Bud Chittom – Memphis Flyer

Well, 2018 can go ahead and take a flying leap. It was sort of a grim year in general and for the Memphis food scene particularly.

We’ll start with the bad news.

RIP

Bud Chittom died in September. He was eulogized as a legend, the force behind some 50 area restaurants — Blues City Cafe and Earnestine & Hazel’s among them. Gary Williams, chef/owner of the Creole restaurant DeJaVu, passed away in early December. He was remembered for his kindness and sense of community and was sent out in style with a second line parade in front of his restaurant.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Gary Williams

A number of restaurant breathed their last breath or were on life support as of press time. Places that closed include: LYFE Kitchen, The Kitchen, Fino’s on the Hill, Old Zinnie’s, and Fuel.

Ripped

It makes you want some booze, doesn’t it? You’re in luck as a new law passed last spring allowing wine and liquor to be sold in liquor stores on Sunday. Wine will be sold on Sundays in grocery stores starting in January.

Crosstown Brewing, selling their signature beers Siren and Traffic, opened in February at the Crosstown Concourse campus. Originally, they had planned to be inside the concourse, but logistics and those huge pillars made constructing a separate building to the west of the concourse a necessity.

Big River Distilling introduced its Blue Note Bourbon earlier this year. It’s from the folks behind Pyramid Vodka.

Media

Last spring, rumblings of a new media venture grew louder and louder. Details about the online-only nonprofit Daily Memphian came out slowly, as it was revealed that three big-name Commercial Appeal writers were jumping ship. Among them was the food writer Jennifer Biggs.

Jennifer Chandler, well-known in Memphis food circles, took over for Biggs at The Commercial Appeal.

Edible Memphis

Also last spring came the news that the food-centric journal Edible Memphis was being revived by Bill Ganus. Ganus assembled a crack team, with Brian Halweil as editor in chief and Stacey Greenberg as managing editor. The first order of business was to create a social media presence for Edible Memphis. Its Instagram is newsy and has broken a number of stories. The first issue of the new Edible Memphis is set to hit the stands in January.

New Tunes

The Vault announced its new branding as a “gastropub.” With the new moniker comes new hours and new menus. Sleep Out Louie‘s is back. The bar, known for its laid-back Sleep Out Louie character and its cast-off ties, opened in Peabody Place last spring. Caritas Village reopened with a new executive director Mac Edwards, formerly of the Farmer. Like a phoenix, Pete & Sam’s emerged from a devastating fire, with a classy new look and a full bar. Judd Grisanti paid tribute to his late father by reopening Ronnie Grisanti’s in the fall. Restaurant Iris unveiled its new look and new menu in August. Old Venice morphed into Venice Kitchen earlier this fall. The new name came with an updated look and a new menu. Strano ditched its spot in Cooper-Young for the old Jim’s Place East site in East Memphis.

P.O. Press

‘Burbs

Collierville had its restaurant game upped with the addition of P.O. Press Public House and Provisions and Raven & Lily. P.O. Press is in the former site of the Collierville Herald and before that a post office. It serves upscale Southern food. At Raven & Lily, they serve what the owner describes as “modern Southern comfort” food.

Mac Edwards

And, finally — finally! — Trader Joe’s opened in Germantown after some doubt that it ever would. Its opening wasn’t wrinkle-free, however. There was some tiny hoopla about the store handing out reusable bags printed with “Nashville.”

Hot Mess

There was a bit of an uproar when Gibson’s Donuts opened its doors to and provided one of its precious donuts to the horrible Marsha Blackburn. The owners countered that they weren’t hosting Blackburn per se, and, in any case, Blackburn was treated like any other customer.

Racks, a Hooters-like barbecue restaurant, opened in Southaven.

From Scratch

The Crosstown Concourse has been the source of a lot of food news over the past year. Opened this year were Elemento Pizza, which adheres to Neapolitan standards, and Global Cafe, which serves a delightful selection of foods from Nepal, Syria, Sudan, under the supervision of refugees from those countries. Lucy J’s Bakery also opened. All its workers earn a living wage. Saucy Chicken took over the space once occupied by the all-organic, vegetarian restaurant Mama Gaia.

Also opened this fall is Today and Always, a plant-based cafe which feeds participants of Crosstown Arts’ resident program for free. Chef Raymond Jackson has noted that working under the no-meat edict has stimulated his creativity, which shows in such dishes as its vegan pimento cheese dip and the chicken fried tofu. Bart Mallard is in charge of Crosstown’s Art Bar, which serves creative drinks, such as the Meditation of the Copulating Lizards, in the loungiest of lounge spaces.

Milk Dessert Bar serves over-the-top desserts as well as sentimental favorites. Featured on the menu is a cookie dough flight. Fam, a casual noodle restaurant, opened Downtown recently, and Mahogany, an upscale Southern restaurant with a movie theme opened in East Memphis in November.

Gray Canary, the latest from Michael Hudman and Andy Ticer, opened in January in the same building as Old Dominick Distillery. Its m.o. is that everything is cooked over an open fire. The setting, with a river view, is smokin’ hot, too.

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.