Dylan Borczak, Noe Meza, Emerson Hyndman, Akeem Ward, Carson Vom Steeg, Luiz Fernando from Memphis 901 FC soccer (Photos: Michael Donahue)
Irish eyes are still smiling after the Memphis Irish Society/Cooper-Young St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“There was green beer flowing all over Cooper-Young that day,” says Tamara Cook, executive director of the Cooper-Young Business Association.
Patrick Reilly and DJ NaylorGina SweatTerrance Gaines and Kamilah Muhammad
The annual event drew 2,000 people this year, Cook says. “This is like the eighth one. We have them on St. Patrick’s Day every year. Next year, it will be on a Monday, although I keep asking them to have it on Sunday after the Beale Street parade. But they want to have it on the day.”
Memphis Irish Society and Celtic Crossing presented the event, Cook says. Mayor Paul Young was king of the parade and his wife Jamila Smith-Young was queen. Memphis Fire Department Chief Gina Sweat was the parade marshal.
Zach Brummett, Amy Dempsey, Lindsey Howell, Stegen Burkettback: Morgan Max, Bristol Max, Maisey Johnston, Ramanda Johnston, Keith Johnston, front: Maverick Max, Christopher Johnston, Adilay JohnstonShuntonisha Clark, Makenzie Clark, Kervin Mason, Michael Clark
This year’s parade featured 30 participants, including Memphis 901 FC soccer team, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Memphis Police Department. There were bagpipers, horses, and dancers, including the Inis Acla School of Irish Dance step dancers. DJ Naylor opened up his Celtic Crossing Irish bar/restaurant for outdoor and indoor partying.
That’s right, it’s everyone’s favorite time of the year again: Memphis Flyer Burger Week! For 2023’s celebration of the holy grail of classic American dining, we researched some of the best beef patties around and released our writers all over the city to sample some good ol’ Bluff City hamburgers. The usual suspects are out in force, while some newcomers showed off their tasty takes on ground chuck. All of the restaurants on the following pages are participating in Burger Week this year, so we went ahead and checked out what you can expect for some pretty cool $6.99 deals.
Old Bridge Burger – Loflin Yard
“Oh gee,” mused an indecisive diner during a night out on the town in Downtown Memphis. “What do I want to eat tonight? A hamburger? Some barbecue? Or maybe just a small snack of onion rings to tide me over?”
“Oh-ho!” chortled a voice just over his shoulder. “Trouble deciding what to eat tonight?”
“The Loflin Fairy!” the diner exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Why, I’m here to solve your dinnertime woes with the Old Bridge Burger at Loflin Yard.” With a flourish, the Loflin Fairy snapped his fingers to conjure a plate out of thin air, topped with a hefty burger piled with all sorts of different accouterments. The diner leaned in, eyes wide, as his salivating gaze wandered over the myriad ingredients.
“It’s got a large Angus beef patty, coleslaw, pickles, barbecue sauce … wait, is that pulled pork on top of the burger? And some fried onion rings under the top bun?”
“Indeed it is,” laughed the Loflin Fairy.
“That’s so much food!” But when the diner looked up, the Loflin Fairy had vanished, leaving him alone with the large Old Bridge Burger, a side of fries, and a frozé for good measure. — Samuel X. Cicci 7 W. Carolina Ave.
The Celtic Burger (Photo: Jon W. Sparks)
The Celtic Burger – Celtic Crossing
Celtic Crossing’s old standbys — think shepherd’s pie and bangers and mash — are splendid, but if you’re hankering for a good ol’ hamburger, you’ll get a beefy serving of satisfaction at the classic Irish pub. The Celtic Burger starts with its blended patty that is nicely seasoned and sports a satisfying topper of American cheese. There is also a “secret sauce,” which implies a certain possible leprechaun involvement, but which my taste buds and some discreet inquiries revealed to have elements of ketchup and mayonnaise (probably not from County Mayo, though).
Verdict is: delicious. Rounding it out are pickles, tomatoes, and shaved lettuce. It all sits comfortably between two halves of a potato bun liberally festooned with sesame seeds. The dish comes with thick, savory fries, as one would expect from a Hibernian kitchen. The seeded bun itself is a delight, but, as will happen with robust burgers, might not stay intact through the end. This, however, is why the Irish invented forks, so you can enjoy it to the last morsel. — Jon W. Sparks 903 Cooper St.
World Famous Huey Burger (Photo: Shara Clark)
World Famous Huey Burger – Huey’s
When’s the last time you had a World Famous Huey Burger? For me, it’s been a year. Yep, when I signed up to eat this classic for this year’s Burger Week preview, I’d forgotten I volunteered to eat and write about the same burger last year.
Oops. Not to fret; it was a welcome change from my typical steak on a stick or potato soup order (I still got some soup to-go because, duh). And who doesn’t love a time-tested cheeseburger?
A perennial Flyer Best of Memphis “Best Burger” winner, the Huey’s standard features a 6-oz. certified Angus beef patty with all the fixings — mayo, lettuce, tomato, mustard, pickles, onion, and cheddar or Swiss cheese on a toasted sesame seed bun. This is a somewhat hefty burger, so prepare to unhinge the jaw a tad to get a taste of all the goods in one go. The combination of juicy beef (medium-cooked for maximum results) and familiar condiments offers that summer backyard cookout flavor we all crave when a burger hankering hits.
Plan your Huey’s trip wisely. In a noon-hour lunch attempt, the line spilled into the lobby and out the front door at not one but three locations. Which on its own is a testament to the quality and longevity of this Memphis-favorite institution. — Shara Clark Multiple locations
Southern Smokehouse Burger (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Southern Smokehouse Burger – Tops Bar-B-Q
A regular Tops hamburger is now iconic. The Southern Smokehouse Burger is a cheeseburger with grilled onions, thick-cut bacon, and a sweet Southern glaze. That glaze drenching that bacon is over-the-top great. Or make that “over the Tops.”
They added the burger with its “smokey molasses-based glaze” as a limited-time offer for the summer, says Hunter Brown with Tops Operations LLC. He and Tops CEO Randy Hough were at the Tops location at 5144 Poplar Avenue the day I was there. Also at the restaurant were a bunch of guys from Christian Brothers High School. Hough and Brown let the guys sample the Southern Smokehouse Burger.
I asked the students what they thought. They liked the “nice texture,” “sweetness and flavor,” and the “sauce.” Another guy specifically said “glaze,” so he knows his cuisine. Brown says one of the guys told him it was “amazing.”
The Southern Smokehouse Burger is $5.99, which is below the Burger Week price point. “What we’re doing is giving the burger and a side of macaroni and cheese for $6.99,” Brown says. The mac and cheese is another new Tops item. — Michael Donahue Multiple locations
Sunrise Burger (Photo: Kailynn Johnson)
Sunrise Burger – Sunrise Memphis
Working for the Flyer has come with a lot of firsts, and this year’s Burger Week was no different. It was my first time trying an egg on a burger. Not too crazy, I know, but for someone who usually sticks to a regular cheeseburger, with the occasional addition of bacon, it can be intimidating. Alongside a sunny-side-up egg, the Sunrise Burger from Sunrise Memphis comes with a double smash patty, cheddar cheese, bacon jam, and jalapeño cream cheese spread, all served on a brioche bun.
When I told my dad about how nervous I was to try all these elements together, his reaction was, “I’m not going to lie, that sounds good,” and per usual, he was right. The ingredients seemed to work together in a way that “breakfast for dinner” does, and it was a nice mix of sweet and savory. The star of the burger would definitely have to be the bacon jam, as the sweetness doesn’t overpower the other elements, and works really nicely with the jalapeño cream cheese spread. While it’s not usually my first thought to visit a breakfast spot to satiate burger cravings, I think a new 20-minute commute is now in the rotation. — Kailynn Johnson Multiple locations
Soul Burger (Photo: Earnestine & Hazel’s)
Soul Burger – Earnestine & Hazel’s
Earnestine & Hazel’s iconic Soul Burger is a dose of Memphis magic served on a blanket of crinkly deli paper.
The ingredients are simple: a bun, patty, onions, cheese, pickle, and “Soul Sauce.” The bar says that’s “all that’s needed to make our delicious burger.” And it has been for years. But there’s something … else about the Soul Burger. Something transportive. But something also elusive. Just what, exactly, has made this humble burger such an essential stitch in the fabric of Memphis culture? Again, it’s hard to define.
But you feel it when the barkeep slides that little paper basket your way. The warm, little burger is just how you remembered. That first bite hits your taste buds and magically unlocks some core Memphis memory.
And never a bad memory. It’s beers and buddies, and the jukebox, and Mr. Nate upstairs, and the peeling paint, the “no dope smoken” sign, and how “ragged but right” (the bar’s ethos) fits it and the city so well, and somehow you feel at home in it all.
Have you been drinking? Probably! But that’s not what makes a Soul Burger taste so good. And neither, really, is it just pure nostalgia.
It’s the perfect blend of simple, savory ingredients done just right every single time. That’s what has brought generations of Memphians coming back for more soul. — Toby Sells 531 S. Main St.
DaLabSpecial (Photo: Chris McCoy)
DaLabSpecial – Dexter’s Lab 901
It’s a hot August night on Shelby Drive. Dexter’s Lab 901 food truck is posted up in a corner of the Walmart Neighborhood Market parking lot. As soon as the blue LEDs light up, cars gather around in a semicircle, waiting for Allante Armstrong’s grease and griddle to get hot enough to cook his signature wings and burgers. “And guess what? I ain’t even posted that I’m open yet!” says Armstrong. “That’s a blessing.”
Armstrong named Dexter’s Lab 901 after his younger brother who passed away from lupus. On the side of the truck, millennial cartoon science hero Dexter shares space with a smiling Dexter Wooten, eternally young.
The burger Armstrong serves up, DaLabSpecial, is a classic griddle burger with the traditional fixings served on two thick, buttered slabs of Texas toast. “I do it just to be different because everybody else put it on regular cheeseburger buns,” says Armstrong.
The burger is thick, but not overwhelming, and super juicy. The buttered buns soak up the ample drippings without falling apart. (Structural integrity is an underrated trait in all sandwiches.) Served half-buried in spicy crinkle fries, it’s ideal street food.
Armstrong gets into a groove, taking orders and juggling burgers on the grill and wings in the fryer. “It’s just something that turned into a hustle. I don’t really know how to cook. If you put me in a real kitchen, I wouldn’t know what to do. But I’m learning,” he says.
The guy next to me in line seems amused when he hears that. “[Armstrong] catered my sister’s wedding,” he says. “You tell ’em he’s good. He’s real good.” — Chris McCoy 6990 E. Shelby Dr.
The Memphis Belle (Photo: Michael Donahue)
TheMemphis Belle – Belle Tavern
They call them “designer burgers” because of their high quality, but they usually cost more than $10. These are hamburgers made with prime beef trimmings. They’re usually available at high-end restaurants.
Well, for Burger Week, Belle Tavern at 117 Barboro Alley (on the flipside of Union’s 117 Prime) is offering its hamburger, the Memphis Belle. According to the description from the restaurant’s general manager Jake Smith, who designed the burger, the hamburger is a quarter-pound patty of ground beef “from the trimmings of our USDA prime steaks, smoked Gouda, caramelized onion, house-made dill pickles, Prime sauce, on a toasted onion kaiser bun.”
Diners can tell the difference when they take a bite, Smith says. “You get all those textures and flavors working together.” The trimmings come from their whole rib-eye New York strips at 117 Prime. “We take these trimmings and get this grind.” USDA prime, he says, “is all about flavor and tenderness.”
They’re considering permanently adding the Memphis Belle to their menu at Belle Tavern. “We’re looking at this as a test drive. Get some feedback from our guests and see what they think.” But it will cost more. And, man, oh, man, those fries that come with it. “Fries are the secret weapon.” — MD 117 Barboro Alley
The Crazy Coop (Photo: Alex Greene)
Build Your Own Burger – The Crazy Coop
The Crazy Coop, which only opened its two locations this February, offers a back-to-basics take on the classic American burger. It’s a no-frills, artisanal approach that focuses on freshness, but one can build on that foundation to create the custom burger of your dreams. That’s because The Crazy Coop is much more than a burger joint. As the name suggests, they specialize in chicken, and especially wings (indeed, they only serve burgers at their Bartlett location). But while all their flavorful options, which include both classic wings seasonings and unique creations like BBQ Bacon Bourbon or Honey Habanero BBQ, originated in their dedication to hot wings, they encourage customers to apply them to burgers as well.
But I wanted to get down to the fundamentals: their basic, unadorned cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and onion. The flavor was exquisite. Owner/chef Darius Buckner explained that, having cooked since childhood, then working with a chef in Atlanta for decades, he was committed to seasoning and shaping the patties by hand himself. That attention to detail pays off in the nuanced flavors of their burgers. You could order up a bunch to go for a backyard cookout without ever firing up your grill. — Alex Greene 7199 Stage Rd. (Not available at Ridgeway location)
Reny Alfonso’s favorite catch phrase — “Does not suck yo!” — could apply to his career choice.
He almost had to become a chef.
“My grandmother, I remember vividly, every week we would pick a different country we were learning about and she would make something from that country,” says Alfonso, director of operations at Celtic Crossing and Bog & Barley.
Born in San José, Costa Rica, Alfonso remembers his grandmother making “straight-up paella” from Spain one time. “When we did the United States, she made apple pie.”
Alfonso loved being in the kitchen. “I’ve always liked the heart of where all the parties were.”
His father’s best friend, who held all-day cookouts at his house, taught Alfonso how to grill. “It would start out with sausage on the grill. And you’d eat that with some bread and some chimichurri. Someone would throw on some sweet breads and some octopus after that. A short rib would go on. Then a prime rib.
“The kids would be in the pool swimming and I’d be on the grill.”
Alfonso’s first restaurant job was Mark’s on the Grove in Coral Gables, Florida. One night, his brother-in-law couldn’t pick him up after work. “The chef said he would take me home. On the way home, we went to a bar. And I stood there at a bar having a beer with all the cooks and shit. And I said, ‘I definitely want to do this for the rest of my life.’
“For me, it was almost like finding a second family. A bunch of people with one direction and one goal. And just having a good time doing it at the same time.”
Alfonso, who went to culinary school at Johnson & Wales University – North Miami, worked his way through some of the top restaurants in Florida and New York.
In 2005, he became executive chef of Chez Philippe at The Peabody. “We changed the menu, the whole format, to a French-Asian concept.”
He began doing charcuterie after a trip to Austria, where he watched The Peabody’s pastry chef Konrad Spitzbart’s family cure meat. “I converted my house in Mud Island to a cure room. I had two cure boxes set up in my garage, three set up in The Peabody, and then I built a giant smoker in the garage at my house for cold smoking.”
The Chez Philippe menu featured “whatever was coming out of the cure box at the time of service. We did from snout to tail.”
In 2010, Alfonso moved to Philadelphia to work for Starr Restaurants for the next decade.
Alfonso’s friend DJ Naylor, who owns Celtic Crossing, told him his new restaurant idea. “He always had a dream to build something bigger than what a traditional Irish pub would be, but still with the heart and feel of an Irish pub.”
In 2021, Naylor and Alfonso began working on Naylor’s dream restaurant: Bog & Barley. “‘Bog’ is ‘from the earth.’ And ‘barley’ is for the whiskey aspect.
“The idea I had for this is, ‘Yes, it’s an Irish restaurant. And, yes, we have Irish dishes on the menu. But I don’t want to do them the way they’re stereotypically portrayed.’ I had managed so many different restaurants over the last 10, 15 years, I wanted to incorporate a little bit of what I learned at those restaurants.”
Alfonso keeps a little bit of Ireland in his non-Irish dishes. “I took steak au poivre and, instead of using brandy, we’re using Irish whiskey in the sauce. For the pork porterhouse, I’ve got an Irish cider glaze on it.”
Alfonse hired Joel Lemay as Bog & Barley’s executive chef and Max Williams as Celtic Crossing’s executive chef. “I’m in the kitchen with both of them.”
Alfonso doesn’t want Bog & Barley to be stuffy. “This restaurant, as fancy as it may look, is not a fancy restaurant. You can come in whenever you want and have whatever you want. It’s affordable.”
The restaurant is “approachable on a regular basis, not just a special occasion.”
Bog & Barley is at 6150 Poplar Avenue, Suite 124, in Regalia Shopping Center.
Reinaldo "Reny" Alfonso (Credit: Reinaldo Alfonso)
Reinaldo “Reny” Alfonso, an old friend of the Memphis culinary community, is back in town and getting ready to take the helm at the new Bog & Barley restaurant, which is owned by Celtic Crossing owners DJ and Jamie Naylor.
The Irish restaurant, which will be located in a 7,100 square-foot space in the Regalia Shopping Center at 6161 Poplar Avenue, is slated to open in 2022.
Alfonso is director of operations for Bog & Barley, as well as Celtic Crossing.
Former chef de cuisine at Chez Philippe at The Peabody, Alfonso more recently has been corporate chef at Starr Restaurants in Philadelphia. “So, my role was always doing independent research on different cuisines and opening new restaurants for the company. We’ve done English pubs. I can’t name how many concepts I’ve done. The end goal is to develop systems to make restaurants successful. Team building. Internal promotions. You name it.
“DJ and I have always had a good relationship ever since I did leave Memphis 11 years ago. And one day we were just talking on the phone and we struck up an idea for me to come back to town and do some projects. So here I am.”
Celtic Crossing and Bog & Barley owner DJ Naylor. (Credit: Samuel X. Cicci)
Bog & Barley will be “more of an elevated take on the Irish pub with the emphasis of a strong whiskey program. And modern interpretation of Irish cuisine.”
And, he says, “It’s going to be a scratch kitchen with good ingredients and the emphasis on freshness. It’s not going to be a fancy restaurant. It will be an elevated restaurant. It’s going to be straightforward. Just a place you can come and grab a pint and have a great meal at the same time.”
As for the decor, Alfonso says,”It’s going to look like an Irish pub. A dark Irish pub. The builder of the bar is from Ireland. High ceilings. Warm, inviting place.”
Alfonso won’t be cooking at Bog & Barley. As director of operations, he says, “I’m focusing on the kitchen. Building teams for the kitchen and menu development.”
And it’s nice to be in Memphis again, Alfonso says. “I am extremely happy. It’s nice to be back.”
If you’ve ever had a perfectly pulled pint of Guinness backed by a perfectly timed dad joke, you’ve been served at Celtic Crossing by Allan Creasy, easily one of the best bartenders in Memphis.
Flyer readers have voted Creasy as the city’s best bartender for several years in our annual Best of Memphis poll. He believes the honor should go to a slate of other bartenders, whose names he can reel off the top of his head. But our readers have put him at the top of the heap so many times, he must’ve had some magic mojo behind the bar.
Creasy’s 15-year magic at Celtic Crossing ended this past weekend. He stepped from behind the bar and into a new role at Future 901 to raise money for progressive political candidates in West Tennessee.
The differences in the roles could seem stark if you didn’t know that while at Celtic, Creasy ran twice for a state House seat for the 97th District. He didn’t win but raised the debate on progressive topics here, and raised his own political clout.
While his friends and regulars have commended him on getting a “big-boy job,” Creasy says no. He’s passionate about the restaurant industry and respects and cherishes his time there and those who work in it.
We caught up with Creasy after his final weekend shifts. He talked about his service-industry career, what makes a good bartender, and his moves into a new career. — Toby Sells
Memphis Flyer: So, how were your last few shifts up there? How was the weekend?
Allan Creasy: It was pretty phenomenal. My last day, I got surprised. [D.J. Naylor], my employer, sent me a bagpiper who led me out to the patio and, you know, socially distanced gave me a going away speech, and they had cake.
It was definitely not as big as sendoff as it might have been during other times. But it was really moving. It touched me, certainly, in many ways.
MF: Did a lot of regulars show up and say farewell?
AC: I had a lot of folks who showed up. There’s only so many people you can allow in the building at a certain time, right? I had all those tables adjacent to the bar with friends, regulars, and plenty of elbow bumps that symbolized hugs. Yeah, it was very touching. It was really moving.
MF: How did you start working at Celtic?
AC: Well, way, way back in the day, I worked at Dan McGuinness Downtown. When I left there, a couple of folks who had worked at McGuinness had left to start at Celtic. At first, they didn’t feel so right about hiring me because they didn’t want to feel like they were stealing employees.
But it was late night one night — 1 in the morning — and I was working on Beale at the time and a ran into the [Celtic general manager] at the time. He bought me a shot of whiskey and said, “You want to come work for me?” I said yes.
You know, restaurants are supposed to do job interviews between the hours of 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
MF: (laughing) I guess they just shifted back about 12 hours given the nature of the work, right?
Did they did you start as a bartender?
AC: No, I started as a server and a barback. I just, basically, did whatever they needed me to do. For a while there, I’d come in and open up as a barback. You know, I’d sweep the floors, set up the dish room, get everything set up in the back of the house. Then, I’d clock out as a barback and clock in as a server and wait tables for three hours. I’d clock back out and clock back in as a barback and do dishes for a while.
MF: Then, later on you got a shot and got behind the bar?
AC: As other folks moved on, I suddenly looked up and kind of realized that I was the one of the main folks there. [The bartender job] just kind of came slowly but surely over the years. By 2008-2009 I was behind the bar pretty much full-time.
Allan Creasy/Facebook
MF:Flyer readers have voted you as the best bartender for many years in our Best of Memphis poll. What do you attribute that to? What makes a good bartender? How do you approach your job?
AC: I think more than anything else it is listening to people. It’s not done as much, and I don’t think it’s appreciated. That’s a stereotype about bartending, but it’s damn true. I just try to listen to people.
You’ve got to listen to people, but you got to keep moving. You’ve got to make that quick, one statement, and then you got to get out, get to that next person. You can’t be trapped.
To be honest with you — when it comes to being a mixologist or anything like that — I’m a terrible bartender. David Parks (Memphis Whistle), or Vincent Hale (Dodici and Bari Ristorante), and the folks over at Bari, or the folks at Catherine and Mary’s, they’re much better at [mixology]. I was just the guy who could really quickly get you your draft Guinness, or your whiskey-Coke, and make a one-liner, and give you a dad joke you hadn’t heard before.
So, I always felt a little guilty when I would come ahead of folks like, you know, David Parks in the best bartender [category] or Vincent Hale, the folks who do things that I’ve never had the ability to really do. I’ve always kind of felt a little guilty about coming out ahead of those folks because it’s two different skill sets entirely.
MF: Everyone knows you’re a good damn bartender but probably not many folks know that while you were at Celtic you ran for office twice. The District 97 House seat, right?
AC: Yes, in 2018, and then 2020. In 2018, I was the first person in my party to have ever run in this district — at that point — in 16 years. No one had run — either party, other than the incumbent — for over a decade. So, there was a lot of ground to make up.
But it’s all those things that you do as a bartender — listen to people and try to come up with a solution for their problems — it’s the same thing that needs to be done for people running for office.
So, in 2018 there were 10,000 people voting for our campaign, and I think it was pretty incredible. I think we raised well over $100,000, too.
I, honestly, got tired of being behind that bar. People would tell me their problems. It wasn’t just about the girlfriend, or the boyfriend, or the ex. People worried because their kid’s school isn’t doing well, or they’ve been a victim of violent crime, or their record got so messed up because they got caught with weed years ago. It just felt like I needed to do something other than to just keep posting on Facebook.
I started out volunteering as much as I could for local nonprofits, as a bartender. But that led to helping local political candidates as a volunteer. I would usually canvas as a door-knocker. Then, I was, basically, running field [offices] for local candidates on a special election.
At that point, the executive political director of the state party said, “You need to think about doing this for yourself.” My response was, you know, I’m just a bartender. His response was, “Who the hell cares? Go out there and do it.”
Even though we came up short in 2018, in 2020 we ended up in a primary against a really phenomenal candidate, Gabby Salinas. I’m very proud of the campaigns that we ran, especially trying to run a campaign during the darkest days of COVID. As far as Xs and Os, it’s a loss. But I think in many different ways, it’s a win. I’m really proud of that.
MF: That kind of leads into your new job at Future 901. What do they do and what are you going do with them?
AC: What everyone thinks about someone running for office does happen, going to campaign events and giving some speeches. But that’s the tip of the iceberg.
Allan Creasy (left) at a March 2020 political fundraiser at Celtic Crossing. Among those attending were (l to r) County Commissioner Van Turner, political consultant Michael Lipe, City Councilman Dr. Jeff Warren, and state Representative Dwayne Thompson.
What you really are doing for the majority of your time running for office is calling people and asking them for money. You’re telling them that your ideals are ideals worth investing in and that you have the ability to be in striking distance to win. A lot of folks still don’t realize that when they first run for office.
Working in the restaurant industry, I have no shame asking people for money while maintaining a sense of dignity. I lived off people’s spare change for a good while of it and pretty well for 23 years, 15 at Celtic. So that’s what I’ll be doing with Future 901 is helping them fund-raise and move our state legislature forward.
[We’ll be] supporting candidates who believe in public education and not the movements to privatize it and destroy it with vouchers, and candidates who believe that when the federal government offers the state money to expand Medicaid and improve healthcare at a statewide level, you take it. We’ll support candidates who believe and respect a woman’s autonomy over over own body, and candidates who believe in and respect the rights of the LGBT community.
[It’s important to have] an organization that lets voters know that there are candidates who don’t support [Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s] plan for private school vouchers, or candidates who don’t support the idea that victims of rape or incest have to carry a pregnancy to term.
Those truths need to be out there. They need to be told to the voters of Shelby County. So I’ll be doing my best to fund-raise for them so that those stories can be told about those candidates, like my former opponent, Gabby Salinas, and Jerri Green.
MF: Is there anything that we left out or anything you want to add before we get off the phone?
AC: I want to thank my employers [D.J. and Jamie Naylor] and my co-workers for 15 long, damn-fine years that I’m very proud of.
Also, there’s another thing. I’ve had some folks try to congratulate me by saying, “Congratulations on getting the big-boy job” or ”the grown-up job.”
For me and for a lot of folks who work in that industry, that is the big-boy job. That is something I respect and cherish and there are plenty of us in that field who take that job very seriously and care an awful lot about what we do.
Memphis’ Irish pubs have responded in many different ways to the coronavirus and the social distancing advice from government officials that would dampen their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Brass Door said it was wide open:
Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day (3)
Murphy’s cancelled its event. In a Facebook post Wednesday, Murphy’s said, “St. Patrick’s Day celebration event at Murphy’s has been cancelled. Thank you for understanding.”
Celtic Crossing took a middle road, offering up a scaled-back version of its usual blowout event.
Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day (2)
Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day
The annual Memphis Irish Society St. Patrick’s Day parade was cancelled after Memphis Mayor Strickland revoked all public events permits on Sunday.
Of course, last week the Beale Street Merchants Association postponed its annual parade, scheduled for for this past Saturday, March 14th.
Coronavirus: Irish Pubs Respond for St. Patrick’s Day (4)
All that Americana foolishness the wee ones are taught about Johnny Appleseed isn’t entirely BS — just about 65 percent. In truth, there was a fellow named John Chapman who introduced apple trees in groves to the west — back when that meant Ohio. The fruit he was slinging around Hell’s half acre, however, wasn’t for wholesome snacks and pie. They were little crabby things — cider apples — best used for tying one on.
With the cooler fall weather, of course it was up to DJ, Memphis’ favorite Irishman, to throw an All-American Ciderfest over at his pub, Celtic Crossing.
“It was my wife’s idea,” he pointed out. I feel you brother. In my house, the good ideas generally are, as well.
Sipping cider at Celtic
They’d had a Ciderfest last year, and along with periodic Scotch and bourbon and gin tastings, as well as World Cup-inspired beers, Celtic is a pretty good place to pop in and have something you’ve never tried.
“DJ,” I said, “you really love a festival.”
“Well, if you’re going to own an Irish bar,” he replied, “you’d better learn to throw a party.”
In these unsettled times, there is a certain genius to that. I mean, the Irish basically colonized half the large cities east of the Mississippi without firing a shot. They drank their way in.
For Ciderfest, the weather broke the habit of a century and cooperated with very fall-like temperatures on a crisp, beautiful day. Football was on the widescreen, and pale, fizzy flights were passed around all over the place — drawn from 26 different bottled ciders, and four on draft.
The flights are a great way to go, even though DJ and I both agreed that, with our generation, a flight was a way to try something new and decide which of the four you were going to stick with on the night’s epic journey to get plowed. These younger kids, though, will order flights and then more flights, sampling and tasting. According to DJ, “They want to own the experience. See all of what is out there. It’s really a better way than what we did.”
“Oh God, without a doubt,” I think I said.
Memphis’ own Long Road Cider was slinging a clean, crisp, and dry tipple called Lagerhead — which is worth the trip out there to try a pint. Of course, the big names were there, like Angry Orchard, with an unfiltered cider that tasted unfiltered, a rosé that tasted like a rosé, and an extra crisp that tasted … Well, you get the picture. Evidently the trend of esoteric craft-brew names hasn’t gripped the cider community just yet.
Then things did get creative. I’d had something that had been cleverly christened a Black & Wood earlier that week; it’s a Guinness and Woodchuck cider. This concoction is the artistic love child of a traditional Black & Tan and a shandy: The whole thing gets lightened up with the cider, but it isn’t as sweet as a beer doused in lemonade.
Woodchuck’s Pear Cider is another off-the-wall choice. It’s not what you’re probably expecting: It’s very good and lacks the bite of an apple cider. It goes down smooth, almost weirdly so. Mrs. M liked it, although she stuck with her Bud Light.
There was a cider-inspired food menu, but we managed to miss it, although at home I marinate pork in cider all the time, and it works beautifully. Sitting in Celtic, watching Cooper Avenue go one way then the other, we had the bacon-wrapped shrimp — which are beautifully non-greasy and will go with whatever you’re drinking — and the fries. Mrs. M has strong opinions on French fries, and these were in in her top five. Although it should be pointed out that the lady has been known, from to time, to change her mind on things.
We were sitting on the patio of the Celtic Crossing in Cooper-Young watching the second game of the FIFA World Cup, when Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo pulled a hat trick, tying a much-favored Spain. The two tables next to us exploded with the cheers of a dozen Portuguese Elvis fans in Memphis for a bachelor party. Which isn’t something you see every day.
Every couple of years during the Olympics, we suddenly get interested in sports like gymnastics or curling, so why not jump head-first into soccer every four years? The U.S. didn’t make it to the World Cup, but that’s no reason not to get involved, especially now that we’re in the high-stakes knockout round that Americans actually understand. Or when DJ’s hosting the party.
DJ Naylor, owner of the Celtic Crossing, opens the bar for every game — every single one. When I showed up at 5 a.m. for France vs. Australia, the doors were open, about 10 fans were there, and coffee was on. So was the “World Cup of Beer” — a bucket featuring beers from the World Cup countries: Carlsberg from Denmark, Estrella from Spain, Asahi from Japan, Hoegaarden from Belgium, and Einstock White Ale from upstart Iceland. Also available in the bucket is Sol from Mexico, which pulled off an amazing upset of the German producers of Schöfferhofer. While a few of these teams are no longer in the tournament, their beers are still available for a little buzzed geo-political diplomacy.
These are all sports fan beers, drinkable lagers, except Einstock — a light ale. In Schöfferhoffer — which looks like an orange Fanta in the bottle — the Germans aren’t playing to type, but this was a weird year for them. It’s made with grapefruit, and given how picky the Germans are about beer production, it’s real grapefruit and not flavoring. It’s basically a shandy. Yes, I know, some of us need to tread carefully when ordering a beer that looks like Tang, but in the sticky heat this thing is really refreshing.
Celtic Crossing’s World Cup food menu is more a homage to the tournament hosts, Russia. While DJ knows Irish food, he said he had to call some Russians working for FedEx for help with the menu, which included Smoked Salmon Blini, a sort of pancake topped with smoked salmon and sour cream; Crepes, another sort of thinner pancake filled with minced beef, onions and mushrooms; and Butterbrot, a buttered marble rye topped with ham and egg salad.
By about 8:30 a.m., there is less coffee and more beer. The place was filled with 100 or so people, not crowded but full, and not the sort of crowd that normally eats breakfast in a bar. All were focused on the game, cheering full-bore. And this lasts throughout the day. Go for the beer, go for the food, go for the social experiment of watching Americans watch the World Cup.
Even when our men’s team does make the tournament, we tend to get knocked out by some third world powerhouse like Ghana. The U.S. Women’s team, it should be pointed out, is a global contender that will actually win the World Cup on occasion. So this is as good a time as any for us to embrace our immigrant roots and cheer for the place from which we originally came. And that’s the beautiful thing about a good beer and sports: No one minded my hollering “Laissez le bon temps rouler” at a French goal. And I promise you that I was the only one in the place rooting for France. I’ll root for England for the enchanting Mrs. M, and Serbia in honor of some surgeons from Belgrade who completely outdrank me one night in the Ukraine. Good people.
Grab a beer, embrace a team you know nothing about, have a blini. In the words of DJ, your Irish-born, soccer fanatic host, “I think soccer could ease a lot of the world’s problems.”
In Ireland the word ‘stout’ is synonymous with Guinness — and we celebrate a lot of things with stout,” says DJ Naylor, the proud owner of Celtic Crossing in Cooper-Young. The “we” he’s referring to are the Irish. DJ hails from County Cork, where the next stop West is America. When asked how he got to Midtown, he says “soccer” with a laugh, as if he knows that’s the least Memphis thing in the world to say. Still, we know a lot of the same people — proving that even if you start from way over in Ireland, Memphis is really just a big, deranged Mayberry.
“The perfect pint isn’t just your favorite stout, but one that’s poured correctly,” says DJ, “with the right temperature and that has the right lip.” A good stout has a reputation of being a meal unto itself, but writing it off as some 18th-century Irish protein shake is a little wide of the mark. True, those rich, toasted flavors won’t sit well with a basket of hot wings, and to suck the stuff down with barbecue might put you into a coma but, paired well, the right stout can make a real meal sing.
What I didn’t expect was for DJ to tell me how well stouts go with oysters. And I like oysters, a lot. I took a dozen for a spin, and what can I say? It works — salty brine against the toasty malt.
Perfect pairing — stout and beef stew
The day DJ and I met was one of those perfect winter days — 32 degrees and cloudless. We were hunkered down over some Irish stew. “But for the beef, this is exactly how my Mom makes it,” he says. And it tastes like it. “Back in the old country, it’s made with lamb, but lamb is a hard sell in the South.”
Last year when the place went smoke-free inside, Celtic Crossing got refurbished with wonderful leather seating and mahogany tables. DJ told me he’s one of 12 children. It was all very Irish.
We were talking about food pairing, and it was obvious that what was before us was the perfect match. A pint of the black stuff stands up to the beef and potatoes (in a Guinness gravy), because what grows together, goes together. Not as heavy as it sounds, it’s satisfying. This, honestly, is comfort food at its best — and for $10, they’ll bring you all the comfort you want.
Another natural pairing — and a little lighter — is corned beef as a sandwich or, for an extra pop, stuffed in peppers.
Of course, there are other stouts: Samuel Smith out of Scotland is a respectable one. As is Murray’s Irish Stout if you like a little sweeter finish. Locally, Memphis Made has a silky Oatmeal Stout, and Wiseacre had waded in with its “Gotta Get Up to Get Down” Coffee Milk Stout. It is made with coffee, so there is caffeine in it. It’s pretty good for a hangover. It’s not for everyone, but I like it. Admittedly, though, I can’t see myself drinking three of those in a row, and if I did, I can’t see anyone wanting to hang around with me.
But for a stout and stew, nothing strikes the same chord as “Uncle” Arthur Guinness did when, in 1759, he took a 9,000-year lease on the property at St. James Gate, Dublin, and started doing what has been done so well ever since. His birthday, “Arthur’s Day,” became something of an Irish national holiday until the government thought it was becoming a little too festive and tamped it down for “health” reasons. It sounds like bureaucratic fun-sucking to me. Exactly how bad for you can the black stuff be? Arthur and his wife, Olivia, had 21 children. That took stamina.
Sushi Jimmi‘s Jimmy Sinh confirmed plans for a new restaurant at the old Wendy’s on Poplar across the street from Senses.
He hope to have the restaurant open by October or November.
Sinh says the restaurant’s menu will be the same as the food truck, but there will be more wiggle room. He envisions having a Taco Tuesday or throwing in specials like fajitas.
Sinh is also starting a second food truck that will serve Vietnamese sandwiches (!). He hasn’t settled on a name for the venture yet, but he’s been busy training staff, so expect to see it on the road soon.
• Pink Diva Cupcakery and Cuisine is switching its focus and will now concentrate on catering and its food truck. The restaurant on Florida is now closed.
Pink Diva’s Cassi Conyers says she hopes to have the food truck operating in the next month. She says that traffic to the restaurant was often slow. With the truck, she can go to the traffic.
Also in the works is a vegan cupcake mix. She says a mix is much easier to ship than a cupcake.
“I’m taking it in a new direction,” says Conyers of Pink Diva. “In the last year and a half, I’ve accomplished a lot.”
Pink Diva caters corporate events, birthday parties, etc. More info here.
• Frost Bake Shop will hold a ribbon cutting for its second location in Collierville at 1016 W. Poplar on Tuesday, August 16th, 11:30 a.m.
The new shop is considerably bigger than the East Memphis location, and there are plans for classes as well as private parties in the space.
• Celtic Crossing recently announced some changes, including the installation of a new mosquito repellant system (!).
They also have a couple new menu items (Irish nachos!), a seasonal wine menu, and a new manager, Christopher Darling, who has an eye toward efficiency.
Justin Fox Burks 
Allan Creasy/Facebook 
Celtic Crossing/Facebook 
