Tag: Restaurant Iris

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Restaurant Recs 2022

Paella at Tonica (Photo: Samuel X. Cicci)

Restaurant Iris’ new location is probably the most anticipated restaurant opening of the last year. The restaurant at 4550 Poplar Avenue, where the old The Grove Grill was located, is stunning. The main dining room includes serpentine booths and Italian glass-balloon-looking fixtures that add to the energy. Executive chef Russell Casey describes the fare as “classic New Orleans” with some Iris staples. Additional murals, private dining spaces, and even more serpentine booths make the new Iris an exciting place to dine.

Tonica, another elegant/tasty addition, is at 1545 Overton Park. It’s two doors down from Ecco, which, along with Libro, is one of the bar/restaurants from Sabine Bachmann and her sons, chefs Armando and Mario Gagliano and general manager John-Paul Gagliano. The food, Armando says, has “a Spanish influence with a little bit of Italian-Mediterranean twist.” The decor is “as close to a Mediterranean Spanish style” as they can get, John-Paul says.

South Point Kitchen at Downtown’s South Point Grocery at 136 Webster Avenue serves sandwiches, most of them created by chef/musician/comedian Josh McLane. They include HEELS, named after his band that consists of himself and Brennan Whalen. It’s made of spicy peanut butter, jalapeño strawberry jam, bacon, and provolone cheese.

Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh introduced his Poke Paradise food truck, which will officially hit the road in 2023. He now is booking the food truck for events. Recently, he has been busy doing pop-ups, special orders, private dinners, and other catering events. Poke is diced fresh fish, usually served with soy sauce and onion.

Tops Bar-B-Q is known for its great hamburgers. But during the year, Tops introduced new food items. Smoked BBQ Bologna, which launched in April, was the first new Tops item in 10 years. “We score it and season it with our rib rub and then we smoke it,” says Tops Operations LLC vice president Hunter Brown. “After smoking it, we grill each one to order.” They then put it on a bun and add their “famous slaw and our signature Tops barbecue sauce.”

Then in November, Tops introduced its Fire-Braised Chicken Sandwich with Memphis white sauce. It’s chicken seared over fire and then topped with the sauce, says Tops CEO Randy Hough. — Michael Donahue

New Wing Order, one of Memphis’ most popular food trucks over the past couple years, found a roost on Beale Street earlier this year. The truck continues to operate, but owners Cole Forrest and Jesse McDonald set up their first brick-and-mortar shop inside Ghost River Brewing Co. Now, brewery-goers can sip on their favorites ales while munching on Memphis Buffalo, Ja’s Sweet Heat, or any of the other delectable sauces. “Having this space really allowed us to increase our capacity,” says Forrest. Adds McDonald, “We get to experiment with a lot of new menu items now, too.”

The former Pontotoc Lounge space is open once again, but with a whole new concept that draws upon OG Memphis’ roots as an Egyptian city. Called IBIS, the new bar and lounge by Jeremy and Matthew Thacker-Rhodes promises plenty of craft cocktails and fine dining in a chic space on Main Street. Think lobster rolls, lamb meatballs, and plenty of other colorful mixed drinks that will wet your whistle (I recommend the tequila- and grapefruit-based “Por Que”). Look forward to gospel and mimosa Sundays, drag shows, live music, and plenty of other live programming in the upstairs lounge.

Carlisle Restaurant Group launched the first unique dining concept planned for the One Beale project. Fancy’s Fish House opened back in April in The Landing Residences, offering a wide variety of fresh and raw seafood to Downtown diners. But the menu recently underwent a complete makeover thanks to new chef Nate Henssler, who has quickly put his stamp on things. A raw bar serves everything from East and West Coast oysters to ahi tuna tartare, and there’s a gargantuan seafood tower that combines all the raw bar options for a full seafood bounty. Meanwhile, Henssler focuses on simple flavors and techniques to elevate his à la carte fish dishes (the miso-marinated cod is a must-try). There are some other surprises, like a delicious steak frites entree or the rosemary roasted half chicken. Some interesting cocktails, like a chai old fashioned or frozen pineapple margarita, round out a compelling riverside experience. — Samuel X. Cicci

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Inga Theeke’s Desserts

Inga Theeke (Photo: Etara Eña-Vitriva)

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.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Dessert, Anyone?

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.”

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Restaurant Iris Now Open

Restaurant Iris opened for lunch October 3rd (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The eagerly-awaited opening of Restaurant Iris at its new location at 4550 Poplar Avenue in the Laurelwood Shopping Center took place today, October 3rd.

The restaurant, the epitome of an elegant contemporary restaurant, opened at 11 a.m. for lunch. The restaurant, which is probably more than twice the size of its old location, now occupied by Pantà, is at the old location of The Grove Grill.

Restaurant Iris (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Russell Casey is executive chef of the restaurant, which is owned by Kelly English. Casey said in an earlier Memphis Flyer interview, “We’re going to do classic New Orleans cuisine. Think Galatoire’s with my footprint, hand print, whatever you want to call it, all through the menu.”

A menu item closely related to what Casey does is his pan-seared flounder with lima beans, succotash, béarnaise, and jumbo lump crabmeat.

According to marketing director for Iris Group LLC Caleb Sigler, lunch, with a menu that will expand in the coming weeks, will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week. A brunch menu will be featured on Saturdays and Sundays.

Dinner reservations are now available online, restaurantiris.com, for Friday October 7th and Saturday October 8th. Additional dinner reservations will be added in the coming weeks.

And, Sigler says, “Bar menu will be available all day starting October 10th. Bar menu will include a handful of classic Restaurant Iris favorites (ravioli, lobster knuckle sandwich, etc.)

The spacious bar and oyster bar are off the main dining room. 

Ann Parker and her team at Parker Design Studio designed the interior. The elegant-looking restaurant features a green-and-white mosaic floor at the entrance into the main dining room with its serpentine booths. Italian glass fixtures resemble colorful balloons because of the light bulbs that are run by an LED lighting system. They feature the full spectrum of colors, which are manipulated at a control panel off the main dining room.

The restaurant also has four private dining rooms that can accommodate both small or large groups.

Restaurant Iris (Credit: Michael Donahue)
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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

The Second Line Restaurant Changes Its Identity For a Week

Steve & Todd's Creole Italian popup will move into The Second Line's space for a week (Credit: Caleb Sigler)

Fino’s from the Hill will temporarily close its doors at 1853 Madison Avenue and relocate to nearby The Second Line at 2144 Monroe. Both restaurants are owned by chef Kelly English.

According to a text from marketing director for Iris Group LLC Caleb Sigler, the restaurant will be closed between September 19th and 25th. 

The Second Line will have a new name and feature a different type of cuisine during that week.

“The building they [Fino’s] are located in is having main water line renovations, so we decided to do something special for you,” Sigler says. “Introducing Steve & Todd’s Creole Italian PopUp! The Second Line will convert to a Creole Italian restaurant for the week serving lunch and dinner from Monday to Sunday with brunch on Saturday and Sunday. A full new menu will include items like stuffed eggplant (cheese stuffed with crabmeat cream sauce), sweet heat oysters, muffulettas, baked ziti, eggplant parm, sautéed red snapper topped with shrimp and crawfish and a crabmeat cream sauce, grilled shrimp or oysters over pasta Bordelaise, spaghetti and meatballs, and more.

A popup is coming to The Second Line for a week. (Credit: Caleb Sigler)

Our teams at both our restaurants have been hard at work to make this the most enjoyable and tasty event possible. You don’t want to miss this. Last time we did a popup it turned into Pantá.”

Pantá is another Kelly English restaurant, which took the place of Restaurant Iris, which will itself open where The Grove Grill once operated in Laurelwood Shopping Center.

Some items from Fino’s and Second Line will be included at Steve & Todd’s Creole Italian PopUp. “There are a few items from both restaurants, but not the full menu,” Sigler says.

The Second Line will have a new name and feature different cuisine during that week.

So, who are “Steve” and “Todd?” “The name is sort of a joke,” Sigler says. “Steve Richey is a co-owner of the company and Todd English is Kelly’s brother. Derk Meitzler is the general manager of Second Line and Pantá, and Matthew Crysup is the manager of Fino’s. This is their baby.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Going for the Gold

Russell Casey is executive chef at the new Restaurant Iris (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Russell Casey was about 5 when he developed a passion for cooking by helping his grandfather grill outdoors.

“That man would cook any type of beef you could imagine,” Casey says. “He always wanted to fatten me up.”

Casey, now executive chef of the new Restaurant Iris, bussed tables when he was 13 at The Grove Grill, which was where Restaurant Iris now is located.

He majored in English at the now-called Western Colorado University, but he decided to stay in the culinary field after working at a local restaurant. “I liked the versatility of working in a kitchen. I knew I could travel and I could always feed myself.”

Casey “developed a knack” for “what would work well together as far as any type of cuisine.” He came to work early to learn how to “butcher fish, make sauces, and braises” from the chef. Casey worked there for about four years.

“I thought I knew everything and then I got into fine dining and realized I didn’t know jack shit. It’s a whole new ball game.”

Returning to Memphis, Casey eventually got a job at The Inn at Hunt Phelan. Executive chef Stephen Hassinger was a big influence. “He was calm, but fair and stern, which is discipline. We all need that. It really motivated me to keep going. I think when you’re tired, and you don’t think you can move on, and chef is still rocking it out, and he’s got a couple of years on you, it motivates you.”

Casey learned a lot from Hassinger. “I don’t know if ‘spirituality’ is the word, but just respecting the abundance of food we have access to and not wasting it, as opposed to spoiling it or throwing it away. Always pack fish in ice the way they’d swim in the ocean. Respect the fact that if a living thing was slaughtered or died so you can eat it, you need to respect that and take care of it, and use everything you possibly can to make it sort of a way of being thankful for what we have.”

Chef Vishwesh Bhatt, who Casey worked under at Snackbar in Oxford, Mississippi, was another influence. “Here he comes from India, and he has this kick-ass, unique French fusion where he’s using spices and things I’d never known before. It reignited my passion for cooking.”

Bhatt influenced Casey to “grab a bull by the horns” and move up in his career. “Because the last thing I want to do is get stuck.” Casey didn’t want to become a “60-year-old, burned-out line cook.” He returned to Memphis and eventually got a job as executive chef at Bounty on Broad.

Hearing about the opening of the new Restaurant Iris, Casey pulled no punches when he told owner Kelly English, “Look. We can own this mutha fucka: your brand — and you market yourself so well — and I can kill it in the kitchen. I’m your guy. Let’s go get coffee.”

Restaurant Iris fare will be “classic New Orleans” with some Iris staples, including the lobster knuckle sandwich. “With the exception of three or four staples, everything is kind of ‘think Galatoire’s’ type of menu with my fingerprints all over it.

“What people keep saying sounds like me is the pan-roasted flounder with speckled lima beans and succotash. It kind of screams, ‘Russell Casey.’ I think it’s all those classic, comforting different techniques throughout the dish, and it’s cool.”

Casey sees his Restaurant Iris position as the “culmination of all the blood, sweat, and tears” he’s endured working his way up the ladder.

He remembers when he made and sold mozzarella cheese to supplement his chef’s income. He made the cheese on Friday nights after a long day’s work at the restaurant. He then had to be at the farmer’s market at 5 a.m. Becoming a chef is “definitely a younger man’s ambition, for sure. But all that, I think, gets wrapped up into teaching you how to be tough. And that the sky’s the limit. Go for the gold.”

Restaurant Iris is at 4550 Poplar Avenue in Laurelwood Shopping Center.

The upcoming Restaurant Iris in Laurelwood Shopping Center. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Sneak Peek at the New Restaurant Iris

The main dining room of Restaurant Iris (Credit: Michael Donahue)

OK. I’m just going to say it. Or write it, rather. The new Restaurant Iris is going to be the prettiest restaurant in Memphis.

It’s stunning.

Owner Kelly English, who says he doesn’t know when the restaurant will open, gave me a tour of his new eating establishment at 4550 Poplar Avenue in the Laurelwood Shopping Center. It’s where the old restaurant, The Grove Grill, was located. Restaurant Iris’s former location is where English’s restaurant, Panta, now is located.

The view when I opened the door at the new Restaurant Iris almost knocked me down. Not really. But mentally. It was a jolt. In a good way.

This is what a fabulous, elegant contemporary restaurant looks like in your dreams. A lot of color and energy.  

Restaurant Iris foyer and main dining room (Credit: Michael Donahue)

You move from the green-and-white mosaic floor at the entrance into the beautiful main dining room with Italian glass fixtures that resemble colorful balloons because of the light bulbs that are run by an LED lighting system. They feature the full spectrum of colors, including blue, purple, pink, green, and yellow. English showed me how the colors can be manipulated at a control panel off the main dining room.

Ann Parker and her team at Parker Design Studio designed the interior of Restaurant Iris. “That lighting system operates throughout the whole restaurant,” she says. “You are in control of the perfect lighting of light levels and clarity of light and color traces.”

And she says, “You will always look beautiful in the restaurant. So, be careful.”

The serpentine booths in the center give the restaurant so much movement and energy that I almost fell down again. Also in a good way.

Serpentine booths in the main dining room at Restaurant Iris (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Those who remember entering the old Justine’s restaurant will remember the chandeliers, the French-inspired antiques, and the black-and-white flooring at the entry way. Restaurant Iris achieves this same opulent sensation, but with contemporary furnishings instead of antiques. 

Both Justine’s and Restaurant Iris have that New Orleans feel. English, who everybody probably knows by know, is from New Orleans. So, the restaurant is a great reflection of the Crescent City. Come to think of it, those center booths in the main dining room are crescent shaped, actually. Was this an accident?

The whimsical and beautiful mural of a Louisiana landscape in the main dining room is by local artist Dorothy Collier. 

Dorothy Collier painted the mural in the main dining room (Credit: Michael Donahue)

But don’t get me wrong. This place feels fun. Not stiff. People are going to have a good time here. And create memories. 

“The process was to create a space that was emulating the old Iris on lots of levels,” Parker says. “And we mimicked a lot of that in some of the color tones and then taking it to the next level: an elevated level of its old location and all that will offer.”

The concept? “We were wanting to play with your senses. The food will play with your senses as much as your environment.”

When I looked to my left on entering the restaurant, I saw shelving. That’s for the restaurant’s “grab and go” grocery store, English says. It will include everything from pickles and canned goods to prepared family meals.”

When I looked to my right, I saw the spacious bar and oyster bar. In addition to ordering by the bottle, the bar will feature 29 wines, two champagnes, and two sparkling wines by the glass.

A portion of the Restaurant Iris bar (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Restaurant Iris oyster bar (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The restaurant has four private dining rooms that can accomodate both small or large groups. The mural depicting a garden party on the wall in the larger private room is spectacular.

A Restaurant Iris private dining room (Credit: Michael Donahue)
A private dining room at Restaurant Iris (Credit: Michael Donahue)
A mural of a garden party graces walls in a private dining room at the new Restaurant Iris (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The kitchen is enormous — 3,500 square feet, English says.

Restaurant Iris kitchen (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The bathrooms are gorgeous.

Restaurant Iris women’s bathroom (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Restaurant Iris men’s bathroom (Credit: Michael Donahue

And now — the food. It’s also going to be gorgeous and delicious. Executive chef Russell Casey says, “We’re going to do classic New Orleans cuisine. More upscale. Think Galatoire’s with my footprint, hand print, whatever you want to call it all through the menu.”

Restaurant Iris executive chef Russell Casey (Credit: Michael Donahue)

A menu item “closely related” to what Casey does is his “pan-seared flounder with speckled lima beans, succotash, béarnaise, and jumbo lump crabmeat.”

Casey also will feature “tons” of his sides, which will be featured à la carte. “But we’re putting that New Orleans stamp on it.”

Casey, who used to bus tables as a teenager at The Grove Grill, is amazed at the transformation of the space. He’s worked with many chefs at several restaurants, but, Stephen Hassinger, who was executive chef at the old Inn at Hunt Phelan, was his biggest inspiration. “Every person who was in that kitchen has gone on to do wonderful things. I think it starts with Stephen Hassinger. He’s been so influential in turning out some great chefs when Memphis really was kind of in its infancy stage of becoming a culinary destination. Which I think we are well on our way to if not already there instead of just a barbecue destination.”

When I asked how he felt, English said, “Great.”

“Iris will return to the true roots it set out at with added space to achieve it,” he says. “We will be a classic Creole restaurant in every sense of the term, with dishes you remember from the early years of Iris, an oyster bar, daily lunch. All of that and you get Russell Casey’s food, too.

“We really wanted to maximize the space we had — both in the dining rooms and the kitchen — to best support our team. I think we have done that. Ann Parker and team have done a phenomenal job of bringing a space that did not exist in Memphis to life that we think will be a great complement to the larger restaurant community that we already have here.”

Kelly English, owner of Restaurant Iris (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Restaurant Iris in Laurelwood Shopping Center (Credit: Michael Donahue)
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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Memphis Chefs Personalize Barbecuing: Part 1

Barbecue sushi from Poke Paradise (Photo: Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh)

If you’re a Memphis chef, chances are you’ve thought about creating some kind of barbecue. Or maybe you already have.

But what would be your “signature” barbecue? Even if the idea is still in your imagination?

Tamra Patterson, chef/owner of Chef Tam’s Underground Cafe: “If Chef Tam created her style of barbecue/meat, it would be barbecue catfish stuffed with a barbecue jambalaya. No matter what I cook, I always have to infuse my love of Cajun food and Cajun culture.”

Jonathan Magallanes, chef/owner of Las Tortugas: “My style would be twice-cooked for an extra texture. First, braised like carnitas with whole orange, bay leaf, lard, lime, and green chile. Then flash-fried in peanut oil. At Tops Bar-B-Q, I ask for extra dark meat on the sandwich. That bark and meat crust is divine. Then I would use a chipotle salsa. Pork is braised in a huge copper kettle. Chipotle, cilantro, lime, and onion for garnish. I like to do the whole rack of ribs this way, or shoulder. Crispy pork is the best pork, as it accentuates and concentrates the porcine flavor.”

Mario Grisanti, owner of Dino’s Grill: “I make my own barbecue sauce, but I make it sweet. I would make a beef brisket and smoked pork barbecue lasagna with layers of meats, mozzarella cheese, etc. Thin layers of each covered in barbecue sauce.”

Chip Dunham, chef/owner of Magnolia & May: “One of my favorite barbecue dishes I’ve created is our Tacos con Mempho. I smoke my own pork shoulder for 12 hours and serve it on two corn tortillas with American cheese melted between them, avocado salsa, and tobacco onions. At brunch, we simply just add a scrambled egg and it’s a breakfast taco. Another one of my favorites was our barbecue butternut squash sandwich. We roast butternut squash and toss it with some Memphis barbecue sauce. It’s a vegan sandwich that satisfies the biggest meat-eater.”

Kelly English, chef/owner of Restaurant Iris and The Second Line: “If I were to try to put my own fingerprints on what Memphis already does perfectly, I would play around with fermentations and chili peppers. I would also explore the traditions of barbacoa in ancient Central American and surrounding societies.”

Jimmy “Sushi Jimmi” Sinh, Poke Paradise food truck owner: “I made a roll with barbecue meats a long time ago. Made with Central BBQ ribs. I made them plenty of times when I hung out with my barbecue friends. I did it in my rookie years. Inside is all rib meat topped with rib meat, barbecue crab mix, thin-sliced jalapeño, dab of sriracha, furikake, green onion.”

Armando Gagliano, Ecco on Overton Park chef/owner: “My favorite meat to smoke is pork back ribs. I keep the dry rub pretty simple: half brown sugar to a quarter adobo and a quarter salt. I smoke my ribs at 250-275 degrees using post oak wood and offset smoker. … The ribs are smoked for three hours and spritzed with orange juice and sherry vinegar every 30 minutes. After three hours, I baste with a homemade barbecue sauce that includes a lot of chipotle peppers and honey. Wrap the ribs in foil and put back on the smoker for two hours. After that, remove from the smoker and let rest in the foil for another hour. They should pull completely off the bone, but not fall apart when handled.”

FreeSol, owner of Red Bones Turkey Legs at Carolina Watershed: “I am already doing it with the turkey legs. We are smoking these legs for hours till they fall of the bone. … We [also] flavor them and stuff them.”

Ryan Trimm, chef/owner of Sunrise Memphis and 117 Prime: “Beef spare ribs are a personal favorite of mine. A nice smoke with a black pepper-based rub followed by a fruit-based sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce is my way to go.”

And even Huey’s gets in on the act. Huey’s COO Ashley Boggs Robilio says, “Recipe created by Huey’s Midtown day crew: Huey’s world famous BBQ brisket burger. Topped with coleslaw and fried jalapeños.”

Continuing to celebrate barbecue month in Memphis, more chefs share ’que ideas in next week’s Memphis Flyer.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Popular Restaurants Mixed it up in 2021

Pantà dining room (Photo: Pantà/Caleb Sigler)

An interesting aspect of the 2021 Memphis food scene was the number of heavy hitters making changes to their restaurants.

Kelly English decided to move his popular Restaurant Iris to the space previously occupied by The Grove Grill in Laurelwood. In June, English said in a Flyer interview that the new location is a much bigger space. “The dining room in Laurelwood is bigger than the entire property Iris is on,” he said.

He opened Pantà in Iris’ location at 2146 Monroe Avenue in October. English told the Flyer he went with a Catalonian concept. It was something he wanted to do since he took a six-month trip in his early twenties to Barcelona. “I really do love this type of food and the way they live,” he said. “And what we want is to be known as a later-night establishment.”

Explaining the name, English said, “Pantà is the Catalonian word for ‘swamp,’ which is reflected in the mural around the bar. Growing up in Louisiana, swamps played a big part of my youth. Mostly my mom trying to keep me out of them.”

English plans to open the new Iris at 4550 Poplar Avenue “right around Easter. We are thrilled to see that come together.”

Chef Jason Severs and his wife Rebecca moved Bari Ristorante e Enoteca from its old location in Cooper-Young to 524 South Cooper. The new location, which opened in August, is more than 300 square feet bigger. They can still seat 40 people in the dining room, but they also can seat 40 more outside on the patio and more people at the bar in the front of the restaurant.

The new restaurant features wide, open spaces as opposed to the old restaurant, which, Jason said in a Flyer interview, was “a bunch of different, small rooms.” And Rebecca said, “You couldn’t expand there.”

The food is the same as what they served at the old location, Jason said. “Southeastern Italian. Lots of fresh vegetables. From the earth. All local when we can.”

Chefs Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, who own several restaurants, reopened their popular Hog & Hominy at 707 West Brookhaven Circle after a fire in January 2020. The restaurant was rebuilt. It opened in November.

In a Flyer interview, general manager Evan Potts said the new restaurant is about twice as large. They expanded it as far as it would go in all directions.

Hudman said he told his wife how the restaurant now has an “old Art Deco diner feel.” That rings true, from its silver metal lettered sign out front to the fluted light fixtures in the dining room and the general vibe.

They are serving Neapolitan-inspired pizzas and “fun takes on traditional Italian fare,” Potts said. And their craft cocktails, which the establishment is known for.

Finally, it’s not a restaurant per se, but people have been known to eat inside. Or maybe just pop a few cashews in their mouth. The Peanut Shoppe is closing at the end of the year at its old location at 24 South Main Street, where it has stood since — co-owner Rida AbuZaineh believes — 1951, and moving to its new location at 121 South Main.

AbuZaineh told the Flyer they weren’t informed until a few months before that the building where his shop is now located was going to be sold. It will be turned into apartments and condos, he said.

The new location is similar to the current location. “The new one is rectangular shape. This one is rectangular shape but so narrow. The width is the difference … three times the width of this narrow store.”

AbuZaineh said he will be open “through Christmas Eve. It’s an excellent day if it falls on the weekend like it does this year. We are always the last people to leave the area.”

Which means Santa will have plenty of time to stock up on nuts and candy to fill all those stockings.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

It’s Time to Get Excited for Pantà, Opening Saturday

Bocadillo de Plato a les Landes: harissa roasted duck on baguette with chermoula slaw (Credit: Pantà)

It’s fair to say that excitement for Pantà has been buzzing in Memphis for a while now. Chef Kelly English announced earlier this year that he’d be flipping Overton Square’s longstanding Restaurant Iris space into a new Catalonian concept, something he’s dreamed of for decades since a six-month trip to Barcelona in his early twenties.

Pantà finally opens to the public tomorrow at 2146 Monroe, and the building’s complete decorative and culinary transformation is sure to make a splash with hungry Memphians. Despite a hectic week getting ready for opening night, several key members of the Pantà team – English, manager and bartender Aaron Ivory, and designer David Quarles IV – made time to speak to the Memphis Flyer about their excitement for the restaurant.

Flyer: Pantà is a departure from your other restaurants. How did you come to settle on this style of cuisine?

Kelly English: When I lived in Barcelona, that was really when I fell in love with both food and wine, so this is something I’ve had in my head for a while. And during the pandemic, one of our pivots was a three-month pop up of Catalan food that we did here at Iris, and it really helped put food on the table for our staff. And we realized that operating a 12-table fine dining restaurant that needed valet parking wasn’t going to be sustainable.

So we made the deal to move Iris to the former Grove Grill space at Laurelwood, and it then just seemed so natural to turn this into Pantà. We’d seen the concept work and how much fun it was for us, and how much joy it brought to others. I really do live this type of food and the way they live. And what we want is to be known as a later night establishment. We’ll be open Thursday to Saturday from six to midnight, and then on Sundays, we’ll do a siesta service from two to six, for people who might not be up in time for brunch, or for those who work brunch and might want to do something when they get off.

What are some of the specialty dishes that diners can look forward to when they come to Pantà?

English: We’re not going to do anything that isn’t super specifically Catalan, with the caveat that we reserve the right to ‘Memphis’ anything that we need. A great example is patatas bravas. It’s a very traditional dish. They’re fried potatoes with a couple of different aiolis on it. Then there’s also a different version of that called a Bomba Barceloneta, which is the same idea, except they stuff braised meat in the mashed potatoes and they fry it. What we’re going to do is put Payne’s barbecue inside of these mashed potatoes.

So we’re really looking to put a lot of Memphis’ fingerprints on it. But our menu will be fresh, it will be vibrant; we’re going to have a lot of seafood, there will be a lot of vegetable-driven plates. We’ve only got a couple dishes on the menu that use red meat. And all our dishes are going to be small, and are meant to be shared among people while you order multiple things.

Peix Crua: fish, citrus, burnt butter, tarragon, jalapeños, and hazelnuts. (Credit: Pantà)

What was your approach when you started thinking about changing the interior?

English: Well, we wanted a space that simply didn’t exist yet. And that’s where David Quarles comes in. When we first met with him, we talked about what I thought about Barcelona, and we looked at Parc Güell, which is a big inspiration for how the space came together. When I look around now, we’ve got a really unique space here.

David Quarles IV: Kelly told me that they wanted a place where everyone felt welcome. It needed to be a place that kind of transported you out of Memphis a little bit. So I used the colors of Spain, and Barcelona, a lot to inspire the design. We landed on Antoni Gaudí. So I looked up a lot of his work, and we ended up landing on the Casa Vicens. And so I looked up the color inspiration there, the lines that are in his architecture, just everything, and used that as the base. That was one of his first projects, and since this is one of our first large-scale restaurant projects, it felt like it was lining up as it should.

The first design we came up with was the dining room. The colors in the wallpaper there are echoed in every single element outside of that space. I just wanted to really provide a visual experience for anyone who came in. The whole design style is based off a colorful memphis interpretation of art nouveau. You’re not overwhelmed, but you now have a problem choosing where you want to sit first.

Whenever I do spaces, I want the rooms to immerse with each other rather than yell at each other. I feel that now a lot of the spaces are speaking together, and having a good colorful conversation.

Aaron Ivory: It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It’s vibrant, but still has a good nightlife vibe to it, where we can control the lights and change the mood. I cannot wait for people to walk in and see what David has done.

Pantà will have an extensive beverage list, featuring signature cocktails, Spanish wine, and gin & tonics. (Credit: Pantà)

In terms of drinks and cocktails, what can diners expect from Pantà?

Ivory: Me, my bartending partner Morgan McKinney [owner of Best Shot Co.], and our beverage director Laurin Culp have been working a lot on coming up with a great bar program. Morgan has come up with some really great cocktail ideas, and one of my favorites is the Naked Dragon, which mixes reposado tequila, some aperol, chili-infused yellow chartreuse, and lime juice. The dragon is kind of our mascot here.

Quarles: We came up with the idea of having our private dining are be the Dragon Room, since that’s the logo. It has a dragon mural painted by Frances [Berry] on the ceiling.

English: Laurin has put together a great list of curated Spanish wines, and we’ll have a whole section of the menu for gin & tonics.

Ivory: And I think the vibe we’ll have is something that will really complement Memphis. It’s a place that will be both low-key, yet high energy. You can come in, split a few tapas with your girlfriend or boyfriend or whomever, and drink some nice wine and just take it easy. You know, take the whole load off your shoulders here.

And it really lends itself to being a place you can go at any part of your night: pop in for a drink before or after dinner, or even stop by or a couple of cocktail before or after, say, going to the theater. We really want it to be an inclusive space for all of Memphis. And there’s been so much love and so much support going into this restaurant, so I can’t help but to be happy and ready and interested to see what types of people we bring in.

Pantà opens to the public tomorrow, October 30th. The restaurant is open from 6 p.m. to midnight Thursday-Saturday, and open from 2-6 p.m. for Sunday siesta service.