Tag: Schweinehaus

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Schweinehaus to Become Stanley Bar-B-Que

With tax season is over, Andy Walker tells us, they’ve begun the process with liquor licenses, permits etc., with the government to officially change the name of Schweinehaus to Stanley Bar-B-Que.

Stanley is Andy and David’s father. He passed away around Christmas.

“We wanted to honor him,” Walker says.

Schweinehaus opened in 2014 as a German beer hall with a Southern take on German food. They changed focus to strictly barbecue (with some of the favorite German dishes remaining) in 2016.

They have a temporary sign ready to go to place over the “Schweinehaus.” They hope to be done with the process in the next week or so.

Walker says of his father, “He’s the only reason we own a restaurant.

“He loved barbecue. We love it too.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Late Night Noshing in Memphis

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Would you order a bowl of ramen noodles from an Italian joint or pick up a fried-rice grilled cheese from a place that specializes in German cuisine? If it’s past any respectable person’s dinnertime and you aren’t going to scarf down a bean burrito in a parking lot in the passenger side of your buddy’s Toyota Corolla, you most certainly would. Lucky for you, the creative chefs at two popular restaurants ditch the constraints of their restaurant concepts and switch up their menus for dinner procrastinators and late-nighters.

David Todd, executive chef at Schweinehaus in Overton Square treats his fourth-mealers to something off-kilter and off-menu. “I think late-night eaters get the short end of the stick sometimes,” he said, “so it’s kind of cool to offer specials and cool new dishes to those who have most likely been serving others in some capacity all day.”

Justin Fox Burks

David Todd

Todd admits that he’s really cooking these imaginative dishes for himself as a creative outlet but loves to share his wild creations with a wider audience. “It’s a nice little window of time every day of no-pressure idea exploration,” he said.

Justin Fox Burks

Schweinehaus’ Brat-chos

So what can you expect if you show up hungry to Schweinehaus between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m? You’re presented with a menu that’s printed up nightly with eight late-night staples, and at the top is a “Late-Night Chef’s Creation” section that has two to three unique choices, including such dishes as Brat-chos (yes, bratwurst nachos), the aforementioned fried-rice grilled cheese, Pancake Breakfast Sandwich, NY Reuben Fries, or the Third Grader, a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The choices range in price from $7 to $13.

Justin Fox Burks

Schweinehaus’ smoked jerk pork sandwich

I stopped in after 10 p.m. last Saturday and found a full patio and the front room packed with a party of 20-plus millennials having a big time. The menu that night was geared toward the Elvis Week crowd, with an ice-cream sandwich aptly called “The Elvis” and “Fools Loaf,” which is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with bacon on buttery brioche bread.

Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman‘s Hog & Hominy on Brookhaven Circle draws late-night eaters in with the smell of oak burning in a traditional wood-fired pizza oven, but the star of the after-hours menu, available from 10 p.m. to midnight, or later if the restaurant is full, isn’t the pizza. It’s two dishes that are pretty far removed from the place’s Italian roots.

The chef duo fell in love with ramen noodles while traveling the country cooking at places like the James Beard House. “The first guest-chef dinner we did at Hog & Hominy was with Chef Tien Ho [of Ma Peche fame],” Hudman told me. “He taught us the proper way of making ramen broth, so we put it on the late-night menu as a way of paying homage to him.”

The chefs are also frying up the much lauded John T. Edge Burger, a deceptively simple-sounding sandwich with onion, yellow mustard, pickled lettuce, and American cheese on a white bun. “The ramen and burger are staples that are always on, but we also do specials like our Frito Pie from time to time,” Nick Talarico, general manager, said.

Hog & Hominy is less than a mile from my house, so I dropped in around 11 p.m. on a weekend night to find an unusually quiet scene. The regulars were all at Live at the Garden’s ZZ Top concert nearby, no doubt singing along to “Sharp Dressed Man” and spinning their fuzzy air guitars. So Talarico joined me at the bar to paint a picture of the typical scene. “We’ll have people in tuxedos and evening gowns eating hot dogs, right alongside servers and cooks from other establishments slurping down ramen noodles,” he said.

A look at the full dinner menu, which is also available until closing, made no mention of the John T. Edge Burger or the ramen noodles. “We make sure to tell every table … although those in the know come here just for the ramen,” Talarico said.

This is one of those rare times when procrastination is rewarded. So go out late and enjoy the creative food being served to other night owls. You could nap through your regular dinnertime or, heck, just go ahead and have another dinner. Or you could call it a really early breakfast.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Schweinehaus’ Kartoffelpuffer

It’s easy to fall into the habit of going out to eat at the same places over and over again. Then it hits you, the desire to branch out and find something different. Well, at Schweinehaus in Overton Square you can go to Germany without having to even leave Memphis. This German/Memphis restaurant brings the traditional German cuisine and atmosphere to us!

The one thing on the menu you have to try is the Kartoffelpuffer. For just $7, you can have an amazing German-style potato pancake filled with bacon, onions and kraut. It’s served with apple butter and quark on the side to put onto the Kartoffelpuffer. The dish has four medium-sized potato pancakes and is enough to split between two people.

The Kartoffelpuffer itself is fried and crunchy. You can taste the flavor of the potatoes and everything is nicely seasoned. The onions and kraut blend together well and go down smoothly while the bacon adds a small but pleasant change of texture.

As for your sides to spread onto your Kartoffelpuffer, the apple butter is amazing! It’s pretty much a sweeter version of applesauce. The quark tastes like a mixture of cream cheese and sour cream. I couldn’t get enough and devoured both of them! For the brave individual, try putting Schweinehaus’ homemade peach habanero sauce on top of your Kartoffelpuffer! I tried and couldn’t handle it! 

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

The things we ate in 2014.

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Last winter, Holly Whitfield of the I Love Memphis Blog announced that Memphis is in the midst of a spectacular “Foodnado.” How apt! My cursory count of restaurants, breweries, and sundry food-related places that opened in 2014 adds up to 40, and not all of them in Overton Square.

But, then again, a lot of them are in Overton Square. Babalu Tacos & Tapas opened in June, offering tableside-prepared guacamole and lots of sharing plates. The place has been packed since. In August came Jimmy Ishii’s Robata Ramen & Yakitori Bar with a fine menu of ramen noodle bowls and skewers. Lafayette’s Music Room, an homage to the original much-loved, circa-’70s Overton Square bar named for the recently passed away ace bartender Lafayette Draper, opened in September and features wood-fired pizzas and a music schedule set at palatable hours. Schweinehaus, a cheeky Memphis take on German food, also opened in September. There’s beer, brats, and the occasional lederhosen sighting — what’s not to like? If you need olive oil, there’s the Square Olive, and there’s more music and fun at the Chicago-based Zebra Lounge.

Justin Fox Burks

Robata Ramen & Yakitori Bar

The most recent addition to Overton Square is Belly Acres, a farm-to-table burger restaurant, the latest of three burger-centric places to open in Memphis. This trend has our full endorsement. Belly Acres has a fantasyland interior and a menu that demands to be gone through one burger at a time. Down the street, there’s LBOE (Last Burger on Earth). Its menu raises the bar with such burgers as the super spicy Lava Me or Lava Me Not and the garlic-laden Love Stinks. Oshi Burger Bar downtown has something for everyone — beef burgers, tuna burgers, vegetarian burgers, gluten-free buns. They also have great milkshakes.

Justin Fox Burks

Oshi Burger Bar on South Main

Plenty of glasses have been raised at the taprooms opened in 2014 at High Cotton Brewing Co. and Memphis Made Brewing Co., and Memphis promises to get buzzier still in the new year with Pyramid Vodka. Wine in grocery stores finally passed, and while that doesn’t happen until 2016, local liquor stores are making the best of it with growler stations and more.

In grocery-store news: Whole Foods opened its expanded store in East Memphis, which includes a site-specific barbecue restaurant and a growler station. There’s the new Fresh Market in Midtown, and Kroger continues to show its commitment to Memphis in updating its stores, most recently the one at Cleveland and Poplar. Plus, there’s been some buzz about a Trader Joe’s opening sometime somewhere. We shall see.

In coffee news: Everybody freaked out when Muddy’s Bake Shop announced a new Midtown store in August 2013. Muddy’s Grind House opened this fall and offers a little of everything, from coffee to breakfast eats and yoga. The Avenue, near the University of Memphis, has great coffee and treats with Christian fellowship. There’s also Cafe Keough downtown in a gorgeous setting with a great cafe Americano. Tart offers quiches and more — a great go-to place when expectations are high. Ugly Mug took over the Poplar Perk’n space, and Jimmy Lewis, who founded Squash Blossom, returned to the scene with Relevant Roasters, selling wholesale, environmentally sound, and worker-friendly coffee with the motto “Every Cup Matters.”

After a few false starts, the Riverfront Development Corporation came through with Riverfront Grill. It serves a sophisticated but not too syrupy Southern menu and also has some of the best views in Memphis. Also new this year to downtown are the Kwik Chek spinoff Nacho’s, Marie’s Eatery in the old Rizzo’s Diner spot, and Cafe Pontotoc. Rizzo’s moved into the old Cafe Soul site, and there’s the Love Pop Soda Shop, a nifty craft soda shop.

In East Memphis, Skewer, serving Yakitori and ramen, opened in January. 4 Dumplings opened around the same time, and, as its name suggests, the menu is built around four dumplings. The vegan dumpling with tofu is not to be missed.

Since at least four people mentioned to me that Jackson Kramer’s Bounty on Broad is “secretly” gluten-free, I’m guessing it’s not really a secret. The dishes at this lovely farm-to-table spot are thoughtfully done and a delight to look at. The menu changes frequently, but at a recent dinner, there were mussels in fragrant coconut milk, charred broccolini, and creamed kale served over polenta. Also gluten-free is the Hawaiian import Maui Brick Oven, serving brick-oven pizzas and grain bowls.

Justin Fox Burks

Bounty on Broad’s Jackson Kramer

At Ecco on Overton Park, Sabine Bachmann’s cozy neighborhood restaurant, there are heaping dishes of pork chops, delicate pasta dishes, and artful cheese plates — something for every appetite. Strano Sicilian Kitchen & Bar serves a great roasted carrot soup and Italian classics from meatballs to pizza.

At press time, Porcellino’s, Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman’s latest venture, was due to open “any minute now.” File this one under “This Should Be Interesting.” This is a butcher shop/sundry/coffee spot/wine bar offering grab-and-go sandwiches, fresh pastas, cured meats, house-made pastries, and more.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Visit to Schweinehaus, Oktoberfest Sunday

CREDIT: Hannah Bailey, Memphis Stew

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Last week, we went to check out Schweinehaus for lunch. It looks great — the old Paulette’s has been cleared out for an open, airy space with white walls and brown accents. Most of the tables are long with bench seating for family-style meal. The design very nearly insists on big gatherings among family and friends.

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We started with the baked pretzel ($8), because, of course, we did. It was good enough. What stood out most was the beer cheese. We liked it so much we upsized it with an order of beer cheese soup ($4).

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We also got the fried brussels appetizer ($7), which involves bacon and a citrus vinaigrette. This dish won over a brussels sprouts hater.

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I ordered the Veggie Grillt Kase ($10), a veggie sandwich with tomato, caramelized onion, muenster cheese, and apple jezebel (a slaw with apples and horseradish). I’ve had plenty of veggie sandwiches but not one like this before. There are a lot of different things going on — salty, sweet, sour.

One of our party got the pulled pork reuben ($11), described on the menu as “kraut Salat, Whole Grain BBQ, Marble Rye.” He liked, but I think he was expecting something a little more reuben-y, less pulled pork sandwich.

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Another order the bauerwurst, which was on special that day.

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You should check it out yourself. Sunday would be particularly fun day to do so. That’s Oktoberfest at Schweinehaus, starting at 11 a.m.

The day includes a yodeling contest, a Masskurgstemmen stein-holding contest, and more.