Inga Theeke grew up with Latvian baking. Like pīrāgis.
“It is like yeast dough filled, usually, with bacon and onion,” says Theeke, who is from Chicago. “A little bit of ham in there. And that is the official Latvian treat.
“Every grandmother has their touch to it. It’s one of those things. They can’t give you the recipe, but they can show you if you spend some time with them in the kitchen.”
Theeke keeps busy nowadays baking things like seasonal pear tarte Tatins and pumpkin cheesecake over gluten-free spice cake.
She moved to Memphis in July 2021 to become pastry chef for all of the Kelly English restaurants, which include Restaurant Iris, Pantà, Second Line, and Fino’s from the Hill, and for the catering arm, Iris Etc.
Theeke worked in human resources in Chicago, but that changed after she went to pastry school at Kendall College. “I thought I was going to learn more about techniques and recipe development and just use it for hosting family and friends. But I caught the bug and started working for some fine dining restaurants after that.”
She worked as a pastry chef at Carlos’ in Highland Park, and the old 302 West in Geneva, Illinois.
Her specialty is “maybe taking an ingredient or something we haven’t always used in pastry and figuring out how to pull that together into something unique. I’m one of the rare birds that really likes change. So, being in an environment we have now, where we can pivot and try things out, has really been fun.”
Theeke met her current employer online. “During the pandemic, I looked into one of Kelly English’s Zoom classes and participated with about 70 people around the country. I watched him make a dish.”
She found English “so engaging and so real in connection with people via Zoom” and contacted him the next day. “And I said, ‘I don’t know if you are hiring, but this is who I am and keep in touch.’ We started a conversation and that turned into this position.”
Theeke, whose daughter graduated from Rhodes College, had visited Downtown and Midtown Memphis. She found Memphis “so authentic and so inviting.”
She expanded Fino’s menu. “I changed their tiramisu recipe to make it a little more traditional and easier for more production.”
Theeke then came up with the desserts at Pantà. “I’m a food anthropologist at heart. Although I’ve never been to Spain, I had the opportunity to do the research and do the homework when I prepared the dessert menu for Pantà. I dug into cookbooks, travel journals, online research — anything about the Catalan region I could access from Memphis. It wasn’t just the items but the stories behind them, so when the server brought it to the table, they could tell you how that fit into Catalan culture and the traditions as well.”
She also met people who had spent time in that region, asked them what they ate, what it tasted like, and then she created something.
Like brazo de gitano. “Ours here is a chocolate cake rolled with chocolate ganache in between and then finished with a little bit of latte crème anglaise. The style is a little bit different from what I believe is served in Spain, but it resembles it enough.”
As for the Iris desserts, Theeke says, “The goal is definitely to offer a traditional Creole menu with our own spin on things as well. Again, I have been to New Orleans, but I did my research on these as well so that we understand the story behind some of these. Like bananas Foster. It’s everything you think of in a Creole restaurant’s Foster, but our twist here is to make it a bananas Foster within a tres leches cake. Bring that roasted banana and rum taste through it. And then our crème brûlée here features a chicory coffee flavor.”
All the restaurants “set the tone” for what the dessert menu will look like. But Theeke says, “Every now and then I’ll come up with something. And they’ll let me know if I’ve crossed the line between forgiveness and permission.”
Ghost meringues coming to Fino’s From the Hill (Photo: Caleb Sigler)
For those who eat too much at restaurants and, heaven forbid, are too stuffed to look at the dessert menu, here are some that restaurants offer, along with fall specials.
Dory: “The desserts at Dory are in the spirit of our childhoods,” says executive chef/co-owner Dave Krog. “Our current six-course dessert is aerated peanut butter mousse, chocolate sponge, salted caramel, blackberry, and peanut dust.”
Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen: “The fall pot de crème will be killer,” says general manager/beverage director Nick Talarico. “Spiced apples with an oat and walnut crumble. It’s like a crème brûlée and vanilla pudding.”
Kinfolk restaurant: “Bourbon pecan crème brûlée,” says chef/owner Cole Jeanes. “We toast the pecans before soaking them in heavy cream with a little orange zest. They steep overnight and, instead of granulated sugar, I use brown sugar. It’s rich, nutty, and super smooth. With a crunchy brûlée topped with candied pecans, there’s a great contrast in textures. Add a little smoked salt for another layer of flavor.”
Las Tortugas: “We do a piña colada flan, a traditional caramel flan that cooks in a water bath in the oven,” says chef/manager Jonathan Magallanes. “We then add roasted and fresh pineapple along with coconut shavings and crushed cashews, Mexican fresh cream, and powdered sugar.”
Acre: “I had an apple custard cake on the menu years ago,” says executive chef Andrew Adams. “The center was soft and custardy with bits of apples, and the top was a little crunchy and caramelized. This fall, I switched out the all-purpose flour with buckwheat. I steam the cake for the first 30 minutes and then put it in a high oven. I made the apples smaller, added cinnamon and cardamom and an oat top. The buckwheat adds a nutty flavor.”
The Beauty Shop Restaurant: Chef/owner Karen Carrier features an array of fall desserts — apple-caramel-almond babka from Love Bread Co., pistachio and fig babka, chocolate meringue pie, pecan pie with scoop of sweet potato gelato, lemon zest-sugar-butter crepe with a scoop of cinnamon Mexican chocolate chili gelato, and a dark chocolate crepe with pumpkin pie gelato.
Salt|Soy: “Chocolate miso chess pie with a sesame crust, Suntory Toki whipped cream, and sesame brittle,” says chef/owner Nick Scott. “It’s our East-meets-West take on chess pie. We started running it last fall and it became our house dessert.”
River Oaks Restaurant: “A lemon mousse with raspberries and caramelized whipped cream,” says general manager Colleen DePete. Another dessert: Chef/owner José Gutierrez will add “a poached pear with homemade vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and dark chocolate ganache garnished with thin cookies tuile.”
Southern Social: “Praline hazelnut cheesecake with caramelized hazelnuts and a warm chocolate sauce,” says pastry chef Franck Oysel.
117 Prime: “Pumpkin Delight Ooey Gooey Bars,” says chef/owner Ryan Trimm. “A rich, buttery cake bottom with a pumpkin spice cream cheese marbled custard baked to perfection.”
Kelly English restaurants: “At Pantà, we’re offering a decadent chocolate hazelnut cup topped with raspberry Chantilly,” says pastry chef Inga Theeke. “Look for that to change to a pumpkin and chai combination later this month. We’ve also played with the presentation of our Mel i Mató and now offer Mel i Cannoli. Mel i Mató is a traditional Catalan dessert that features a loose cheese similar to ricotta covered in honey. We top our house-made ricotta with Bee 901 honey and toasted pistachios. All tucked inside a Neules cone, a Catalan cookie.”
Fino’s From the Hill: “Apple spice bars will be in the case later this week, and ghost meringues will make their appearance later this month.”
The Second Line: “Seasonal desserts are changing to a chocolate pecan pie and caramel apple cheesecake.”
Restaurant Iris: “Desserts here are definitely influenced by the season. Look for a pear tarte Tatin and a pumpkin cheesecake over gluten-free spice cake, among others.”
You never know who you’ll run into late at night if you stop by a restaurant or bar that serves food after 10 p.m. In Memphis, it could be a drunk bounty hunter at now-closed CK’s, an election conspiracy theorist throwing back Bud Lights, or hopefully, a local celebrity.
Rocky Kasaftes remembers when Priscilla Presley stopped by Alex’s Tavern with a group of people around 11 p.m. Kasaftes, who owns the iconic bar/restaurant at 1445 Jackson Avenue, made his famous Greek Burgers, hot wings, and ribs for everybody. But he fixed something special for Presley.
“I don’t eat meat,” says Presley, who was in Memphis recently. “So instead I asked him to make me a grilled cheese sandwich. I still eat grilled cheese sandwiches when I need to.”
The sandwich was “great,” she adds. And Alex’s Tavern was “very quaint. And nice. Not too large. I enjoyed it very much.”
The Memphis Flyer recently set out on a quest to check out some late-night dining spots that continue to serve food after most places have shut down their kitchens. And while there used to be plenty of easy fixes for the late-night munchies, Covid saw some restaurants decide to forego their nocturnal offerings. But fret not: For the night owls among us, there are still those who work tirelessly to make sure that, yes, after stumbling out of the bar or getting off work late, they’re still here to keep us fed. As we ventured out into the night, our odyssey took us to three different pillars, old and new, of late-night dining that are sure to do the trick when Taco Bell just won’t cut it.
The authors’ first late-night stop took them to Pantá where they sipped on a Toussaint Daiquiri and split a Catalan Hot Dog. Oh, and they had coffee. Can’t forget the French press coffee. (Photo: KD Holliday)
Pantá
For our first stop, we trekked to a bumping new Midtown Catalan hot spot. Chef/owner Kelly English specifically wanted a late-night menu at his latest endeavor, Pantá, at 2146 Monroe Avenue.
“Pantá is a real view of Catalan eating and the way they approach dining in that region of Spain,” English says. “In Barcelona, a lot of restaurants don’t even open until 7 or 8. We open at 6. They stay open at least until midnight. This is a natural part of what we have set out to provide. The kitchen has been open until 11 on Thursdays and midnight on Friday and Saturday since we opened.”
The response has been great, English says. “We’ve recently changed the program for late night a bit to give our guests what we have heard them asking for — a little more approachable late-night food served with some of the exact same ingredients we use earlier in the evening.”
Diners who come in after 10 p.m. order from a special late-night menu, not from the earlier menu.
“We originally served our entire dinner menu through the end of service. We started this new menu a couple of weeks ago. It is also available during normal hours during Sunday supper.”
Pantá’s late-night menu has six items that harness the restaurant’s Catalan inspiration. They’re all a bit cheaper than the regular menu (think the $8-$12 range). There are some enticing-looking options like the Brava Burger — a patty of spiced beef with grilled onions, mozzarella, olive pickles, and brava sauce — or Pantá’s take on a Philly — made with pork secreto, slow-cooked onions and peppers, and a healthy helping of “melty white cheesiness.” We opted for the Catalan Hot Dog to start, a grilled “glizzy” placed on a bun, but there’s no sauerkraut-and-mustard combo here. Instead, the dog is topped with escalivada (a traditional Catalan vegetable mix) and a smooth garlic aioli. We cut it in half for an easy shareable and also ordered French press coffee to prepare for the journey ahead.
But perhaps the best late-night snack is the Loaded Brava Fries. It’s almost like a fries-based version of loaded nachos but with a Catalan twist. Let’s just say it certainly made a good impression. The tender, slow-roasted duck is delicious and very easy to scarf down with a handful of fries. And there’s a bit of a kick to it from a spicy harissa pepper sauce. It’s an approachable, but elevated, snack that has all the right ingredients to keep that buzz from spilling over. All the while, front-of-house manager and overall vibe-setter Aaron Ivory is ready to whip up one of his specialties.
“Personally, I like that we have a spot for people in my industry to come after work,” English says. “Or people in the world of theater. Both patrons and professionals. A place that can grow with what we think is a new chapter of Midtown that is coming about. I love the new avenue of freedom that our manager, Aaron Ivory, can show behind the bar and our chef, Patrick Kee, can express in the food.”
A group of young people came in Pantá around 11 p.m. and sat at a table in the dining room. They wanted to eat after leaving Tiger and Peacock, says Ken LeGassey. This was their first time at Pantá.
They wanted to eat as well as “continue to drink and socialize,” LeGassey says. Speaking for themselves and other young people out on the town, he says, “After they’ve been drinking, they’re looking for a place with the right food that’s unique, high-quality.” LeGassey and his friends found it at Pantá. “This is the new Taco Bell.”
Like Priscilla Presley, our authors made their way to Alex’s Tavern, where they caught up with owner Rocky Kasaftes about his famous Greek Burger. (Photo: Samuel x. Cicci)
Alex’s Tavern
Our next stop took us to Alex’s Tavern, which has been serving food late at night for decades.
Rocky’s dad, Alex Kasaftes, who opened the bar in 1953, used to serve ham sandwiches.
“Remember the big hams? You could put a ham in a rack and slice off the bone? He did that.”
After his dad died in 1978, Rocky took over the bar. He began serving hamburgers, but he also concentrated on people who arrived late. “It was really for restaurant people that got off work at 11 or whatever. That’s kind of how it started. For a while it was mostly restaurant people or people who worked at the hospital or police to get a burger.”
His mother, Eugenia Kasaftes, would “make the patties at home, slice cheese and tomato, and I’d come pick it up.” Alex’s Tavern served food until 3 a.m. in those days. Now, it’s until midnight during the week and maybe 1 or 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Rocky now makes the hamburgers, which are 80/20 ground chuck. “My mom was big on just a good ol’ burger with salt and pepper, but we added Cavender’s to it.” Cavender’s All Purpose Greek Seasoning is on just about everything Rocky serves. He even sprinkles it on the potato chips. “Cavender’s, that’s the key to everything, which makes us different, I guess.”
His Greek Burgers have “the good crust on the outside.” And, he says, “You never press it on the grill. Never do that. The cheese has to be melted. You never want cold cheese on a piece of meat.”
Alex Tavern’s Greek Burger was featured on Burger Land with host George Motz on the Travel Channel and in Motz’s book, Hamburger America.
Rocky began doing hot wings in the late ’80s. “They’re not breaded at all. We just fry them.”
He dips the wings in a vat of Texas Pete Hot Sauce and butter for those who want hotter wings. He dips the others in a vat of Wicker’s marinade and Worcestershire sauce for people who prefer a milder snack. “I put them on the plate and sprinkle the Greek seasoning on top.”
He also uses Cavender’s on his ribs, which he began doing during football season about 20 years ago. He adds apple juice to the ribs while he cooks them. He then adds Wicker’s marinade and Worcestershire sauce. “While I cook them, I spray them with apple juice. Then when they’re almost done, we wrap them in tinfoil and I’ll put more apple juice on them. They’ll steam in that juice on the flattop.”
Gumbo came next. “It’s just really shrimp, sauce, and chicken. I’ll add other stuff, of course.”
He also does barbecued shrimp with lemon butter and garlic and cold shrimp with his own sauce “with lots of horseradish. Enough to where it brings a tear to your eye.” Usually during the winter Rocky makes his mother’s Mama K’s homemade vegetable beef soup.
Sometimes he makes toasted ravioli and fried cheese and pork tenderloin for special occasions, including events he caters. “Usually, I’m the one cooking. I like it that way.”
But Rocky doesn’t stop there. “I’ll do stuff for folks when they request it. A filet with a baked potato and salad, filet and shrimp. I’ve made my mom’s spaghetti recipe. Everything is from scratch. I made Alfredo with shrimp or chicken. They just have to let me know ahead of time. And they do.”
They’ll say, “Hey, I want something different.” And Rocky responds, “Okay, I got it.”
Just like when he came up with a grilled cheese sandwich for Presley. “I think I put two or three different kinds of cheese on it just for her.”
“Tell Rocky I’m coming back on Elvis Week in August,” Presley says. “I’m going to be here for about five or six days. It’s a wonderful, wonderful restaurant, and I know I’m going to get great food. Especially great grilled cheese sandwiches.”
An unusual menu item, the Tofu Nachos are RP Tracks’ secret weapon. (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)
RP Tracks
The final stretch of our journey took us to RP Tracks at 3547 Walker Avenue, home of an eclectic guest list, thirsty University of Memphis students, and those oh-so-delectable barbecue tofu nachos. It’s a tried-and-true template, one that’s been working for Tracks and its customers for almost four decades now. Mary Laws has been running the place alongside her husband, Bernard, since 2015, after buying Tracks from original owners Rick Johns and Peter Moon.
And Laws has her own history there. “I’m a U of M grad, and I’d started working at RP Tracks in 2004,” she says. “And I met Bernard there. I was a server, he was a dishwasher, so it was kind of like a fairy-tale story that Rick and Peter approached us to buy the place.”
And since taking over seven years ago, Laws has continued to make sure that Tracks is a place that anyone can come to for some relaxation and recreation. And maybe even to meet some new people. “We’ve got a large crowd Monday through Friday that comes to watch Jeopardy!,” she says. “And late at night hanging out at the bar or in the restaurant, it’s so easy to strike up a conversation with someone who is virtually a stranger to you.”
Laws says Tracks has grown the food side of the business since trimming down the menu so that the cooks could get things out more efficiently. “We only have eight or so feet of cooking space, so they were bending themselves into pretzels to accommodate the larger menu.” But one steadfast presence at Tracks has been the popular barbecue tofu nachos. It’s the perfect snack, and certainly a perfect choice for late-night diners. It’s a heaping bowl, with thin chips covered with all the regular fixings: jalapeños, tomatoes, lettuce, shredded cheese, and sour cream. But Tracks’ secret weapon added to the mix is the layer of black bean chili (carnivores can order meat chili instead) that accentuates the crispy tofu blocks. And there are plenty of other nacho customization options to find the right flavor.
“Those nachos are wonderful and delicious, and always have been,” says Laws. “But I also enjoy our barbecue chicken Gouda quesadilla, and I like to put hot sauce on there for some heat. And the RP Burger with cheddar cheese is my other go-to.”
And at RP Tracks, there’s almost always something for everyone. The menu is “all over the place, in a good way,” says Laws, boasting everything from quesadillas to nachos to burgers to sandwiches to salads. But the ace up Tracks’ sleeve is the wealth of vegetarian bar food options they have for late arrivals. There are the nachos, of course, but the sandwiches and quesadillas both have a separate “animal-friendly” section featuring more tofu and fresh vegetables. Even hot wings can be swapped out for tofu slices. “It’s really important we have that. In addition to being the place where I cut my teeth on drinking, it’s where I also grew to really appreciate vegetarian food.”
For now, Tracks’ kitchen is open until 12:30 a.m., with the bar closing half an hour later. While Tracks would stay open until 3 a.m. pre-Covid, Laws says they didn’t see much business during that last hour and likely won’t bring that back. However, they will be expanding their hours again soon, pushing the kitchen to 1:30 a.m., with closing at 2 a.m. “We’ve been getting everyone acclimated again to our new schedules,” says Laws. “And I think in mid-August, we’ll be ready to keep our kitchen open until 1:30.”
Laws’ push to return to later hours comes from her trouble finding places to eat late on her drive home. “I would leave Tracks at midnight and be driving around, and things just weren’t open. And I think that’s one of the ways Covid really shaped things. I realized, ‘My god, there’s not much late-night dining anymore! We’ve gotta stay open until 1:30 so that people have a place to go, a place to eat.’ And I think that’s something a lot of Memphians want.”
