasted red pepper and fruit salsa served over wild rice and grilled asparagus. We devoured this selection, which is sad considering the best entrÇe we ordered at a steakhouse was fish.

After the three-hour ordeal, we attempted to order dessert. We ordered the baked Alaska for two and the fried cheesecake. Again, we waited, to the point we gave up and canceled the desserts. As we were leaving, the fried cheesecake was placed on our table and we all took one bite. The golden-brown and warm cheesecake had been rolled in crumbs and deep-fried. A little late, but I would recommend it highly.

Our experience at Prime Minister’s Steakhouse could have been and should have been much better. After being open for eight months, the kitchen, wait staff, and management should be getting in their groove. All in all, the wait staff and the setting were grand, but the kitchen has got to get its act together. Burning entrÇes, running out of menu staples, excessive waits, and high prices are not going to cut it. To make it among the pros of the Memphis restaurant scene, Shane’s team needs to re-group and get back to the fundamentals of quality cuisine, exceptional service, and timeliness, and then they can defend the prices they are demanding. n

Shane Battier’s Prime Minister’s steakhouse is open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Reservations are not required but may be made by calling 432-3675. Appetizers range from $7 to $12, soups and salads from $5 to $7, sides are $3 to $12, and entrÇes $18 to $36.

One of the newest additions to the downtown dining scene, Cayenne Moon sets the mood with its red walls, black wrought-iron balconies, and dim lighting courtesy of one monster of a chandelier. Definitely a scene straight out of King Creole.

To kick things off, we sampled the New Orleans lump crabcakes and the Cayenne shrimp with cool salsa. The crabcakes came packed with large pieces of white crabmeat, white onion, and a side of rémoulade sauce. The onion should have been more finely chopped, plus the crabcakes had been left in the skillet too long and were burned on the bottom. In contrast, the shrimp were blackened to perfection. The peppery seasoning of the large shrimp went well with the sweetness of the mango salsa. Our only regret was that we only had one order.

There are 26 entrées on Cayenne Moon’s menu, and if this isn’t enough, there are also nightly specials. Although we were all tempted by the charbroiled bologna steak, we chose instead the seafood étouffée, shrimp scampi, Caribbean jerk salmon, and, a special of the evening, sea scallops. First up was the scampi, introduced by the aroma of lemon and butter. This dish, with its plump pink shrimp bathed in a garlic-butter sauce tossed over angel-hair pasta, tasted as good as it smelled. Next came the seafood étouffée served over white rice. The étouffée had a light copper roux as a base, and crawfish and shrimp were its featured seafood. Unfortunately, the anticipated rich étouffée flavor didn’t exist, and it needed a lot of hot sauce, salt, and pepper to give it a kick. The menu offered a choice of dinner rolls or cornbread, but on this night cornbread was not available. We got over this disappointment quickly, however, when a plate of warm yeast rolls appeared. Seconds, please.

The filet of salmon seasoned with Caribbean jerk ordered by one of my companions appeared on a bed of grilled pineapple rings and topped with a mango salsa. The allspice combination of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon with the pineapple enhanced the fish. The flavors mingled fabulously, though the salmon was overcooked. I selected the seafood special for the evening: four bacon-wrapped sea scallops dusted with Cajun seasoning and a baked potato for the side. I thought combining the scallops with a potato and not offering rice a bit strange. The scallops had been prepared at too high a temperature and were dry, overdone, and the bacon burned. The uneventful baked potato came with sour cream and butter. The best part of the meal was the salad. Most of the entrées come with a small dinner salad. Cayenne Moon’s homemade house dressing is a very flavorful herb-packed basil vinaigrette.

We could not give up on Cayenne Moon quite yet, so we ordered hot tea and coffees and pondered the dessert selection. At this point a break was in order. And while the service at Cayenne Moon is very attentive and the atmosphere festive, the bathroom is scary. Truck-stop scary. If Cayenne Moon is going to make the type of investment they have in décor and food and demand the prices they do, then a simple, tasteful, and clean bathroom should not be out of reach.

Back to the desserts. The bread pudding was smothered in a delicious praline caramel sauce and crowned with vanilla ice cream. The dense praline cheesecake was drizzled with melt-in-your-mouth caramel. The beignets were topped with lots of powdered sugar and served with warm honey. The scalloped bananas were prepared a bit differently from the way the menu described. Instead of the bananas rolled in pecans, deep-fried, and served with warm chocolate sauce and ice cream, I got a banana cut into four pieces, rolled in chocolate, then rolled in pecans and served with vanilla ice cream. Don’t get me wrong, I have no complaints. This dessert is pure ecstasy. In retrospect, I should have ordered it first. It is most definitely the crown jewel of the desserts and maybe the entire menu.

Cayenne Moon has some areas that need a little work, but it is definitely a positive addition to downtown. It is open Monday-Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch and Tuesday-Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. for dinner. You can visit their Web site at CayenneMoon.com and take a look at their lunch and dinner menus. Appetizers range from $7.95 to $10.95, entrées from $14.95 to $39.95, and desserts from $3.95 to $7.95. Lunches range from $4.95 to $10.95.