Mortimer's – Memphis Flyer

This recent post from Elwood’s Shack owner Tim Bednarksi caught my eye. Or caught my taste buds: “Of all the subs, pastas, Q’s, specials I ever created, this dish has every ounce of food love I have. It took me two days, back-to-back 11-hour days to create this special of mine. It will be available at both Elwood’s locations all week. Every ingredient, side, sauce, and tamale is one of a kind. Tres Amigos!”

So I had to rush over to the Elwood’s Shack location at 4523 Summer Avenue to try the “Tres Amigos.”

I did. And it’s incredible. So delicious, and different. It’s also available at Elwood’s Shack Park Ave. at 4040 Park Avenue.

It’s called “Tres Amigos,” says Bednarksi, who sat down to talk about the dish a bit. “It’s a pork tamale, a beef tamale, and a chicken tamale, but they’ve all got different sauces on them. Mole’s on the pork tamale, chile ancho is on the beef tamale, and tomatillo salsa is on the chicken tamale.”

The tamales are served with rice and beans. “And even the rice and the beans are super special,” he says. “The red beans and rice that I served at Shells is actually the main component in the beans.”

Tres Amigos at Elwood’s Shack (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Elwood’s Shells was Bednarksi’s Cooper-Young restaurant that closed in 2019.

And, yes, Three Amigos takes a while to make, Bednarski tells me. “It took me 30 hours to make 70 orders. I have 35 orders in each restaurant today. But every ingredient, every sauce, and every tamale, is hand made, and they’ve got really special ingredients. Like the mole has chocolate, peanuts, raisins, chile ancho, chile guajillo, chile de arbol in it. And it takes many hours to make each component.

“I take the mole sauce and actually mix it in with our smoked barbecue pork, and I hand-roll tamales and make them the traditional way. It’s a different tamale. It’s more what you would see in the Southwest, an Arizona and California kind of thing.”

This isn’t a new item for Bednarski. “I’ve been serving it for years, but I haven’t done it in four years because it’s so labor-intensive. I could never justify, with one restaurant, hiring somebody to make tamales for one dish. But now I’m hoping with two restaurants, I’m able — if it’s as successful as it has been in the past — to afford to hire somebody to do it full-time.”

Speaking of Shells, Bednarski might revive some of the items from that restaurant. “I hope to bring back chicken and sausage gumbo, my seafood gumbo, and serve that at Park Avenue.”

And his lobster bisque. “I get numerous requests for my lobster bisque.”

More Elwood’s

Elliot Tracey at Elwood’s Shack (Credit: Michael Donahue)

While I was waiting for Tim Bednarksi to arrive at the Elwood’s Shack on Summer, I overheard Elliot Tracey from North Carolina praising the barbecue he just ate. I had to ask him to elaborate.

Tracey, 34, tells me he stopped in Memphis on his way to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time.

“I had the pulled pork with a side of a half-rack of ribs,” he says. “I had the baked beans, potato salad, and Texas toast.

“Honestly, I lived in North Carolina my whole life. I’ve had barbecue in all different places in eastern North Carolina. And stopping here today just from a Google review, it was the best barbecue I’ve ever had,” he adds. “Everything down to the Texas toast was perfect. There’s no reason to go anywhere else, in my opinion. You know, if I lived here there would be no competition between here and anywhere else.”

What sets Elwood’s barbecue apart? “Just flavor,” Tracey says. “Sometimes back home it can get a little dry; a lack of flavor, lack of seasoning. We pride ourselves in the vinegar base, but it kind of falls short sometimes.”

With Elwood’s Shack barbecue, Tracey “found a combination between rub and sauce. So the dry seasoning combined with the red sauce was just endless flavor.”

“Melon Drink” at El Gallo Giro

Jack Simon at El Gallo Giro (Credit: Michael Donahue)

My friend, entrepreneur Jack Simon, raves about the “Melon Drink” at El Gallo Giro at 3991 Lamar Avenue.

“It’s the most refreshing, delicious drink in the universe,” says Simon, who believes he discovered the drink when he was attending University of Memphis.

So we headed to the restaurant and ordered them with delicious barbacoa tacos for lunch.

The Melon Drink was delicious, too. Our server, Rosie Herrera, told us the name is “Agua de Melon” in Spanish. It’s cantaloupe, sugar, and seeds blended together. Ours were served over ice. On a chilly day, this drink put me back a couple of months to something I’d drink on a hot day. It evokes summer.

I love this place. I can’t wait to get back. For one thing, it’s beautiful with all the colorful painted furniture, tables, chairs, and booths.

Stay tuned.

Barbacoa tacos at El Gallo Giro (Credit: Michael Donahue)

If I could only have one thing to eat in this world, it would be chicken salad and frozen fruit at Mortimer’s restaurant. That sounds like two things, but it’s a combo.

My love affair with this Mortimer’s lunch item began when my sister and I began ordering it in the late 1960s or early ’70s at The Little Tea Shop, which was owned at the time by the late Vernon Bell, father of Sara Bell, who now owns Mortimer’s. Mortimer’s uses some recipes that were carried over from the old Little Tea Shop as well as the old Knickerbocker restaurant, which also was owned by Vernon.

Frozen fruit was taken off the menu at The Little Tea Shop a long time ago. I asked one of the restaurant’s veteran servers for the recipe, which she wrote out for me. I tried to make it, but I didn’t know enough about cooking to follow her directions at that time.

It looks like ice cream, but it’s actually made out of marshmallows, fruit cocktail, whipping cream, and topped with cream cheese and cherry juice, which makes the cream cheese pink. When I order it at the bar, I get questions from curious customers who want to know what it is. One person thought it was mashed potatoes.

Chicken salad and frozen fruit at Mortimer’s restaurant (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Years ago, I had a newspaper assignment to write about chicken salads around town. I hadn’t been to Mortimer’s in years. I ordered it from Kris Robertson, who was a server at the time. Then I heard longtime bartender/manager, Mark Esterman, call from the bar, “Does he want frozen fruit?”

I was so excited I’m sure I looked and acted like an idiot. With my mouth twisted into a big gaping smile, I probably yelled, “You have frozen fruit???!!!” After that, I became a Mortimer’s regular. And now 95 percent of the time, I order chicken salad and frozen fruit. It’s a lunch item, but they usually have some left over at dinner time.

I love sweet and savory dishes, so that duo is perfect. I remember being told that my old Memphis Press-Scimitar colleague, the late George Lapides, was a fan of chicken salad and frozen fruit at Mortimer’s.

I called Christopher Jamieson, Sarah’s son and also an owner of Mortimer’s, about the history of my favorite culinary combination.

“It’s popular among the people that know it, if that makes sense,” Jamieson says. “It’s a hard thing to describe. It really doesn’t make sense to most people until they put their eyes on it and try it. I have the same people that come in for it every week.”

Frozen fruit is particularly popular in the summertime, Jamieson says. “With it being cold and kind of refreshing, in a sense. So, anybody with a sweet tooth certainly enjoys it.”

Note: I wrote about the prime rib at Mortimer’s in the February issue of Memphis magazine. I think that’s why my name is now on the sign in front. It reads, “Michael Donahue Says Try Morts You Will Love It.” I’m honored, of course. I like to sit by the window closest to the sign in case somebody comes by my table. I can motion toward the sign with my eyes.

Mortimer’s is at 590 North Perkins Road, (901) 761-9321.