Tag: Collierville

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Nostalgic Tea Rooms

Sara, Charlotte, and Pete Norris (Photo: Michael Donahue)

Brits enjoy high tea in the afternoon. But anybody who visits the Nostalgic Tea Rooms can enjoy high tea just about whenever they like.

Pete and Sara Norris, who are both from England, feature high tea along with other items at the restaurant in Sheffield Antiques Mall in Collierville, Tennessee.

They both grew up eating typical English fare. Pete, who is from Oxfordshire, says his mom used to make Toad in the Hole. “It’s Yorkshire pudding, but you cook it with sausage inside,” he says. “It’s made from a batter.”

They haven’t yet made Toad in the Hole at their restaurant, but Pete says, “We should give it a go.”

Not all the fare is from home, but there is enough at Nostalgic Tea Rooms to give diners the feel of merry old England.

Thirty years ago, Pete began working at The Old Kitchen at Magdalen College in Oxford, England. “It’s a big pub in the university. I cooked there. And also worked in the bar there. It was great fun.”

Pete taught himself to cook. “I think it’s one of those things. You can either cook or you can’t cook.”

He made salads, lasagnas, and curries, which he also makes at Nostalgic Tea Rooms.

Pete dresses up his dishes. “I think you also eat food with your eyes and not just your taste buds.”

Pete and Sara moved to Memphis seven years ago after Sara got a job at St. Francis Hospital.

“I just had a feeling,” Sara says. “I had to come here. My dad would have adored Memphis. He loved music. He loved Elvis.”

She enjoyed going to Sheffield’s. “When I moved to Collierville, it was always one of my places to walk around.”

When she learned the space for a restaurant was for lease, Sara and her husband talked about opening a tea shop. Pete said, “Let’s give it a bash. Come on. Let’s give it a go.”

“Pete owns it, but it’s my concept to have high teas,” Sara says. “I wanted somewhere people could come sit down and have high tea.”

And, she says, “I just love baking. And I’ve always wanted my own tea rooms.”

They wanted Nostalgic Tea Rooms to be a quiet, simple place where people can relax — as long as they want. “It’s your table. It’s up to you if you want to sit here for five hours. No time limit on your table. You can stay there all day or stay there for 20 minutes.”

The menu includes chicken salad, tuna, ham, or egg mayonnaise sandwiches on croissants and lasagnas, which are “more layered” than the Italian version, with grated English or Irish cheddar cheese on top.

Their high teas are popular, Sara says. They did eight on a recent Saturday. “The high teas start off with a selection of sandwiches from cream cheese and cucumber to ham with apricot relish and mayonnaise. Next layer is English scones with jam and Chantilly cream. On top is a selection of cakes.”

It’s best to book the high teas, which feed two people, in advance. People also can order a high tea when they arrive, but they take about 20 minutes to put together.

“Children love it. It’s sort of a fairy-tale thing, isn’t it?”

Their “cream teas” consist of two scones, French Chantilly cream, and jam with hot tea.

And, of course, they serve crumpets. “You put butter on it and it comes in two pieces. It’s quite unusual to describe. It’s got its own taste. But people like that. We buy them. They’re not easy to make.”

They also buy the croissants and crumb cakes. Sara bakes the English scones and carrot cakes and helps out at the restaurant in the mornings. She then works at night at St. Francis Hospital — Memphis on Park Avenue. “It’s one of the best hospitals in the world I’ve ever worked at. I adore working there.”

Nostalgic Tea Rooms is where Peter wants to be: “It’s my happy place, I must say. I do enjoy it.”

Nostalgic Tea Rooms is open 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. It’s located in Sheffield Antiques Mall at 684 West Poplar Avenue.

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Politics Politics Feature

Roadblock in Memphis Mayor’s Race?

Michelle Robinson McKissack (Photo: Facebook)

Complications have already set in regarding next year’s race for Memphis mayor, inasmuch as a ruling by Federal Judge John Fowlkes about a residential requirement in the city of Mason could affect the legality of races in Memphis, which has similar residential requirements. Neither would-be contestants Van Turner or Floyd Bonner at the moment has a Memphis residence.

And sexist talk by candidate Joe Brown at a weekend forum would seem to make it necessary that either Karen Camper or Michelle McKissack or both follow through with their mayoral plans.

Meanwhile, not the least interesting item on the November 8th election ballot is an amendment removing a restriction against ministers of the cloth holding office in the legislature. Given long-standing sentiment for dividing church and state, this one will doubtless require of voters some serious meditation — prayer, even.

Three other amendments are of more-than-usual interest. One, the “Right-to-Work” amendment would enshrine in the Tennessee Constitution the state’s existing bar against mandatory union membership. Business wants it. Labor doesn’t. Another amendment provides for the house speaker to assume the office of governor temporarily during an emergency. And another amendment abolishes explicitly the practice of slavery in any form.

Other matters of interest on the ballot include a governor’s race pitting GOP incumbent Bill Lee against Democratic hopeful Jason B. Martin and a whole squadron of Independents.

Of other competitive races, 8th District Republican Congressman David Kustoff and 9th District Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen face Lynnette Williams (D) and Charlotte Bergmann (R), respectively, plus a bevy of Independents in each case.

The state Senate District 31 seat is contested by well-heeled Republican Brent Taylor and Democrat Ruby Powell-Dennis. The district is heavily Republican but has been run close by Democrats.

Democrat London Lamar is favored in state Senate District 33 over Republican Frederick Tappan and Independent Hastina Robinson.

A special circumstance prevails in state House District 86, where Democrat Barbara Cooper, recently deceased, is pitted against Independent Michael Porter. If Porter should finish first, he wins the seat. If Cooper ends up ahead, the Election Commission will call a special election and permit new candidates to file.

State House District 95 sees GOP incumbent Kevin Vaughan challenged by Democrat Patricia Causey, and in state House District 97 incumbent Republican John Gillespie also has a Democratic challenger, Toniko S. Harris.

Memphis has a special election for City Council, District 4. Contestants are LaTonia Blankenship, Barry Ford, DeWayne Jackson, and Jana Swearengen-Washington. A vacancy exists for Municipal Court judge, as well. Vying for that position are Patience “Missy” Branham, Latonya Sue Burrow, John Cameron, Varonica R. Cooper, Lynnette Hall-Lewis, Latrena Davis Ingram, William “Bill” Larsha, Christine Stephens, and Carolyn Watkins.

Bartlett has a full slate of candidates in that city’s municipal election. For mayor: Steven Brent Hammonds, John Lackey, David Parsons, and Kevin Quinn. For alderman, position 1: Casper Briggs, Harold Brad King, Jimmy D. Norman, and Victor Read. For alderman, position 2: Robert Griffin, Stephen Spencer, Thomas Stephen Jr., and Brandon S. Weise. Paul Kaiser and David Reaves vie for position 3. Aislinn McEwen and Bryan Woodruff are contesting school board, position 4.

Collierville has aldermanic races, too. In position 1, William Boone vies with Maureen J. Fraser. In position 2, Jewel Jordan and Billy Patton compete. In position 4, the contestants are Emily Fulmer and Missy Marshall. Wanda Chism and Alissa Fowler are competing for school board, position 2. Position 4 on the board is sought by Keri Blair, Chelsea Glass, Heath Hudspeth, and Jeremy Smith.

Contested positions in Germantown are for alderman, position 1, with Manjit Kaur and Scott Sanders running. Daniel Chatham and Jeffrey Chipman are competing for school board, position 2, and Angela Rickman Griffith and Carrie Schween are vying for school board, position 4.

In Lakeland, Michele Dial and Connie McCarter are competing for commissioner, and Keith Acton, Laura Harrison, and Deborah Thomas are running for school board.

Millington has competitive races for alderman, position 3, with Chris Ford and Tom Stephens; school board, position 3, with Brian McGovern and Gregory L. Ritter; and school board, position 6, with Mandy Compton and Larry C. Jackson.

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News Blog News Feature

Data: Wolfchase Has Most Active Covid Cases, Germantown Most Vaccinated

Credit: Shelby County Health Department

Over the last two weeks, Wolfchase has had the most active Covid-19 cases; the area around Mike Rose Soccer Complex has had the most tests, and Germantown is Shelby County’s most vaccinated city. 

All of this is according to geographic data from the Shelby County Health Department. The data are updated each week and are meant to give rough estimates of the Covid-19 situation here.   

Credit: Shelby County Health Department, as of Tuesday, October 12th

Covid-19 numbers continue to fall in Shelby County, passing Delta-surge milestones on the way down. The seven-day rolling average for new cases fell below 200 this week after a surge high of more than 800. The number was 186 Monday. The number of new daily cases was 94 Tuesday, the first time the figure has been below 100 in many weeks. 

As of Tuesday morning, the health department was aware of 2,299 active cases of the virus in Shelby County. Of those, 666 were in children aged 0-17. 

Credit: Shelby County Health Department

Children (0-17) had the most active cases per capita than any group in Shelby County, according to the data, at 371 per capita. The 35-44 age range had the second highest active cases here at 369 per capita. 

Credit: Shelby County Health Department

More tests have been given in the 38125 ZIP Code in the last two weeks (see above) than anywhere else in Memphis, according to health department data. The area is just west of Collierville and is roughly bordered by the Mike Rose Soccer Complex, Wyndyke Country Club, Riverdale Road, and the Tennessee/Mississippi border. 

In that ZIP Code, 7,456 Covid tests have been given per capita in the last two weeks. The area is followed closely in testing numbers by 38103 (Downtown), 38104 (Midtown), and 38105 (North Downtown and the Pinch District) combined. There, 7,059 Covid tests have been given per capita in the last two weeks. 

Credit: Shelby County Health Department

Over the last two weeks, active Covid cases have been more prevalent in the northern part of the county (see above), in North Memphis, Millington, Arlington, and more. However, the Wolfchase area (38133) is the hottest spot on the map with 382 active cases. Orange Mound (38114) has had the fewest active cases in the last two weeks with 122 cases reported there. 

Credit: Shelby County Health Department

Germantown is the vaccination champion of Shelby County (see above), the data show. The vaccine rate for 38139 and 38138 since shots have been available is 74,864.1 per 100,000 people. The city has just barely out-vaccinated residents of East Memphis, though. There, (in 38117) 67,9111 residents per 100,000 have been vaccinated. Ranking third, is Collierville with 67,018 residents per 100,000 being vaccinated.  

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News News Blog

Police: 15 People Shot at Collierville Kroger; Shooter was Third-Party Vendor

Kroger store in Collierville. (Photo: Kroger).

The gunman who killed one person and injured 14 others at a Collierville Kroger Thursday was a third-party vendor for the store, according to Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane.

Lane said at a Friday morning press conference that he would not reveal the name of the shooter at this time: “I’m not giving notoriety on this platform.”

Major David Townsend did confirm the identity of the gunman following the press conference. The shooter was 29-year-old UK Thang.

A search warrant was executed at the gunman’s home overnight and the collected evidence is still being processed, Lane said. Additionally, police are still processing the scene inside the Kroger, which Lane said will likely take place through the evening. 

Lane said he cannot reveal any more details, such as motive, as the investigation is still ongoing. 

“We’re getting a clearer picture of what occurred, but we’re not ready to release that,” Lane said. “We want to make sure that we dot the i’s and cross the t’s.”

After opening fire in the store Thursday around 1:30 p.m., the gunman was found dead on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot, according to police. 

Ten of the victims were employees and five were customers, Lane said. All of the injured victims are in stable condition as of Friday morning. 

A Facebook post by Wes King confirmed that his mother, Olivia King was the victim killed in Thursday’s shooting. 

“Dear friends, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that my mother has died to her wounds. I spoke directly to the trauma surgeon,” King wrote. “She was shot directly in the chest. EMTs attempted CPR until the hospital. They tried to save her at the hospital to no avail. I apologize for the graphic details, but this type of crime needs to stop being glossed over and sanitized. No one deserves this.”

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News News Blog

Experts: Racial Income Gap Still Wide

CREDIT: U of M

Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet 2020

The ‘racialization’ of Memphis poverty, according to the latest Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet.


Experts say we must equalize the wealth gap in Memphis but we’re not doing it now.

According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the median household income in the metropolitan area is $54,000; Blacks earn about $40,000, whites $75,000, and Latinos $39,000.

Black people in Memphis are 64 percent of the population. Whites make up 29 percent of the local population.

So, while the median white income is nearly double that of most Black incomes, Black people outnumber whites here nearly three to one.

The majority of the city’s poor (according to Bureau definitions) in Memphis are Black. Nearly 23 percent of the 25 percent of people living in poverty are Black, census figures show. According to the Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet 2020, Memphis has the second worst poverty numbers of a major metropolitan area, only behind New Orleans.

Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet Graph

According to the fact sheet, the poverty rates for Memphis and Shelby County decreased in 2019 in comparison to 2018. Nonetheless, population sizes for most groups except Blacks in the city of Memphis have increased.

In the Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet, it states that how this community will be affected by COVID-19 remains to be seen, but it is to be expected that poverty will increase in the next few years; even after the pandemic has subsided.

According to the Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet, as a result of the closures and desertion of businesses — particularly tourism, entertainment, and restaurant/bars — consumer spending declined in March 2020 compared to January 2020 in the U.S. by 32.9 percent; in Tennessee by 26.9 percent; in Shelby County by 32.4 percent; and the Memphis Metro Statistical Area by 32.4 percent.

U of M

Delavega

“There are a number of things that contribute to the wealth gap — the way that wealth is inherited for instance, people that come from poverty have a much harder way to make any wealth at all,” said Elena Delavega, Memphis poverty expert with the University of Memphis School of Social Work. “If somebody receives a car on their 16th birthday, there is a ton of privilege in that. Even if they do not receive money directly.”

Delavega says that we must work actively to equalize the system, and at this moment we don’t. The poor and working classes do not have social access to wealth as much, therefore, they don’t have the ability to face economic shocks.

When asked what we can do about this, Delavega says that the onus should reside with those in positions of power.

“We are blaming the victims. If you have no wealth, you can work really hard and still you are going to be behind,” she said. “There is no way they can catch up. In Memphis, for example, public transportation is very underfunded, we’re not funding it as a society.”

“The lack of public transportation hurts those who are poor the most. It is a racist economic apartheid. You have Collierville for example — their taxes are lower but they refuse to fund public transportation properly,” said Delavega.

However, some say that not all Black people in Memphis are poor or working class.

“I definitely think Black wealth exists in Memphis,” said Cynthia Daniels, of Cynthia Daniels and Co. “There are pockets of it.”

Her company focuses on offering events to African-American audiences. Daniels said she generated over $2 million in sales for Black businesses in Memphis and across the country during the pandemic. She devised the Juneteenth Shop Black Virtual Experience that garnered $1 million in sales.

“A lot of the restaurants had to close their doors,” she said. “I wanted to create a virtual space for Memphis vendors.”

Daniels was a volunteer for the Memphis Urban League Young Professionals for four years. There, she learned that Memphis had a demand for events geared toward the Black middle-class and wealthy.

Similar to the Memphis Flyer’s 20<30, Daniels throws an awards banquet called 40<40.

“When people are awarded, they get promotions, their companies grow, they get more visibility and representation,” she said.

When asked what we can do about closing the wealth gap, Delavega contends minorities should unify their votes.

“Minorities should know the power of their vote. One vote really does count,” she said. “It’s not so much the color of the person elected; it’s their policies. Racism is a tool of the powerful to divide. Minorities need to work together.”

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Hook Point Brewing Company Landing Soon in Collierville

Hook Point Brewing Company is due to land in Collierville by the end of the month.

Hook Point has been flapping its wings in the region for the last three years, distributing its flagship beer Flat Hat American Ale to liquor stores and restaurants.

The beer brand was established in 2017 by veteran naval aviator Mike Sadler, who wanted to follow his quest for adventure after his military retirement. He aimed to create a brand from the term “flat-hat,” which originated from the early days of Naval aviation and means “unauthorized, low-altitude flying” or, broadly speaking, to fly outside the rules.

“As the story goes, a pilot was flying very low down a road and hit a pedestrian on the head, crushing his top hat, hence, the term ‘flat-hat,'” says Sadler. “For us pilots, it was not about being reckless, but about pushing yourself, testing yourself, and being adventurous. Our Flat Hat is meant for those adventurous, active-lifestyle individuals who want to live life full-speed.”

Sadler’s son had been working in the beverage industry and was subsequently linked to a brewery in Atlanta called Second Self Beer Company. From there, a recipe was developed for Flat Hat: a dry, light-bodied ale that could “cool you off without slowing you down.” For the next three years, the beer would be brewed there and distributed here, as well as in northern Mississippi and Nashville.

By 2018, Sadler knew he wanted a home base where he could brew the beer himself. He thought Collierville would be just the place, in part because he lived in the area for 14 years, but also because Collierville didn’t have any breweries.

“Meddlesome was the first to bring something outside of Memphis,” Sadler says. “But there’s still nothing in the southeast. There were a lot of people driving, sometimes every couple of weekends, to taprooms in Downtown Memphis. I thought this would be a good spot that would be convenient for people in this part of town.”

So Sadler leased a 16,000-square-foot building at 184 S. Mount Pleasant and enlisted the help of fellow military veterans and award-winning brewers Jay Marchmon and Stephan “Tank” Emswiler to help develop new recipes and tweak existing ones.

Six additional core beers were created, all of which center around aviation themes: Inky Barley Scottish Stout, Haze Gray New England-style IPA, Cat Shot Kolsch, Skyhook West Coast IPA, 3-Wire Belgian Tripel, and gluten-free Hangar Queen Bitter.

Only Flat Hat has been distributed here so far, but the group has used local festivals and tastings to introduce their newer creations to the public.

One of the crowd-pleasers has been Inky Barley. Named after a bombing range in California, the full-bodied stout features notes of chocolate and coffee with a hint of smokiness.

Two other favorites: Haze Gray and Hangar Queen. “There were people who didn’t know that Hangar Queen was gluten-free when they tried it,” says Marchmon.

Hook Point is working on developing non-alcoholic beverages like n/a beer, kombucha, soda, and nitro cold brew coffee. Some of these may be used in brew recipes. “We’re definitely going to be using the coffee in some of our stouts and porters,” Marchmon says.

Sadler hopes to be open for business by October 31st, but due to Collierville laws requiring that 50 percent of the gross revenue come from food and because of COVID-19 restrictions, they will be open only for curbside service.

Eventually, they may add a restaurant to the Collierville location, but Sadler has also considered opening a taproom in Downtown Memphis.

“There’s a building in place, and a developer interested in bringing us in,” Sadler says. “We’ve had some discussions. But before I commit, I want to get this place up and running.”

Now, Flat Hat can be found at various liquor stores and restaurants. For a full list of locations and information on the grand opening, visit hookpointbrewing.com or flathat.com.

Hook Point Brewing Company is located at 184 S. Mount Pleasant, Collierville.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Sushi Jimmi to join La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant October 6th

Jimmy ‘Sushi Jimmi’ Sinh



Is Sushi Jimmi about to become “Taco Jimmi”?

“No, no, no,” says Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh. But the Memphis chef has taken a job at La Hacienda Mexican restaurant in Cordova, where he will begin working October 6th.

Sinh has been working as executive chef at Saltwater Crab, where he originally began working earlier this year. 

He closed his restaurant, Sushi Jimmi Asian fusion restaurant, at 2895 Poplar on May 23rd, 2019, saying he  wanted to spend more time with his family. He closed his food truck the next day. Sinh says he put too much money ($250,000) into the restaurant, though he says it was successful. He planned to move to Florida, but his family didn’t want to let the restaurant go. He reopened Sushi Jimmi at the same location on June 15th, but it closed for a second time at the end of July.

“Last year, when I closed my restaurant down, I lost everything,” Sinh says. “And when COVID-19 hit, I lost even more. I lost completely everything. And my friend Temoor Sarwar and his family own [La Hacienda] and he asked me to come in and work at the restaurant serving my food.”

But before making plans to join La Hacienda, Sinh went to Saltwater Crab, where he originally worked for about two and a half months. “They hired me and I took care of what needed to be taken care of.”

And, he says, he “also gave the customers what the customers were missing and really wanted. Really good food in Midtown. They needed a good sushi restaurant in Midtown in the Overton Square area. I decided to bring in my sushi, which everyone missed, and it went really well.”

Sinh got laid off from Saltwater Crab when the restaurant closed during the pandemic, but he returned when it reopened for business last May. They’re now doing  “amazing numbers” at Saltwater Crab, says Sinh. “That means we’re doing something right.”

September 30th will be Sinh’s last day at Saltwater Crab. He’s proud of what he accomplished there. “I created this for Midtown to enjoy.”

But, he says, “I want to do more things for myself. It’s my turn to proceed with my chef life, which is what I’m doing. So, I’m collaborating with different chefs. Anyone who wants to collaborate with me and just make a quick menu for the weekend. All around the country. I could go to California next week and collaborate with a chef for two days and move to the next city.

“That’s always been my dream. To travel and see different things. I haven’t been to a lot of places. I’ve always been trapped behind the box. I want to get outside the box to places I’ve never been and try new food. The only way to be a good chef is to travel.”

Sinh also plans to be on camera. “I’m planning to make a YouTube channel to show people where to go eat. And I’ll be doing a few scenarios to show people different places I’ve traveled to. Also, I’ll be showing people how to cook a certain food. Explain to them the knowledge they need to know when they eat at the restaurant.”

People need to know how to eat something correctly, he says. “If you don’t eat it right, you’ll have the worst experience. That’s very important to me because I want them to enjoy my food. Not just pay for it.”

Sinh will collaborate as a chef with Sarwar at La Hacienda. “He is the main person there. He is the manager. He is the chef. And it’s his family’s restaurant. We’re collaborating anywhere from three to four days a week.”

They will have a taste tasting at the restaurant in less than a week. “We’re going to be cooking all day to test out the food we’re going to put on the menu.”

The food will be Asian and Mexican, Sinh says. “It’ll be fusion. A little bit of both. Everything that I ever really cooked has a little bit of Hispanic feeling in it ‘cause I’m from Los Angeles, California, and there’s a lot of Mexican and Asian fused together.”

For now, Memphis will be Sinh’s home base, but he plans to move out of town when his family moves. “I’m living with my parents. I’ve always been a family-oriented guy. I go where my parents want to go. You only have one (set of) parents. You don’t want to end up not being with them on their last day or whatever. I want to be that good son that takes care of their parents. Where they want to go is where I want to go.”

That includes Sinh’s wife and their five kids. “Pretty much the whole, entire family.”

As for his nickname, Sinh says it was when he was working at the old Saki restaurant “One day I heard one of my customers just call me ‘Sushi Jimmi.’ And that is exactly where it came from.”

La Hacienda is at 1760 North Germantown Parkway in Cordova.

Saltwater Crab is at 2059 Madison; (901) 624-2920

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

The Death of Suburbia

There was a fascinating series of stories on the Business Insider website last week called “The Death of Suburbia.”

That phrase will no doubt create immediate outrage among many Flyer readers, especially those living in booming Memphis ‘burbs such as Germantown and Collierville. “We’re not dying; we’re thriving!” they’ll say. And they’re correct.

But those places are not so much suburbs as self-contained towns that existed long before the suburban housing boom. The BI articles document the problems facing neighborhoods that were created by urban sprawl, neighborhoods that have no real core. And the future of those communities is not bright, to say the least.

The reasons for the decline lie in the initial genesis of these neighborhoods just outside the urban core, subdivisions comprised of winding streets filled with similarly constructed houses built within a few months of each other: instant neighborhoods, more or less. These housing developments were constructed with the thinking that bigger is better. They were built around schools and malls and were designed for an automobile-centric lifestyle, dining at fast-casual restaurants, and shopping in chain and big-box stores. Now, malls are shrinking and dying as Americans increasingly turn to shopping online, or alternately, focus on “shopping local.”

New developments are being designed with walkability and environmental concerns at top of mind. Instead of “subdivisions,” developers are creating “communities.” And, not so shockingly, McMansions are losing value.

The real estate site, Trulia, defines a McMansion as a home built between 2001 and 2007 that has between 3,000 and 5,000 square feet of space. Trulia released data last August that showed that the premiums paid for McMansions have declined significantly in 85 of the country’s 100 biggest cities. Real estate experts told Business Insider that younger homebuyers value efficiency more than size and think that McMansions are impractical and wasteful.

Speaking of impractical and wasteful … Malls are major economic generators for the suburbs, providing jobs as well as dining and shopping options. When they shutter, they leave a large empty footprint, comparable to the gutted downtowns of small-town America that resulted from Walmart-ization a couple of decades ago. That trend seems to be reversing. BI reported that commercial real estate firm CoStar estimates nearly a quarter of the malls in the U.S are at high risk of losing an anchor store. Dozens of malls, large and small, have shut down.

Another trend that is hurting the suburbs is the migration of corporations and big companies back into the center city. Since 2015, McDonald’s, Kraft Heinz, Conagra Foods, UBS, and General Electric, to name just a few, have moved from suburbs into downtown office space. Here in Memphis, the same thing is happening. See ServiceMaster coming to Peabody Place and the development of Sears Crosstown as two recent examples.

Other factors cited by Business Insider include the death of golf courses, a trend which has reached an epidemic level since the course-building boom of the 1990s. Most suburban courses were designed as centerpieces of housing developments. There is little charm in living in a McMansion on a dead golf course.

And fast-casual restaurant chains, long the mainstay of suburban dining, are in trouble. BI cites Sbarro, Cinnabon, Jamba Juice, Panda Express, Ruby Tuesday, Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Grill, and Buffalo Wild Wings as all facing financial crises.

And cities are now facing increasing problems with trying to provide services to their sprawling suburban neighborhoods. As the malls shrink and die, sales and property tax revenue shrinks. As houses are sold off, the tax base further decreases. Increasingly, as is happening in Memphis, de-annexation becomes an option.

It’s a problem that all of us — city and suburban dwellers alike — will be forced to confront in the coming decade. The good news is, if you’ve always wanted one of those big ol’ McMansions, your odds of getting one on the cheap are getting better with every passing year.

Bruce VanWyngarden
brucev@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Coming soon to Collierville: Brooks Pharm 2 Fork and 148 North.

Mac Edwards is an inside-the-freeways kind of guy, so the thought of an enterprise in Collierville never crossed his mind.

Until he got a phone call.

“The center-cut, filet-mignon spot on the square opened up and fell into my lap,” Edwards, who owns the Farmer on Highland, says.

Cafe Grill owner Andy Chow had retired, leaving the space at 120 Mulberry on the historic square in Collierville up for grabs, and common denominator/commercial real estate agent Steven Levy put the owner of the building, Watty Brooks Hall, and Edwards in touch.

“[Watty Brooks] is terrific, and the rent was right, so it was meant to be, I guess,” Edwards says.

By early July, Edwards will bring his special brand of farm-to-table dining to downtown Collierville in the form of Brooks Pharm2Fork.

The cuisine will be similar to the Farmer — elevated comfort food — but with a few twists to correspond to the bar Edwards will be adding.

“I mean, I’m going to dance with the one who brung me. The food I make is the food I make. I will have a lot of the same items, but having a bar changes the way I approach things, so burger-at-dinner kind of thing,” he says.

He plans on serving lunch seven days a week, dinner at least five nights a week, and he is toying with the idea of serving a take-away breakfast.

He’s almost more excited about the decor than the dishes.

“It’s going to be funky and eclectic. We left the old plaster and some exposed brick. We have this great old receiving desk for the hostess station. My partner [in the Jackson, TN, restaurant Chandelier], Jennifer Dickerson, is doing the interior. It’s going to have this great funky, repurposed feel,” Edwards says.

The name celebrates what else has been housed by those brick and plaster walls over the years, particularly the old pharmacy, Brooks Pharmacy, that the building’s owner grew up in.

“The people of Collierville have really welcomed us and are really excited. It’s exciting what’s going on in Collierville right now with other restaurants opening up on the square. It’s beyond serendipitous,” he says.

Brian Thurmond also never imagined himself enterpris-ing in Collierville.

He never imagined himself making a living doing something as fun as playing with food to begin with.

“I always paid attention to the Food Network and Alton Brown and would tell my mom, ‘Let’s go to the store and grab some stuff and try out some recipes,’ but I never realized the culinary field could be a career,” Thurmond says.

Until he stumbled through the doors of Restaurant Iris a month after it opened and began washing dishes under the tutelage of Kelly English.

“Kelly instilled in me the thought process and the love for food that I didn’t know I had,” Thurmond says.

Thurmond worked his way up through the brigade at Iris, first as garde manger and eventually to chef de cuisine, with some added duties at McEwen’s and Interim and a degree from L’Ecole Culinaire while he was at it.

There was always an agreement between English and Thurmond.

Thurmond would one day be pushed out of the nest to make it on his own as a restaurateur, he just had to let English know when he was ready.

That day came in January 2015, when a place in Collierville, where Thurmond lives with his wife and now-14-month-old daughter, “jumped into their laps.”

“It made perfect sense. I live in Collierville, and my wife was pregnant at the time, so I could get to work in three minutes and have my home life,” Thurmond says.

Edwards and Thurmond will be neighbors come July, when Thurmond will open his French-Southern restaurant, 148 North on the Collierville square.

“The address is 148 N. Main, and the building has a bunch of history. The post office of Collierville was there. The building and its history has so much value to the city, I wanted to continue to build on that,” Thurmond says.

Thurmond’s 148 North

His style of cuisine will build on his roots and his experience, using old family recipes from his grandmother and aunts while preparing them in a traditional French style.

“It’s grits and greens, but also duck confit and pork belly,” he says.

Having Edwards nearby and with talk of other restaurants opening this year, including a Scottish pub-style restaurant late summer/early fall, just creates more momentum for all.

“To be down the street from somebody like Mac, who has been successful for so long, that’s not a rival, that’s a mentor. There will be places I can go to and take a break for lunch. It’s great,” Thurmond says.

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Woman Indicted for Soliciting Minor Online, Sexual Exploitation

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Baluka

A Collierville woman has been indicted on allegations that she solicited a 16-year-old boy online and, later, had sex with the boy, according to Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich.

Melissa Anne Baluka, 40, was indicted on the allegations Wednesday, Weirich said. One indictment was for soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Baluka met the Chicago-area boy online in February 2013, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations and members of the Memphis Child Exploitation Task Force.

After that, investigators said Baluka exchanged sexually explicit photographs with the boy over the internet. Those images included photographs from a sexual encounter the two shared in a motel when Baluka traveled to Chicago in February of 2014.

The boy’s parents found thousands of the text messages on his phone and also found an online account, which chronicled his relationship with Baluka.

The case is being handled by the D.A.’s Sepcial Victims Unit.

Baluka is being held on $75,000 bond.