Tag: Hog & Hominy

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Late Night Noshing in Memphis

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Would you order a bowl of ramen noodles from an Italian joint or pick up a fried-rice grilled cheese from a place that specializes in German cuisine? If it’s past any respectable person’s dinnertime and you aren’t going to scarf down a bean burrito in a parking lot in the passenger side of your buddy’s Toyota Corolla, you most certainly would. Lucky for you, the creative chefs at two popular restaurants ditch the constraints of their restaurant concepts and switch up their menus for dinner procrastinators and late-nighters.

David Todd, executive chef at Schweinehaus in Overton Square treats his fourth-mealers to something off-kilter and off-menu. “I think late-night eaters get the short end of the stick sometimes,” he said, “so it’s kind of cool to offer specials and cool new dishes to those who have most likely been serving others in some capacity all day.”

Justin Fox Burks

David Todd

Todd admits that he’s really cooking these imaginative dishes for himself as a creative outlet but loves to share his wild creations with a wider audience. “It’s a nice little window of time every day of no-pressure idea exploration,” he said.

Justin Fox Burks

Schweinehaus’ Brat-chos

So what can you expect if you show up hungry to Schweinehaus between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m? You’re presented with a menu that’s printed up nightly with eight late-night staples, and at the top is a “Late-Night Chef’s Creation” section that has two to three unique choices, including such dishes as Brat-chos (yes, bratwurst nachos), the aforementioned fried-rice grilled cheese, Pancake Breakfast Sandwich, NY Reuben Fries, or the Third Grader, a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The choices range in price from $7 to $13.

Justin Fox Burks

Schweinehaus’ smoked jerk pork sandwich

I stopped in after 10 p.m. last Saturday and found a full patio and the front room packed with a party of 20-plus millennials having a big time. The menu that night was geared toward the Elvis Week crowd, with an ice-cream sandwich aptly called “The Elvis” and “Fools Loaf,” which is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with bacon on buttery brioche bread.

Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman‘s Hog & Hominy on Brookhaven Circle draws late-night eaters in with the smell of oak burning in a traditional wood-fired pizza oven, but the star of the after-hours menu, available from 10 p.m. to midnight, or later if the restaurant is full, isn’t the pizza. It’s two dishes that are pretty far removed from the place’s Italian roots.

The chef duo fell in love with ramen noodles while traveling the country cooking at places like the James Beard House. “The first guest-chef dinner we did at Hog & Hominy was with Chef Tien Ho [of Ma Peche fame],” Hudman told me. “He taught us the proper way of making ramen broth, so we put it on the late-night menu as a way of paying homage to him.”

The chefs are also frying up the much lauded John T. Edge Burger, a deceptively simple-sounding sandwich with onion, yellow mustard, pickled lettuce, and American cheese on a white bun. “The ramen and burger are staples that are always on, but we also do specials like our Frito Pie from time to time,” Nick Talarico, general manager, said.

Hog & Hominy is less than a mile from my house, so I dropped in around 11 p.m. on a weekend night to find an unusually quiet scene. The regulars were all at Live at the Garden’s ZZ Top concert nearby, no doubt singing along to “Sharp Dressed Man” and spinning their fuzzy air guitars. So Talarico joined me at the bar to paint a picture of the typical scene. “We’ll have people in tuxedos and evening gowns eating hot dogs, right alongside servers and cooks from other establishments slurping down ramen noodles,” he said.

A look at the full dinner menu, which is also available until closing, made no mention of the John T. Edge Burger or the ramen noodles. “We make sure to tell every table … although those in the know come here just for the ramen,” Talarico said.

This is one of those rare times when procrastination is rewarded. So go out late and enjoy the creative food being served to other night owls. You could nap through your regular dinnertime or, heck, just go ahead and have another dinner. Or you could call it a really early breakfast.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

At the Swine & Wine for Cozy Corner

CREDIT: Frank Chin

Frank Chin

On Monday, Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman hosted Swine & Wine, a benefit for Cozy Corner, which had a fire in January. 

It was a progressive dinner with folks divided between Hog & Hominy and Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen and then switching places. The evening culminated in a block party at Porcellino’s. 

The list of participating chefs was long and impressive. Among them Felicia Willett, Kelly English, Jackson Kramer, Patrick Reilly, and Ryan Trimm. 

About 150 people packed the sold-out event, with some $20,000 raised for Cozy Corner. 

Cozy Corner is also raising funds via Go Fund Me. 

All photos are by Frank Chin.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Recipe for Success

It has been a banner year for Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen and Hog & Hominy.

So far, the pair has been named two of the Best New Chefs of 2013 by Food & Wine, and their second restaurant, Hog & Hominy, was named one of GQ‘s Most Outstanding Restaurants of 2013 and one of the South’s Best New Restaurants by Southern Living. It also received a glowing review in The New York Times.

But 2013 isn’t over yet, and Ticer and Hudman aren’t finished racking up milestones. On September 3rd, their first cookbook, Collards & Carbonara: Southern Cooking, Italian Roots (The Olive Press), hits the stands. We sat down to find out more about the next big step for two of Memphis’ hottest chefs.

Memphis Flyer: You guys have been busy this year. How long has this cookbook been in the works?

Ticer: We were approached by Patti Clauss, the recruiter for Williams-Sonoma. She’d been to Andrew Michael a few times and liked what we were doing.

Hudman: They talked to us two years ago about doing a book. We were like, “Hell, yeah!” And then six months went by, and we didn’t hear anything.

Ticer: We kind of gave up on it. Then, a year later, they got in touch with us again, and we were like, “Hell, yeah! We’re ready to rock.” And they were like, “You’ve got a year to do it.”

Hudman: We had a year to do it, and we procrastinated for six months.

Ha! So, when it came time to sit down and work, how did you start culling your recipes?

Hudman: Originally, the book was just going to be the first five years at Andrew Michael. But then our editor, Jen Newens, came to Hog & Hominy and she [said], “No way. This has to be in the book.”

How even is the distribution of Andrew Michael recipes and Hog & Hominy recipes?

Ticer: Pretty even. Vegetables and desserts are pretty much from Hog & Hominy, the pastas are pretty much from Andrew Michael, the starters are from both, and the entrées are from Andrew Michael.

Hog & Hominy is more elevated casual food, whereas Andrew Michael is fine dining. Did you find it easy to mix the two styles in the book?

Ticer: Yeah, and we made it more approachable for cooking at home. We know it’s hard to cook restaurant food at home, so we definitely geared this toward the home kitchen.

Hudman: The book gives you different levels. There’s stuff that any novice cook can do, but there’s also a medium-level challenge, and then, at the end of the book, the tasting menu will let you flex your fancy-cooking muscles.

What’s next for you two? Do you plan on doing another book?

Hudman: There are a few other restaurants we want to do, a few other concepts. I swear, I think we could have two or three restaurants in the next three years. And then a butcher shop, for sure — a place where we can really showcase local farms and their products and the art of butchery. It’s something we’ve always wanted to do.

Ticer: As for [another] book, absolutely. We hope to start one this January.

Hudman: It’s been a cool experience. In five years, we’ll be able to look back at this snapshot of everything we’ve done up until this point.

Ticer: We might look back and think, What the hell were we thinking?

Hudman: Yeah. But what I love about this book is it’s more than just recipes. You can dive into what really makes us tick and things that inspire us.

Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman are hosting a release party for the book on September 3rd, at 5:30 p.m., at Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen and Hog & Hominy, featuring special guests Preston Van Winkle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbons and chefs John Currence, Tien Ho, Mike Lata, and Kelly English. Tickets to the event are $125 per person and include a signed copy of Collards & Carbonara, plus cocktails, wine, and food. Proceeds benefit the Southern Foodways Alliance. To purchase your ticket, call Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen at 347-3569.

There will be a booksigning for Collards & Carbonara at the Williams-Sonoma Germantown store, on Saturday, September 7th, at noon.

Collards & Carbonara is available for pre-order from Amazon.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Passport to Oregon Wine Tasting; Wine on Tap at Hog & Hominy

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Passport to Oregon is back for its second year, offering Memphians a chance to sample wines and meet the Oregon winemakers behind them.

Event organizer Michael Hughes of Joe’s Wines & Liquors has been a fan of Oregon wines since he started in the wine business about nine years ago. But it wasn’t until he attended Pinot Camp, an annual seminar in the Oregon wine country, in 2009 that he really began spreading the Oregon wine gospel.

“I was hooked,” he says. “I drank the Kool-Aid.”

By “Kool-Aid” he means Oregon’s renowned Pinot Noir, a varietal that grows particularly well in the Willamette Valley’s cool climate.

“[Oregon wine] is about a sense of place. They don’t want to make Pinot Noir that tastes like Burgundy or Pinot Noir that tastes like California,” Hughes says. “They want to let each vineyard speak for itself.”

According to Hughes, Oregon wines tend to be earthier, with a little more acidity than California wines. And, Hughes says, winemakers there are focused on maintaining that unique Oregon taste through sustainable viticulture.

“Viticulture in general is quite polluting and weighs very heavily on the environment, whether in terms of water usage or electricity or pesticides and fungicides. The founders of the industry in Oregon were families that wanted to pass the vineyards down to their children. They understood that you can’t poison your land and not expect it to have a great effect.”

The idea of Passport to Oregon first came to Hughes in 2011, by way of Birmingham, Alabama.

“I learned there was a big group of winemakers going to Birmingham in February,” he says. “So I reached out to them and said if you’re going to Birmingham, why not come up to Memphis right afterward?”

In 2012, Joe’s Wines & Liquors hosted the first Passport to Oregon event, featuring 22 Oregon wineries. This year, the event will have 26 wineries, maybe more, and they’ve already sold 200 of the 250 tickets.

“It’s a great opportunity for wine lovers in Memphis to talk, interact, and taste with winemakers,” Hughes says. “It’s casual, unintimidating. No one should feel rushed or pushed to try everything. Over 100 wines in two-and-a-half hours is a little intense.”

Passport to Oregon takes place at the University Club February 21st from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are $45 each, including wine tastings and Pacific Northwest-style appetizers, and can be purchased at Joe’s Wines & Liquors. For more information, call 725-4252.

Kegs: They aren’t just for beer anymore. Wine on tap is the new frontier for restaurants, and Hog & Hominy has brought that frontier to Memphis.

Nick Talarico, beverage director for Hog & Hominy and Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, explains:

“[Keg wine] allows nicer-quality wines to be sold at a discounted rate, because there isn’t the cost of the bottles, the shipping costs are less, and there’s less to throw away so there’s less waste,” he says. “The wine is cheaper to produce, and restaurants can sell them for cheaper and sell really high-quality wines by-the-glass when they usually aren’t available.”

A popular practice in California, kegging wine had yet to make it to Memphis when Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, head chefs of Hog & Hominy and Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, encountered it on their annual trip to Santa Barbara. They approached vintner Robert Turner, a Memphis native with a boutique winery in California, about kegging some of the wines for Hog & Hominy. When he agreed, they brought on a second California winery with Mid-South roots: Tallulah Wines by Mike Drash, whose family farm is in Como, Mississippi.

By December 2012, Hog & Hominy’s keg wine system was up and running. There are currently four wines in rotation: Tallulah Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon and Robert Turner Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc.

Keg wines range from $9.50 to $13 a glass, while the same wine from a bottle could cost upwards of $18 a glass.

“Andy and Michael wanted people to have something really exceptional,” Talarico says, “without breaking the bank.”

Hog & Hominy, 707 W. Brookhaven Circle (207-7396)

hogandhominy.com