Tag: Andrew Ticer

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

The Gray Canary to Close

The Gray Canary, one of the restaurants owned by Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, is closing this week.

Asked about the move, Ticer says, “Not to say we might not open it some place else, but we’re definitely going to miss that hearth. It was a fun thing to cook on.”

The announcement was made on The Gray Canary Facebook page: “Memphians, this week (January 24-28) will be a celebration of the final week of service at The Gray Canary. As our lease comes to a close, we wish our friends at Old Dominick Distillery the best of luck as they expand their event space. The past five years at 301 S. Front St. have been memorable and we thank all of the staff and guests who have enjoyed the space over the years. Come hang out with us this week Tuesday-Saturday and celebrate everything we love about this special place.”

Another post reads, “The Gray Canary was born on a vision. From the very start, chefs and owners Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman stayed true to a dream of a restaurant in Downtown Memphis that encompassed energy, excitement, and fire. From the raw bar to the hearth, The Gray Canary is full of surprises.”

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Hungry Memphis

Hog and Hominy Opens Friday, November 5th

The bar at the new Hog and Hominy (Credit: Michael Donahue)

On entering the newly rebuilt and redesigned Hog and Hominy the other night, co-owner Michael Hudman told his wife how the restaurant has an “old Art Deco diner feel.”

From the silver metal lettered sign out front to the fluted light fixtures in the dining room and just the general vibe, the new Hog and Hominy indeed has a diner feel — a diner that serves Neapolitan-inspired pizzas instead of patty melts.

The new Hog and Hominy opens to the public Friday, November 5th.

After a fire January 9th, 2020, the new Hog and Hominy, one of the many restaurants owned by Hudman and Andrew Ticer, was rebuilt. It’s about twice as large, says general manager Evan Potts. They expanded the restaurant as far as it would go in all directions, he says. Now, entering the restaurant on the right front instead of on the left side, diners will see the bar in a separate but open area on the right and the dining room on the left.

The new Hog and Hominy (Credit: Michael Donahue)

J. D. Caldwell with Carlton Edwards Architects was lead architect. Natalie Lieberman of Collect + Curate did the interior design.

Ticer loved the fact they had a “blank slate” to work with. They were able to “reimagine” the restaurant without being confined to the former “three bedroom house” they originally had with the pre-fire structure. They were able to “think out of the box.” 

Nick Talarico instructs the staff at the new Hog and Hominy (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Front patio at the new Hog and Hominy (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Front patio at the new Hog and Hominy (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Interior of the new Hog and Hominy (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Interior of the new Hog and Hominy (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Justin Solberg is chef de cuisine at the restaurant. The fare will include “Neapolitan-inspired pizza,” Potts says. “We like to have that wood fire crust that has that little bit of toothsome-ness to it. The chew, if you will. And super thin in the middle to showcase what we put on top.”

There will be new pizzas as well as old favorites, including the Thunderbird and Red Eye.

Meet the Hog and Hominy kitchen and staff (from left): Trevor Anderson, Evan Potts, Michael Hudman, Ryan Jenniges, Ryan Dunn, Justin Solberg, Andrew Ticer, Zach Hart, Jamie Lawrence, and Ronnie Roberson. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The pizzas will be the entrees. They also will serve snacks and small plates — “Little things to share for the table.”

And, Potts says, “We do a lot of fun takes on traditional Italian fare. We like to twist it. Like taking the idea of eggplant parmesan and substituting pork belly. Italian ideas and twisting them and putting the little Southern spin on it like we do.”

They will continue to serve their craft cocktails, which Hog and Hominy is known for. For instance, Potts says, “The same old fashioned where we make the orange bitters in house.”

They also got their own barrel of Maker’s Mark whiskey from Empire Distributors to make their old fashioned cocktails.

Hog and Hominy also does its own take on the dirty martini, but instead of the usual olive juice, they make their own brine using shishito peppers, which gives it more of a “vegetable flavor,” Potts says. “You’ll still have the salty flavor, but it adds a whole other depth of flavor to it.”

Hog and Hominy is at 707 West Brookhaven Circle; (901) 207-7396

Hog and Hominy (Credit: Michael Donahue)
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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Bishop Restaurant Slated to Open in Mid-December in Central Station Hotel

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Bishop dining room

Meet “Bishop,” the newest restaurant brought to you by Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, chef/owners of Catherine & Mary’s, The Gray Canary, Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Hog & Hominy, and Josephine Estelle in New Orleans.

Bishop, a 3,500 square-foot space in the Central Station Hotel on the corner of South Main and G. E. Patterson, is slated to open to the public in mid-December.

It was named Bishop after the late Church of God in Christ Bishop G. E. Patterson.

The food will be French brasserie style served in a “more upscale environment,” says assistant general manager Pablo Villarreal. But still in a “more casual setting.”

Guests will start with “le comptoir” (the counter), which are “snacks high in acid and salt that will be great to start off to cleanse your palette and get you ready to enjoy the menu,” Villarreal says. These will include tinned seafood, which are “delicacies common in France – baby eel, baby squid, and calamari.”

They then will move on to “petite plats” (small plates), which include escargot and oysters, and “grand plats” (large plates), which include steak au poivre, chateaubriand, and lamb chops.

Desserts, including crepe cake, will be made in house by chef Kayla Palmer.

Ticer and Hudman always wanted to open a French restaurant. They worked under chef Jose Gutierrez (River Oaks chef/owner) for five years at Chez Philippe in The Peabody. “We learned our palette from him,” Ticer says.

He and Hudman fell in love with the French “philosophy and approach to food” when they went to cooking school in Southern France.

Bishop seats 130, the bar area seats 18, and a private dining room seats 18, says general manager Emily Stanford.

The interior, with its black-and-white Cathedral style flooring and lots of windows, is a perfect accompaniment to the food. The approach was “keep the old train station feel,” Villarreal says. As if you’re “still in a train station having a drink.”

Natalie Lieberman of Collect+Curate Studio with the help of art consultant Anna Wunderlich designed the interior of Bishop.

Lieberman says she “started with a story” when she began work on the restaurant. “The only info I had was the name ‘Bishop,’” she says. She began to “create a narrative.”

Earthly elements, including leaves and mushrooms, combine with objects, including keys and bells, that go along with “Bishop,” Lieberman says.

There’s also a “spiritual underlying theme” with the stars, beads, and tarot cards, she says.

A bishop’s cape from France is in a frame on one wall.

Butch Anthony of the Museum of Wonder in Alabama created the hand painting in the dining room.

“Moody and rich and textured” was the feel she was going for at Bishop, Lieberman says.

She succeeded.

Diners will agree.

Michael Donahue

Bishop

Michael Donahue

Bishop

Michael Donahue

Bishop

Michael Donahue

Michael Hudman and Andrew Ticer at Bishop.

Michael Donahue

Natalie Lieberman, Pablo Villarreal, and Emily Stanford at Bishop.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Best Bets: The Birdie Sandwich at Eight & Sand

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Chef Dorje Meta with The Birdie sandwich at Eight & Sand.

The Birdie might be the most unusual sandwich I’ve ever tasted. It’s chicken, but there’s a lot going on beneath the two slices of brioche.

It’s the most popular item on the menu at Eight & Sand, the elegant new Andrew Ticer/Michael Hudman bar in Central Station Hotel, says Dorje Meta, executive sous chef for Eight & Sand, the hotel, and the hotel’s upcoming Bishop restaurant.

The Birdie is a “wet-batter fried chicken” sandwich, Meta says. “It’s coated in Calabrian honey. We, basically, take the oil from those Calabrian peppers and we emulsify it in the honey, so it’s super spicy. And then we have a dill aioli. We make a dress slaw out of that. And then dill pickles on a brioche. It’s pretty simple, but pretty elegant little bar food.”

I asked Meta what he liked about it. “It’s got the elements of a classical chicken sandwich. It’s got the aioli and good solid brioche. I actually grill the brioche with butter. It’s a normal brioche, but it’s elevated with the dill, obviously. And that pairs really with the pickles that are already on there.”

The “genius thing” about The Birdie is that honey, Meta says. “The honey is really intense. It’s spicy. If you took a spoonful of the honey by itself it’s not fun. It would be adventurous. But on the sandwich you’re not trying to down some milk ‘cause it’s too spicy. Everything on there has a purpose.”

The spice, he says, is “balanced by the slaw. So, it’s a very balanced sandwich. You can’t really slow down when you eat it. It’s just gone.”

The sandwich was developed by Ticer and Hudman for “Birdies & Bubbles,” the pop-up restaurant they did at the the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude invitational at TPC Southwind.

So, as photographers used to say, “Watch the birdie.” But you can watch this Birdie quickly get gobbled up at Eight & Sand.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Gray Canary Sous Chef Heats Things up on Stage and in the Kitchen

Bailey Parks Patterson spent much of his 26 years trying to figure out if he wanted a career in food or music.

Patterson, now sous chef at The Gray Canary, says, “I’ve always been a big dude. I’ve always liked food. I always wanted to eat and try new things.”

But he also loved playing music after he learned to play bass in high school and joined his first bands, Voltron and Up-State.

Michael Donahue

Bailey Parks Patterson

He spent two semesters at Southwest Tennessee Community College, but he dropped out because he “couldn’t find the motivation.” He just wanted to play music.

Patterson’s first restaurant job was at Ubee’s. “Driving food around town and prepping hamburger balls,” he says. “Just goofy little things. Washing dishes.”

Six months later, he began cooking, then working as daytime manager and tending bar. “I did everything in a restaurant real quick. Figured it out slightly enough to where I was like, ‘I like this.’ It felt good doing it.”

Working at a restaurant gave him “a weird sense of confidence,” he says.

Two years later, Patterson left Ubee’s and got a job as a pizza cook at Hog & Hominy, where he worked with owners Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman. “I got to work right next to them in the kitchens a lot and learn straight from them. Learning from Mike Hudman how to extract pizza dough was pretty cool. Especially for a 22-year-old.”

He created his first pizza when the restaurant was closed because of snow. He and a couple of other cooks came in to feed the yeast starter. “We made some dough, and we were like, ‘We might as well start the oven and cook some pizzas.’ I threw some stupid stuff on a pizza.”

It was a hit. “It was like Canadian bacon and red sauce and some cheese. And some lemon zest and something else. Nothing fancy by any means. But Mike was like, ‘Hell, yeah. Snow Day Pie.’ For whatever reason, the bacon was sliced real thin and it curled up. He just freaked out.”

They ran the Snow Day pizza as a special for several weeks after the restaurant re-opened.

“It definitely fired me up,” Patterson says. He still wanted to play music, but he says, “It made sense for me to be in a kitchen because it’s like-minded people. It’s like a judgment-free zone. Everyone does their own thing, looks their own way, says what they want. We’re pirates.”

Patterson progressed to salads, desserts, and the hot line, and “just tried to learn everything that I could,” he says.

He then moved to the old Porcellino’s Craft Butcher, which also was owned by Ticer and Hudman. He joined a new band, Pillow Talk. They recorded their full-length album in Tolono, Illinois, with Matt Talbott, vocalist/guitar player from Hum, at Talbott’s “really cool, crazy studio.”

“That was definitely the coolest adventure music ever took me on,” he says.

Eight months later, Patterson moved to The Gray Canary, where he began as a cook working on the open fire hearth. He joined Overstayer, a hardcore band, a few months later.

Patterson quickly moved from cook to chef tournant, the person under the sous chef. That’s when he decided his focus was going to be on cooking instead of music. “I felt like it really clicked,” he says. “Because I always knew this is a cool thing I can do. And I feel like I’m good at it. And I’ve made my way.

“I see kids my age or older or younger coming in fresh out of culinary school who just can’t hang,” he says. “They know they have good information, but when it starts going, they can’t because they’ve never worked in a serious restaurant. So, all of the sudden it’s like, ‘I need this right now. Hey, I need this. Where’s that? This doesn’t taste right. Redo it.’ And they go down.”

Two months ago, Patterson was made sous chef.

So, how does he identify himself? A chef or a musician? “A chef,” Patterson says. “That’s the first time I’ve said that, but I guess that really is what I’m doing now. And what I want to do.”

The Gray Canary is at 301 South Front. Visit thegraycanary.com for more info.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Eight & Sand Opens in Central Station Hotel

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand opens October 24th.

Eight & Sand opens at 4 p.m. Thursday, October 24th in Central Station Hotel.

The sleek, new bar fills up the train station’s old waiting room. Travelers still can wait in the old space, but now they can wait in groupings of four to eight people at mixed Mid-Century-style tables and chairs and sip classic drinks, including martinis and Manhattans. They also can try a “Memphis Bell,” “Hurricane Elvis,” and “Knuck if you Buck” cocktails.

They also can listen to Memphis music.

The restaurant is by Andrew Michael and Andrew Ticer, who brought you Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, The Gray Canary, Catherine & Mary’s, and Hog & Hominy restaurants. Ticer and Hudman partnered with Central Station Hotel to do the bar and the upcoming Bishop restaurant, which is slated to open November 15th.

“Eight” is the highest throttle or “top speed” on the train and “Sand” stands for the sand they used to throw on the tracks so the train wheels wouldn’t slip, says Central Station Hotel food and beverage director Evan Potts. So, the name means “wish you a safe and speedy journey.”

The also Mid-Century looking bar features 10 seats as well as seats for the disabled.

The emphasis is on cozy. The vibe for Eight & Sand is “the living room of South Main.”

The look of the room is “clean” without feeling “sterile,” Potts says. “It’s so warm and so fun.”

They want Eight & Sand to be where people stop for a drink before a show at The Orpheum or other venue and then re-visit it after the performance or game, he says.

The bar menu will include “small snacks” or “share-ables,” Potts says. These will include the pimento puffed pastry, which was a popular item at the old Ticer/Hudman restaurant,  Porcellino’s Craft Butcher.

All the music is either recorded in Memphis, by Memphis artists, or about Memphis, Potts says. The console in the deejay booth is an old organ.

Vinyl records will be played by deejays, but programmed Memphis music also will be played when deejays aren’t in the booth.

So, what’s the first song to be played at the opening? “Probably ‘Melting Pot,’’” says music curator/head deejay Chad Weekley. The Booker T. & the M.G.s song is “a good track,” Weekley says. And, he says, the song “sums up our city.”

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Look at Catherine & Mary’s Menu

Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman’s fourth restaurant, Catherine & Mary’s, is set to open Monday in the Chisca building. 

The fall menu for the restaurant looks pretty fancy to me. It includes grilled quail, pate, oysters, and lamb Bolognese. 

Check it out below … 

[pdf-1]

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Hudman, Ticer To Open Restaurant in Chisca

A press release went out this morning announcing that Michael Hudman and Andrew Ticer will open their fourth restaurant downtown in the Chisca building. 

The restaurant will be called Catherine & Mary’s and will serve “traditional Italian cooking through the lens of the American South.”

From the release: 

Catherine and Mary’s, named for chefs Hudman and Ticer’s grandmothers – Catherine Chiozza and Mary Spinosa – will feature pastas, open fire cooking, and an ambience inspired by The Chisca’s historic interior. The two plan to bring to the downtown market the same vision and service that have made their East Memphis eateries successful.

“A partnership with Chase and Chance Carlisle for our first downtown project perfectly fits our priority to be a part of the revitalization of downtown Memphis,” said Michael Hudman, co-executive chef and owner of Catherine & Mary’s. Andrew Ticer, co-executive chef and owner of Catherine & Mary’s continued, ”We felt kindred spirits in both the Carlisles, and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be involved in The Chisca, particularly with it being so steeped in the story of Memphis and the city’s music.”

The entire EnjoyAM restaurant group will collaborate on Catherine & Mary’s. Hudman and Ticer have tapped Chef Ryan Jenniges, former Chef de Cuisine of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, to run the kitchen upon his return from serving as a month-long stagiaire in Bergamo, Italy. The front of house team, made up of Operations Director, Matt Farmer, Wine Director, Ryan Radish, and Beverage Director, Nick Talarico, will create the service, wine, beer, and cocktail lists to round out the experience.

Ever mindful of their community, Hudman and Ticer will continue to work with local farms, such as Hana Farm, Woodson Ridge Farms for their produce and Newman’s Farm and Claybrook Farms for their meats, sourced and cut through Porcellino’s Craft butcher.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

At the Swine & Wine for Cozy Corner

CREDIT: Frank Chin

Frank Chin

On Monday, Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman hosted Swine & Wine, a benefit for Cozy Corner, which had a fire in January. 

It was a progressive dinner with folks divided between Hog & Hominy and Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen and then switching places. The evening culminated in a block party at Porcellino’s. 

The list of participating chefs was long and impressive. Among them Felicia Willett, Kelly English, Jackson Kramer, Patrick Reilly, and Ryan Trimm. 

About 150 people packed the sold-out event, with some $20,000 raised for Cozy Corner. 

Cozy Corner is also raising funds via Go Fund Me. 

All photos are by Frank Chin.

[slideshow-1]

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Culinary creativity and craft butchery at Porcellino’s.

CREDIT: John Klyce Minervini

With its black-and-white honeycomb tile and quaint vintage tableware, Porcellino’s — the new restaurant from chefs Michael Hudman and Andy Ticer — strikes an appealingly casual note, one that is matched by its affordable menu.

Porcellino’s is essentially two shops. In the front, there’s an espresso-centric, European-style café where you can order pastries for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and small plates for supper. In the back, there’s a craft butcher shop that features traditional steaks, sausages, and cured meats — plus some truly exotic cuts.

I began with a double shot of espresso — which, for me, is kind of a big deal. I’m pathologically sensitive to caffeine, so I usually draw the line at a single cup of green tea in the morning.

It was worth making the exception. The espresso — a Metropolis Redline blend — was like an awakening. It had a thick, creamy body and a beautiful crema, with notes of honey and lavender in the finish. Pair it with a couple of Bomboloni ($2) — fluffy Italian donuts — and you’re ready to take on the world.

“I want our coffee to be a craft experience,” says head barista Destiny Naccarato. “And that means eliminating guesswork. It means timing everything out, measuring it, weighing it.

“I actually think the first sip should be a little shocking,” she adds.

John Klyce Minervini

Apple Cider

On to small plates. When building their menu, chefs Hudman and Ticer say they were inspired by their friend the late Mark Newman of Newman Farm. The word “porcellino” means “baby pig” in Italian, and many dishes were created to showcase the farm’s heritage pork and lamb.

“We kept asking ourselves,” says Ticer, “why do we have to go to New Orleans to get boudin? Why do we have to go to St. Louis to get decent cured meat? We can do those things at least as well as anybody else. Hell, we can do them better.”

One of my favorite dishes was the Collard Green Dumplings ($9). Loaded with collards from Woodson Ridge Farms, spicy nduya sausage, Calabrian chili oil, and Newman Farm pork belly, these demure little rice paper packets pack a punch. But if you can stand the heat, they’ll reward you. Drizzled with benne oil — an aromatic, nutty oil derived from an heirloom ancestor of the sesame seed — they are interestingly tangy and peppery.

John Klyce Minervini

Ash Flour Pita

For those seeking something less spicy, I recommend the Ash Flour Pita — stippled with melted cheese and marinated olives — or the New Orleans-style boudin, served with pickled onions over corn bread porridge.

But Porcellino’s is first and foremost a butcher shop, so I decided to take a tour with head butcher Aaron Winters.

“You remember how, in The Brady Bunch, they had Sam the Butcher?” asks Winters. “That’s what I want. I want people to say, ‘Aaron’s my butcher.’ I want to start the conversation again.”

Naturally, the conversation will include things like tenderloin and pork chops. But part of Winters’ mission at Porcellino’s is to introduce Memphians to more uncommon cuts of meat. Things like bavette — a strip of beef loin that runs along the ribcage — and spider steak — named for its web-like pattern of marbling.

“In America,” Winters says, “most of these cuts get ground up for hamburger, so we never even see them. Which is a shame, because they are some of the tastiest parts of the whole animal.”

To learn about bavette and spider steak, Winters spent the summer in Italy. There he studied with Dario Cecchini, the world’s foremost master butcher, and Filippo Gambassi, scion of an ancient Italian salumi dynasty.

It probably goes without saying, but Winters is the only person within 300 miles of Memphis with that kind of training. Why don’t you pay him a visit and let him recommend something?