Tag: opening

Categories
Art Exhibit M

Peculiar Forms: Taiwanese Metalwork in Memphis

CREDIT: Visual Cues, Ms. Chen, Ting-Chun

Visual Cues, Ms. Chen, Ting-Chun

This Sunday, December 13, from 2-5PM, the Metal Museum will host an opening ceremony for a new traveling exhibition, the 2015 Taiwan International Metal Crafts Competition. The exhibition, which will remain on view through March 13, 2016, features the best of Taiwanese metalwork as judged by the The Gold Museum of Taipei City. 

Soliloquy, Ms. Ou, Li-Ting

The artworks featured in the exhibition draw from both modern and more traditional tropes of metalwork, combining eastern and western craft sensibilities to create a selection both broad and masterful. Work by Li-Ting Ou and Ting-Chun Chen (both featured above) stands out. 

Flavour, Ms. Chen, Siou-Yi

The Metal Museum is one of few museums in the world devoted exclusively to fine metalwork. This will be the first exhibition from Taiwan that the Metal Museum has hosted. 

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Sticking His Neck Out

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

It’s déjà vu all over again. In the midst of transforming the former Holiday Ham store on South Main into his latest venture, Circa by John Bragg, chef/owner/entrepreneur John Bragg is busy preparing to cater an event. It’s the same scene from almost a year ago — down to the catering job and a hard-to-pin-down Bragg, who was then transforming the former Cockeyed Camel at Poplar Avenue and I-240 into River Oaks by John Bragg.

The “John Bragg” part of River Oaks lasted about six months. “When you open a new place and it takes off like that and is instantly successful, it’s like winning the lottery, with all the good and the bad stuff that comes with the jackpot,” Bragg says. “I was part-owner of River Oaks, and my partners and I didn’t see eye-to-eye on some issues, so we decided to part.”

Bragg, who attended the Cordon Bleu in Paris and has worked for several well-known local chefs such as Karen Carrier, Erling Jensen, and Gene Bjorklund, spent eight years as a CPA in the corporate sector. After he left River Oaks, some people thought he might have returned to accounting. But instead, Bragg, who had transformed the well-worn vegetarian-friendly La Montagne into a more upscale eatery in 2004, decided to put to good use what he had learned from his two restaurant solos and his work as an accountant.

“The people I worked with as an accountant were mostly entrepreneurs,” Bragg says. “I realized that all of these people had stuck their neck out at one point or another. There’s always a risk, but you’ve got to be willing to stick your neck out every once in a while if you want to have a successful business.”

By that measure, Bragg warmed slowly to the idea of risk. With La Montagne, he kept the name, brushed up the interior, stayed in a modest neighborhood, and tested the waters with his cooking skills.

“I knew I had a good product if people from Germantown were willing to drive to Park and Highland to eat my food,” Bragg says. “They had so many opportunities to stop and eat a fabulous meal at Fleming’s, Ruth’s Chris, the Grove Grill, you name it. But instead, they drove all the way to eat at my restaurant. I just needed a better location.”

So Bragg stuck his neck out a little further, gathered investors, and opened River Oaks. Much more effort went into this restaurant, but passionate chefs tend to be passionate about every little detail in a restaurant — something some partnerships can’t withstand.

This time, Bragg is ready to stick his neck out as far as it will reach. Circa is all Bragg — food, design, money, name, concept. “My experience with La Montagne and River Oaks inspired me,” Bragg says. “What I learned was that if I put my mind and the right amount of money on a problem, I can come up with a great answer.”

With Circa, Bragg wants to “provide a culinary taste adventure centered on the freshest food ingredients and a very interesting, welcoming, and sociable atmosphere,” Braggs explains. “It’s not just the need for nice ambience or good food that I want to satisfy. When people leave Circa, I want all their bells ringing.”

Circa, for Bragg, is not only the restaurant’s name but something that can be developed into a brand, starting with an easily recognizable logo and an association with time. For the restaurant’s interior, he hired the internationally known architecture and design firm 3SIX0, based in Providence, Rhode Island. The design for Circa is a system of screen walls that will create patterned areas for diners and keep the overall feel of the restaurant open and airy. There will be a private dining room near the kitchen and a back-lit bar in front.

The menu is modern American: no surprises, nothing fussy. Steaks, chops, and fish dominate the entrée selections, and some of Bragg’s signature appetizers, such as crawfish beignets and wild-mushroom and goat-cheese crepes, will be available as will as an assortment of artisan meats and cheeses. Desserts range from the classic (sachertorte and Gateau Opera) to the simple (lemon and berry tarts). The restaurant is scheduled to open in late April or early May and will start out with dinner daily from 5 to 11:30 p.m. and lunch Monday through Friday, starting at 11 a.m.

Circa by John Bragg, 119 S. Main (522-1488)

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Extreme Makeover

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

For now, Umai, Ken Lumpkin’s new restaurant featuring French/Japanese cuisine, is perhaps better known as “the restaurant in the old On Teur spot on Madison.”

Once inside Umai, however, visitors will find it hard to believe the building once housed the original Harry’s. They’ll immediately notice the sleek new décor, defined by an open cooking area enclosed by a handcrafted red-cedar and bamboo bar. Gone is the plastic-covered porch, thanks to one of Lumpkin’s friends, local woodworker and conservationist Scott Banbury. In its place is a free-standing timber-frame shed — constructed of wood recovered after Hurricane Elvis — that provides plenty of extra seating. A brightly colored mural by local graffiti artists and delicate glass light fixtures provide the finishing touches to the interior.

“I thought I could slap paint on and go, but the building was in worse shape than I thought,” Lumpkin says.

The attention to detail extends beyond Umai’s furnishings. Lumpkin says he purposely printed his menu on a plain sheet of paper because he plans on changing it often depending on the freshest fish, fruits, and vegetables available.

“I take a French technique and insert Japanese ingredients or take a Japanese technique and insert French ingredients,” Lumpkin explains. “Like with the spinach gyoza: I do a French-style mushroom duxelles but substitute sake for white wine and use soy sauce instead of cream.”

In addition to the spinach gyoza, other menu items include lobster dumplings wrapped in cabbage, pan-seared salmon with mushrooms and black rice, and pistachio-encrusted grouper atop tourne potatoes and carrots with a demi-glace and butternut chutney. For Sunday brunch, Umai offers comfort food with a Japanese bent. The “Steak-n-Eggs” is made with grilled flank steak and is served with two eggs any style and crispy home fries. The fried-rice omelet comes with lemon-grass barbecue and poached artichokes. “Buddha’s Breakfast” features miso soup, rice, fried tofu, and kimchee.

Umai’s fare is unlike anything else in Memphis. Lumpkin, who started in the restaurant industry by waiting tables while studying journalism in college, began cooking seriously 11 years ago at Chez Philippe, where he worked under Jose Gutierrez. “I always thought Japanese food was artistic, but Chef Jose taught me the whole aspect of fine dining,” Lumpkin says.

In addition to working in several other fine-dining establishments in Memphis — including Aubergine, Buckley’s, Cielo, Dō, Pacific Rim, and Blue Fin — Lumpkin says he learned a lot of techniques from his Japanese mother and that many of his recipes are four generations old. Lumpkin’s uncle’s best friend, a master chef in Japan, has also been influential. “For a while I went to Japan twice a year. I stayed for two or three weeks at a time and just worked for free.”

After heading up several of the city’s best known sushi bars, diners may be surprised to learn that Lumpkin did not include any sushi on the Umai menu. “Once you open a sushi bar, everyone comes in and wants a California roll,” Lumpkin jokes. “Sushi in Memphis is not traditional sushi. Good sushi changes with the seasons, and a good sushi chef develops his own marinade for the rice.” Lumpkin does plan to put in a small sushi bar in the near future, but it won’t feature the typical American-style sushi.

Lumpkin is also interested in providing a special place for vegetarians and vegans. “There isn’t anything on the menu that is specifically vegetarian or vegan,” Lumpkin notes, “but if someone comes in with a special request, I have vegetable stock, soy milk, vegan butter — everything I need. I really enjoy cooking for vegetarians.”

After starting a restaurant with a partner in Hot Springs and later working 15-hour days for someone else, Lumpkin is happy to be on his own. “I still work 12-hour days, but it’s my place. It’s all me,” he says.

Once Umai is established, Lumpkin says he would like to open another restaurant — a late-night noodle shop specializing in noodles, dumplings, and egg rolls. For now, Lumpkin is looking forward to packing Umai’s 52 seats. “I want to stay small,” he says, but after a pause adds, “unless the owner decides to move the Kwik Chek [next door] for some reason.”

Umai (2015 Madison, 405-4241) is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.