Jeff Johnson Pimento’s Kitchen and Market

Merry Burger Week to all! And to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, I stopped by restaurants participating in the annual Memphis Flyer event to take photos of merrymakers who ordered the $6.99 burger specials. That’s about half the price of what a burger sells for before and after the (hamburger) holidays at many places.

I ran into photographer Keith Renard at Belly Acres on Poplar. I didn’t know this at the time, but, after I talked to him, I realized Renard could be the Flyer’s Burger Week poster boy.

This was on Thursday, June 21st. He says he had the Burger Week special the night before at Pimento’s Kitchen & Market. The burger has “sautéed pepper,” Renard says. “It was good.”

He also liked the Belly Acres burger. “The crispness of the fried green tomato on it was pretty amazing.”

Renard is going to Burger Week restaurants — every day. Friday, he was going to Loflin Yard, Saturday, Tops Bar-B-Que, Sunday; Huey’s, Grill Grabz food truck on Monday; and Tenero Cafe & Butcher and maybe Farm Burger Memphis on Tuesday.

That’s a lot of hamburgers. “Listen. I’ll eat fish and chicken the rest of the year.”

Renard, who has participated in Burger Week for three years, says, “I like to see what people do differently with burgers. Plus, it’s for a good cause.” Burger Week benefits Memphis Tilth.

Here are photos from my visits to Burger Week restaurants. I’ll be visiting more places and posting more photos later. (And where are the women Burger Week fans? We want to see you, too.)

Keith Renard with a Burger Week hamburger at Belly Acres (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Mario Young at Tenero Cafe & Butcher (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Dustin Scott at Farm Burger Memphis (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Zachary Westfall at Tenero Cafe & Butcher. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

William Keith from Belly Acres with their Burger Week burger (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Dex McCune at Farm Burger Memphis (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Ryan Azada, John Michael, and J. D. Reager at Farm Burger Memphis (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Gary Cluck traveled a lot for his job, and while on the road, he got hooked on good coffee. He joined some clubs, took some classes. Then, he bought his own roaster. He began giving away bags to family and friends, who urged him, “You need to get this to people,” he says.

And so he did. He recently launched Nacho Ordinary Coffee, which sells small-batch coffees online for about $14 per bag.

Nacho is the family dog. “She’s such a sweetheart,” Cluck says. “She’s not your typical chihuahua.”

Cluck says the coffees he offers tend to be medium roast. He will typically offer two coffees from two different countries and never blends.

• Barbecue champ Melissa Cookston is opening a steakhouse in Southaven, Steaks by Melissa.

* Downtown Dining Week is set for November 7-13.

• Jeff Johnson’s Green Room is holding its first pop-up restaurant this weekend. Chef Daniele Zucca will lead the meal. Dinner includes Lasagna Alla Bolognese and pumpkin ravioli in brown butter. Details here.

• Pimento’s Kitchen and Market is set to open at 6450 Poplar on Wednesday. This is a sister restaurant of Holiday Ham and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.