Tag: Majestic Grille

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Cocozza Moves Inside Majestic Grille on October 9th

CREDIT: Cocozza American Italian/Facebook

Cocozza American Italian/Facebook


Cocozza American Italian, the pop-up restaurant at The Majestic Grille, will open for indoor dining on October 9th.

Cocozza features red sauce comfort foods to go for walk-up pickup, straight to your car with curbside pickup, on the patio and now in person in the transformed Majestic Grille dining room. Delivery to Downtown and Midtown is planned for the near future.

Additional safety procedures, including hand sanitizing station placed throughout the restaurant, have been augmented. Also, guests can pay their bill through a QR

code.

The Cocozza management team completed the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe COVID-19 Precautions Training: four courses that teach the best practices in takeout and reopening.

The restaurant also features an air filtration system that pulls air in from the

outside, treats it to be warmed or cooled, and then pushes it back out again without re-

circulating through the building.

Guests are required to wear masks at all times except while eating and drinking. Diners

are encouraged to make reservations by calling the restaurant at 901-523-8555.

Online orders can be placed ahead of time or day-of at www.cocozzamemphis.com and can be picked up at reserved, signposted spaces on Peabody Place at Main from your car or on foot at the entrance to The Majestic Grille. Alfresco Dining is also available weather permitting.

Cocozza is the brainchild of Majestic owner Patrick Reilly, his wife, Deni, and the team behind The Majestic Grille.


Cocozza American Italian is at The Majestic Grille at 145 South Main Street, (901) 523-0523.

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet: A Bad Day, Coronavirus Fun, and a Coronavirus Warning

CREDIT: Eric Newsome/Nextdoor


Back to Better Days
Patrick Reilly, owner, chef, and “head fish cleaner” (according to his Facebook bio) at The Majestic Grille found himself looking back to a better time last week.

MEMernet: A Bad Day, Coronavirus Fun, and a Coronavirus Warning

Coronavirus Fun!
Eric Newsome/Nextdoor

Over in Central Gardens, Nextdoor user Eric Newsome shared some coronavirus fun over the weekend.

“We’ve got the big screen out tonight for those out walking — Beauty and the Beast starting about 7:30. Taped the sidewalk to help with distancing. Cowden between McLean and Barksdale.”

Coronavirus Excitement!
Janie Hataway, a Nextdoor user in Cooper-Young posted this message under the heading: “Going out.”

“I’m preparing to take out the garbage. I’m so excited but I don’t know what to wear!”

A Coronavirus Warning!
Christina Massey, another Nextdoor user in Cooper-Young, posted this warning “for people walking down Felix Ave.”

“Between Barksdale and Tanglewood, a man has illegally blocked off the sidewalk in front of his house with caution tape and will verbally assault you if you step over it. He swore at my husband and I, threatened us, tried to bait my husband into a fight, called us ‘disease spreaders,’ and said he hopes we die a slow death. This is impeding pedestrian traffic. Just giving my neighbors a warning in case you go out walking.

P.S. You cannot catch the coronavirus from someone walking down the sidewalk in front of your house.”

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

This Sucks

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

Bruce VanWyngarden has gone fishing this week. His column returns when he does.

A few years ago, I was having lunch with a coworker who proceeded to go on a long and sort of crazy rant about how much she hates it when restaurants bundle their straws with silverware. After that, when someone complained bitterly about something of no consequence, “straws” became a sort of shorthand dismissal.

So where do we stand, Memphis, on plastic straws? Is this as an issue “straws”?

Bianca Phillips

As a single-use plastic, plastic straws are pretty bad. Millions and millions of plastic straws are used each day in America and then tossed out to litter our lands and shores. Some cities, like Malibu and Washington, D.C., have already banned them. In New York and Hawaii, legislation is pending.

In Memphis, we’re seeing more and more restaurants abandoning the plastic straw.

Janet Boscarino, executive director of Clean Memphis, which oversees Project Green Fork, estimates that about half of Project Green Fork members (about 40 restaurants) have given up plastic straws. But, as of now, Project Green Fork does not include anything about straws in their “6 Steps to Certification” for local restaurants.

“We certainly push for the elimination of single-use plastics, which straws would fall into that category,” Boscarino says.

For Earth Day, Project Green Fork did a program they called “Don’t Suck,” which highlighted recyclable options for straws, including paper and bamboo. “We are certainly trying to raise awareness around eliminating [straws],” she says.

For Boscarino, straws are just once piece of the puzzle in reducing food waste — from bags to food containers to the food itself.

Deni Reilly, owner of Majestic Grille with her husband Patrick, says that restaurant has been straws-by-request since it opened 14 years ago. They only began to use coated paper straws about two years ago. (They go through 12,000 to 14,000 straws in a month.)

Reilly says they’ve always leaned toward being environmentally conscious. They don’t provide water, except for large parties. Their to-go glasses are biodegradable.

She says with a laugh that they do it for the sea turtles.

Octavia Young, the owner of Midtown Crossing Grill, began backing away from straws in 2016 about a year after she opened. She says she was thinking about joining Project Green Fork and started looking at what she could do. She then put up a sign: “Straws are a one-time use item that never biodegrade. Your server will only provide straws upon request in an effort to reduce our footprint. Thank you.”

Young says reaction was mixed, but ultimately, no one can argue, because as the sign says, if they want a straw, all they have to do is ask.

“Hearing about how much [waste] a restaurant produces and actually looking at it for myself, I wanted to be a better neighbor in the community that we serve,” she says.

Scott Tashie has been thinking about straws a lot lately. Tashie is owner of City Silo and three area I Love Juice Bars.

“It’s something we’ve been trying to come up with a solution on for a while, actually,” he says. “And it’s super challenging. Obviously, when you’re in a beverage-heavy business, you want to always take care of your customers, and we’ve tried different options. It’s been challenging to find something that actually works.”

At one point, Tashie was using glass straws, but then his source stopped making them. He tried a bring-your-own straw approach, too. He admits that a straw is not something that’s particularly easy to carry on you, like a reusable bag.

Tashie has been experimenting with different types of straws. Forgoing them completely won’t work because of the smoothies he sells. He recently settled on corn straws that he hooked up with through his association with Malco. (He has family ties to the movie theater chain). Malco is currently working to get corn straws at all of its theaters.

Tashie doesn’t mind the extra cost of the straws. For him, it’s worth it. “There’s only one Earth,” he says. “You can’t really put a price on it.”

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Majestic Folks Taking Over Brass Door

CREDIT: Brass Door, Facebook

Brass Door, Facebook

Deni Reilly, owner of the Majestic Grille along with her husband Patrick, confirmed today that the pair’s Majestic Hospitality consulting firm will take over the operations of the Brass Door. They are working with the Irish pub’s owners Meg and Scott Crosby and Seamus Loftus.

The Brass Door has been closed since July.

“There’s not too much to tell at this point,” says Reilly, noting that the parties just solidified the plans. She says that the site will stay the Brass Door, and that Patrick, who is Irish, is designing a pub menu.

The plan, says Reilly, is to open the side bar first for the sports fans to watch games as soon as a couple weeks, and to have the Brass Door open before the end of the year.

“It’s beautiful,” says Reilly of the Brass Door. “It’s a great concept with a great rep and a great following. We’re going in there to tighten some things up.”

The Reillys most recently transformed the underperforming Riverfront Bar and Grill into the Front Porch.

 The Brass Door opened in 2011.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Majestic Grille, Celtic Crossing Mark 10 Years

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Patrick Reilly and DJ Naylor have beaten the odds. Ten years ago, each started a restaurant, and today, they’re going like gangbusters. Reilly is the owner and chef at the Majestic Grille on South Main. Naylor founded Celtic Crossing Irish Pub in Cooper-Young.

As it turns out, these two men share a lot more than an anniversary. Both grew up in Ireland, about two hours apart, and each is the 10th child in his large, Irish-Catholic family. Both came to Memphis by way of Boston and Orlando. Both married Americans, and today their kids are in the same class at school.

More to the point, each signed a second 10-year lease for their respective restuarants.

The Flyer recently caught up with them to talk about crossing the pond, tricycle-friendly dining, and why restaurants fail.

Justin Fox Burks

Patrick, Seamus, and Deni Reilly; Kayla, Jamie, and DJ Naylor

Reilly: It’s funny how our lives are kind of parallel. Do you remember how we met?

Naylor: Well, back in the day I consumed a fair amount of Guinness at Dan McGuinness, which is where we met. You would drift in at about 10:30 p.m. for a quick one. During your shift, I might add — isn’t that right?

Reilly: (Laughing) That’s very true. I used to have an old Nextel phone, and it never did work at Dan McGuinness. So if they were trying to get a hold of me, they would call John Moyles behind the bar.

Naylor: And here we are, 10 years later, and your son Seamus is riding his tricycle around the restaurant.

Reilly: (Laughing) I never thought I’d run a tricycle-friendly restaurant, but I do. (Pause) So how do you think you made it to 10 years?

Naylor: My thought — and this is where I fell out with some of my partners — was that we needed to take a portion of what we made and put it back in the restaurant. This idea that you always take the money out — I think a lot of restaurants fail because of that.

Reilly: That’s what people don’t realize. The bulk of restaurants don’t fail because they aren’t making good food. They fail because they don’t have enough cash. The truth is, there are months when, for whatever reason, you don’t make any money. And you can’t live through that if you don’t have cash reserves.

Naylor: If I were to ask you to look out over the next 10 years, what do you see?

Reilly: I’ve fielded offers to run other restaurants, but I’m reluctant. If I do another project, it has to be a step up. I’ve spent so much time and energy and emotion on the Majestic. If I did something new, it’d have to be just right. How about yourself?

Naylor: We’re looking to become more family-oriented. More of a restaurant, a place where families can come for lunch or brunch. Maybe not as reliant on that business that comes in after 11 p.m. on a Friday or a Saturday night. We’re also looking to become a better neighbor.

Reilly: That’s what I like about running a restaurant: It never gets old. It’s always changing, the parts are always moving.

Naylor: And when the day’s over, it’s over. You can have a big night, and it’s busy, it’s crazy. But at the end of the night, everybody goes home, everybody gets fed. And then the next day, you start all over again. It’s a blank canvas. It’s a new opportunity.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Porcellino’s Butcher Box, Majestic at 10

• Porcellino’s is offering a weekly meat share called Butcher Box. For $35, you receive enough protein for a meal and a half for two people plus other goodies like pasta and sauce, dessert, Porcellino’s chicken stock, or pastries. Each box
has a theme and is equipped with recipes explaining how to prepare each item. The
boxes are picked up at the butcher counter each Monday.

A recent box included: Italian Wedding soup, chicken stock, 1 parmesan rind, 10 meatballs, Rice Crispy Treats for desserts, 2 smoked pork chops, and pickled tomatillos.

For more information, email Matt Farmer at matt@hogandhominy.com. 

• Majestic Grille is marking its 10th anniversary by holding 10 dinners. 

The “Ten til Ten” series launches on Tuesday, March 24th.

Ten ‘til Ten’ Dinner #1 Menu

Featuring the Estate Wines of Cliff Creek Cellars

Scallop crudo, crispy greens, hot pepper, kumquat & lime

Rousanne/Marsanne 2012

Warm duck salad, goat cheese, hazelnut vinaigrette.

Red Red Wine 2012

Roasted venison, root vegetable cassoulet, truffle reduction

Creek Cabernet 2011

Warm sticky toffee pudding

Claret 2008 

The dinner is $65 per person. Call 522-8555 for reservations. 

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Serving Up Sunday

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

For those of you whose idea of a perfect Sunday doesn’t include cooking, here are a few new options:

At Sweet, the Exquisite Desserterie, brunch isn’t the usual eggs and pancakes.

“I asked customers and friends what they would like to see for brunch,” says Paula Pulido, the restaurant’s chef and owner. “Everybody wanted something different from the standard eggs Benedict, French toast, and Belgian waffles.”

Sweet’s “something different” includes an antipasti buffet to start and a dessert buffet to finish. In between, diners can nibble on fresh popovers with potato/leek soup, followed by a baby-greens salad, a mimosa “intermezzo,” and a choice of beef or vegetable en croute, all for $21.

Sunday brunch at Sweet is available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sweet, 938 S. Cooper (726-4300)

Currents, a fine-dining restaurant at the River Inn of Harbor Town, also recently started offering Sunday brunch. The more traditional items include cinnamon French toast, Monte Cristo with vanilla-stewed berries, Golden Apple pancakes, and a chèvre omelet with roasted mushrooms, artichokes, and heirloom tomatoes. Other dishes are pan-roasted Tasmanian salmon, grilled Nyman Ranch pork loin, saffron risotto with lobster, and grilled filet of beef.

Sunday brunch at Currents is available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Currents, 50 Harbor Town Square
(260-3300)

If you want to grab a couple of friends for a relaxed, end-of-weekend dinner, try the Majestic Grille’s Sunday Suppers. One supper, served family-style, feeds four.

“This is something we have wanted to do for a while, and we thought the holidays would be a perfect time to try it out,” says Deni Reilly, who owns the restaurant with her husband Patrick, the Majestic’s chef.

The menu changes every week and typically includes home-cooking favorites with a twist, such as braised pork loin with roasted apples and cider and mashed root vegetables. The Sunday suppers are served during regular dinner hours and cost $60.

The Majestic Grille, 145 S. Main
(522-8555)

The Flying Fish is offering a “Preacher’s Special” to all oyster lovers. Every Sunday, all day, you can satisfy your oyster craving for 25 cents per oyster. If oysters aren’t your thing, the restaurant offers plenty of other seafood dishes, such as catfish, tilapia, snapper, salmon, and crawfish.

The Flying Fish, 105 S. Second
(522-8228)

Need a dash of culinary inspiration for your holiday cooking? Stop by Williams-Sonoma this month for free demonstrations, technique classes, and a taste of some of the store’s holiday favorites.

On Sunday, December 9th, discover the secrets to throwing an elegant holiday cocktail party. Demonstrations about the best cup of cocoa, holiday confections, easy desserts, gifts for the cook, festive drinks, super stocking stuffers, and more are offered almost every day throughout December from 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Call the store for a detailed scheduled.

Williams-Sonoma, 7615 W. Farmington (737-9990)

You have until Saturday, December 15th, to cast your vote in support of a local farmer, chef, restaurant, or food-related business or person for the Edible Communities 2007 Reader’s Choice Local Hero Award.

Edible Memphis, a quarterly magazine that debuted last spring, is one of 30 “Edible Community” publications around the United States that focus on local foods and farmers.

Each Edible Community will vote on its heroes, and the winners will be announced in January at the Edible Communities annual publisher’s dinner in Charleston, South Carolina. Winners will then appear in the spring 2008 issues.

Eligible locally for the award are the places and people featured in Edible Memphis throughout the year: Downing Hollow Farms (Lori Greene), Neola Farms (Michael Lenagar), Whitton Farms (Jill and Keith Forrester), Delta Grind (Georgeanne Ross), Tripp Country Ham (Charlie Tripp), Magevney Kitchen Garden, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, Tom Singarella (baker), Jose Gutierrez (Encore), Karen Carrier (Automatic Slim’s, Beauty Shop), and Nancy Kistler (Entourage catering).

Go to ediblememphis.com to cast your vote.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

How You Slice It

Downtown is distinctive for many reasons — the river, the art galleries, urban living, and pizza. Yes, pizza. Within a short stretch, there are a number of restaurants offering various styles of pizza that are so tasty and unique, downtowners may never order delivery again.

Alice’s Urban Market is on South Front Street, just around the corner from the train station. Andy Grooms, the owner and a former employee of Pizza Hut, introduced pizza to the menu in February after he bought a 700-degree oven. Some of his pizzas are named after popular television characters such as Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha from Sex and the City. (Carrie didn’t sell and had to be taken off the menu.) Others he’s named for locals, such as businessman Andy Cates. When asked how someone might get a pizza named after them, Grooms quickly replies, “Give me a hundred bucks.”

Alice’s staff makes the crust daily, and it is really stellar. The crust makes traditional pizzas like the Plain Jane (cheese) and the Andy Cates (pepperoni) shine. However, there are also several unusual pies to choose from, like the Pedro, which is composed of chorizo and crawfish with sautéed onions, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, and pepperjack cheese. Call ahead 15 minutes and pick up a fresh, hot, New York-style pizza at Alice’s Monday through Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m.

Across the street from the train station is the Arcade Restaurant. Though most popular as a breakfast spot, the Arcade provides something of a salve for those who are lamenting the closing of Pie in the Sky. The Arcade and Pie in the Sky have an intertwined past, and many of the pizzas the Arcade serves are reminiscent of those that were served at Pie in the Sky. At the Arcade, the Downtowner has garlic, ricotta, tomatoes, pesto, artichoke hearts, onions, and calamata olives, much like the former Moon Pie. However, this reincarnation is much cheesier and saucier than any slice at Pie in the Sky. (The entire crust was covered in sauce rather than swirled.) Keep in mind the Arcade closes at 3 p.m. Saturday through Thursday, so if you get a hankering for one of their pizzas for dinner, you better hope it is a Friday when they stay open until 8 p.m.

Hop on the trolley and go one block north of The Orpheum to the Majestic Grille for their signature flatbread. The Majestic specializes in grand food at a great price, and the Spicy Shrimp flatbread is a steal at $6. The sauce and the cheese are good but nothing out of the ordinary. What makes this pizza great is the hearty serving of shrimp on top that is smartly combined with roasted onion and oven-dried tomatoes. It is plenty big and can easily be shared with a friend. The flatbread with pulled pork, barbecue sauce, caramelized onions, and mozzarella is also a hit with customers.

Next door to Majestic is Bluefin, which specializes in “edge” cuisine, a style of cooking that is on the cutting-edge and combines the freshest and most exotic ingredients in one dish. Bluefin offers a variety of edgy pizzas. The current favorite is the Spicy Tuna pizza. The crispy crust is drizzled with Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, which has a sweeter flavor compared to regular mayonnaise, and Thai Sriracha hot sauce. On top is a sprinkling of bite-sized cubes of raw tuna, grape tomatoes, red onion, and nori. The nori, which is shredded and oddly very cheese-like in texture, is the real star of this dish. The Wild Mushroom pizza with pancetta, caramelized onions, smoked gouda, and red wine demi is Bluefin’s second most popular pizza. The smoked salmon pizza, featuring capers, red onion, quail egg, and goat cheese, is also worth a try.

Over at the Peabody Place shopping center, Encore offers daily pizza specials, all of which are made with a fresh and crispy crust akin to pita bread. The Braised Short Rib pizza features a tomato and onion fondue sauce, fresh mozzarella, incredibly tender and juicy short ribs that have been braised for 24 hours in Beaujolais, and a fresh spring mix. The end result is more like an open-faced sandwich than a pizza, and it literally melts in your mouth. Other daily specials include a garlic ham pizza and Pizza Margherita.

Finally, just a couple blocks away, in the old Café Samovar spot, is Meditrina, which specializes in Mediterranean fare. The Coca is a Spanish-style pizza made with a yeast-free crust that is a cross between a pastry and a cracker. The toppings vary daily depending on the chef’s mood and what ingredients are available. Normally, the sauce is made from pesto, and the topping is fresh-roasted Ripley tomatoes and goat cheese. Other recent toppings have included grilled asparagus, roasted chicken, smoked salmon, and capers. The Coca is a very popular lunch dish and is served with a side salad. It’s just enough to make you full but not fade into a food-induced coma.

Alice’s Urban Market, 513 S. Front (575-9979)

Arcade Restaurant, 540 S. Main (526-5757)

The Majestic Grille, 145 S. Main (522-8555)

Bluefin — Edge Cuisine and Sushi Bar,

135 S. Main (528-1010)

Encore Restaurant and Bar, 150 Peabody Place,

Suite #111 (528-1415)

Meditrina, 83 Union (523-9625)

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

“This Is It”

The Majestic Grille is a hard restaurant to define. Its menu has a grilled cheese sandwich across from quality steaks. Its tables have white linen covered by paper tablecloths. Its décor is understated, yet there’s an eclectic rotation of bossa nova and funky jazz playing in the background.

These contradictions, however, might be what make the 10,000-square-foot bar and grill at 145 S. Main work. Owners Patrick and Deni Reilly come from different backgrounds too, but they’ve worked to create a classy meeting place with room for everyone.

Patrick, originally from Ireland, has worked in restaurants in London, New York, Chicago, and Florida. Before starting up the Majestic, he worked nearby at Swig, the martini bar.

Deni, who hails from New Jersey, has been involved in the hospitality industry for a long time, working at hotels or as a meetings planner.

“My skills and his skills blend well, and that’s why it works,” Deni says.

The building that houses the restaurant was constructed in 1912 as the Majestic No. 1 movie theater. It’s easy to imagine how it looked back then, with the mezzanine above the front door taking the place of a projection booth. Original railings surround the second floor.

Warren Jordan, whose father owned the theater, gave the Reillys a photo taken of the property in 1920. The picture features the theater’s employees and a young Jordan. The Majestic Grille’s staff recreated the photo and included the 88-year-old Jordan in the same spot he stood all those years ago.

The Majestic No. 1 operated until 1936. Then Julius Lewis Men’s Shop moved from Beale Street to the site and operated until the 1950s. The building opened again in the 1970s as Blue Light Studio.

It entered its restaurant days about 10 years ago. That’s when Breckenridge Brewery came in and installed beer-making equipment, now covered by a mural at the back of the restaurant. Breckenridge gave way to another brew pub, Gordon Biersch, which in turn closed a couple years ago, making way for the Majestic Grille.

“Conceptually, it’s a 1940s bar and grill, an old- fashioned, nice American restaurant,” Patrick says.

The Majestic Grille seats 220 inside, with room for 50 more on the front patio along the trolley line. The food is straightforward, with a variety of big salads, hamburgers, steaks, seafood, and pasta.

“It’s not meant to be complicated,” Patrick says. “There are no fusions here.”

Cooks prepare a meal for employees from 3 to 5 p.m. each day. The night crew comes in early to eat, while the day crew sits after a hard day of work. While this might not be the way staff breaks are handled at most Memphis restaurants, it’s a high-end style of management.

“It’s just the way it is,” Patrick says. “Everybody sits down and breaks bread. It’s crazy to work in a good restaurant if you can’t eat.”

That philosophy extends to other areas.

The Majestic Grille offers its employees health insurance and is setting up a 401(k). It also requires that staff have direct deposit. It makes for a stable work environment.

“We want this to be a career, not just a fly-by-night job,” Deni says. “We want people to have a good place to work where they can earn some money but also learn things along the way. We want them to have the same passion about this that we do.”

The interview process is lengthy. Prospective employees meet with three or more managers, with at least one of them a supervisor. Hired applicants then train on everything from wine selection to service.

If it sounds like a lot of work, it is. But it’s been worth it so far.

Deni recalls the restaurant’s first Saturday night. There was a party of 30 on the mezzanine, the bar was full, and every seat in the house was occupied. The lights and music were perfect. Patrick and Deni had been at the restaurant all day. Still, they enjoyed the controlled chaos in front of them.

Remembers Deni: “We sat in the back and said to ourselves, ‘This is it. This is our restaurant.'”