Curfew American Tavern and Craft Cocktails is slated to open September 8th downtown in the Canopy hotel at 164 Union Avenue.
The restaurant is part of the Fabio Viviani Hospitality group, which owns restaurants, hotels, airport concepts, and commissary concepts across the United States.
Aaron Winters, formerly of Sur La Table, will be executive chef.
Viviani, an internationally known chef and restaurateur, is the author of cookbooks, including Fabio’s Italian Kitchen and Fabio’s 30 Minute Italian. He’s hosted TV shows, including Chow Ciao!, and he appeared in numerous other shows, including Top Chef.
Fabio Viviani
Curfew is a “sports bar/tavern,” Viviani says. “But not a sports bar in the sense you’ve got wings, you’ve got burgers, and a wide-screen TV. It’s a very approachable sports bar. It’s got a cocktail bar feeling while serving American food.”
The best description is “an upscale tavern,” Viviani says.
Decor wise, he says, Curfew will be “casually refined with a little bit of rustic. Lots of leather. Some hint of modern.”
And, he says, “It’s very well laid out. There are spaces that are a little more private. Very nice open area by the lobby where you can have a cocktail and gather with more people.
And also a lot of two tops and four tops. Nicely spaced so you don’t feel like you’re going to have dinner in a too-crowded bar.”
“Too crowded” will not be happening anyway with the pandemic going on, Viviani says.
The food will be “classic American with a twist,” he says.
Curfew will feature a “small bite menu,” which will include fried chicken livers, hushpuppies, sweet fire chicken wings. The restaurant also will feature larger entrees, including a 16-ounce ribeye, and house andouille.
And they’ll serve “great cocktails and amazing wine by the glass.”
Dirk Flanagan, Fabiano Viviani Hospitality’s “leading culinary chef,” will be at the restaurant six to nine months of the year, Viviani says.
Winters, who opened Porcellino’s Craft Butcher with Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman and was executive chef at The Vault, will take care of the “day-to-day operations,” Viviani says.
Curfew will be perfect for “anybody who wants to go downtown for a weekend in Memphis, anybody who goes to a ballpark or sports events, or anybody who is at the hotel,” Viviani says.
Viviani, who lives in Chicago, will be in and out of Memphis. “Every time we open a venue, it’s not just my name on the door. It’s our concept, our decor, our menu.”
Curfew American Tavern and Craft Cocktails will be in the Canopy hotel at 164 Union Avnue; (901) 467-0308