Julles Posh Foods – Memphis Flyer

In looking over 2015, one thing stood out: brand expansion. Aldo’s Pizza Pies, with its swell rooftop patio, and City Market (grab and go!) came to Cooper-Young. Fino’s opened a second restaurant in East Memphis (yay sandwiches!), and Mediterranean mainstay Casablanca returned to Midtown. Both Bedrock Eats & Sweets, the paleo eatery, and the all-vegan Pink Diva Cupcakery and Cuisine got places to call their own.

Justin Fox Burks

Bedrock Eats & Sweets

Ermyias Shiberou, owner of Stickem food truck, opened Blue Nile Ethiopian Kitchen on Madison in Midtown, next to the Bar-B-Q Shop. Stickem’s awesome kabobs are on the menu, and the lentil sandwich is terrific. Reverb Coffee got into the food-truck game, and Relevant Roasters opened its own coffee bar. Tamp & Tap Triad was unveiled in East Memphis.

Justin Fox Burks

Blue Nile Ethiopian Kitchen

Last year, all the action was in Overton Square. This year, one could argue, it’s South Main. The new location of Rizzo’s, after much delay, opened in March. Don’t worry, the Lobster Pronto Pups are still on the menu. The great and always-packed Maciel’s offers downtowners tacos, tortas, and more. South Main Sushi & Grill took over the Grawemeyer’s space, and there’s Ray’z World Famous Dr. Bar-b-que a few blocks north. The hipsteriffic 387 Pantry is a small, curated market with locally sourced goods like Dr. Bean’s coffee and Hanna Farm grits and cornmeal.

Justin Fox Burks

Ray’z World Famous Dr. Bar-b-que

Also new to downtown is the build-your-own tacos and burritos and nachos joint Burrito Blues (mmmm, nachos) and the Cuban and Mexican restaurant Sabrosura (try the Cuban sandwich). Jeff Johnson’s latest venture Agave Maria, with its masterful decor and endless tequila menu, opened on Union. Recommendation: the cheesy mushroom and poblano enchilada. In April, Bass Pro finally opened in the Pyramid. Uncle Buck’s, the underwater-themed restaurant with a bowling alley, offers a little something for everyone. Up top, the Lookout has one of the best views in the city.

Germantown got all the grocery stores. There’s the 1,000,000-square-foot Kroger that opened. (Actually, it’s only 100,000 square feet, but to put it in perspective, the Union Kroger is 36,000 square feet). It has a juice bar and a Corky’s BBQ kiosk. The healthy-food-at-a-discount grocer, Sprouts, after opening Lakeland, introduced its second store in Germantown. Whole Foods opened its second Memphis-area store in Germantown, too. It features a charcuterie cave, a fresh pasta station, made-fresh savory and sweet crepes, and Korean street food from Kei Jei Kitchens. (I think about the steamed bao sliders all the time.) And, in September, there was news, which seems completely unfair depending on your zip code, that the first area Trader Joe’s would open in Germantown sometime in 2016.

Breakfast for dinner? Breakfast for lunch? Breakfast for breakfast? Whenever! Another Broken Egg, a chain, opened in East Memphis. Order one of their scrambled skillets and their beignet biscuits and you’ll feel like you’ve been hit by a bus, but in the best way possible. Also in the breakfast-whenever game is the colorful, pancake-centric Staks. You can even make your own pancakes, if you’re so inclined. They also offer soups, salads, and sandwiches (including the Memphis Hot Brown).

And, and, and … There’s Mac’s Burgers with a menu filled with gourmet mac-and-cheese and burgers. Coffeehouse/gift shop City & State opened on Broad. 3 Angels Diner made way for Maximo’s on Broad. Encore Cafe offers wraps, smoothies, and salads, plus a place for Cozy Corner while it gets its building ready. Crazy Italians is owned by real-live Italians and features a menu of affordable, classic dishes like spaghetti alla carbonara. I Love Juice Bar features juices, smoothies, and essential oil shots. Mardi Gras, in Crosstown, has gotten great word-of-mouth for its Cajun fare. Diners can tour the U.S.A. at Heritage Tavern & Kitchen, which has a menu of regional favorites. Healthy, tastefully done meals are Julles Posh Food‘s focus. Ditto for LYFE Kitchen, where there’s no fryer, and it’s not missed at all.

Finally, two words: Cheesecake Factory.

To walk into Julles Posh Foods is to be pleasantly surprised. Nothing about the address suggests excellence. It’s wedged into a strip mall between a Lenny’s and Walgreens. But the owners, MK and Julliet Bhupesh, are doing something refreshingly different for East Memphis: They’re cooking light.

“There’s a lot you can do with a drop of oil,” muses Julliet. “You don’t have to fry it.”

MK and Julliet both grew up in India, but they didn’t meet until much later, in California. At the time, MK was working as a consultant at Accenture, while Julliet was a pastry chef at the Grand Hyatt in Monterey. Her culinary training is classically European: She has worked at five-star hotels alongside celebrity chefs like Anton Mossiman and Gordon Ramsay. So what drew her to MK?

“He had a sly smile,” recalls Julliet. “He cooked shrimp with coconut for me, and I thought that was very brave.”

At Julles Posh Foods, the menu changes weekly, according to the season and Julliet’s whims. On a recent Monday, the menu featured a Trio of Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing and Grilled Chicken ($14), as well as a Pistachio-Crusted Wild Salmon with Maple Mustard Vinaigrette ($20).

But I was pumped for the Spicy Shrimp ($20). Here, crisp white asparagus and a bean ragout make a zesty bed for some truly peppery crustaceans. For fun, pair it with one of Julliet’s cold-pressed juices. I liked the “Boost n Run” ($9), a gingery potion of beets, carrots, and kale.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Nearly all of these dishes are gluten-free, and several are vegan. That’s a perk, says Julliet, but it isn’t the point. Rather, it flows naturally from her philosophy of cooking light and using predominantly fresh, local ingredients. Recent examples include fingerling potatoes from Woodson Ridge Farms and amaranth microgreens from Rocking Micros.

If you have time, you really ought to dine in. Julles Posh Foods is executed in the sunny style of a Euro café: white and tidy with green and yellow accents. But for busy families who prefer to eat at home, there are actually two more ways to get this food.

First, you can pick up. Julliet prepares and plates each dish, then flash-chills it in an oven-safe container. (An aside: It’s rare to see this level of care taken with prepared foods. Even in black plastic, these dinners look immaculate.) Finally, you can arrange to have your meals delivered. Visit jullesposhfoods.com to order online.

You’ve probably heard about Seamless, the site that lets you order food online. It currently works with 8,000 restaurants in more than 600 cities. Alas, the list does not include Memphis.

But wait! Before you let fly with that familiar, world-weary sigh: Memphis now has its own, homegrown version of Seamless. Back in February, Chef Shuttle started delivering meals to six zip codes in the eastern half of the city. Founder Ryan Herget says he plans to add more neighborhoods in the coming weeks.

Here’s how it works: Go to chefshuttle.com and pick a restaurant (there are currently about 20 to choose from). Order from the menu; the prices are the same as dining in. And that’s it. The food shows up at your door within an hour, and all for a flat delivery fee of $4.95.

I had been meaning to try Chef Shuttle. Also, I had been meaning to check out Game of Thrones. So on a recent Wednesday night, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. At 5:30 p.m., I ordered dinner from 4Dumplings, a Chinese joint in East Memphis. Then I cued up season five, episode one, and pressed play.

5:32 p.m. Opening credits — followed by a dizzying, two-minute montage that attempts to summarize the past 40 episodes. Anyone who hasn’t already seen those episodes will be utterly confused by this. Confused, I open a can of Wiseacre Tiny Bomb pilsner.

6:08 p.m. Food arrives, well ahead of schedule. The friendly delivery driver, Nancy, confesses, “I’m a people person. I love meeting people.” Meanwhile, onscreen, a naked knight cuddles with another knight. I kind of hope Nancy didn’t see that part.

6:11 p.m. Do these characters ever actually meet each other? In a pyramid, a busty woman wearing white says she won’t reopen the fighting pits. I break into the food and am pleased to find that it is piping hot. First up: a bowl of hot & sour soup ($3.50).

6:18 p.m. The woman is in bed now, attended by her lover. They talk a lot, but that’s okay, because they are very attractive and very naked. I open another beer and move on to pork dumplings ($8), which I dip into a delicious, vinegary sauce.

6:26 p.m. A man being burned to death is shot through the heart with an arrow. According to the show’s unusual logic, this is supposed to be merciful. Really? As the closing credits roll, I lay into a bowl of homemade noodles topped with spicy Mongolian beef ($9). The show remains inscrutable, but the food, at least, was good.