Tag: Brass Door Irish Pub

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

The news from the Brass Door and Pontotoc

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

The Gate Clock Bar in the Dublin airport is the place for those leaving Ireland to get their last real pint of Guinness. It was there, at around 6 a.m. some 15 years ago, that Patrick Reilly met Seamus Loftus. They were introduced by Patrick’s wife Deni.

A couple weeks ago, Loftus and the Reillys were at the bar at the Brass Door talking over, yes, a pint of Guinness. The Reillys, who own the Majestic Grille and run the Front Porch, were brought in as consultants to bring order at the Brass Door, which is owned by Loftus and Meg and Scott Crosby.

“It’s a selfish project for us,” says Deni. The Reillys felt a connection to the Brass Door. They loved the building, saw the potential. Downtown should have an Irish pub, they thought. A place where soccer fans can gather and watch the games. What the Brass Door needed, they believed, was just a little guidance.

“The team needed a new captain,” says Loftus. “We found a new captain.”

The Brass Door, which had closed in July, reopened in early November. The pub was given a good cleaning, and equipment was updated. A new staff was hired. The Reillys sought to bring consistency to the pub’s hours, the service, and the food.

Some of the Brass Door’s tried-and-true favorites remain on the menu. The fried goat cheese is there, as are the hand-cut fries, Shepherd’s Pie, and the BELT sandwich.

One new dish is the Vegetable and Chickpea Balti. Balti is a Pakistani curry. This is Patrick’s nod to Birmingham, England’s soccer culture and its large Pakistani population.

They’ve also upped the Irish on their drinks menu. There’s Mangers Irish Cider and Murphy Goode wines. They’re also aiming to have the most extensive collection of Irish whiskeys in the city, including the Dubliner, Sexton, and Power’s John’s Lane. Among their speciality cocktails is the Caskmates Stout Pairing with Jameson Caskmates Stout mixed with Guinness and the Black Barrel Old Fashioned made with Jameson Black Barrel. There is, of course, Irish coffee.

One more thing: The Brass Door is now completely smoke-free, even the smaller side bar.

Deni says once word got out that they were reopening the place, she was flooded with texts and emails. “People have real feelings about this Irish pub.”

“It’s the old Door and the new Door,” Loftus says. “It’s the future and the past.”

Brass Door is open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Special early-morning Saturday and Sunday hours for international soccer matches.

Daniel Masters has a lot on his plate these days. The owner of Silly Goose recently opened the jazz bar Pontotoc in the old Cafe Pontotoc space and is now making the finishing touches on Civil Pour, a bar inside the food hall South Main Market, which will have its grand opening on December 2nd.

Masters says that when the Cafe Pontotoc space opened up for rent, there was a lot of interest. He, for one, wanted a spot that was still downtown but a bit away from all the foot traffic where Silly Goose is located. He wanted to spread his culinary wings a bit.

Masters is partnered with Jeremy Thacker-Rhodes and Matthew Thacker-Rhodes. They stuck with the name because they simply liked it. It means “land of hanging grapes” in Chickasaw.

Pontotoc opened in mid-October. Chef Chris Yuer is in charge of the kitchen. The menu can be described as Mississippi Southern: PBR Boiled Peanuts, Alligator Filet Fritters, Sister Schubert Beignet with sour cream gelato … There’s also duck confit, pot roast, and pork belly.

Pontotoc’s cocktail menu features the classics — Side Car, Manhattan, and Moscow Mule. And there are seasonal Old Fashioneds and Daiquiris. The winter Old Fashioned includes pecan bitters.

For the space, the owners carved a cute, sorta enclosed patio out front and brought in a large chandelier as a focal point for the interior. They took out a divider to make a larger dining space and covered up a window looking into the kitchen with a back mirror.

They added a piano, too, all the better for this jazz bar specializing in classic jazz from all eras. They’ll have live music Thursday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Friday through Saturday 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.

As for Civil Pour, Masters says he’s still working on the identity of the place. He says he’s leaving the Jell-o shots at Silly Goose and is envisioning top-notch charcuterie plates and old school cocktails like a Sazerac made with French cognac.

Pontotoc is open Monday through Friday 4-11 p.m., and Saturday 2 p.m.-midnight, and Sunday 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

The Brass Door expands.

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

It’s 9 a.m., and the Guinness stout is pouring. The Brass Door’s newly opened room rings with shouts, laughter, and loud conversations in Irish accents, lilting and growled.

“It’s 3-o’clock in Dublin,” an early celebrant announces, turning up a freshly drawn pint of mother’s milk while someone else turns up the volume on a big screen TV. The bar’s co-founder Seamus Loftus, born in the town of Killala in County Mayo, describes the casual new room as being like a country pub. “Like where I’m from,” he says, contrasting it with his slicker “city pub” next door.

Normally the bar would be closed and quiet at this hour, and all these rowdy fellows would be at home behaving themselves. But it’s the day of the All-Irish soccer final, and Loftus has pitched a special little get-together for old country friends and football fans. Very soon — possibly within the next week — the all-purpose pub will open early for everybody, with weekday breakfasts starting at 7 a.m. and brunch on weekends.

Justin Fox Burks

“We’re actively looking for a chef to lead our kitchen,” Loftus says. “We’re going to start doing evening meals as well.” This is all just the beginning of an ambitious expansion capped by the transformation of the abandoned Burger King across Madison into a green space with a stage rigged to accommodate five-piece bands, and a 40-foot projection screen.

“For me and [partner] Scott Crosby, this entire thing started out as a romantic vision,” Loftus says. “Then we labored through the reality of owning a pub and restaurant in downtown Memphis.” Soon after the Brass Door opened, a building on Madison collapsed, resulting in a prolonged street closure and hard times. But with traffic flowing again and a new pair of boutique hotels opening in the neighborhood, things are looking brighter than ever.

“We’re doubling down,” says Loftus, who now aims to throw the biggest St. Patrick’s Day party Memphis has ever seen. “And we can,” he says, “Because we’ll have a park across the street.”

To prepare for the big day, Loftus is organizing a series of events he’s calling “St. Practice Day,” held on the 17th of every month between now and March. He sees the smaller parties as an opportunity to try out new bands and new food and drink specials. “It’s a chance to build excitement and a chance to get it right,” he says, adding that the next three St. Patrick’s Days fall on weekend nights, which means they’ll be exponentially larger than normal anyway. “And we’ve only got five practice runs before the big game.”

Since opening doors in 2011, the Brass Door has been a home away from home for soccer fans. It’s also been a music venue, a downstairs comedy club, and a popular lunch spot. “We wanted this room to do everything,” Loftus says, explaining at least part of the rationale behind expansion.

“The best Irish pubs were designed to have places you can talk treason,” he says. “There are terrible versions of Irish pubs in America. We call them plastic Paddy pubs where everything’s a leprechaun. Irish pubs are designed to be integral to their community. I want to bring drama in here. To have a place where people can talk passionately.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Fries with That?

The French fry has been getting some extra love and attention at local restaurants, and patrons are taking note. It’s hard to narrow down the contenders to a top tier, but Fuel Café, Slider Inn (which is related to Bardog Tavern), and the Brass Door have really done the potato proud and are worth a taste.

At Fuel Café and in the Fuel Food Truck, the French fries are downright pampered. Owner and chef Erik Proveaux has put a lot of time and energy into creating the perfect fry. “I like them to be crispy on the outside, not greasy, and fluffy on the inside with just the right golden-brown color,” Proveaux says. To this end, he has developed a process that yields pretty consistent results.

First, he takes good old Idaho potatoes and cuts them using a wall-mounted French fry cutter. He lets them fall into a bus tub of cold water to soak for at least two hours. Then they are drained and dried on a sheet pan with paper towels. Next, he par-fries them in 300-degree peanut oil and lays them out on sheet pans to cool in front of a fan until they get to room temperature. He wraps the sheet pans, freezes the fries, and later brings them back out to thaw only enough to be separated and bagged up for use on the line.

“They are held in a small freezer in the kitchen, and when we get an order, we fry them to golden-brown deliciousness and toss them in fine sea salt,” Proveaux says.

For those who like fancy dipping sauces with their fancy fries, Fuel has them covered. They serve a plate of fries with three dipping sauces: a creamy truffle Parmesan sauce, a garlicky rouille (homemade olive-oil mayonnaise with smoked paprika and chipotle powder), and sweet chili ketchup sauce.  

Bardog Tavern and Slider Inn owner Aldo Dean says that he got into the restaurant business to sell alcohol. Since Tennessee laws require bars to sell food, Dean figured he might as well serve great food.

Bardog and Slider Inn serve the same fries except the ones at Slider Inn have a little skin on them.

“They’re quarter-inch shoestrings that are shipped in frozen and already cut,” Dean says. Dean likes the shoestring fries because they don’t have a long fry time. “Some places double fry them for extra crispiness, but we don’t have time for that,” he says.

What really sets the fries apart is the special mixture sprinkled on them when they come out. “It’s a secret blend. I can’t tell you what it is,” Dean says. After a pause, he says, “Okay, it’s salt and sugar — a 50-50 mix.”

Dean will not, however, divulge the exact recipe of the legendary bourbon mayonnaise used for dipping. “I should probably get it patented,” he jokes. It was inspired by a dip he had in a Belgian restaurant called Pomme Frite. Both of Dean’s restaurants sell a ton of fries, but Slider Inn sells considerably more due to its more limited menu.

The fries at the Irish pub the Brass Door are also making a name for themselves. Rumor has it that the secret ingredient is duck fat. “It’s all true,” owner Seamus Loftis says. “But I cannot credit the Irish — only my chef, Scott Donnelly.”

Donnelly starts with hand-cut Idaho potatoes, blanches them, and then fries them in a combination of regular fryer oil, lard, and duck fat. “The duck fat and lard impart a slightly sweeter, more potato-y flavor and help get the potato crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside,” Donnelly says.

The restaurant is currently selling about 500 to 600 pounds of French fries a week. “The hardest part is blanching and frying at the right temperatures,” Donnelly says.

The fries are available as a side or a starter. The starter features a savory house-made curry sauce.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Lunch Bunch

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Looking to break out of your downtown lunch rut? Two new choices have just made the scene.

The Brass Door, an authentic Irish pub, is bringing more lunch business to that stretch of Madison between Second and Third, across the street from Thai Bistro’s new downtown location. Seamus Loftus has taken over the old Marx-Bensdorf building, which was established in 1868, and created an ambience unlike any other downtown. And, yes, it really does have a brass door.

High ceilings, rich mahogany, and antique fixtures give the pub an established feel, as if it had long been a staple of downtown Memphis. Upstairs, an elegant dining room looks out over the bar and restaurant below.

The menu is traditional Irish fare, with staples like fish and chips (a bottle of malt vinegar sits on every table) and an Irish stew made with lamb, onions, and potatoes and served with soda bread croutons.

But the real standout items are the deep-fried goat-cheese fritters, house-made chips (french fries, served in a cornet and rumored to be fried in duck fat), shrimp on brown-bread toast with a garlic lemon butter sauce, and the hefty Irish breakfast, made with two eggs, bacon, rashers, black and white puddings, bangers, and potatoes.

For a lighter lunch, there are soups and salads, like the Ploughman’s lunch, which is a chef’s salad topped with a house-made beer vinaigrette and served with tomato chutney and soda bread.

Then again, if you’ve come to an Irish pub, you probably aren’t looking for lighter fare, so have them pour you a Guinness, crack open some Joyce, and tuck into a Dublin coddle — poached bangers, potatoes, bacon, and caramelized onions served with whole-grain mustard and cabbage.

The Brass Door, 152 Madison (572-1813)

thebrassdoor.com

Two years is a mighty long time to wait for lunch, but South of Beale owner Brittany Whisenant says that when the restaurant opened in 2009, they wanted to perfect their dinner and late-night operation before taking on the lunch crowd.

Fortunately, this gem of a gastropub in the South Main Street Historic District has decided to take the plunge. With Leadership Memphis moving in next door and a growing population of downtowners-by-day, South of Beale will begin its weekday lunch service on September 12th.

South of Beale, whose cheeky acronym “S.O.B.” and elegant bar food have attracted a following, will maintain the same general cuisine, with an emphasis on quick and affordable offerings for the lunch hour.

Sandwiches (like a roasted vegetable sandwich and a smothered chicken sandwich), salads (scallop ceviche, duck confit salad, steak salad, and shrimp salad), and soups (gumbo and vegetable noodle) will form the core of the menu. And expect to find some holdovers from the dinner menu as well, like their ever-evolving burger (now served with fried house-made mozzarella) and the hummus platter and eggrolls.

South of Beale will be open for lunch Monday through Friday and will add Saturday brunch to its already popular Sunday brunch. Whisenant says the full lunch menu will likely be available within the week, so keep your eyes peeled for a better glimpse of what you’ve been missing for two whole years.

South of Beale, 361 S. Main (526-0388)

southofbeale.com