Josh and Emily Mutchnick have arrived.
“It’s been a long road,” he says. “This is my dream becoming fulfilled.”
The dream is JEM, a dream of a restaurant that opens April 25th in the Edge District. Josh and his wife, Emily, are owners of the roughly 3,500-square-foot restaurant at 644 Madison Avenue. “She’s doing the back-end paperwork and all the fun stuff. Every aspect of it. And I’m doing the cheffy stuff,” Josh says.
“JEM” stands for “Josh (and) Emily Mutchnick.” It also stands for “Just Enjoy the Moment.”
“This is our restaurant and this is our food. This is our personality. This is it.”
Mutchnick, 37, was in the sixth grade in Mobile, Alabama, when he realized he wanted to be a chef.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Mutchnick worked at several prestigious restaurants, including Chicago’s Michelin-starred EL Ideas, where he was chef de cuisine.
When they decided to relocate in 2020, Josh and Emily ended up in Memphis, where his sister had gone to Rhodes College.
Josh was doing his monthly JEM Dining Supper Club dinners at the James Lee House in Victorian Village when he and Emily decided the time was right to “jump full in” and open their restaurant. “In the middle of 2022 was when I had my business plan and talked with the real estate broker and bank.”
His broker “found this gem in the Edge District.”
Josh kept the ball rolling. “I met with a lot of restaurant-style business owners. They gave me a lot of advice.”
John Halford and Patrick Brown with cnct. design, pllc, designed the space for the Mutchnicks. The ceiling features exposed beams and rusty tin. They kept the original concrete floor, which they covered with a clear seal. The “cracks and paint spots add a lot of personality and texture to the place.”
“This is an old building and we want to keep some of the personality,” he says.
But the old is juxtaposed with “some modern lighting, a lot of wood finishes, and a lot of warm colors that are going to add depth to it.”
“You come in and you want to snuggle up in the space with all this wood and rusty color and beauty.”
He adds, “It’s a completely open kitchen. You come in and see all the action. We have a kitchen counter, but every seat you get to see the kitchen in action. And, if you want, you can come up and talk to us.
“I think the main goal of this restaurant is to have an experience that is welcoming and shows hospitality through the food, physically through the space, but also through the service.”
They want JEM to be a place “where people come in and have exciting, delicious food, but feel welcome and relaxed.”
“We’re surrounded by a passionate staff that feels like we do. We want to show you a great time and make you feel right at home while serving you the best food and cocktails and wine that we can.”
So, what will Josh be cooking in that open kitchen? “Short answer is: modern American with global influences.
“Long answer: I’ve been cooking and working towards this my whole life. And I’ve always expressed myself through food. I know I can make the best food when I’m excited about the techniques and can put new and different things on the menu.”
Whether that’s “Asian, European, or American influences,” Josh says, “it’s going to be delicious.”
Describing one of his dishes, Josh says, “I’m taking traditional Italian arancini, but using Korean flavors by adding kimchi, scallions, and cilantro to it. Then serving it with charred scallion tofu aioli and pickled daikon radish.”
And, he says, “One of the coolest things is, it’s completely vegan.”
All their desserts are homemade. One was inspired by Waffle House pecan waffles, Josh says. It’s a “decadent waffle mousse with a maple gel, candied pecans, and a pecan cake base.”
He and Emily believe JEM is in the right spot. “Moving to Memphis, from day one we had our eye on the Edge District,” Josh says, adding, “It’s an up-and-coming neighborhood. We’re just out of Downtown. I think the location is perfect. Near Downtown and near Midtown.”
All the business owners in the neighborhood are trying to “build up this community,” he says. “And we want to be part of that energy and that action.”
Their neighbors include the new Rock’n Dough Pizza & Brewery as well as Inkwell and Sun Studio. “This community is about to explode. I love it.”