Tag: Edge Alley

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Edge Alley: It’s Time to Close

Tim Barker and his Edge Alley restaurant (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Tim Barker no longer “lives” on the Edge.

Edge Alley, that is.

Barker closed his restaurant, Edge Alley at 600 Monroe Avenue, on December 10th. 

“I decided not to renew the lease for a number of reasons,” says Barker, 43.

Number one? “I feel it had started to become unsustainable.”

Describing the comfortable Edge District restaurant he opened about seven years ago, Barker says, “Fresh, light, full service. We use the best ingredients we can get our hands on. And those ingredients have gotten to be cost prohibitive. 

“With the cost of goods and overhead, labor, I’d have to charge so much for lunch that we wouldn’t be viable for most people.”

Closing Edge Alley “makes the most sense. I don’t want to lower the quality of the product, change our service standard, cut staff. Now is kind of the time for me. Also, my lease is up. So, everything all at once. Rising costs, lease is up, and then maybe the concept has run its course.

“I don’t want to lower our standards and I don’t want to start using products that aren’t up to our standards. I’d rather close now while we’re at the top, on top of our game. The restaurant was doing really well. Everyone who worked here was really happy. A really good team.”

Barker has been trying to place all of his employees. “Most of them have already landed something.”

Describing Edge Alley, Barker says, “I’d say that we were upscale lunch and brunch with a focus on quality and consistency.”

They served “New American” or “influenced American food” — “Things that you are familiar with, but prepared in a slightly different way.”

For example, he says, “My shrimp and grits is different because it’s more of a French twist on an American classic.” 

They offered a “robust selection” on their menu. They baked their own bread and even made their own crackers. “Everything was made from fresh ingredients. I always say it takes a lot of work to make things seem so effortless. A lot of work goes into these things behind the scenes. So, the guests only experience what’s on the plate.

“I just don’t want things to slip because of rising costs. I think the guests would notice if I started changing the quality of product or level of service. It just doesn’t make sense to sign another three-year term.”

Closing the restaurant wasn’t a sudden decision. “I’ve been considering it for a while. I’ve been weighing my options. I honestly feel like there’s no path forward without making different changes to the product quality.

“Outwardly, it seems crazy and fast, but inwardly, this has been a decision that was long in the making. Not something I took lightly or easily, but I’m confident it’s the right decision. For the business itself and for the staff.

“We had a meeting. I explained to them and they all understood why I was closing. We were open for a week so that everybody could say ‘bye to our regulars. We have so many people that loved and appreciated this restaurant, and the support has been tremendous.”

They had a great final week, Baker says. “Sunday, at the end of shift, we all had a toast. We all had a glass of champagne and celebrated our time together.

“I believe in this neighborhood and I believe in this city. And I believe in the restaurant industry.”

Baker plans to return to consulting and design, which he did before he opened Edge Alley.

Will he open another restaurant at some point? “I’m not ruling it out. I also have friends that are going to open places and I’m looking forward to helping them in whatever capacity I can.”

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Art Art Feature

Blast Off: NASA Photo Exhibit at Edge Alley

Ryan Adams loves to hear what people say when they view his NASA photographs, which range from images of the moon’s surface to a rare color photo of Mars.

“It’s just hearing the stories they have if they were living during that time,” says Adams, 34. “Someone came in the other day, his father had taken him to go see the launch for Apollo 15. He said, ‘We were four miles away, and I could feel the concussion of the rocket in my chest.’

“It’s hard to imagine seeing a rocket that large,” says Adams. “It’s crazy — that it would burn 20 tons of fuel a second.”

Photos from Adams’ collection are on view in “Edge of Space: Apollo 11, Orbiter, and Viking I,” the debut show at the new Shift + Gallery inside Edge Alley at 600 Monroe.

All the images are vintage photographs. “Vintage photography just means that it was printed at the time it was taken,” Adams says. The photographs “aren’t photos that have been reprinted. These are actual photos from NASA that are stamped ‘NASA’ on the back.”

NASA photo of Mars

They were “truly just reference materials for the scientists at NASA. The primary purpose was never to be art.”

Adams’ love of space dates to conversations he had as a child with his grandfather, who had friends who worked for NASA. “Exploration has always been a massive interest of mine,” he says.

He began collecting NASA photographs 20 years ago after he found some at an estate sale at the home of a former NASA employee. He became more knowledgeable about NASA photography when he was director of special collections for Historic Images, which digitizes photographs in newspaper archives.

He also dealt with space photographs when he became director at Daniel Blau gallery in Munich. The gallery’s vintage photography collection included photos of major space missions. “There would be [photos] of the Apollo missions, Gemini, Skylab … different missions to Mars … Voyager.”

A majority of his collection came about a few years ago when he began contacting former NASA employees. “I started using genealogy searches trying to find relatives of photographers who took photos I had in my possession.”

Adams was specific about what photographs he wanted, which included photos taken during the Orbiter missions between August 1966 and August 1967. “The Orbiter photographs are just such a monumental feat of engineering, both in rocket science and photography,” he says. “The satellites orbited the moon with film, took photographs, developed the film on board the satellite, scanned the film, and then transmitted the image back to Earth, where they would print the strips out. And then collage the strips together.”

The Orbiter image in the show is actually about 30 strips that make one large image.

Adams put this exhibit together after Edge Alley chef/owner Tim Barker suggested he do a photo show to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 (July 20th).

The Mars photo, which sells for $7,500, is Adams’ favorite. “It’s the first color photograph of another planet,” he says. “It’s also the third known example outside the Smithsonian and NASA’s museums in Houston and Huntsville.”

The image, taken on a Viking I mission, is “the first photo that was sent back of another planet’s surface … July 20th, 1976.

“Out of the thousands of years people have been studying the stars and planets and looking to the heavens in the sky for meaning in life or mathematics, this is the first time we have a photograph of another planet’s surface.”

And, Adams says, “It’s beautiful.”

Edge Alley, 600 Monroe, 425-2605.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Edge Alley’s Tim Barker.

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

As a child, Tim Barker spent summers on his grandparents’ farm in Kentucky.

“We’d be up around 4 a.m. to pick tomatoes,” he says. “And then we’d come in for breakfast and eat tomatoes. And then go out and sell tomatoes. And then for lunch we would eat tomatoes.

“For a long time I didn’t eat tomatoes.”

Michael Donahue

Tim Barker

As chef/owner of Edge Alley, Barker, 38, now includes tomatoes in his popular shrimp and grits. “I [fell] in love with tomatoes. I turned into a tomato snob.”

Barker, who was born in Martin, Tennessee, got his first restaurant job at 13 working at a Shoney’s. He rose from washing dishes to flipping burgers and frying steaks.

Barker studied artistic photography at Murray State University. “My plan was to be a successful photographer.”

But, he says, “I was in school for photography and needed a job.”

He went to work at an upscale restaurant in Murray. “That was the restaurant where I realized this could be more than just a job.”

Instead of just flipping a steak, Barker started “to care about whether the thing is overcooked or not. It stops being just a job and you have to worry about the presentation. The quality. There’s more to it than just food.”

Barker, who briefly went to culinary school, eventually moved to Memphis, where he worked under chef/owner José Gutierrez at the old Encore restaurant at The Peabody and at the Beauty Shop working with chef/owner Karen Carrier.

Deciding he wanted to open a restaurant consulting business, Barker now owns Table and Bar Consulting Group. “We do restaurant concept and design for ground-up projects. And then we can also help people reorganize and repair their existing operation.”

He wasn’t thinking about opening a restaurant at 600 Monroe when the developer asked him what he thought he should do with the empty space. “I outlined this concept for some retail and art space, a restaurant, and a coffee roastery.”

A year and a half later, Barker opened Edge Alley, which serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and, Saturday and Sunday, brunch. The restaurant space has 60 seats. A photography gallery soon will fill another space.

Owning his own restaurant was his longtime fantasy, but, Barker says, “I’ve always thought that I would end up with a fine dining restaurant. A few years ago, I realized that’s not the way the world is going.

“What we do here is fun. There has to be a certain amount of whimsy.”

Their food concept has always been “fresh, light, as few ingredients as possible. No heavy sauces. Everything is meant to be refreshing.”

And, Barker says, “If we can’t make it, we prefer not to serve it. So, at first everything was served on a biscuit because that was the bread we were making at the time. We’ve expanded into other breads.”

A vegan avocado toast is their most popular item. “We put an entire avocado sliced and fanned out over the two slices of [wheat] bread. Then we make an herb vinaigrette and an herb and olive oil puree. So, it’s nice and bright and green. Then a little bit of dressed arugula and chia seeds.

“Every recipe is four or five ingredients, and every plate has four or five things on it. Nothing is so complicated that it’s difficult to understand or unfamiliar.”

Their shrimp and grits recipe is simple. Instead of “a sauce that’s made of Worcestershire hot sauce, all these tons of ingredients,” their sauce “starts off with charred tomatoes” and also includes garlic, onion, shrimp, and “a handful of spices.”

Their chocolate pot de creme dessert is made of dark chocolate, whiskey, whipped cream, and fresh berries.

Edge Alley isn’t the end of the line for Barker. “I think we have a lot of opportunity in 2019 to do other stuff in the neighborhood.”

He’s not ready to talk about it, but Barker says, “We’re working on another concept for the neighborhood.”

Think “bar.”

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

All that and avocado toast: Park + Cherry and Edge Alley

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

You’ve probably tasted some of their inspired eats if you’ve been to any of the Dixon special events over the last several years.

You know, their hopsicles like Wicked Apple made with Boston lager and hard apple cider and Lunar Lemon made with Blue Moon and hard lemonade.

I’m speaking of wife and husband duo Kristi and Kevin Bush, of CFY Catering, and now you can taste their artful entrees full-time by paying a visit to the Dixon Gallery and Garden’s Park + Cherry.

In July, the couple took over the year-old restaurant, which originally debuted under the charge Wally Joe, who left Park + Cherry to focus his efforts on Acre.

“We were doing so many events here, it was almost our home away from home,” Kevin says. “Three-fourths of the people who work here, we have done their wedding, so it was a good fit for us and a good fit for them.”

Their focus is on sandwiches and salads and fresh-made sweets as well as a full coffee menu.

“We enjoy the science of cooking, but we also enjoy the art of cooking. That’s what attracted us here,” Kevin says.

I’ve been on a sort of extended avocado toast tasting safari as of late, and while there is no winner, the Bush’s would be in the final running.

They pickle their avocado and offer generous portions of it atop cream cheese and brioche finished off with greens ($4). You also can’t go wrong with the Ancient Grain Salad, with quinoa, farro, spinach, and grapes tossed in a white balsamic vinaigrette ($10). There’s the Pork & Cherry sandwich, with pork loin, cherry gastrique, chicharrones, and lemon aioli ($10), and the Prosciutto & Peach, with prosciutto de Parma, gruyere, roasted peaches, and balsamic reduction on a homemade croissant ($8), and, like I said, a display case full of freshly made desserts.

Desserts are their specialty. They started their own wholesale dessert business while Kristi was pregnant 10 years ago.

They also started an herb garden at the garden, which they use daily, and serve Edge coffee.

“Kristi and I always find inspiration through places other than food. Coming here is already inspiring walking through the galleries and gardens,” Kevin says. “It’s a great escape for Memphians.”

Park + Cherry by CFY, inside the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 4339 Park, 761-5250, dixon.org. Hours 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., Tues.- Sat., Sun. 1-4 p.m.

Speaking of Edge coffee, I lived in the Edge district several years back and prayed and prayed and prayed for a coffee shop there. I guess I had to move for it to manifest. You’re welcome.

Edge Alley opened three months ago next door to High Cotton Brewing on Monroe, and it’s all you want in a coffee shop and then some.

Actually it’s not even a coffee shop.

“I like to say we’re a restaurant with a great coffee program,” says owner and chef Tim Barker.

They offer direct-trade Thai coffee from the Chiang Rai region, which they roast in house and serve any number of ways. They also sell their roast to other restaurants in town (like the Dixon).

“It’s rare and not easy to source,” Barker says. “We work with only one bean that works with all extraction methods.”

I found the Americano nice and strong, or “with a bitter walnut taste,” according to Barker.

The avocado toast is neck-and-neck with Park + Cherry’s (Barker recommended the Bush’s avocado toast without my even asking). Edge Alley serves all of their sandwiches and toasts on a biscuit-croissant hybrid.

“It’s flaky layers that you can pull apart, and the layers are made of biscuit dough,” Barker says.

The avocado toast is topped with an herb purée and an herb vinaigrette ($6.50). The menu changes daily and is what Barker calls “hyper-seasonal.”

They have biscuit gnocchi, shrimp and grits, a big farmer’s plate, and coffee-style braised brisket.

They also just launched a dinner menu upon getting their liquor license, so expect some different serving hours and check social media for their daily offerings.

“Our food style is upscale comfort food, with an emphasis on simplicity and quality,” Barker says. “We stay away from the precious food movement and focus on recognizable dishes that are high-quality.”

Also, leave some time for shopping. Edge Alley houses four micro-retail businesses from vintage clothing to interior design.

“We wanted to invest in the neighborhood, so we tried to offer on some scale what the neighborhood is missing,” Barker says.

Edge Alley, 600 Monroe, 425-2605, edge-alley.com. Hours Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sat. 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sun. 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.