Tag: Aldo Dean

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We Recommend We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: Bardog Tavern Sweet 16 Alley Party

Michael Blackmer and Scott Nivens (Photos: Michael Donahue)

The Bardog Tavern Sweet 16 Alley Party was held September 8th in Center Lane Alley and inside Bardog Tavern at 73 Monroe Avenue.

The bar, owned by Aldo Dean, opened in 2008, but the first alley party was held in 2009. It grew into the Monroe Avenue Fest, a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital fundraiser that included the Breakaway Bardog 5K, a dunk tank, and Grandma’s Heavenly Meatball Eating Contest. Monroe Avenue between Main Street and Front Street was blocked off. 


Melissa Griffin and
Eric Bourgeois

Aldo Dean

Alexis Saunders and
Jalisha Toy

“That was all pre-pandemic stuff,” says the bar’s marketing and events director Eric Bourgeois. “That was a huge thing to put on.”


Earl Hines and Stacey Bowens
Duncan Aiken and Julien Salley Jr.

This was more intimate. It featured Rowdy and the Strays, and DJ Michael Blackmer. People ate hamburger sliders grilled outdoors, played corn hole, and participated in raffles. “This was back to the basics: ‘Hey, thanks for being friends, neighbors, pals,’” Bourgeois says. It was “a celebration of all the friendships we made and maintained.”


Colbey Lamberth and Morgan Heimbach

Joe Paschka and Aly Demzik

Sitting at the bar, Colbey Lamberth says, “Aldo is a maverick at bars and restaurants that fit the Memphis scene. There’s something about Bardog. I love this place.” 

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Hungry Memphis

Memphis Brewfest Returns

Beer was the thing at the 2019 Memphis Brewfest. The expanded event returns this year. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Memphis Brewfest is returning, but under a new name and with an additional event.

 “Memphis Brewfest Weekend” will be held Oct. 16th and 17th at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Memphis Brewfest, with all the beer, will be Oct. 16th. And the new addition, “Memphis Brunchfest,” will be Oct. 17th. With brunch and more beer.

The last Memphis Brewfest was held in May 2019.

More than 50 breweries will be showcasing their beer at this year’s Brewfest, says event coordinator Eric Bourgeois, marketing director for Packed House Productions, which is presenting the event along with Good Beer Events. Packed House Productions is the parent company of the Aldo’s restaurants, which include Aldo’s Pizza Pies, Bardog Tavern, Slider Inn, and Momma’s.

Brewfest, which will be held from 3 to 7 p.m., will feature more than 150 beers, ciders, and seltzers “from around the country and a few international breweries as well,” Bourgeois says. Food from area restaurants will be available.

Partiers at the 2019 Memphis Brewfest. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Brunchfest, which will be held from noon to 3:30 p.m., also will be presented by the Arcade, Hattie B’s, and Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, all of which will provide the brunch items. 

“We will have beer, but the big thing at Brunchfest is the Old Dominick’s Distillery Bloody Mary bar,” Bourgeois says.

Guests will be provided ingredients to create their own Bloody Marys. “Old Dominick is providing the vodka.”

And, Bourgeois says, “We’ll have bottomless mimosas for those that aren’t too into the Bloody Mary.”

They also will have “a considerable amount of beer and seltzer. So, if they can’t make that Brewfest experience, fear not.  They’ll be able to get the boozy experience Sunday.”

JJ Wilson the DJ will provide “the vibes for imbibing” during Memphis Brewfest Weekend.

Cost of the events are $45 for general admission Brewfest tickets, which include “unlimited samples from 50 breweries and cideries from across the country. They can sample food from local Memphis eateries. And craft vendors will be there.”

Brewfest VIP tickets will be $100.  That gets you “all of the above, plus Fast Pass Entry into the festival, access to the VIP lounge at the Memphis Tigers football locker room, all-you-can-eat buffet, and VIP exclusive specialty beers and ciders.”

Eric Bourgeois at the 2019 Memphis Brewfest. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

And, Bourgeois says, the VIP ticket will include “most importantly, private restrooms.”

Brunchfest admission is $50. That ticket “adds even more boozy fun for the weekend warrior.”

As for Covid-19 precautions, Bourgeois says they will not enforce showing proof of vaccination, but they are “operating under the same safety measures by the host venue, the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.”

Tickets will not be available at the gate this year. Go to memphisbrewfest.com to secure tickets because they are anticipating a sell-out crowd, Bourgeois says.

Eric Bourgeois, Aldo Dean, and Michael Donahue at the 2019 Memphis Brewfest.
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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Slide on In: A Visit to the Downtown Slider Inn

When it comes to building restaurants that are the embodiment of a guy in a baseball cap with a rescue dog, no one does it better than Aldo Dean, who has taken eye-rolling double entendres and clap-back food descriptions on menus and elevated the concepts to become some of Memphis’ most beloved dining and drinking establishments. Some of his best work is on display at the second location of Slider Inn, located Downtown at 363 Mulberry.

Dean, the man behind Bardog Tavern, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, and others, went grandiose with the new Slider, taking everything that works at the Midtown location and amplifying it into an indoor-outdoor playground of Jameson slushies, dog-friendliness, and ample bar offerings. One hardly knows where to start the journey through the Downtown Slider, but I’ll start at the downstairs bar.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

The bar in the downstairs portion of the main building is Slider’s largest and, on the rainy night I visit, still full and being tended by Rondi McNeal. The main downstairs dining area has massive garage doors that can and will open to the outside on nicer days. Above it lurks the “Lift,” more of a private dining option for parties who want to get weird on its sprawling leather couches.

Next door to the main building, accessible via covered walkway, is the “Garage,” which houses yet another bar, more TVs, and, like its sister bar nearby, the ability to open to the elements. Finally, there’s “Slider Out,” an outdoor area featuring the Tapbox, Slider’s mobile beer cart, and the Slider Rider, their food truck.

Emboldened by the massive amount of space they now have to sling food and beverages, Slider’s Downtown menu is also larger. It features lobster popcorn, made of tempura-fried chunks of lobster served over popcorn, and vegan buffalo wings made of tofu and cauliflower, among several other new menu items.

Though Slider has a new, additional location and new menu items, the Jameson stays the same. As it should.

Not to be outdone, the slushie machine is also larger to accommodate for the popularity of their Jameson slushies. “It’s bigger, and we’re still constantly filling it up,” assistant manager Ariana Geneva says with the confidence of a woman in charge of a larger slushie machine.

The new Slider will also feature a chilaquiles bar, opening in the spring, where the weekend brunch crowd can pay a set amount and build custom chilaquiles.

Beyond the name recognition, it’s the location’s décor that gives it away as one of Dean’s thoughtfully planned restaurants. The Downtown Slider has an industrial feel owing to its former existence as the Kisber truck garage. Marketing manager Eric Bourgeois points out that it’s a great example of adaptive reuse, and I agree because, any second, I’m afraid that Rammstein will come out and play a set.

All its restrooms are unisex, lit by dangling mannequin hands clutching bulbs. The theme is wrought iron, the window treatments are Jameson bottles, and the thoughtful details can best be described as toolbox-chic.

Slider Out is its most notable game-changer, as it will operate as its own entity once the weather warms, the South Mainers descend from their loft spaces, and Memphis in May plunges the city into chaos and beer.

Food will be handled by the Slider Rider and beers by the Tapbox, freeing up the indoor bars and kitchen to cater to a separate set of masses. Tabs will not translate between the outdoor and indoor spaces; outdoor tabs will be handled via a different payment platform. Soon Slider Out will morph into its own event space with a stage for music and screenings.

Much remains the same when sliding out of Midtown and into Downtown, though. Happy hour still includes $1 off select drafts, domestic bottles, well booze, and house wines from 5 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The bar caters to its canines with an outdoor dog water fountain and dog biscuits available.

And the staff of Aldo Dean’s bar empire, over 200 strong now, is still content to lube up the city with a Jameson slushie or five as we rapidly approach Patio Season 2020.

Slider Inn Downtown is located at 363 Mulberry Street.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

UPDATE: Bardog (Once Again) Reopens

Bardog Tavern/Facebook

Well, that sump pump officials with Bardog Tavern bought yesterday must have worked. The bar is open, once again, after a flood in the basement closed the popular Downtown spot yesterday. (See original post below.)
 

UPDATE: Bardog (Once Again) Reopens (2)

(PREVIOUS POST) Bardog Tavern is, once again, temporarily closed as bar owners and city officials deal with issues related to a collapsed sewer line, according to bar owner Aldo Dean.

The closure is the this bar’s fifth since September 21st. Dean said in a Facebook post Thursday the restaurant’s basement flooded after a city contractor damaged a water main.

Dean said the whole situation “has been disheartening to say the least.” It was unclear on Thursday afternoon when the bar would re-open.

See Dean’s full statement in this Facebook post:

UPDATE: Bardog (Once Again) Reopens

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Slider Inn – South Main Slated to Open in Mid November

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

‘The Llift’ at Slider Inn – South Main

Michael Donahue

The main bar at Slider Inn-South Main

Aldo Dean’s new Slider Inn – South Main, which is slated to open in mid November, can be characterized as “clean, minimal, industrial, modern,” says Eric Bourgeois, marketing director for Packed House productions, which also includes Dean’s other businesses: Aldo’s Pizza Pies, Bardog Tavern, the original Slider Inn in Midtown, and Momma’s.

The bar/restaurant encompasses about a block at the corner of Talbot and Main. The address is 363 Mulberry – the street that runs behind Slider Inn.

The building, which dates to 1946, previously housed a storage space for vintage trucks and automobiles. Original neon truck signs from “Kisber Auto Parts,” which also occupied the space at one time, will be reinstalled.

Entering Slider Inn, guests will see the “Wow Wall,” which will feature a mural of the neon sign at the original Slider Inn.

Looking up, they’ll see the illuminated 2000 Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle with custom features, including a “suicide shift.”

Looking up, people also may see Dean’s dad, Aldo Ragnacci, doing some construction work on the place.

Robert Johnson, master woodworker, executed Dean’s vision for the wrap-around black walnut bar, which is the centerpiece of the room. The bar is mounted on top of a modular die bar system, which supports all the under bar appliances, Bourgeois says.

The lighting fixtures above the bar were inspired by New York designer Lindsey Adelman. They feature curved hand-blown glass shades with industrial clamps and Edison light bulbs.

In front of the bar is a 12-foot-long community table built by Joe Boyd of Woodland Tree Service. One side of the table features a 12-foot-long foot rail for customers who like to rest one of their feet while having a sip or two. Slider Inn will feature a menu of new drinks as well as its signature drink, the Jameson Slushie – Jameson Irish whiskey, fresh-squeezed lemonade, ginger beer, and bitters.

The six enormous windows on the South side already are filling up with empty Jameson whiskey bottles. The ones in Slider Inn so far are from the Midtown location. Each window will be full of the bottles, which will be “hand decorated” by patrons after they finished the contents. That will be about 120 bottles per window or 720 total, Bourgeois says.

The kitchen is done in stainless steel. That’s just about everything – from all the appliances to the ceiling. This is where chefs will prepare all the items from the Slider Inn in Midtown as well as some new items, including “lobster popcorn.” This delicacy features tempura-battered lobster nuggets mixed in with the buttered popcorn and house-made sauce. Reuben egg rolls and Cuban egg rolls also will be served – one of each on the same plate.

Dean always wanted a mezzanine in one of his businesses, Bourgeois says. So, now he’s got one. It’s called “The Lift” – a nod to the lift that workers use in garages to get under vehicles. The Lift overlooks the bar/seating area.

The room is designed as a great hangout area or can be used for events, including birthday parties. Guests – the room can accommodate around 20 people – can relax on a long leather sofa and watch wide-screen TV. They also can relax on the custom-made “Roman Bed” with pillows that give the space a casual, “lounge-y feel,” Bourgeois says.

Vintage truck tailgates fill the area above the bed. Garage “creepers” – the boards on rollers workers use to slide under cars and trucks – also are used as decorations.

Looking up again, patrons will see a vintage 14-foot steel playground slide – the kind that used to burn your behind on hot days – hanging from the ceiling. It’s a nod to a similar slide on top of Slider Inn Midtown.

The chandelier is made from Tennessee license plates bent into a circle.

The courtyard on the North side of Slider Inn features more seating. Dean even thought of his canine friends. A dog-height drinking fountain just for Fido stands next to a fountain for adults.

On the other side of the courtyard is “The Garage Bar.” It features another bar and more seating. The sleek long tables, which are built in a waterfall design, are made of spruce pine.

Garage doors can be pulled up when the weather is pleasant.

It’s a “separate eatery,” Bourgeois says, but all food will come from the same menu and the same kitchen. Guests on both sides will be able to dine at the chilaquiles buffet during Saturday and Sunday brunch.

All that is Slider Inn.

“Slider Out” is the grassy area that fronts Main Street. It’s an “outdoor event space,” which will eventually include live music, Bourgeois says.

Or, as Dean calls it, “Prime grassy real estate on South Main.”

And – it all this isn’t enough – Slider Out will show movies outside on a wall, which will be covered with white vinyl. People can rent Adirondack chairs and blankets and “cozy up,” Bourgeois says.

Michael Donahue

Slider Inn – South Main

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

The Garage Bar at Slider Inn-South Main

Michael Donahue

The Garage Bar at Slider Inn-South Main

Michael Donahue

General manager Billy Williams, Eric Bourgeois, Aldo Dean, operations director Bobby Heath, assistant manager Chelle Morgan at Slider Inn-South Main.

Michael Donahue

Matthew Hubbard, bar manger at Slider Inn-South Main.

Michael Donahue

Aldo Ragnacci

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Building Owner Says Dirty Crow Not Going in Uptown Space

CREDIT: Dirty Crow/Facebook

Google Maps

The building’s owner says this will not — after all — be the new location of The Dirty Crow Inn.

A widely shared, commented, and liked Facebook post from what appears to be the official page for The Dirty Crow Inn wrongly reported this week that the well-loved bar was moving to Uptown, according to the owner of the building.

That post said the Crow was moving to 612 N. 5th Street in Uptown. However, the owner of that building said late Thursday that it isn’t.

“I am the owner of the building and I wanted you to know that we will not be able to have the Crow relocate to that property due to the residential neighborhood and other restrictions,” wrote Robert Malone in an email Thursday.

The building, instead, will be used as a commercial kitchen and an AirBnB, Malone said.

So far, it is unclear where the information came from in the original post. It is also unclear where — if anywhere — the Dirty Crow will be relocated.

This information is an update to our original report on the matter yesterday, which we based solely on the Facebook post (see below).

We’ll update this story as details become available.

Here’s our original story:    

Owners of The Dirty Crow Inn say the restaurant and bar “is not finished” and hope the crow will rise like a Phoenix in a new spot next year.

A Facebook post from the Dirty Crow Wednesday noted that the restaurant/bar is no longer at its original spot on Kentucky, just south of Crump. Memphis restaurateur Aldo Dean, told the Flyer’s Michael Donahue Wednesday that the Crow’s old location is now a trucker-themed restaurant and bar called Momma’s Roadhouse.

Dirty Crow owners said in that Facebook post that they kept the the Dirty Crow name, “and all the yummy recipes, which can’t be sold at any other location.”

“The Dirty Crow Inn is not finished!,” they wrote. “We are in the process of renovating a new location for everyone to come and get their wing fix on, with a cold beer, mixed drink, or wine. We are hoping to be open around the first of the year, and we will be posting updates on the new building as it is coming along…”

Google Maps

The building’s owner says this will not — after all — be the new location of The Dirty Crow Inn.

A later update to that post said the new Dirty Crow will be located at 612 N. 5th Street in the Uptown neighborhood. (Again, this information appears to be wrong.) The post predicted that “The Dirty Crow Inn 2.0 will be bigger and better for the year 2020.”

“We will continue to bring music and adding more to our menu,” reads the post. “We are also entertaining the idea of adding breakfast as well.”

Building Owner Says Dirty Crow Not Going in Uptown Space

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Aldo Dean’s “Momma’s Roadhouse” will have Trucker Theme


10-4. Aldo Dean’s restaurant, Momma’s Roadhouse (formerly The Dirty Crow Inn at 855 Kentucky), is going to be a trucker bar. The restaurant/bar now is open, but the facelift is on its way.

“We’re going to make it a trucker-themed bar,” says Dean. “And there’s not a trucker-themed bar in America. There are truck stops, but no trucker-themed bars. It’s close to the highway. ‘Diner and Dive on Highway 55.’”

Dean, who also owns Bardog Tavern, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, and the Slider Inns, already is collecting trucker-related items for Momma’s Roadhouse. “Street signs, highway signs. A six-foot ‘Wide Load’ sign. ‘No Dumping Allowed.’ That sign. A knife and fork from a highway sign. It shows there’s a restaurant at the next exit. We’ll have signs like that.”

Other trucker-related decor? “We’re putting cowboy boots, trucker hats, CB radios, belt buckles on the walls. It’s going to be filled with dive-y kitsch. That’s long term. That’s the plan heading into 2020.”

Dean bought the property after he learned the owner wanted to sell the building. “So, we made him a good offer. And that was part of the deal – that we could own the property with an operating restaurant on it. It’s already called ‘Momma’s Roadhouse.’ We’re going to keep it dive-y. Keep it a dive bar.”

It has a new menu. “It’s burger heavy. But we really just needed a fast transformation. We had an agreement to keep it ‘Dirty Crow’ for six months. Six months is over.”

For now, they’re “getting to know the clientele,” Dean says. “The Dirty Crow was heavy on wings, but the Dirty Crow supposedly is going to open in another location. So, he (the former owner) is going to keep that menu. That’s going to be his thing.

“We want to do some fun drink specials. We want to start drink specials early because Momma drinks early. We want people to join her.”

Momma’s Roadhouse is going to be “21 and over,” Dean says. “I think a true bar is a place adults can go and drink when they’re happy or sad. And dives are named such because they’re often in the basement or cellar of a building, so you kind of had to dive down deep to get in those bars. And dives are traditionally disreputable places. I don’t think that’s so true anymore.

“Our place will be spick and span. But we’ll have a place open to 3 a.m. and entertain people from the neighborhood at night and continue to serve huge lunch crowds that are in that area. We have busy lunches there every day and there’s not a place to sit. A lot of industrial workers down there, guys (who) go to work in a uniform.”

They’ve been getting workers from the “Mack truck store down the street, the Hershey plant, workers from Presidents Island.”

Momma’s Roadhouse will do dollar wings on Wednesdays. And, Dean says, “In the future, an industry brunch on Mondays for restaurant people who work late on Sundays.”

Their menu is “a work in progress. We’re still tooling with the menu, but we hope to roll out a complete menu sometime in November.”

And they’re adding darts shortly and a pool table on the deck in the near future, Dean says.

As for those big trucks, parking at Momma’s Roadhouse is convenient for truckers, Dean says. “They can park on Kentucky Street here instead of going into the interior of the city. It’s difficult to have a big rig Downtown. It’s a good place for them to have a hot meal and a cold beer at the end of the long haul.”

Truckers can “come off the highway, conveniently park and eat at Momma’s, and roll back onto the road.”

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News News Blog

Downtown Business Owners Urge Tom Lee Park Renovation

CREDIT: Aldo's Pizza Pie's, Catherine And Mary's, The Majestic Grille (Facebook)

Aldo’s Pizza Pie’s, Catherine And Mary’s, The Majestic Grille (Facebook)

Owners of nearly 70 Downtown businesses support the renovation of Tom Lee Park

Owners of well-known Downtown restaurants — Aldo’s Pizza Pies, The Majestic Grille, Catherine and Mary’s, and more — say they, and nearly 70 Downtown businesses fully support a renovated Tom Lee Park. (Read the letter in full at the bottom of the story.)

The group made public Thursday a letter of support it sent to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in June. The letter urged Strickland to move ahead with the Mississippi River Park Partnership’s (MRPP) $60 million plan for the park.

That plan adds contours, trees, facilities, and more to the now-wide-open Tom Lee Park. The plan was unveiled in February and raised concern for Memphis In May (MIM) officials, worried that their month-long festival would not fit inside the new park.

Studio Gang

A view of Tom Lee Park from Studio Gang’s 2017 Riverfront Concept Plan.

That concern simmered to a boil for some citizens, afraid the new plan is taking precedent over the MIM tradition. A Facebook group called “Save Tom Lee Park & The Festivals” has nearly 2,500 members. Another Facebook group called “Memphis-Wake Up Save Memphis In May, Riverside Dr. and Tom Lee Park” and signs for another group read, “Let Tom Lee Be.”

The group of Downtown business owners said they want to set straight “recent inaccurate news reports that the majority of Downtown businesses are opposed to the transformation of Tom Lee Park and other misinformation being disseminated on social media.” They say ”a world-class, riverfront park that is activated 365 days per year will be better for business, better for Downtown, and better for Memphis as a whole.”
[pullquote-1] “We need this park to happen” said Andy Ticer, partner in Catherine and Mary’s and The Gray Canary. “Downtown has seen such positive growth over the past two decades, and because of this momentum, we chose to open two signature Downtown restaurants.

“A re-envisioned Tom Lee Park affirms ours and others’ investments in Downtown, and helps our businesses and Memphis continue to move forward.”

The group said they collectively employ thousands of people and generate tens of millions of dollars in annual tax revenues for the city. The group includes creative agencies, developers, retailers, major corporations, tourist destinations, “and contrary to the official stance of the Memphis Restaurant Association, over 40 restaurants and bars.”

Studio Gang

“I hate to think that all the joys of Memphis are relegated to just one month in the springtime,” said Aldo Dean, owner and operator of Bardog Tavern, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, and Slider Inn. “While I understand the economic impact of May’s festivities, as an owner of multiple Downtown businesses, I’d rather see my chosen city benefit from the year-long activity and density that a single month’s revenue can’t hope to match.
[pullquote-2] “The re-imagination of the riverfront seeks to deliver it from the dormancy of mediocrity. The prototype at River Garden exists as a glimpse of the long-term vision of this much needed improvement, and any argument against the proposal is short-sighted and self-defeating.”

The letter was delivered to Strickland on June 26. It says ”pedestrian connections between the Downtown core and the riverfront are crucial for Memphis to continue to be an attractive hub for headquarters, creative agencies, and entrepreneurs, for our identity as a top tourist destination, and for our continued growth as the most diverse, inclusive neighborhood in the MidSouth.”

City of Memphis

Strickland

Renovation construction was slated to begin right after the festival ended this year. It was pushed back to the fall in May. Strickland announced in late July that MIM would return to the park next year, be held at an alternate location in 2021, and return to Tom Lee Park in 2022.

“We are pleased that Mayor Strickland has shown such strong leadership and vision by announcing that this project is moving forward,” said Patrick Reilly, co-owner of The Majestic Grille. “The revised timeline ensures Memphis in May ample time to plan for alternate sites in 2020 and almost two years to plan the evolution of the festival to the new space and a new era.

“We’re looking forward to experiencing a new and improved festival and a world-class park that both reflect the current trajectory of our great city.”
[pullquote-3]
Bruce VanWyngarden

Tom Lee Park model at Beale Street Landing.

[pdf-1]

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Five Spot’s new menu; Aldo’s Midtown now open.

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

A restaurant in the back of a dive bar doesn’t seem like a promising place. But when it involves chef Kelly English, you rethink things.

The restaurant is Five Spot. The dive bar is Earnestine & Hazel’s. And English did the menu.

“I would describe it as fancy shitty bar food,” English reflects. “The kind of thing I would wanna eat in college when I was drunk.”

Must have been quite a college. Take the Watch Yo’ Head sweetbreads ($12). For those who don’t know, sweetbread is another name for the thymus gland, a brain-like organ in the neck.

In other words, as SNL‘s Linda Richman might say, neither sweet nor a bread.

But in this case, quite tasty. English’s bright idea lies in treating the spongy organ like a buffalo wing — double-frying it and dousing it with all manner of tasty sauces: buffalo sauce, buttermilk drizzle, and crumbled blue cheese. Personally, I had never really gotten into sweetbreads. But these will remind you of fried oysters. Try them.

At least as interesting as the menu is the space itself. Back in the ’20s, before it was a dive bar, Earnestine & Hazel’s was a pharmacy, the place where entrepreneur Abe Plough developed his revolutionary hair-straightening cream. And then, of course, there was the brothel, which started around World War II.

“When we bought it in the ’90s,” remembers owner Bud Chittom, “there were still whores upstairs. Russell [George] and I were worried they would go on strike.”

Five Spot’s interior carries traces of both the pharmacy and the brothel, but it has been pleasingly updated for the new millennium. Rustic brick walls and brass table tops are offset by modern furnishings and globed light fixtures. The design, says Chittom, is an homage to Earnestine & Hazel’s proprietor Russell George, who died in 2013.

“We took our cues from what Russell would have wanted it to be,” he says.

Before you ask: The Soul Burger ($6) isn’t going anywhere. English says it has saved his life far too many times for that. But if you’re feeling adventurous, you might instead try the Chicken Skin BLT ($10). Here, deep-fried chicken skin replaces bacon in the classic formulation, and the results are frankly dreamy.

“I think Earnestine & Hazel’s is a lot like Memphis,” muses English. “Everything here is broken, but it works. Nothing is perfect, but there’s a lot that’s really special.”

In recent years, a clutch of food businesses have opened along Cooper: Tart, Soul Fish, Philip Ashley Chocolates, Cooper Street 20/20, Memphis Made Brewing, and Muddy’s Grind House, to name a few. And you know what that means?

It means Memphis may finally knit Overton Square and Cooper Young into a single shopping-dining district. Call it Overton Cooper. Call it Cooperton Squang. Call it whatever you want — but let’s make it happen.

The latest stitch in this promising tapestry is Aldo’s Pizza Pies. Its new location occupies the old Two Way Inn, just across the street from Memphis Made Brewing Co. Formerly a forgettable beige box, the building has been heavily remodeled, and the results are contemporary and inviting.

Justin Fox Burks

Aldo’s Pizza Pies

Chief among its charms is the rooftop patio — the only one in Midtown, says owner Aldo Dean. Kissed by the sun and cooled by breezes, it’s the kind of place where you can forget about work for an hour.

Aldo’s menu — consistently tasty — remains largely unchanged from the downtown location. Everyone talks about the garlic knots, but have you tried the stuffed peppers ($8)? Loaded with goat cheese and marinara, they make an appealing crostini for summer.

Justin Fox Burks

Stevana Mangrum

As far as the pizza, I stand by old favorites like the Vodka Pie and the Trippy Truffle. But lately, I discovered a new winner in Bring Out the Gump ($17). Here, a savory poblano cream sauce is complemented by fresh basil, onion, and sun-dried tomato. The grilled shrimp only sweetens the deal.

Looking to take in a Grizzlies game? Order a pint of the Memphis Made Plaid Attack ($5) and belly up to the bar. This limited-edition Scottish ale combines a solid malt backbone with notes of cherry and chocolate — perfect for a tense fourth quarter.