SideStreet Burgers – Memphis Flyer

It’s like Jonathan Mah had to become a restaurant owner.

Mah, 42, owner of SideStreet Burgers in Olive Branch, Mississippi, spent most of his life in restaurants.

“My dad started a restaurant probably when I was 10 or 11,” Mah says. “His first restaurant was Cafe Arcadia in the Collierville town square. It had steaks, and they had a buffet where they did some Southern food.”

His parents at one time ran two restaurants simultaneously. “My mom had her Cafe Magnolia in Olive Branch. My dad did his in Horn Lake, Evan’s Cafe. Both on Goodman Road.

“I had to work all the time after school in the restaurants. Cooking, cleaning — you name it, I had to do it. It wasn’t always that fun to me at the time, but that was my background. We liked to eat, and my parents had restaurants. So, when I went to college, it was the only thing that felt comfortable.”

Mah majored in hotel-restaurant management at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

His parents cooked at home, says Mah, who was born in Greenville, Mississippi. “My mom did quite a bit and my dad usually grilled out. Being a Chinese family, my grandmother lived with us for many years. So, she was stir-frying and cooking a lot, as well.

“We didn’t have the typical breakfast you grow up eating, cereal and things like that. We had dumplings for breakfast. And we put a little bit of soy sauce and sesame oil in our hot oatmeal.”

But his parents didn’t serve Chinese food at their restaurants. “For some reason they just didn’t cook it. They cooked Southern food.” His mother served “peach cobbler and her amazing brisket. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Fresh fried okra. And my dad did something similar on his side of town, but just in his own style.”

Mah went for hamburgers instead of Asian when he opened SideStreet Burgers May 12, 2012.

His dad gave him the building. “I was confined by a small budget and the small building. I said, ‘Well, you know what? Let’s just keep it simple. Start with burgers and potatoes.’ A good Angus burger we hand-patted and red potatoes.”

Mah added other items, including the Fat Panda — “Korean marinated beef tenderloin” — the Mother Clucker chicken sandwich, Jake’s Chicken Nachos, Blackened Mahi Fish Tacos, and the Whatchu Talkin’ Bout patty melt.”

They offer other hamburgers, but The Street Burger is their signature. “We take cheddar cheese and slice it daily. So, it’s right off a cheddar loaf, probably a quarter-inch thick of cheese, and [add] a little garlic mayo.”

Five years ago, Mah and Derric Curran, owner of Mississippi Ale House, which is next door, teamed up. “That’s a craft ale house. They brew their own beers and get other beers from Mississippi.”

SideStreet Burgers doesn’t offer in-house dining. “Customers pick up their food and they go over to the Ale House and drink beer and listen to live music.”

Mah also added his OB Pizza Co. inside Mississippi Ale House. “Hand-tossed pizzas cooked on pizza stone. Fun pizzas like our White Castle Pizza, Fat Panda Philly, and Taco Pizza.”

Also at that restaurant, he says, “We have amazing whole wings marinated in hot chili oil and tossed in wing sauce. We call them Kung Fu Wings.”

Mah finally broke the chain and added hints of Chinese cuisine at SideStreet Burgers. “I always try to infuse a little Asian into my meat.”

He prepares Chinese food on occasion as “ghost pop-ups,” which people can order on his Facebook page.

But Asian food isn’t what his customers want at SideStreet Burgers. Or other items Mah tried, including a “wedge salad with some really good blue cheese” and a “curried chicken wrap.”

“If they sell, we keep it on as long as we can go. If it doesn’t, we move on to something else and bring our customers another taste of something else we’ve created.”

SideStreet Burgers is at 9199 MS-178 in Olive Branch; (901) 596-4749.

Since May is the month of the big “B” in Memphis, more area chefs share their thoughts on barbecuing. After all, this is Memphis. Barbecuing is sort of second nature. Right?

Miles Tamboli, owner of Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza: “I made a barbecue pasta sauce that I’m really proud of to this day. I broke down barbecue sauce to its basic flavors and recreated it from scratch using Italian ingredients. Tomato base, caramelized onions, garlic confit, red wine, balsamic vinegar, smoked paprika, anchovy, and some more stuff. Tasted just like barbecue sauce. We tossed bucatini in it and topped it with seared sous vide pork belly from Home Place Pastures and nasturtium micros. It was excellent.”

Karen Carrier, chef/owner of restaurants, including The Beauty Shop: “Applewood smoked barbecued char siu salmon with crystallized ginger, candied lemon zest, and an avocado, watermelon, radish, and orange supreme relish.”

Joseph Michael Garibaldi Jr., Garibaldi’s Pizza owner: “We use a combination of fine- and medium-chopped hickory smoked pork shoulder and combine it with just the right amount of our sweet and sour sauce for it to caramelize the brown sugar on top and keep the pork moist and tender. … Our fresh, hand-tossed crust, signature fresh-packed tomato pizza sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese provide a perfect base for the perfect barbecue pizza.”

Andy Knight, chef at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: “Opening Loflin Yard and Carolina Watershed — both on Carolina Avenue — I attempted Carolina barbecue with a Memphis twist. I would cook the butts Carolina style — vinegar-based — then lather them up later with a rich Memphis-style sauce. Both locations were successful, but could never beat Memphis-style. From vinegar-based pork butts to 12-hour smoked beef brisket, nothing beats the dry rub and a rich barbecue sauce of Memphis-style barbecue.”

Betty Joyce “B.J.” Chester-Tamayo, chef-owner of Alcenia’s: “Barbecued chicken. I bake it first if I’m doing it at the restaurant. Sometimes I marinate it overnight with my Italian dressing.”

She also uses her eight seasonings, including Italian dressing, fresh rosemary, and even some of her homemade apple butter. She adds her barbecue sauce when serving. “I take barbecue sauce from the store and add my own ingredients: lemon juice, ketchup, Lipton onion soup mix, and other seasonings.”

Jonathan Mah, chef/owner SideStreet Burgers in Olive Branch, Mississippi: “My signature is the Korean barbecue — Le Fat Panda. My favorite cut is the pork steak marinated in Korean flavors and grilled. It’s a soy-based marinade with honey and mirin, green onions, and sugar, as well as sesame oil. Red pepper flakes for a little spice. Chargrilling is my favorite so that you burn that sugar a little bit on the grill. That’s the best part, to me.”

Jeffrey Zepatos, owner of The Arcade Restaurant: “We used to do barbecue at the Arcade. And we had a barbecued grilled cheese sandwich. So, I’d stick to something along those lines. Smoked pulled pork barbecue on Texas toast with a smoked cheddar cheese to top it off. Now we obviously don’t have smokers at the Arcade, so I was buying a great pork shoulder from a local vendor that we could heat up on our griddle. I think that was fun because it added flavor from our griddle to the barbecue, which gave it a unique taste from all the bacon and sausage we cook on it.”

Mario Gagliano, Libro chef/owner: “I’m from Memphis and I only know pork ribs with that classic vinegary Memphis sauce. All I’d do is take some baby backs and massage them with a nice dry rub, lightly sear it on low heat so as not to burn the sugars in the rub. Flip them and render some of that flavor off the bone. Then halfway submerge the ribs in boiling pork stock. Cover in foil and cook in the oven for a couple hours on 400 degrees. Remove them, brush some Memphis barbecue sauce and broil for a few minutes. Essentially, braising the pork, but it falls off the bone, super tender and moist. And you can find it cooked just like this at Libro at Laurelwood all through the month of May, baby.”