Tag: Jimmy Gentry

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

A Virtual White Tablecloth Dinner

Erling Jensen, Jo Anne Fusco, and Jimmy Gentry; (inset) David Krog (Photos: Michael Donahue)

Most people don’t want to return to sheltering in place, keeping their distance, and other things associated with the dark days of the pandemic. But Jo Anne Fusco found one thing from her lockdown days to be pretty cool: her virtual dinner she put together for a Thrive Memphis fundraiser in 2020. Now, she’s reviving it.

“April in Paris, A Virtual Dinner” will be held at 6:30 p.m., April 18th, via Zoom, says Fusco, Thrive’s executive director. The three-course meal will be crafted by chefs Erling Jensen of Erling Jensen: The Restaurant, David Krog of Dory, and Jimmy Gentry of The Lobbyist. So, you get three noted Memphis chefs preparing a dinner you can eat in your pajamas while sipping wine in the comfort of your home.

In other words: a virtual white tablecloth dinner experience.

Thrive Memphis, a nonprofit that provides recreational and social activities for people with intellectual disabilities, is known for food events, thanks to Fusco. She held chili contests for years when the organization was known as “The Exceptional Foundation of West Tennessee.”

Fusco later held farm-to-table dinners at the home of Brad and Dina Martin, Millstone Market, and Avon Acres. Jensen, Gentry, and chef Zach Thomason took part in dinners.

“I had the food donated. But we had to pay the staff. That wasn’t a problem, but we had to rent everything, rent dishes. We had to get wine glasses and silverware. … We made a lot of money, but it ate up a lot of our profits.”

Then Covid happened. “I got this idea: ‘Why don’t we do it virtual?’”

The four-course dinner was held in December 2020 and called “Home for the Holidays.” “We had a beautiful dinner. We packaged it in bags that James Davis donated. And we had the courses: the salad, the rolls, the butter, the entrees.”

Guests picked up the pre-cooked and packaged meals at Dory. “They just had to be heated. Some of the meat was on the rare side; if you wanted it more done, you cooked it a little longer.”

People then turned on Zoom and listened to Krog and Gentry discuss how they prepared each course. A sommelier talked about the wines.

Fusco came up with the theme for this virtual dinner. Since they already had the April date, Fusco said, “Oh, my God. Paris in April. Let’s do a French dinner.”

That also was a good excuse to put “Ooh la la!” on the invitations.

Krog is making salad Nicoise. “I haven’t had an opportunity to make this in a long time,” he says. “I felt it was a classic beginning to this meal.”

The salad is made with arugula, green beans, Nicoise olives, shallots, fingerling potatoes, lemon, olive oil, and hard-cooked egg, Krog says. He’s also making chocolate truffles and his Parker House rolls.

Jensen is making his classic beef bourguignon, which, he says, includes “beef, carrots, shallots, onions, celery, bay leaf, thyme, and red wine.”

For the dessert, Gentry is making Roquefort ganache tarts with tonka bean anglaise. The tarts include heavy cream, vanilla beans, white chocolate, trimoline, butter, dark rum, and cheese. “The anglaise is made the same way except we steep tonka beans in it,” says Gentry, who describes the dessert as “rich, decadent, not overly sweet.”

Taking part in the virtual dinner is easy, Fusco says. “We send out the Zoom link and you just follow.”

The last time they did the dinner “some followed, some watched it and turned off the volume” because they were with guests.

Dinners are to be picked up between 2 and 4 p.m. that afternoon at Dory at 716 West Brookhaven Circle. Zoom begins at 6:30 p.m.

Fusco, who hopes to make the virtual dinner an annual Thrive fundraiser, enjoys the camaraderie. She was in the kitchen with the chefs at the last Zoom dinner, which was in the kitchen at her home, where she held a dinner party.

But, she says, “The dinner is fun and it’s nice to have wonderful donors, but the money really goes to the kids. It doesn’t go to anything else. It goes to our participants.”

For more information on taking part in “April in Paris, A Virtual Dinner,” go to thrivemem.org.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Chef Jimmy Gentry Returns with The Lobbyist Restaurant

Chef Jimmy Gentry (Credit: Jimmy Gentry)

Fans of P.O. Press Public House & Provisions, take note: Chef Jimmy Gentry is about to be back in the kitchen.

Gentry announced Wednesday that he’ll be returning to the restaurant scene in early January with The Lobbyist, a new upscale restaurant on the first floor of the Chisca building Downtown at 272 South Main. The menu will showcase his specialty of globally inspired dishes, a few returning P.O. Press favorites, and an elevated wine list.

“We have put a lot of hard work into this concept and are looking forward to sharing The Lobbyist with everyone in 2023,” said Gentry, owner and executive chef at The Lobbyist and Paradox Catering and Consulting. “We will offer similar cuisine to that of P.O. Press including some old favorites, however I would say the whole menu is a bit more elevated. Stay tuned to the website and other media for the announcements of the staff.”

Inside, there are plans for an eight-person chef’s table that overlooks an open kitchen, while a private dining room can seat up to 20. The bar can accommodate 20 additional guests, and will serve a selection of craft cocktails with early and late-night happy hours.

The menu is still under wraps, but visit The Lobbyist website for updates over the next month.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open in Collierville: P.O. Press and Raven & Lily.

After Brian Thurmond’s restaurant 148 N. Main, near the square in Collierville, closed, P.O. Press Public House and Provisions moved in. They ditched about 50 percent of 148’s stuff, says Chris Thorn, co-founder of the restaurant with chef Jimmy Gentry. The space is now what Thorn calls “refined but relaxed,” with its modern grays, concrete bar top, and high-gloss table tops.

The name is a nod to the building’s past as a post office and the site of the Collierville Herald. They were going to go with some hip one-name concept, but they found that all their ideas were already taken. In any case, the name goes with the restaurant’s philosophy of local is better.

“Collierville was a purposeful choice,” says Thorn, who has lived in Collierville for 25 years. “We serve and support local.” He notes that Collierville is closer to the farms that serve as sources for the restaurant.

Among those locally sourced dishes is the rotating Local Beef Cut, featuring beef from Claybrook Farms. It comes with a carrot puree, which Thorn declares is “the best thing we put on a plate.”

Local Beef Cut with carrot puree

The Corn Mash is “good old fashioned country food,” a taste of fall with cheek bacon, onion oil, and delicata squash.

The inventive Fruit Rollup features a housemade fruit rollup, walnut brittle, cheese, fruit, and the restaurant’s take on a milano cookie. It serves as a starting course or a dessert course.

The menu also offers black grouper, venison, clams, and duck. But vegetarians can feel welcomed at P.O. Press. “It’s very easy to convert our menu,” Thorn says. “The majority of our menu is produce-based.”

One point of pride for Thorn and Gentry is the bar offerings, what they are calling a “Call to Arms.” The bar is headed up by Mitchell Marable and Nick Manlavi. The bar menu is divided into three categories: “Hot Off the Press,” cocktails concocted for the restaurant. They include the Me vs. Me with rum, sherry, and mezcal and the Naked Ray Gun with brandy, Cappelletti, and Fernet-Branca. “Archetypes” are the classic drinks like the old fashioned, a dry martini, sidecar, and daiquiri. “Thoughtful Revisits” are those drinks you’ve somehow forgotten about like the Rob Roy, Negroni, and Final Word.

Thorn says that while Collierville has plenty of burger and pizza joints, there’s not so many cocktail-wine-and-food-under-one-roof places. And so far, folks seem to like it and the press has been good. But, Thorn says they don’t plan to rest on their laurels. “We believe in hospitality first,” he says. “The restaurant is second.”

P.O. Press Public House and Provisions, 148 N. Main in Collierville (457-7655)

Like P.O. Press, Raven & Lily took over a defunct restaurant space in Collierville. In this case, it was Brooks Pharm2Fork on the square.

“It was an unexpected opportunity,” says Amy Young, who owns the restaurant with her husband Justin, who is the chef. They decided to jump on it and not look back.

It’s a bright, tidy space, seating about 80, with a picture of a raven on the wall. It reads, “Consider the raven.”

Raven & Lily was born in Oakland, Tennessee, and was celebrated for its innovative dishes. The move to Collierville came in August.

Justin, who worked with Erling Jensen as far back as La Tourelle, calls his food “modern Southern comfort.” He says that the food is accessible and the place is not the sort that has to be saved for a special occasion. “It’s nothing over the top,” he says.

The restaurant serves breakfast on the weekends, and among its offerings for lunch are the Hot Mess burger with cabbage and bacon jam; a chicken patty melt (!); and fried green tomatoes. Dinner includes shrimp & grits; fried chicken; hamburger steak with mushroom gravy; and seafood mac and cheese.

As Justin notes, all these dishes are recognizable. He says he makes everything in-house, except for the ketchup.

The Youngs say the Collierville spot is perfect for them. They like the relaxed vibe of the square. And the 80 seats is a manageable size, good for Justin who considers himself a control freak.

The name Raven & Lily comes from the Bible. “It’s personal to us,” says Amy, explaining, “God takes care of us.”

Raven & Lily, 120 E. Mulberry in Collierville (286-4575), ravenandlilyrestaurant.com

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Sneak Peek at P.O. Press restaurant

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

P.O. Press restaurant opens Oct. 1 in Collierville.

With apologies to Eudora Welty, “Why I Live at the P.O. Press” might soon be a common expression among food lovers.

P.O Press is the new restaurant at 148 North Main Street in Collierville. The century-old building once housed the U. S. Post Office and, later, the Collierville Herald newspaper.
Recently, it was the 148 North restaurant.

The sleek, contemporary restaurant, owned by chef Jimmy Gentry and sommelier Chris Thorn, will open Oct. 1. It will feature New American food, Gentry says. For instance, they’ll serve something familiar such as green beans, but include delta Bacon, black garlic and cornbread crumbs with it.

Enticing entrees on the menu include “duck, last season’s figs, pea tendrils” and “black bass/bok choy/miso-curry.”

Gentry and Thorn designed and built or had built much of the furniture in the 4,000 square-foot restaurant. Giant electrical wire spools from a supply company next to Gentry’s Paradox Catering were cut in half, copper strips were applied to the side and used as table tops for the banquettes, which they also built.

Lanterns in the dining room came from Horseshoe Casino’s Magnolia restaurant, where Gentry once worked.

Old barn doors are incorporated into the bar area. One of the doors was cut in half and made into a conference table.

Katie Dailey is making a large three-dimensional installation, which will go on the west wall.

Thorn describes the look as “an elegant color scheme with muted white and soft gray.”

As for the total package, Thorn says, “We wanted to bring downtown midtown dining out to Collierville. We want to be able to provide the same type of experience. We’re moving it to the suburbs, closer to the people, closer to the farms. And then providing all that with a more relaxed, casual service that is still polished and attentive.

“The exciting part to me has been the response that we’ve gotten from the community. It’s the opportunity to bring our vision. So, being able to keep our dollar in the community, work with local vendors, the response we’ve gotten from the neighborhood – those are things that really excited us and continue to drive us to do this.”

Manning the bar will be Mitchell Marable and Nick Manlavi.

The restaurant will be open for dinner and a 9:30 a.m.Sunday brunch.begnning Oct. 7 Lunch will be served at a later date.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Izakaya to Close

Izakaya, Facebook

Izakaya will close on Saturday, according to a press release issued by reps of chef Jimmy Gentry. 
From the release:

Chef Jimmy Gentry announced today he will no longer oversee the kitchen at Izakaya restaurant, located in the former 19th Century Club building at 1433 Union Avenue. Izakaya owners Shon and Dan Lin announced tonight the restaurant will cease operations on April 22, 2017 as they do not have the capital to continue operations of the fine dining restaurant. They are seeking alternatives for the historic building.

“I am completely shocked by this announcement as I had signed a multi-year agreement and had great aspirations for the grandeur of the fully-restored historic building,” said Chef Gentry. “We implemented standards of excellence for the operations and were making great headway under my team’s creativity and management. However, after only two months, the decision was made to close which, unfortunately, is out of my control.”

Izakaya opened in early January in the historic 19th Century Club building. The owners Shon and Dana Lin spent millions renovating the building. Gentry was hired to revamp the restaurant’s sprawling menu.

According to the Commercial Appeal, the restaurant will reopen as Red Fish Bistro, which the Lins also own.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Jimmy Gentry takes charge of Cafe Brooks and Izakaya

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Once he graduated with a culinary degree from Johnson and Wales in South Carolina, Jimmy Gentry began to make a name for himself in Memphis.

He served as executive chef at Erling Jensen: The Restaurant, which was named “Best Restaurant” by local polls including The Memphis Flyer‘s Best of Memphis, and he presented at the James Beard House in New York. He ran several restaurants and opened one, Magnolia: A Delta Grille, during a tenure in Tunica, until taking an instructional position at L’École Culinaire.

He wanted something of his own, though, and that turned into the visionary catering company Paradox Catering and Consulting, which he opened in 2010 with business partner and fellow casino culinary employee Alia Hogan.

One of their regular clients was the Brooks Museum, which has become quite the trendsetter for happening events, especially when food oriented.

Meanwhile, in early 2016, the long-standing Brushmark closed its doors while the Brooks continued its renovations and prepared for its year-long centennial celebration.

Brooks administrators weren’t sure what they were going to do to replace the beloved Brushmark until it dawned on them.

“We really liked [Jimmy’s] art, the art of his food,” says Karen Davis, public relations specialist for the Brooks. “We thought it would be a good fit for everybody.”

And in mid-January, Café Brooks by Paradox opened to reveal a rustic, but modern, upscale fast-casual dining experience just off the museum’s rotunda.

“[The Brooks] approached us, and we were thrilled,” Hogan says. “It was a natural fit.”

The menu is described as “a unique take on classics.”

Take the Reuben. Gentry and team pickle their own corned beef and cut it in-house, then they top it with Korean cabbage and serve it on a pretzel bun ($10).

Their Caesar salad comes with arugula rather than Romaine lettuce and is topped with a special Asian fish sauce vinaigrette ($7).

“We use day-old croissants for our croutons,” Hogan says.

One of their top-sellers is the Grown Up Grilled Cheese, using house-made pimento and cheese with bacon served on French bread ($10).

They offer daily specials, a soup of the day (I had the lentil and kale in coconut milk with curry and sort of quit listening to them while I was eating it), weekly grits dishes, and burger specials.

“We try to use as many local products as possible,” Hogan says, serving local grits, Claybrook Farms burgers, and seasonal vegetables.

That includes coffee — Reverb drip and espresso drinks — and beer, with one local brewery on tap at a time.

They also have wine on tap, one red and one white, and all of their pastries, including bread, cookies, muffins, biscotti, and fruit galettes, are made fresh in-house.

Future plans include debuting a brunch on Mother’s Day and hopefully doing some special events during the Levitt Shell season.

The decor was planned by the Brooks, with massive pieces of local wood used for tables and countertops, designer-inspired seating, and artwork and other ornamentation echoing exhibits in the museum.

Currently, fabrics inspired by Yinka Shonibare MBE’s “Rage of the Ballet Gods” exhibit hang on the walls and wrap throw pillows.

“We plan on rotating the art to match whatever we have going on,” Davis says.

For Gentry and Hogan, the Brooks venture does not mean putting an end to their other ventures and activities. They will continue running their catering business and continue to offer their Underground supper club, pop-up dining experiences that take place at off-the-wall locations and are announced only two days before.

And recently Gentry took the executive chef position at Izakaya.

“We know where we need to improve, and we have a better feel of what diners want,” Hogan says. “Jimmy is there to take care of getting the food to match the Japanese-French fusion they want it to be.”

After debuting some of his ideas on Valentine’s Day, including Miso Butter Oysters, Smoke Pork Belly with pear purée and black garlic reduction, Jidori Chicken with celeriac purée and foie gras sauce, and Crisp Salmon with red curry, avocado, coconut, and arugula, he hopes to have the menu he wants in place by March.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Cafe Brooks Debuts, etc.

• Cafe Brooks by Paradox, at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, opened today.

The cafe is in the space that was once the gift shop. The old Brushmark is now a gallery.

Brooks partnered with Paradox Catering for the venture. Paradox includes chefs Jimmy Gentry and Jessica Lambert.

The menu is aimed for at the patron looking for a quick bite in order to get back to absorbing all the Brooks’ art. There is a selection of salads and sandwiches, plus pastries and coffees. Prices top out at $12.  

• The first local PizzaRev is set to open next Thursday, January 26th.

The restaurant, at 6450 Poplar near International Paper, is an artisan build-your-own pizza place.

And and and … according to a press release from PizzaRev, it will be the first place in the city with a iPourIt system, which is self-serve beer (!).

To demo the system, PizzaRev is hosting an event on Saturday, January 28th, 5 to 10 p.m. Guests (21 and older) will receive a free pizza with the purchase of a 16-ounce beer.

• The owners of Sports Junction have finally unveiled its new name: Growlers.

• A permit has been pulled for Philippine Restaurant on Germantown Parkway.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Dishing the Delta

When we last checked in with Jimmy Gentry a year and a half ago, the former chef de cuisine at Erling Jensen was using his classical French training and his taste for Asian cuisine to inject a bit of ethnic creativity into the dishes at Grand Casino’s LB’s Steakhouse. During Gentry’s tenure, LB’s received an award of excellence from Distinguished Restaurants of North America and Wine Spectator.

Now it appears that with his new gig at Horseshoe Casino’s Magnolia — A Delta Grille, Gentry’s cooking has gone South.

The newly opened Magnolia serves Southern comfort food that’s a step up from down-home but not entirely upscale. You can start off dinner with a grown-up version of Southern sweet tea, made with peach-flavored vodka and sweet iced tea, before you move on to “Chicken Livers Three Ways” (blackened, fried, and sautéed), buttermilk fried frog legs in a butter sauce, or “Arkansas Mushroom and Chicken Gumbo.”

Among the entrées are the usual suspects — bass, strip steak, Gulf red snapper, filet of beef, and rack of lamb — as well as some unusual ones, such as fried chicken and waffles (buttermilk fried chicken with toasted waffles and warm maple syrup) and ham hocks that are braised and served with white beans and sweet cornbread.

Southern favorites dominate the dessert menu — lemon ice box pie, sweet potato pie, white chocolate bread pudding — but surely you won’t be able to resist ordering the “Chocolate Pepsi Cola Cake,” a chocolate cake made with layers of peanut-butter mousse and served with Jack Daniel’s ice cream.

Magnolia — A Delta Grille, Horseshoe Casino (1-800-303-7463)

If you’re interested in Southern food, you shouldn’t wait to register for this year’s Southern Foodways Symposium at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, October 25th through 28th.

This year’s symposium is its 10th anniversary, and it looks like it’s going to be one hell of a party. California cuisine guru Alice Waters is flying in for the event. Other participants include the Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva) and chef Frank Stitt.

This year’s symposium will examine the state of Southern food, both the present and the future. On Friday and Saturday, cooks, chefs, food writers, scholars, and curious eaters will ponder the diverse food cultures of the South, focusing on topics such as the “Creolization of Southern Foodways”; “20th Century Farm Policy”; and “Class and Consumption.”

Also part of the symposium is its annual sidetrip, the Delta Divertissement, on October 24th. This overnight trip to Greenwood, Mississippi, will take in all things porcine.

Led by Southern Foodways Alliance oral historian and “Delta champion” Amy Evans (along with Pluto Plantation native Martha Foose), the group will “break down” a pig with the help of sausage man Bruce Aidells, learn to stuff boudin and fry gratons with chef Donald Link, and gather for a breakfast of artisanal bacon and creamy grits.

Naturally, you will not go hungry during the symposium. On the menu this year during the event’s various lunches, brunches, and snacktimes: whole-hog barbecue doused with vinegar sauce, pig ears in mustard sauce, tacos pollo frito, refried black-eyed peas, and boiled-peanut cotton candy.

For more information about the Southern Foodways Symposium and the Delta Divertissement or to register, visit

www.southernfoodways.com.