Local On The Square – Memphis Flyer

Madison Tavern will open May 10th at the site of the old Local on the Square at 2126 Madison Avenue.

Tim Quinn, who owns the bar/restaurant with his wife, Tarrah, hoped to open last November, but it took longer because of technicalities involved with starting a new place.

They chose the name “Madison Tavern” because of “the feel of the building. It’s got two fireplaces upstairs. It’s just a cozy, comfortable place.

“When I think of ‘tavern’ I think of some movie where people are walking down the road in the Middle Ages. They stop in and get a beer and something to eat. It’s nice and quiet. Candlelight. The owner who works there all the time serves them the daily special. And then back on the road they go.”

Why a new name? “Just a fresh beginning with a new family,” says Tim, 42, adding, “It’s been around 12, 15 years. Sometimes it’s just time to have something new.”

The Quinns, who bought Local on Main Street about four years ago, says they’ll “start working on a rebrand for Downtown as well.” They plan to change the name to “Quinn’s.”

Tim wanted to buy Local on the Square as soon as he began working there as general manager in 2017, when Jeff Johnson was the owner of both locations. “When I first worked in this building I was there one week and I asked Jeff how much to buy the place. He kind of laughed.”

Johnson gave him “a large number” as the selling price. Tim told him, “Woah. That’s a big number. Let me work on that.

“Within three years he sold me the Downtown location. And here, three more years later, I’m moving into the old spot.”

The Quinns gave the old Local on the Square a facelift, but they’re not changing the personality. They painted over the purple walls. They’re now blue with red accents, and they redid the floors. “Not a whole lot as far as the footprint of the place goes is changing. We cleaned it up to make it look fresh. Some new light fixtures, new tables, new equipment behind the bar.”

And, he says, “We took out the old games — the old Skee-Ball. We’ve got new dart boards coming in. Bubble Hockey. It’s like foosball, but it’s hockey. I’ve never played that before.”

The walls will feature “all consignment artwork by local artists.”

As for the food, Jose Reyes, who was kitchen manager when Tim worked at Local on the Square, will be back. “He took a leave of absence and went back to take care of his mother in Mexico. He’s from Mexico City. While he was there he purchased an avocado farm and opened another restaurant with his brother.

“He loves being in Memphis. Once his mom was up and good and everything was taken care of — one of his sons is running the avocado farm — he came back to Memphis.”

Tim plans to keep some of the old Local on the Square food items, including the sausage cheese board, which he will upgrade, and pretzel sticks. But he will now feature “an American menu” with “Southern-influenced” fare.

Most of the new items come “from conversations with the staff, with Jose, and some other managers, other food vendors.”

Tim is gathering his staff’s favorite family recipes, which he’ll “tweak a little bit.”

And, he says, “We’ll be, hopefully, doing a daily special: a paella. My brother’s wife’s family is from Zaragoza, Spain. Whenever we get together to eat, his wife makes her family’s paella. She’ll come in and show us how to make that.”

Tim plans to offer paella “a couple of times a week. It’s not really something you can cook on the fly. It’s something that gets better after it sits in the pot a bit.”

He also plans to serve grilled cheese sandwiches, which are popular at the Downtown location.

Tim began making grilled cheese sandwiches with Adam Hall and friends when they had a team at Memphis Grilled Cheese Festival, where they have been “fan favorites every year so far.”

The sandwich, which Hall came up with, is made of grilled chicken, buffalo sauce, white cheddar cheese, and regular white bread. “You put a mixture of butter and Miracle Whip on the bread and toast it.”

It was a hit from the beginning at Local on Main Street, Tim says. “Originally, we put that on the menu just as a special. It evolved into having grilled cheese on the menu all the time.”

The Downtown menu now includes various grilled cheese sandwiches, including ones made with duck and lobster — “different meats with different sauces.”

“We’ll do grilled cheese here as well. For the late-night menu we’ll slap a couple of grilled cheeses on there and a couple of egg rolls. And everybody’s going to be happy.”

Local on the Square will close Saturday, October 28th, and Madison Tavern will take over the space at 2126 Madison Avenue in November.

“We’re hoping to be open — if dreams come true — for Thanksgiving,” says Tim Quinn. He and his wife Tarrah are the new owners. “Probably a couple of weeks afterward if things don’t go perfectly.”

Describing Madison Tavern, Tim, who also owns Local on Main Street with his wife, says, “It will be a neighborhood place. I want it to be a nice spot — something that can be for a nice occasion to go out, but also casual enough to go to every day if you live in the neighborhood or nearby.”

He doesn’t want to compare Madison Tavern to Local on the Square, which he describes as “iconic,” but he wants to keep that same “cool atmosphere. We’re trying to create that same feel where people can come in and they’re comfortable and just hang out.”

Tim wants it to be the place where people can go if they’re planning to stay for dinner or drinks or go somewhere else before or after. If they’re not staying for dinner, they can get drinks before going across the street to dinner at Porch and Parlor or to see a show at Lafayette’s Music Room, he says.

As for Madison Tavern’s fare, Tim says, “I want to try to keep a fairly small menu. Some burgers. Some sandwiches. Some nice dinner plates. As much of it from scratch as possible. Locally sourced whenever we can. Downtown, we put some hydroponic towers in. We’re growing our own herbs.”

He plans to “offer some strong seafood” items, including catfish, which has been a “huge thing” at Local on Main Street.

Tim also wants to include beef. “I’m sure a beef tenderloin. Or a filet. But big steaks don’t tend to go over. People come in, they’re wanting to get a nice meal, willing to spend money, but they want to be in and out in 30 minutes: ‘I’ve got a show to see.’”

Madison Tavern will offer specials, which will depend on what is locally sourced that week. “We want to have a solid menu. A couple of daily specials.”

They will be open for dinner only around 3 p.m. during the first week, Tim says. “We want to catch that happy hour crowd. We’ll have nice happy hour specials. Small plates.”

He plans to stay open until 1am on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, but “be out of there by midnight” the rest of the week.

And he wants to have “a very welcoming atmosphere and specials” for service industry people who want to grab some food and drinks when they get off work. He wants to “keep those guys happy. They work hard.”

As for the decor, Tim says he wants Madison Avenue to have “a lodge feeling. There will be some stained glass chandeliers. I want to put some copper, tin tiles on the ceiling. Change the colors of the booths, the walls. Some hunter greens and burgundies. Then some blues. A couple of different neutral colors. Anything we can change, we’re going to change. We want it to be obvious that somebody’s come in and done something different.”

The Quinns also owned Memphis Clover Club, but Tim says, “The lease came up to be signed. I wasn’t willing to commit that much longer. I dropped out of that lease. I closed that one down at the beginning of last week.”

Local on the Square opened October 2012, says owner Jeff Johnson, who now lives in Santa Rosa, Florida. “We had a great run and enjoyed it,” he says. “But part of it was not living in town anymore. And trying to manage it from afar. It wasn’t what I wanted to continue to do. I’ve got some other business interests I’m concentrating on.

“I’ve had a lovely time in the 30 years I’ve been in the restaurant business in some capacity. Maybe one day down there in Florida or another town, I’d like to get into it again. Right now in my life I’m concentrating on real estate development and short-term rentals. Which is where I’d like to concentrate my efforts.”

He’s not disappearing from Memphis, though. “I still have a home in Memphis. I’m not going to be a stranger, by any means. And if Tim needs any advice along the way, I’ll offer that, too.”

And, Johnson says, “I think he’s going to do well.”