Karen Carrier talks about the late artist, Dorothy Sturm, in episode three of the We Saw You video series about Memphians and Mid-Southerners.
I sat down with Carrier in her amazing art-filled home, which also houses her grand piano, and we talked. It was fun to chat with Carrier, who I always say is the hippest person in Memphis. The owner of Beauty Shop Restaurant, DKDC, Mollie Fontaine Lounge, and Another Roadside Attraction catering business, graduated from the old Memphis Academy of Arts, which later became Memphis College of Art.
Carrier is right on when she describes Sturm: “She’s just wild.” I was fortunate to get to interview Sturm 40 or so years ago when I was at the old Memphis Press-Scimitar newspaper.
Memphians were so fortunate to have an artist of her prestige living and working here. Carrier and Sturm became close friends, and you can hear a few stories from that heady time in our interview.
Memphis restaurateur/artist Karen Carrier never ceases to amaze me. She and I sat down recently for an interview for We Saw You — a new video series about Memphis and Mid-Southerners hosted by me. She told me about the time she met Salvador Dali.
Dali? Excuse me?
Yes! It’s the kind of amazing story you’d expect Carrier to have in her vast repertoire.
The story is part two of a six-part series on the noted chef/owner of Beauty Shop Restaurant, DKDC, Mollie Fontaine Lounge, and Another Roadside Attraction catering.
Stay tuned for more from Karen Carrier on We Saw You!
We Saw You — a new video series about Memphis and Mid-Southerners hosted by yours truly — continues with a seven-part series about restaurateur Karen Carrier, owner of Beauty Shop Restaurant, DKDC, Mollie Fontaine Lounge, and Another Roadside Attraction Catering.
I visited Carrier in her eclectic, art-filled home, where, in this first installment we talk a bit about food. In future episodes, viewers will learn more about how Carrier’s culinary career, and her life as a visual artist.
Debbie Balling, Doug Franklin, Laurie Monypenny, Mary O’Brien, Connie Marshall, and Bruce Marshall (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Mary O’Brien doesn’t waffle when Lent arrives. She knows she’s going to spearhead the kitchen at Calvary Episcopal Church’s Waffle Shop.
O’Brien, the church’s kitchen manager, has only been doing it for 16 years.
Waffle Shop, which is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year, is open for lunch Wednesdays through Fridays beginning the Thursday after Ash Wednesday and ending before the start of Holy Week.
The menu hasn’t changed much since Waffle Shop began in 1928. Diners know they’re going to get tomato aspic, shrimp mousse, Boston cream pie, waffles with or without chicken hash, and much more, including the infamous fish pudding.
“I was hired as the parish chef,” O’Brien says. “I do all of the cooking for all of the events at the church and that are going on at the parish.”
That includes Wednesday dinner, Sunday morning breakfast, and Sunday morning coffee hour. “We do funerals, weddings, and lots of outside events.”
A native Memphian, O’Brien didn’t do much cooking growing up. Her sister Elaine Carey is a trained pastry chef. “She’d ask me to help her with different events.”
O’Brien worked in an office for her father until Elaine and her husband, the late Joe Carey, moved from California to Memphis to open the old Memphis Culinary Academy.
After their father died, Elaine invited Mary to attend the school. O’Brien didn’t necessarily want to become a chef, yet, she says, “It was time for me to make a change. I wasn’t happy being in an office.”
But, she adds, “I caught the bug when I went to school.” Just being in class “really pushed me to appreciate good food ’cause we did fine dining and stuff like that.”
After she graduated in the early ’90s, O’Brien went to work at the old 25 Belvedere and Bistro Hemmings restaurants. Later, O’Brien and a partner opened Cafe Eclectic, where she stayed for about six years until taking the Calvary job.
She quickly learned the Waffle Shop recipes were set in stone. “I don’t know how many years those recipes have been there, but I was not allowed to veer away from them because I would be in trouble.”
She did add the seafood gumbo and vegetable soup to the menu.
Laurie Monypenny makes the desserts, and Connie Marshall heads up the waffle-making station. O’Brien and her staff of six make the rest of the food. “We do three huge pans of aspic, two huge pans of mousse. And the poor chicken salad guy, he just keeps on. We cook 120 pounds of chicken breasts and 80 pounds of leg quarters twice a week.”
Waffle Shop runs from 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., but O’Brien begins her day at 6 a.m. “I start the custard for the Boston cream pie.”
She usually ends her day about 4:30 or 5 p.m. “Taking inventory. And putting in orders.”
As for that fish pudding, people who’ve never tried the casserole are often skeptical until they taste it. “I think they just see it as maybe fish in Jell-O instant pudding or something. I don’t know.”
O’Brien removed some desserts from the menu over the years. And, she says, “We dropped the chicken livers, which is one of my favorites. It was kind of a small audience.”
Waffle Shop closed shortly after it opened when the pandemic hit in 2020, but it was open for take-out orders the next year. “They were lining up in the alley.”
O’Brien might waffle a bit when Waffle Shop closes for the year. She thinks, “Ohhh, can I do this again?”
But that thought vanishes. “Just these people that come in. It’s like old home week every day.”
Many volunteers have worked at Waffle Shop for decades. Same goes for customers.
O’Brien doesn’t do much cooking at home. “Luckily, my husband cooks.”
So, Kevin O’Brien has dinner ready every night she gets home from Waffle Shop? “Well, I won’t go that far.”
Calvary Episcopal Church is at 102 North Second Street.
Two things Dave Scott, founder of Dave’s Bagels, isn’t going to tell you: (A.) The name of his baby daughter, who is due any day. And (B.) The new name of Dave’s Bagels.
Changing diapers and changing his business name are both in Scott’s future.
Dave’s Bagels is going strong. “I am in 26 different places around town, including Grind City Grocery, Miss Cordelia’s [Cordelia’s Market], High Point and South Point Grocery, The Curb Market,” says Scott, 32.
“I’ve got clients in Hernando, Southaven, and West Memphis. I supply the Southland Casino.”
So, why change the name? “Basically, I started talking with Kroger and they’re interested in having my product,” he says, adding, “When I was going over the plans with my business partner and with the co-packers, one thing that kept getting brought up was ‘Dave’s Killer Bread.’ Our names being ‘Dave’ and both using them as the business name. A bit too similar and could cause issues about branding and trademarking.”
He never got a letter from Oregon-based Dave’s Killer Bread, but Scott says, “If we end up on the same shelf together, that logo could cause an issue.”
Changing the name isn’t a bad thing. “It’s very exciting. It feels like a bit of a fresh start with it. I get to be a bit more creative with it. The reason I named it ‘Dave’s Bagels’ was because I didn’t have a name before I got to the business department in city hall and filled out an application.”
Strangers don’t look at Scott and immediately think, “That guy is a bagel maker.” With his below shoulder-length curly hair, Scott looks more like a rock star, model, or actor. “Somebody at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago asked me how my new metal band was doing. That made me laugh pretty good.”
Ironically, Scott has played bass guitar since he was about 13. “I was in a couple of metal bands when I was a teenager.”
But, for now, it’s bagels and pretzels, not bands and performing.
A Morristown, New Jersey, native, Scott began making bagels similar to those he got in the Northeast. “I would ask for criticism and kept tweaking the recipe until we have what we have today.
“It’s just taken years and years of developing that recipe, using all traditional methods, and putting my own little twist on everything. I’m the first person to start putting all the toppings in the bagels, so it’s all the flavor and none of the mess.”
He began selling his bagels in Memphis after he relocated here in 2016.
Scott came up with his pretzel recipe in 2017 for a Wiseacre Brewing Company Oktoberfest event. “That pretzel dough is pretty close to bagel dough. I sold out in 45 minutes, maybe. Turns out pretzels and beer go very well together.”
Scott recently moved his business operation to a Tupelo, Mississippi, co-packing facility he heard about from Arbo’s Cheese Dip founder Andrew Arbogast. Scott helped build out the facility by putting in new flooring, doing all the electrical work, and more.
He was producing 10 to 15 cases at his old facility, but he’s now up to 20 cases. “I’ve slowed down a little bit in anticipation of the rebrand situation.”
But, he adds, “I’ve got the potential of doing 150 cases a week.”
Scott also slowed down in anticipation of the new baby. He and his wife, Markie Maloof, have been getting their house ready for the new member of the family. Scott completed all his tasks, including building new pantry shelves. “I finished those on Tuesday. I didn’t get out of my pajamas until 5 on Wednesday. It was my first day off in many months.”
There is one more thing Scott won’t reveal: new products he might be introducing. “We’ve got a few more ideas we’re bouncing around and experimenting with. Nothing I want to start talking about just yet.”
But Scott did give a hint: “We’ve got a few other bread varieties and product types coming out that will be pretty exciting. Just to diversify a bit.”
Tops Bar-B-Q will open a new location in early February. It will be the 17th location for the more than 70-year-old Memphis-based restaurant.
And, as a native Memphian who grew up with Tops, I’m excited more locations are opening.
The restaurants have a new sign, which I love. It’s perfect. The new sign is based on the old pig drawing that graces the side of the Tops at 3353 Summer Avenue.
The new location will be at 4199 Hacks Cross Road, where the old Steak ’n Shake used to be, says Hunter Brown with Tops Operations LLC.
The restaurant location is “officially still in Memphis,” he says. “We’re so excited to be on that side. It’s the furthest east we are. It’s going to service Germantown, Collierville, East Memphis, FedEx headquarters. We’ve been looking hard to get over in that part of town to make it more convenient for our guests.”
As for that new sign, Brown says this is only the second time the sign has evolved since 1952. “Some of our stores needed a refresh.”
In addition to the interior, they also wanted to refresh the outside.
The original signage was a pig standing on a toy top. That sign can still be found at the Summer-National Tops. But the pig they used for the new sign is the large one on the side of that location. And that’s a Summer Avenue landmark, as far as I’m concerned. “That restaurant has been there for over 60 years, and that pig is in the oldest pictures I’ve ever seen.”
And, he adds, that pig sign is also “in the original architectural drawing” for that Tops location.
“We used the original pig. We just updated it with backlit red LED lighting. It spells out ‘Tops.’ The LED sign underneath says ‘Bar-B-Q & Burgers.’”
The Tops hamburger needs to be given its props since I, along with a lot of other people, consider it to be the best hamburger in Memphis. “We never called out burgers before,” Brown says. “When there’s room for it, it’s ‘Slow Smoked Bar-B-Q and Award-Winning Burgers.’ But when it’s shortened up for space purposes, we call it our ‘Bar-B-Q & Burgers’ every chance we get.’”
I asked Brown if they were going to introduce any new menu items this year. I’m constantly getting a craving for the restaurant’s new Fire Braised Chicken Sandwich. That’s my go-to — along with the Tops turkey burger — at least once a week or so.
“This year we plan on launching two limited time offers that are scheduled. But we’re still working through the priority of those two as to what is missing and what guests are asking for the most.”
Some Tops items currently are only available on its catering menu. These include a sausage and cheese plate.
By the way, that pulled chicken on their new sandwich is now being used in more ways at Tops, Brown says. “Chicken evolved. Now you can get it on the nachos. You can get chicken nachos in place of pork. You can get it as a plate. That’s now an option. That’s brisket, pork, ribs, or chicken plate.”
All these Tops changes — outside, inside, and in the kitchen — aren’t taken lightly, Brown says. “These changes, albeit big or small, there’s a lot of thought that goes into it. And at the end of the day, the answer has to be very clear: Is it good for the guests? With every single thing we think about, if that’s not a resounding ‘Yes,’ then we don’t do it. No matter what we think. We’re not going to change for the sake of change.
“There’s a reason this company has thrived for 70 years. And we’re not going to take a chance.”
The restaurant in the ARRIVE Memphis hotel has gone from serving homemade sausage and small plates to what executive chef David Todd calls “refined, approachable bar food.”
“We re-did the menu with some internationally influenced entrees. Some sandwiches. Some appetizers. Things like that.”
And, Todd adds, “As of January 1st, we’re open seven days a week. And we got lunch on Saturdays and Sundays.”
Longshot had its share of stops and starts after it first opened in November of 2019. “We opened about five or six months before the pandemic hit. The whole hotel. We tried to do the whole to-go food. What everybody did.”
It closed around April. “We opened for a few weeks around late June, early July. That would have been 2020.”
The restaurant was only open for a few weeks. “We had some people test positive for Covid.”
Longshot re-opened for the third time in April 2021. And stayed open. Todd kept a few items from the old menu but added more. Also, during those times the restaurant was open, Todd saw how “different food worked in the space.”
The restaurant had a definite culinary direction in the beginning. “When we first opened, we had nine different house-made sausages. We had small plates. It was really cool.”
But that “wasn’t robust and diverse enough to really capture a lot of repeat business.”
“One thing I’ve learned over the years opening restaurants, is you definitely pick your vision and your direction. Go down the path you want to go. But as you’re going down that path, you learn what customers are responding to and what the space dictates.”
Longshot “went to a more robust, sandwich-oriented food menu. It covered more ground.”
Todd refers to his Longshot fare as “inspired, elevated bar food. And that means there are still burgers and chicken sandwiches, and I’ve got nachos on the menu.”
But he also includes items like Tuna Poke Nachos. “Raw tuna marinated in soy and different spices.” And Pollo Asado Nachos — a “marinated chicken thigh I roast. And we chop that off and make nachos with a house-made queso.”
“We’ve got vegetarian options. We’ve got a Smoked Mushroom and Shishito Philly. And then we’ve got a KFC [Korean Fried Chicken] Sandwich on the menu. We did a Diner Burger, a fun take on a classic burger. There’s a crispy duck entree. A short rib entree.”
Last year, Todd also took over the pizza program upstairs at Hustle & Dough. He “rounded out that menu” a little bit. “I added a curry cauliflower dip, a quinoa salad.”
His philosophy was the same as for Longshot: “Lean into traditional things that people connect to and they enjoy. And they might be presented to you in an international way.”
Longshot can be referred to as a sports bar, but it’s not a typical sports bar, Todd says. “You got the shuffleboard tables in there, so when it’s busy it’s going to lend itself to a festive kind of fun, energetic atmosphere. So, it’s not quite like a sit-down dinner place.”
Todd adds, “If you’re in there having a sit-down dinner, you wouldn’t feel like a fish out of water. But if you want play shuffleboard and drink some beer, you’re not going to feel like a fish out of water, either. It’s like a melting pot space in there on some levels.”
Longshot and Hustle & Dough are in ARRIVE Memphis at 477 South Main Street.
I had to try TWO of the new Tops Fire-Braised Chicken Sandwich with Memphis white sauce (Credit: Marlissa Newsom)
I ate chicken for the first time at Tops Bar-B-Q. That’s because I now can eat chicken at Tops Bar-B-Q. It’s long been a missing ingredient at the Memphis-based chain of restaurants.
The experience was delightful. I tried the new Fire-Braised Chicken Sandwich with Memphis white sauce, which recently was introduced at a few Tops locations. I ate mine at the Poplar spot.
It’s delicious. I knew it would be, so I ordered two sandwiches right off the bat. It’s a pulled — like Tops barbecue — sandwich, so it has that same consistency. And the sauce is creamy and good, with a little bite to it. Though there was enough sauce on the sandwich, I ordered extra sauce because I’m a slatherer. I even ate it right out of the container.
So, I guess you’d call me a fan of the new Tops food addition.
Tops’ Fire-Braised Chicken Sandwich with Memphis white sauce (Credit: Michael Donahue)(Credit: Michael Donahue)
The chicken sandwich, which is slated to come to all Tops locations in December, is currently available at the Southaven and Frayser Boulevard locations (as well as the Poplar location I visited).
Fire-Braised Chicken is chicken seared over fire, says Tops CEO Randy Hough. It’s topped with a Memphis white sauce, which was based on Alabama white sauce. Tops created its own version of Alabama’s creamy, tangy white sauce in house, but Tops “put a little twist” on it, Hough says.
“This sauce is very similar in terms of remaining really creamy and tangy, but there’s just a little bit of something different on the back end,” he says. “I don’t want to call it ‘hot’ or ‘heat,’ but there’s a little snap to it on the back end.”
And, he says, “It fits well in the city of Memphis. We do things a little unique.”
As far as Hough knows, this is the first time Tops has ever offered a chicken option. “Now it’s time. We said, ‘Let’s do a limited time special.’ We fell in love with this chicken product. A pulled chicken and sauce. It’s a great way to marry this together and give our guests an option for chicken.”
So, of course, I had to ask Hough, “What about selling Tops barbecued chicken some day?”
“Certainly we’ve considered that,” Hough says. “We’re not there today because we want to think this can stand alone on its own right now.”
Chicken will go great with Tops barbecue sauce, Hough adds. But they don’t want to “steal anything away” from their new chicken sandwich.
The Fire-Braised Chicken Sandwich with Memphis white sauce is currently available at the following Tops Bar-B-Q locations: 2288 Frayser Boulevard, 5144 Poplar Avenue, and 313 Stateline Road West in Southaven.
When, with the flash of a press pass, I breezed through the Will Call checkpoint outside Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Festival at Liberty Park on Sunday, I heard people checking the score of the Grizzlies’ first matchup against the Warriors. The Griz were down, but it was early in the game, and I couldn’t help but take it as a good omen. This year’s BSMF might be in a different location, but some things never change.
First on my list was genre-bending songsmith Cory Branan, backed by an ace crew of Memphis musicians including drummer Shawn Zorn, bassist Landon Moore, and Flyer music editor Alex Greene on keys. Is it a conflict of interest to say that Branan and band blew me away with their tight 25-minute set? Oh well, journalistic malpractice be damned! Though the band’s set was necessarily truncated by circumstances outside their control, thanks to the kind of behind-the-scenes logistical difficulties endemic to festivals as big as BSMF. One rule to keep in mind for any event with more than three bands on the bill: Embrace the chaos. We concert-goers were miles from the Mississippi River for this year’s MIM, but that wouldn’t stop me from going with the flow.
Cory Branan and band. (Credit: Jesse Davis)
Branan and band were locked in, ripping through a set of originals with precision and energy. The bass, drums, and keys, all high in the mix, evoked shades of Memphis music of yore, both soul and rock-and-roll, while Branan plucked notes from his Telecaster. The songwriter walks a weaving line between rock-and-roll, punk, and country, and his sound fit the tone of the Memphis festival. After a blistering rendition of “Prettiest Waitress in Memphis,” Branan quipped, “We appreciate your low standards.”
Jokes aside, as Flyer film editor Chris McCoy put it in his recap of Saturday’s festivities, “Judging from the reactions our folks have been eliciting from the throngs gathered in the shadow of the Coliseum, increasing the locals’ main stage time is the best decision Memphis in May has made in a long time.” Branan and band were proof positive.
Next up, I made my way to the Terminix Stage to catch a few songs from Indigo Girls. I made it to the stage in time to catch “Least Complicated.” Indigo Girls made use of two acoustic guitars, a violin, and vocal harmonies. It was soft and sweet, like a breeze on a sunny May afternoon.
Leaving the stage I met Flyer reporter Michael Donahue, who was working the crowd and getting photos and quotes for his “We Saw You” column. Not 60 seconds after Donahue and I met, someone approached the wild-haired writer to ask him if he was Brian May, best known as the guitarist for Queen. I laughed, and Donahue and I made our way to the Blues Tent.
Blind Mississippi Morris. (Credit: Jesse Davis)
The crowd at the Coca-Cola Blues Tent spilled out onto the pavement outside the tent. (Note: Asphalt is hot, much hotter than the turf at Tom Lee Park. Of course, asphalt doesn’t get muddy either, so any attempt at a comparison is more or less pointless. Again, I was reminded of the festival-goer’s refrain: Embrace the chaos.)
Without delay, a fan accosted Donahue for a selfie. I left the busiest man in party reporting to his work and wove my way through the crowd and into the shade under the tent. Inside, Blind Mississippi Morris was wailing on a harmonica, backed up by a tight trio of guitar, bass, and drums. The bass rumbled, the guitar jangled, and the harmonica growled and howled. It was a fine display of Delta blues, and I was again glad that the BSMF lineup was packed with local and regional acts.
After a bass solo and a veritable cannonade of drum fills, Blind Mississippi Morris’ set drew applause and cheers from an appreciative audience. “It’s time for us to go,” Morris said. “Thank you for coming out for us.”
By that point, I had settled on a loose plan to follow the natural path of the stages — they were arranged like the vertices of a giant “M” — so my next stop was the Bud Light Stage to see Ghanaian band Stonebwoy. I glanced at my phone to make sure I was more or less on time, and saw a text from the Flyer’s film editor: “I decided to come to the festival. Where you at?”
So, having just parted ways with Donahue, I met Chris McCoy and waited for Stonebwoy to finish their sound check. I heard someone in the crowd call out the score of the Grizzlies game. “Grizzlies are down 99 to 90,” he said. “It’s a game! It’s a game!” A few minutes later, the score sat at 99 to 93, with the Warriors leading.
Stonebwoy. (Credit: Chris McCoy)
A gentle breeze wafted across the audience, seeming to carry clean guitar notes and the sounds of saxophone. The bass and drums invited the audience to dance. Stonebwoy’s band wove Afropop and reggae grooves while the singer led the crowd in a call and response. “Say ‘Stonebwoy,’” he called. “Say ‘Memphis.’”
Next, McCoy and I made our way to the Zyn stage for the last half of Grace Potter’s set. When we arrived, the concert was in full swing, with the audience sprawling across the parking lot. With a Flying V guitar slung over her shoulder, Potter led her band in a riff on “Proud Mary.” Whether she was turning up for Memphis, or because her band is just that good, Potter and company suffused their set with samples of rock-and-roll, country, soul, and gospel. She’s a rock artist, but her sound is rife with elements of all the musical milieu that forms the bones of American music.
Grace Potter. (Credit: Chris McCoy)
“That was a dirty little carousing we just had,” the singer said. So, with the Liberty Bowl behind her and facing the Coliseum, Potter switched from guitar to what looked like a Fender Rhodes piano to tambourine, leading her band through high-energy song after song.
Potter sang a bit of Tom T. Hall’s “That’s How I Got to Memphis” before praising the Bluff City. “This place is so full of culture,” she said. Later in her set, someone from the audience called out for “Apologies,” one of the singer’s quieter numbers. “I’m a rock-and-roll musician!” Potter responded. “Don’t you want to hear some rock?”
Bryan Cox as Michael Donahue. (Credit: Jesse Davis)
On the way back to the Terminix Stage, I saw someone in a flowing wig who appeared to be cosplaying as Michael Donahue. When I asked him if that was true, Memphian Bryan Cox confirmed that and said, “People keep asking me that.”
Modest Mouse. (Credit: Chris McCoy)
Then Modest Mouse took to the Terminix stage, opening with “Dramamine” from 1996’s This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About. The screen behind the band showed a shimmering rainbow seeming to cascade into an open cartoon casket.
The band worked their way through several songs spanning multiple albums. They played newer tracks, as well as hits like “Ocean Breathes Salty,” “3rd Planet,” and “Float On.” It was a solid set of layered songs from a band of indie rockers who have been at it for years.
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. (Credit: Jesse Davis)
At some point in the day, I caught some more groups in the Blues Tent, but nine hours of nonstop music has a way of making a jumble of my interior clock. I think I stopped by the Blues Tent on the way back to the Bud Light stage to catch Memphis rapper Moneybagg Yo.
As the sun set, bringing blessedly cooler temperatures, music fans packed the area in front of — and anywhere near — the stage. Moneybagg Yo pulled in a huge crowd, and the energy was high as people danced, drank, and waved their phones in the air.
Moneybagg Yo. (Credit: Jesse Davis)
“If you from Memphis, what side of town you from?” Moneybagg Yo called out, proving he has his finger on the pulse of his city. The bass on “Pistol by Da Bed” had heads nodding along as jets of smoke shot into the air in front of a giant stylishly glitched-out screen behind the performers.
“Every lighter up,” he said later in the set. “This shit’s special. You know why? ’Cause I’m from Memphis. We dream big.”
And it was special, as his set turned into the de facto headlining concert to close out that stage, as news made its way around that Lil Wayne had been forced to cancel, allegedly because of mechanical problems with his jet. No matter, Moneybagg Yo made the most of it, name-checking Memphis neighborhoods to a crowd of dancing, cheering fans.
To close out the night, Weezer took to the Terminix Stage. They ripped into “Hash Pipe” from 2001’s green-hued self-titled album. (The band has something of a penchant for releasing color-coded self-titled albums. At this point, it’s kind of a thing.) Bandleader Rivers Cuomo sang in a falsetto over crunchy guitar riffs and a gut-rattling bass line.
The band played a set that spanned their 15-abum discography, delivering hooks and crowd-pleasers aplenty. They offered up “Beverly Hills,” “My Name Is Jonas,” “El Scorcho,” and “Undone (The Sweater Song).” After a cover of “Enter Sandman,” Cuomo joked “Hey, Memphis! We’re Metallica.”
With the “exit night” refrain rattling around in my thoroughly rocked head, I made my way back to my car. After two years of a pandemic-induced pause, BSMF was back and, chaos aside, a definite success. As I drove home, I heard celebratory fireworks explode in the air above the city.
Napa Cafe’s dining room is now open, so customers can return to eating the restaurant’s made-from-scratch fare inside.
The East Memphis restaurant, which specializes in fresh seafood, grass-fed beef, and game, also has expanded its patio.
The dining room had been closed due to COVID-19, says owner Glenda Hastings.
“I opened secretly a couple of weeks ago to get our footing again with having the dining room open,” she says. “We’ve been closed five-and-a-half months. I was only doing curbside and delivery, which I’m still doing.
“I was just waiting for things to kind of settle in and people to feel comfortable dining out again. I sent my customers a big survey finding out what they wanted. And because they have been supporting me so strongly with curbside and delivery. I wanted to make sure they were comfortable with reopening the dining room. And my employees were comfortable.”
And, Hastings says, “I think we were just ready to see people in the dining room and see our food on plates again. When I walked in the kitchen and saw my first entrées go out on our china I was so excited. It looks so much better than it was in a to-go box for five and a half months.”
As for the expanded patio, Hastings says, “I have 10 to 12 tables out there social distanced nicely. And I have a ton of tropical plants. It’s just beautiful. And, of course, I have the private dining rooms. I have the wine cellar. I have ‘Jan’s Room.’ That’s a little, private dining room named after my longest-serving employee. It serves two to six guests.”
Curbside pick-up and delivery hours were readjusted to 5 to 9 p.m, Wednesdays through Saturdays.
To make a dinner reservation or to order curbside pick-up and delivery, call 901-683-0441.
Napa Cafe is at 5101 Sanderlin Center. For more information, go to napacafe.com
Photo courtesy Napa Café