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Feels Like Summer

Slider Inn’s Jameson Slushie (Photo: Justin Fox Burks | Memphis Tourism)

June is upon us, and with it comes the start of the fearsome Memphis summers: sweltering heat waves, thick walls of humidity, and plenty of time designated to sitting around a pool.

While true summer won’t begin for another couple of weeks, it sure feels like summer already, and an arbitrary start won’t stop anyone from seeking out early ways to beat the heat. Here at the Memphis Flyer, we asked our team for some advice on how they cool off, and our writers delivered.

Whether it’s sweet treats, canoe trips, or a jaunt to the drive-in, there’s plenty of summer fun to be had. Just don’t forget the sunblock.

Darious Sumlin at Coney Island (Photo: Michael Donahue)

Coney Island

I have this idyllic summer scenario in my head of swimming for hours on a hot day and then going to a local drive-in for a hamburger and milkshake. That scenario dates to the 1950s and ’60s for me. But I relived it the other day (except for the swimming part) when I pulled into Coney Island at 2351 Elvis Presley Boulevard.

I’ve passed this place for years and years, but I never stopped. Driving over, I suddenly realized maybe the name “Coney” was a play on ice cream “cone.”

The friendly, efficient Darious Sumlin, 19, who’s worked at Coney Island for five or six years, took my order at the window. I ordered a hamburger (double patty) and a vanilla milkshake. I asked Sumlin what Coney Island item he thinks is the most popular. He immediately said, “Everybody comes for the Chicago-style Polish sausage.”

It comes with mustard, relish, jalapeños, and grilled onions. It’s Sumlin’s favorite, too. “I just make mine different.” He gets his with just mayonnaise, peppers, and cheese. “A lot of people make it their own way. Some people get just plain meat and bread. I don’t like to eat it like that.” So, I also ordered the Polish sausage sandwich with the works.

That hamburger was great. Just like they tasted in my scenario. And that Chicago-style Polish sausage was the bomb. It was so good.

And, yes, you can get a “vanilla cone” at Coney Island.

Coney Island is open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Sunday. — Michael Donahue

Enjoy Memphis’ Signature Cocktail

If Memphis has a civic cocktail, it’s the Jameson slushie.

Thanks to Old Dominick Distillery, the city can lay claim to a host of Memphis versions of famous drinks, like the Memphis Mule. And, yes, Wet Willie’s has been serving frozen drinks on Beale for years, but it’s a chain. Now Willie’s is even competing with another frozen drink chain — Fat Tuesday — for dominance.

But Slider Inn’s signature slushie seems to have been born, raised, and celebrated here. The cocktail’s birthday is unclear. The Memphis Flyer and The Commercial Appeal first mention the drink in 2015. But so many years on, one thing is clear: The Jameson slushie is a bona fide Memphis institution.

“The drink consists of Barritt’s Ginger Beer, house-made lemonade, delicious Jameson Irish Whiskey, and bitters,” according to a Flyer story from 2015.

First off, though — it’s coooold. Mixed in a frozen drink machine, its tiny pebbled ice grains drink like a milkshake. Yes, this is likely how the slushie first beckons hot and sweaty Memphians to Slider’s patios.

But they stay for the flavor. The lemon citrus is bright, sweet, bitter, and subtly spiced underneath with the ginger beer. While it’s clear the slushie is alcoholic (I mean, the name, right?), it’s not boozy. The Irish whiskey is present but not overpowering.

So sit a spell on a Slider patio with friends and a slushie. Jameson shows up and works some Memphis magic on the weather and your troubles. But watch yourself. One (or maybe two) is all the fuel you’ll need to get a start on a fun evening. — Toby Sells

Summer Drive-In (Photo: Abigail Morici)

The Drive-In: Branded Cool

Ever since my eyeballs took in the glorious scenes of Grease while parked in front of a hotel TV at 6 years old, I longed for the day I could be as cool as the 30-something-year-olds playing teenagers going to the drive-in movie. The drive-in, I imagined, would be the pinnacle of my high school experience. It wasn’t. I wouldn’t go to a drive-in until a week after my 24th birthday, just a year older than John Travolta was when he crooned about being stranded in the drive-in, being branded a fool, worrying what his classmates would say Monday at school.

At the Malco Summer Drive-In, though, there was no swing set for John Travolta to sulk on, no gossiping in the girls’ bathroom, no Pink Ladies, and no T-Birds. But there was a movie playing on the big screen and air conditioning in the car — and that was enough to make me feel pretty cool. Plus, you can bring your own snacks, and you don’t have to sit next to a stranger who chews too loudly, like in a regular (read: not cool) movie theater. Not to mention that tickets are only $25 per carload. What’s not to love?

The drive-in has movies playing pretty much every night this summer — from Evil Dead Rise to The Little Mermaid. And, of course, there’s the Time Warp Drive-In every month, where you can catch back-to-back screenings of some of your favorite films. (Time Warp’s screening on June 24th is themed “It’s War! Human vs. Aliens,” featuring Edge of Tomorrow, Starship Troopers, and The Blob [1988].) So, if you consider yourself cool, head on over to malco.com for movie times. — Abigail Morici

Wolf River Beach (Photo: Alex Greene)

The Beach Within Reach

“For some Memphis summer fun, nothing beats hitting the beach!” said no one ever? Don’t forget that hidden gem, Wolf River Beach. Truth be told, some call it a sand bar, but my bare feet did not care one whit as they stepped into the sublime cool of the Wolf River’s waters. And, looking 50 yards in either direction at the other parties dotting the white sands, I thought, “This is a beach!”

It turns out that this shady getaway is hidden in plain sight, just off Germantown Parkway, South Walnut Bend Road, where signs lead you to Shelby Farms’ Gate 19, with a well-maintained road to the Germantown Trailhead of the Lucius E. Burch Jr. State Natural Area. Note that the beach itself can be elusive — and sometimes disappears completely.

Don’t be alarmed: It’s only the river submerging the sandy strip after heavy rains. Luckily, wolfriverbeach.com provides a link to the current USGS water level readings for the site, which you can check before making the trip.

Once you park you’re only a few yards from the waterside, if you bear left from the trail head. Bearing right will lead you into a few miles of wild forest — a hiker’s and birder’s paradise — before looping back to the beach. There, I said it: THE BEACH.— Alex Greene

Suga Mama Snoballs (Photo: Kailynn Johnson)

Have a Snoball

Some of my favorite summer memories took place in the Mississippi Delta when I was growing up. My grandma would always treat me to a strawberry-daiquiri-flavored snow cone and nachos from a local food truck in our town. As I grew older, this combination became a delicacy. While there were local snow cone joints that were the envy of everyone’s Instagram stories, everything felt commercialized, and I couldn’t find that balance and innocence associated with my childhood combo.

I remember scrolling on Instagram one day and spying a snow cone with a giant piece of cheesecake in the center of it. I had heard of sweet cream, and even ice cream paired with snow cones, but this was a first. Intrigued, I clicked on the profile for Suga Mama Snoballs, and I was instantly transported back to my childhood. Not only does the shop have your basic “snoball” flavors (I tried the birthday cake with sweet cream), but the more adventurous patrons may be privy to the “Ain’t It Mane,” which comes with a piece of strawberry shortcake in the middle, or a Suga Mama Specialty.

What makes Suga Mama so special to me is that the shop also carries foods that are true fan favorites in my household but not necessarily sold in restaurants, such as Rotel tacos and Kool-Aid pickles. The shop has two locations, with one at 1717 East Holmes Road and the other at 7041 East Shelby Drive, Suite 117. — Kailynn Johnson

Writers love a good Mississippi River canoe trip. (Photo: Chris McCoy)

Canoe the Mississippi

When I thought about it, I couldn’t believe I’ve been in Memphis this long and never gone canoeing on the Mississippi. I’d been out on the river in riverboats with fake paddle wheels, but there were cocktails involved. But I had never been as close to Big Muddy as I was a few weeks ago, when I set out on a Saturday paddle with Matthew Burdine of Mississippi River Expeditions and a few colleagues from Contemporary Media, Inc.

The canoe, Burdine told us, is a modern version of the vessels Native Americans had perfected thousands of years before Columbus arrived. It would seat 20 comfortably and included a mount for a sail — although we were about to find out that on this day, the sail would have worked against us.

Burdine radiated calm as he went over the safety procedures. Then the boat full of greenhorns launched into the muddy waters. Seen from the point of view of the first people to ever navigate it, the Mississippi seems vast and unforgiving. It had stormed the night before, and at one point we saw an entire tree rushing southward on the river. Paddling did not seem super strenuous, until I imagined doing it for days on end.

Our goal was to cross the river to Robinson Crusoe Island, a game preserve directly across from the mouth of the Wolf River, where we had put in. But as we paddled into the main channel, a strong west wind whipped up, and it was obvious this boat full of novices lacked the muscle power to buck it. Instead, we paddled around the harbor, taking in the angle at which Downtown looks most fetching. After this taste of aquatic wilderness, I will definitely go back for a full day trip when the wind is a little calmer. — Chris McCoy

Abe Goodman Clubhouse (Photo: Bruce VanWyngarden)

Kick Back at Overton Park’s Abe Goodman Clubhouse

“We could just go play Overton.”

Those words were often uttered by Memphis golfers over the past 40 years or so — “Overton,” meaning the once-scruffy little nine-hole course that wound through the Old Forest in Overton Park. For decades, it was a course of last resort, the track you went to when you couldn’t get a tee time anywhere else. Overton Park was short and funky, with tiny greens and erratic maintenance that made each round an adventure.

That’s decidedly no longer the case. In 2021, the course underwent a $4 million makeover, the result of a private/public partnership that produced a delightfully revamped course that opened last June.

It was a long time coming. The original course in Overton Park opened in 1906 and was reputedly the first public course opened in the South. Twenty years later, in 1926, Memphis businessman and philanthropist Abe Goodman donated $25,000 for the construction of a clubhouse. In those days, $25,000 went a long way. As Memphis magazine’s Vance Lauderdale put it in a 2018 article about Goodman: “The Tudor-style building featured a vaulted-ceiling dance hall, massive brick fireplace, snack bar, golf shop, and kitchen facilities on the ground floor. Downstairs, players could find showers and changing rooms. Upstairs was a cozy apartment for the resident golf pro.”

I suspect there is no longer an apartment for a resident golf pro upstairs, but the newly remodeled Abe Goodman Clubhouse is now reopened — with its 100-year-old bones nicely intact. It’s a worthy companion to the reinvented links.

And I should mention that the shady patio is an inviting spot to enjoy a cool beverage on a summer afternoon, even if you’ve never played a round. — Bruce VanWyngarden

Ghost River patio (Photo: Samuel X. Cicci)

Brain Out on a Patio

Most summers, I find myself craving a beer when the heat starts to creep in. And most times, I’ll seek out a patio to drink said beer upon. My balcony works, sure, but sometimes I need to just get outside the confines of my home space and find a new spot.

But while I’ve done plenty of drinkin’ and patio relaxin’ in my time, I have a constant need to be entertained. So with that in mind, our crew set out to find patios that could provide fun activities.

Like the nerds we are, we eventually settled on the weekly “Geeks Who Drink” trivia at Ghost River Brewing Co. that lets us chill outside (the end of South Main is quite nice and calm at dusk) and work those brains as we guzzle a Grindhouse or Riverbank Red. Trusty Mike behind the bar gives us the proverbial hat tip now that we’ve established ourselves as regulars, and then the games can begin.

There’s plenty of brainteasing trivia fun to be had around town, but the chill vibe at Ghost River gives trivia some room to breathe, with this iteration providing some truly bizarre categories. Take, for instance, a music round that requires you to identify different songs, usually with a twist. My favorite is one that replaces all vocals with the sounds of chickens clucking, or another that features iconic Darth Vader lines dropped into the middle of a song. It’s a whole lot of shenanigans, a whole lot of beer, and a whole lot of patio. An excellent summer combo. — Samuel X. Cicci

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Bring Your Favorite Bar Home During Quarantine

CREDIT: Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Wooooo boy, ain’t we in the throes of it now? Feels like it was just last week when my assignment was simply to go to a bar and let y’all know that service is good and drinks are delicious. Well, shit’s changed, and frankly, it’s our duty to change with it. So let’s go to a bar, virtual-style.

I’ve not been able to go to an actual bar (because quarantine is the responsible thing to do, son!), so I’ve explored many options, including delivery, curbside service, and controlled irresponsibility, which is a thing you do with Clorox wipes, growlers, and general intelligence.

Unless you have written it off because your best friend from high school is an anti-vaxxer or your in-laws are trying to friend you, Facebook has been an astoundingly solid resource for restaurants and bars doing some cool stuff. Most any restaurant that you call is willing to make you drinks to-go, offer wines at a discount, or at least try to offload their selection of beer. They mostly let their deals be known on Facebook, so ignore the friend request from your mother-in-law and check out a menu.

“I don’t have the Facebook!” Neat. You can still navigate to the page and see their specials, you catastrophic moron.

Buster’s Liquors & Wines is doing curbside pick-up from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Place an order by 5:30 p.m. and patiently wait outside, and they’ll bring it to you. This is a great option if you haven’t begun drinking yet but plan to before the sun goes down. Shake up some local vodka and a squeeze from a lime you got from the Blue Monkey walk-in cooler. Log into Google Hangouts and play Jackbox with friends.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Wiseacre Brewing Co. is doing delivery. I recommend ordering a couple six-packs of Ananda between 1 and 6 p.m., tipping the person who drops it off, and pressure-washing your driveway with your roommates. If there’s any left over, wipe it down real nice with some industrial wipes you got from Highbar Trading and offer it to the gentleman walking his dog down the street. Afterward, settle down on the couch and have a Zoom conference with all your friends that don’t have a pressure washer. Rub it in their faces.

Justin Fox Burks

Drinking local with hurricanes in pouches from Bayou Bar & Grill.

It sure is nice outside! Use the weather to your advantage and walk to your neighborhood watering hole. Mine is Bayou Bar & Grill, which is doing take-out from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Things you can get include incredibly cheap growler fill-ups (especially if you’re in their Mug Club) and drinks in pouches. Because it’s spring break, I opted for a couple hurricanes in pouches and a growler of a local IPA, which I then drank in my front yard as I yelled about the nuances of flight patterns during a pandemic.

Not to be outdone, Slider Inn is doing car bombs to-go, which include a pouch of Guinness and a ramekin of Jameson and Irish cream liqueur. This is great if you want to find out what it’s like to drop a plastic ramekin into a plastic pouch and drink it as fast as you can while watching 30 Rock for the millionth time and playing Hearts on the computer with the people living with you. You get extra points if you then order curbside delivery of a locally owned restaurant and tip outlandishly. My selections the past few days? Bari, Tamboli’s, Huey’s, Young Avenue Deli, Restaurant Iris, Casablanca, and Little Italy.

You know the best part about being asked to stay at home and stop the spread of a lethal virus? First off, it’s responsible at-home consumption of booze acquired from local restaurants, but the second-best thing is camaraderie. No, I’m not advising having a damn parade with children and spit-covered instruments marching through a neighborhood (get your shit together, Central Gardens!). I’m talking about all of us being in this together. And together, we can support our local establishments and, of course, safely consume booze off-premises and in the comfort of our meticulously clean living rooms and/or porches, or really anywhere you can pour a tall one. Cheers to staying safe, everyone.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Slide on In: A Visit to the Downtown Slider Inn

When it comes to building restaurants that are the embodiment of a guy in a baseball cap with a rescue dog, no one does it better than Aldo Dean, who has taken eye-rolling double entendres and clap-back food descriptions on menus and elevated the concepts to become some of Memphis’ most beloved dining and drinking establishments. Some of his best work is on display at the second location of Slider Inn, located Downtown at 363 Mulberry.

Dean, the man behind Bardog Tavern, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, and others, went grandiose with the new Slider, taking everything that works at the Midtown location and amplifying it into an indoor-outdoor playground of Jameson slushies, dog-friendliness, and ample bar offerings. One hardly knows where to start the journey through the Downtown Slider, but I’ll start at the downstairs bar.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

The bar in the downstairs portion of the main building is Slider’s largest and, on the rainy night I visit, still full and being tended by Rondi McNeal. The main downstairs dining area has massive garage doors that can and will open to the outside on nicer days. Above it lurks the “Lift,” more of a private dining option for parties who want to get weird on its sprawling leather couches.

Next door to the main building, accessible via covered walkway, is the “Garage,” which houses yet another bar, more TVs, and, like its sister bar nearby, the ability to open to the elements. Finally, there’s “Slider Out,” an outdoor area featuring the Tapbox, Slider’s mobile beer cart, and the Slider Rider, their food truck.

Emboldened by the massive amount of space they now have to sling food and beverages, Slider’s Downtown menu is also larger. It features lobster popcorn, made of tempura-fried chunks of lobster served over popcorn, and vegan buffalo wings made of tofu and cauliflower, among several other new menu items.

Though Slider has a new, additional location and new menu items, the Jameson stays the same. As it should.

Not to be outdone, the slushie machine is also larger to accommodate for the popularity of their Jameson slushies. “It’s bigger, and we’re still constantly filling it up,” assistant manager Ariana Geneva says with the confidence of a woman in charge of a larger slushie machine.

The new Slider will also feature a chilaquiles bar, opening in the spring, where the weekend brunch crowd can pay a set amount and build custom chilaquiles.

Beyond the name recognition, it’s the location’s décor that gives it away as one of Dean’s thoughtfully planned restaurants. The Downtown Slider has an industrial feel owing to its former existence as the Kisber truck garage. Marketing manager Eric Bourgeois points out that it’s a great example of adaptive reuse, and I agree because, any second, I’m afraid that Rammstein will come out and play a set.

All its restrooms are unisex, lit by dangling mannequin hands clutching bulbs. The theme is wrought iron, the window treatments are Jameson bottles, and the thoughtful details can best be described as toolbox-chic.

Slider Out is its most notable game-changer, as it will operate as its own entity once the weather warms, the South Mainers descend from their loft spaces, and Memphis in May plunges the city into chaos and beer.

Food will be handled by the Slider Rider and beers by the Tapbox, freeing up the indoor bars and kitchen to cater to a separate set of masses. Tabs will not translate between the outdoor and indoor spaces; outdoor tabs will be handled via a different payment platform. Soon Slider Out will morph into its own event space with a stage for music and screenings.

Much remains the same when sliding out of Midtown and into Downtown, though. Happy hour still includes $1 off select drafts, domestic bottles, well booze, and house wines from 5 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The bar caters to its canines with an outdoor dog water fountain and dog biscuits available.

And the staff of Aldo Dean’s bar empire, over 200 strong now, is still content to lube up the city with a Jameson slushie or five as we rapidly approach Patio Season 2020.

Slider Inn Downtown is located at 363 Mulberry Street.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Slider Inn – South Main Slated to Open in Mid November

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

‘The Llift’ at Slider Inn – South Main

Michael Donahue

The main bar at Slider Inn-South Main

Aldo Dean’s new Slider Inn – South Main, which is slated to open in mid November, can be characterized as “clean, minimal, industrial, modern,” says Eric Bourgeois, marketing director for Packed House productions, which also includes Dean’s other businesses: Aldo’s Pizza Pies, Bardog Tavern, the original Slider Inn in Midtown, and Momma’s.

The bar/restaurant encompasses about a block at the corner of Talbot and Main. The address is 363 Mulberry – the street that runs behind Slider Inn.

The building, which dates to 1946, previously housed a storage space for vintage trucks and automobiles. Original neon truck signs from “Kisber Auto Parts,” which also occupied the space at one time, will be reinstalled.

Entering Slider Inn, guests will see the “Wow Wall,” which will feature a mural of the neon sign at the original Slider Inn.

Looking up, they’ll see the illuminated 2000 Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle with custom features, including a “suicide shift.”

Looking up, people also may see Dean’s dad, Aldo Ragnacci, doing some construction work on the place.

Robert Johnson, master woodworker, executed Dean’s vision for the wrap-around black walnut bar, which is the centerpiece of the room. The bar is mounted on top of a modular die bar system, which supports all the under bar appliances, Bourgeois says.

The lighting fixtures above the bar were inspired by New York designer Lindsey Adelman. They feature curved hand-blown glass shades with industrial clamps and Edison light bulbs.

In front of the bar is a 12-foot-long community table built by Joe Boyd of Woodland Tree Service. One side of the table features a 12-foot-long foot rail for customers who like to rest one of their feet while having a sip or two. Slider Inn will feature a menu of new drinks as well as its signature drink, the Jameson Slushie – Jameson Irish whiskey, fresh-squeezed lemonade, ginger beer, and bitters.

The six enormous windows on the South side already are filling up with empty Jameson whiskey bottles. The ones in Slider Inn so far are from the Midtown location. Each window will be full of the bottles, which will be “hand decorated” by patrons after they finished the contents. That will be about 120 bottles per window or 720 total, Bourgeois says.

The kitchen is done in stainless steel. That’s just about everything – from all the appliances to the ceiling. This is where chefs will prepare all the items from the Slider Inn in Midtown as well as some new items, including “lobster popcorn.” This delicacy features tempura-battered lobster nuggets mixed in with the buttered popcorn and house-made sauce. Reuben egg rolls and Cuban egg rolls also will be served – one of each on the same plate.

Dean always wanted a mezzanine in one of his businesses, Bourgeois says. So, now he’s got one. It’s called “The Lift” – a nod to the lift that workers use in garages to get under vehicles. The Lift overlooks the bar/seating area.

The room is designed as a great hangout area or can be used for events, including birthday parties. Guests – the room can accommodate around 20 people – can relax on a long leather sofa and watch wide-screen TV. They also can relax on the custom-made “Roman Bed” with pillows that give the space a casual, “lounge-y feel,” Bourgeois says.

Vintage truck tailgates fill the area above the bed. Garage “creepers” – the boards on rollers workers use to slide under cars and trucks – also are used as decorations.

Looking up again, patrons will see a vintage 14-foot steel playground slide – the kind that used to burn your behind on hot days – hanging from the ceiling. It’s a nod to a similar slide on top of Slider Inn Midtown.

The chandelier is made from Tennessee license plates bent into a circle.

The courtyard on the North side of Slider Inn features more seating. Dean even thought of his canine friends. A dog-height drinking fountain just for Fido stands next to a fountain for adults.

On the other side of the courtyard is “The Garage Bar.” It features another bar and more seating. The sleek long tables, which are built in a waterfall design, are made of spruce pine.

Garage doors can be pulled up when the weather is pleasant.

It’s a “separate eatery,” Bourgeois says, but all food will come from the same menu and the same kitchen. Guests on both sides will be able to dine at the chilaquiles buffet during Saturday and Sunday brunch.

All that is Slider Inn.

“Slider Out” is the grassy area that fronts Main Street. It’s an “outdoor event space,” which will eventually include live music, Bourgeois says.

Or, as Dean calls it, “Prime grassy real estate on South Main.”

And – it all this isn’t enough – Slider Out will show movies outside on a wall, which will be covered with white vinyl. People can rent Adirondack chairs and blankets and “cozy up,” Bourgeois says.

Michael Donahue

Slider Inn – South Main

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

The Garage Bar at Slider Inn-South Main

Michael Donahue

The Garage Bar at Slider Inn-South Main

Michael Donahue

General manager Billy Williams, Eric Bourgeois, Aldo Dean, operations director Bobby Heath, assistant manager Chelle Morgan at Slider Inn-South Main.

Michael Donahue

Matthew Hubbard, bar manger at Slider Inn-South Main.

Michael Donahue

Aldo Ragnacci

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News News Blog

Everyday Climate Change: A Hot September for Patios

CREDIT: Slider Inn/Facebook

Slider Inn/Facebook

Everyday Climate Change is an occasional series from the Memphis Flyer about the ways climate change is already affecting our everyday lives.

Memphis sighed a collective ahhhh! over the last few days as a hot September — the hottest ever on record — closed and unofficially reopened patio season at bars and restaurants all over town.

Hottest ever? Yes. The National Weather Service (NWS) tweeted on October 1st that September’s average temperatures were 8.3 degrees above normal for the month. The month’s average temperature was 83.5 degrees, and the average maximum temperature was 93.7 degrees.

Everyday Climate Change: A Hot September for Patios

“Memphis just experienced the warmest September in its 144-year climatological record,” tweeted the NWS.

Are heatwaves caused by climate change? Yes, according to scientists. In a paper presented at last year’s European Geosciences Union Conference, scientists said that 2018’s heatwaves across North America, Europe, and Asia were maybe the first ever attributable to climate change.
[pullquote-2] “We demonstrate that it is virtually certain that a 2018-like heatwave area could not have occurred without human-induced climate change,” according to the paper. “Thus, the 2018 global-scale heatwave event possibly constitutes the first climate phenomenon that can be uniquely attributed to human-induced global warming.”

Climate Central

Those heatwaves killed hundreds of people, triggered wildfires and crop failure, and damaged infrastructure across the globe, according to the paper.

Memphians are used to heat, a fact they brag about (almost as much as the city’s water quality). But this year’s heat put it to the test.

For example, two dogs died from heat stroke after a visit to Shelby Farms Park. The heat this year put a big dent in the crowd size of the Cooper-Young Festival, down about 15,000-20,000 people according to Tamara Cook, executive director of the Cooper-Young Business Association.

“It was just fantastically hot,” Walker told Flyer reporter Michael Donahue last month. “That’s what got everybody. We got hit by the heat. You didn’t see a lot of people standing in the sun in front of the main stage. People were standing in the shade.”

In this context, sitting on patios for drinks and dinner may seem a small thing. But Memphians love a patio. Drive through Cooper-Young or Downtown this weekend and see for yourself. 

Patrick’s Neighborhood Restaurant & Bar/Facebook

While it looks fun to the consumer, it looks like big money to restaurateurs. Patios are attractive and enough, hopefully, to bring consumers through the door.

“We have the best patio in East Memphis, but if the heat scares you our air conditioning works also!” reads a July Facebook post from Patrick’s Neighborhood Restaurant & Bar.

Everyday Climate Change: A Hot September for Patios (3)

In Midtown, a halo of mist enveloped the signature patio at Slider Inn last week before the heat broke. Those misters are central to Slider Inn’s summertime heat defense.

Slider Inn/Facebook

“It certainly has been a hot few months, but we really haven’t seen a dip in our numbers because we’ve taken measures to ensure our patio is all-weather, especially in the brutal Memphis heat,” said Eric Bourgeois, marketing director at Packed House Productions, parent company of Slider Inn. “We’re one of the only Midtown bars with patio misters, and that really makes a difference when folks are looking for a spot to chill outside — especially when they want to ensure the comfort of their furry, four-legged friends.”

Similar efforts will be made at the also four-legged-friendly Slider Inn Downtown, Bourgeois said.
[pullquote-3] Weather in general affects consumers’ experiences in restaurants, according to a new study published in the “Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research.” In “It’s Raining Complaints! How Weather Factors Drive Consumer Comments and Word-of-Mouth,” researchers found that restaurant-goers are more likely to leave more negative comments if “weather factors like temperature and rain become more unpleasant.”

The findings were significant enough for the researchers to suggest restaurant managers should give extra care to diners on bad-weather days and to be aware that more negative comments may be more common on those days.
[pullquote-4] Climate change won’t only affect Memphis patio time. The Union of Concerned Scientists said recently that if nothing is done to correct climate change, Memphis could have four days a year with a heat index of over 127 degrees and could have 119 days of temperatures over 90 degrees (we have only 77 of those now).

Industry experts are watching climate change closely. The hearth, barbecue, and patio industry may not yet see the effects of rising temperatures, but it will, according to James Houck, writing for trade journal “Hearth & Home” in 2017.

“Still it would be prudent for business owners, and and it would be consistent with the fiduciary duty of corporate officers, to follow developments in climate change science, public opinions, and governmental actions,” Houck wrote. “Climate change will affect the hearth, barbecue, and patio industries’ bottom line.”

Climate change will change outdoor recreation in general, according to experts who say much of those activities will be pushed to summers “shoulder months” of April and October.

Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service said snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing will be the most negatively affected activities in national parks in the future. But climate will also impact hunting, fishing, water activities (though swimming should increase), and horseback riding.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Aldo Dean’s “Momma’s Roadhouse” will have Trucker Theme


10-4. Aldo Dean’s restaurant, Momma’s Roadhouse (formerly The Dirty Crow Inn at 855 Kentucky), is going to be a trucker bar. The restaurant/bar now is open, but the facelift is on its way.

“We’re going to make it a trucker-themed bar,” says Dean. “And there’s not a trucker-themed bar in America. There are truck stops, but no trucker-themed bars. It’s close to the highway. ‘Diner and Dive on Highway 55.’”

Dean, who also owns Bardog Tavern, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, and the Slider Inns, already is collecting trucker-related items for Momma’s Roadhouse. “Street signs, highway signs. A six-foot ‘Wide Load’ sign. ‘No Dumping Allowed.’ That sign. A knife and fork from a highway sign. It shows there’s a restaurant at the next exit. We’ll have signs like that.”

Other trucker-related decor? “We’re putting cowboy boots, trucker hats, CB radios, belt buckles on the walls. It’s going to be filled with dive-y kitsch. That’s long term. That’s the plan heading into 2020.”

Dean bought the property after he learned the owner wanted to sell the building. “So, we made him a good offer. And that was part of the deal – that we could own the property with an operating restaurant on it. It’s already called ‘Momma’s Roadhouse.’ We’re going to keep it dive-y. Keep it a dive bar.”

It has a new menu. “It’s burger heavy. But we really just needed a fast transformation. We had an agreement to keep it ‘Dirty Crow’ for six months. Six months is over.”

For now, they’re “getting to know the clientele,” Dean says. “The Dirty Crow was heavy on wings, but the Dirty Crow supposedly is going to open in another location. So, he (the former owner) is going to keep that menu. That’s going to be his thing.

“We want to do some fun drink specials. We want to start drink specials early because Momma drinks early. We want people to join her.”

Momma’s Roadhouse is going to be “21 and over,” Dean says. “I think a true bar is a place adults can go and drink when they’re happy or sad. And dives are named such because they’re often in the basement or cellar of a building, so you kind of had to dive down deep to get in those bars. And dives are traditionally disreputable places. I don’t think that’s so true anymore.

“Our place will be spick and span. But we’ll have a place open to 3 a.m. and entertain people from the neighborhood at night and continue to serve huge lunch crowds that are in that area. We have busy lunches there every day and there’s not a place to sit. A lot of industrial workers down there, guys (who) go to work in a uniform.”

They’ve been getting workers from the “Mack truck store down the street, the Hershey plant, workers from Presidents Island.”

Momma’s Roadhouse will do dollar wings on Wednesdays. And, Dean says, “In the future, an industry brunch on Mondays for restaurant people who work late on Sundays.”

Their menu is “a work in progress. We’re still tooling with the menu, but we hope to roll out a complete menu sometime in November.”

And they’re adding darts shortly and a pool table on the deck in the near future, Dean says.

As for those big trucks, parking at Momma’s Roadhouse is convenient for truckers, Dean says. “They can park on Kentucky Street here instead of going into the interior of the city. It’s difficult to have a big rig Downtown. It’s a good place for them to have a hot meal and a cold beer at the end of the long haul.”

Truckers can “come off the highway, conveniently park and eat at Momma’s, and roll back onto the road.”

Categories
Cover Feature News

Burger Time! Taste-Testing 10 Great Memphis Burgers

Did you have a hamburger on the Fourth of July? Of course you did. You’re no dummy. Maybe it was a little burnt from the grill. Piled dangerously high with all the fixings. Maybe, just maybe, you broke out the mayochup.

That’s the thing about burgers. You can enhance them to Kim Kardashian-like proportions or just keep it as simple as the classic patty, pickle, onion, tomato, lettuce, bun. It’s all good.

We love a good hamburger, no matter how they’re made or what’s on them. So, in this, Burger Week, we’ve turned our eye toward some fine examples of restaurants taking the humble burger and turning it up to 11. Ever think to yourself that what this burger is missing is an onion ring? No worries here. We’ve got you covered. Think an egg-topped burger is everything? Don’t fret. It’s in there. Like your burger good and greasy? Well, sure, who doesn’t? It’s there, too.

For Burger Week, happening now through July 16th, some 26 restaurants are offering their chosen burger for the low low price of $5.99. Now that’s a deal you just can’t pass up. Let us know what you ate with the social tag #FlyerBurgerWeek.

Slider Inn

Flat Iron at Slider Inn

What’s the difference between a slider and a burger? A slider is a type of burger defined by its bun size. The term was originally applied to White Castle’s small burger with caramelized onions served on steamed buns. But in the last few years, “slider” has proven to be as elastic a word as “burger.”

You can get a classic American meal of three sliders and fries at Slider Inn, but they also sell a variety of exotic sliders, from a falafel to a jerk pork version. The buffalo chicken version is a personal favorite, and the Big Deuce will satisfy the hardiest appetite, but without a doubt the most extreme burger on the menu is the Flat Iron.

It begins with a chunk of steak that overflows the confines of the slider bun, covered in melted cheese and topped with the sautéed onions that were one of the original slider signifiers and crispy onion straws. Roasted red bell peppers round out the toppings, and horseradish aioli, a tasty nod to steak culture, serves as a condiment.

The meat is a little more al dente than ground beef, but the flavor is juicy and immensely satisfying. The two different kinds of onions work in delicious tandem, and the peppers add a little extra smoky sweetness. The Flat Iron is a burger that punches way above its weight.

— Chris McCoy

Slider Inn, 2117 Peabody, 725-1155

The Bluff

Babineaux at
The Bluff

The Bluff, a popular Cajun-themed bistro on the Highland strip near the University of Memphis, is divided essentially into several separate but connected spaces — outdoor patios, a sports-bar entry space with seven screens to keep you interested as you sip and munch, and an interior dining-room area with a stage for live entertainment.

Burgers are a major component of the sports-bar menu, and the Babineaux is one of several specialty burgers offered there. It requires some big bites to take it all in. It’s a pile. Compressed between its top and bottom buns are: a thick fried onion ring, a layer of more onion pieces (raw), generous pieces of lettuce, a hefty slice of tomato, bacon strips, and homemade remoulade sauce — all of this in the service of a thick half-pound hunk of burger, topped with melted pepper jack and cooked to your pleasure. Served with fries as a side. Add mustard or ketchup as thou wilt, and open wide.

It’s a lot for $12, especially considering that those jumbo-sized patties are hand-shaped from fresh meat delivered fresh daily from local sources. Nothing assembly-made here!

— Jackson Baker

The Bluff, 535 S. Highland, 454-7771

Farm Burger

No. 2 Vegan Burger at Farm Burger

Nestled in the heart of Crosstown Concourse, near the famous winding red stairs leading to Crosstown Arts, is one of my favorite burger joints in town. (And if we’re being honest, I’m something of a hamburger fanatic. I get misty-eyed thinking about the steamed hammy from the long-gone Three Angels Diner, and I celebrate the Flyer‘s Burger Week like it’s a national holiday.) I’ve been eating my way through Farm Burger’s delicious menu since they opened, and this cover story gave me the perfect excuse to check another of their burgers off my list.

Though I’m not a vegetarian, my love for burgers is big enough to include room for the occasional beefless version. And what’s more extreme than a burger without a hint of meat? Farm Burger’s No. 2 Vegan Burger boasts a gluten-free patty made of kale, quinoa, cremini mushrooms, sweet potato, caramelized onions, and a veritable smorgasbord of spices. Topped with cucumber salad and garlic-lemon tahini dressing, this mouth-watering slice of plant-based deliciousness is equal parts spicy veggie pattie and cool, crisp salad on top. As an added bonus, Crosstown’s schedule is so jam-packed with fun events that diners at Farm Burger might have the unexpected pleasure of being serenaded by big-band jazz while they eat, as I was. Thanks, Memphis Jazz Workshop.

— Jesse Davis

Farm Burger, 1350 Concourse in Crosstown Concourse, 800-1851

TJ Mulligans

Barbecue Burger at TJ Mulligan’s

There’s a lot going on in this concoction, most of it good. First, there’s the base, a seven-ounce slab of grilled ground beef. Plenty of meat, right? Nope. TJ’s steps it up by topping the beef patty with a pile of slow-smoked pulled pork. What? Yes. And there’s more! Like, jalapeño cream cheese, coleslaw, and a tangy barbecue sauce. That ought to do it, you’d think. But noooo. For good measure, they top this baby with crispy onion straws. It’s a crazy mix of textures and savory flavors battling it out in your mouth. Somehow it all works beautifully. But, fair warning: It’s huge, and you’re probably going to want to split this bad boy with somebody.

— Bruce VanWyngarden

TJ Mulligan’s, 1817 Kirby Pkwy, 755-2481

Hopdoddy

Breakfast Burger at Hopdoddy

If Scrubs taught me about one thing, it’s the unsurpassable satisfaction of brinner (in case you live under a rock, that’s breakfast for dinner). I can’t handle a big morning meal. Sausage is a bit heavy, bacon a tad greasy, pancakes too sweet, and biscuits? Instant nap time. Altogether, certain detriments to my get-up-and-go.

While I love brinner, I’ll admit, I was hesitant to order Hopdoddy’s Breakfast Burger. Its hefty patty is a combination of ground sausage, smoked ham, and beef — definitely not what you envision when readying to dive into a big, juicy burger. Would it be too sausage-y? Ground ham? But let me tell you, this thing is pretty darn good.

That interesting combo-meat-grind was spiced just right. And things got better from there, with super melty American cheese, herbed mayo, a scrambled egg patty (no runny yolk here), a couple strips of crisp bacon, and, in lieu of hash browns, a stack of crunchy “potato hay,” which is just a fancy term for fried shoestring potatoes. It’s all the fixings for the best of breakfast plates, but all piled nicely on a soft, fresh-baked bun. Surprisingly, 10/10: would order again.

— Shara Clark

Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 2-6 S. Cooper and 4584 Poplar, 654-5100 and 683-0700

Mortimer’s Restaurant

Oyster Rockefeller Burger at Mortimer’s Restaurant

The Oyster Rockefeller Burger at Mortimer’s began as a “pregnancy craving” by the restaurant’s owner Christopher Jamieson’s wife, Ashley.

The burger consists of an eight-ounce hamburger patty, four fried oysters, jack cheese, and spinach artichoke dip made of sautéed spinach, artichokes, cheddar, and cream cheese.

“I was sitting at home and I was pregnant with our first son, McCall,” Ashley says. “I was craving oyster Rockefeller. And you can’t eat oysters when you’re pregnant.”

She tried to think of a way to get that taste of the famous appetizer without the oysters. She called Christopher and said, “Bring a burger with spinach and cheese.” But she told him to leave off the oysters.

Ashley loved the result. She told Christopher, “We have to add the fried oysters. This is going to taste like oyster Rockefeller.”

“I knew it was going to be fantastic,” she says.

“We sell a ton of burgers and we sell a ton of oysters,” Christopher says. “This is a way we could put the two together. Kind of a no-brainer.”

Christopher originally listed the Oyster Rockefeller burger as a blackboard special. He added it to the menu — permanently — six months later.

McCall, is 4 years old. “So, the oyster burger is as old as he is,” Ashley says.

— Michael Donahue

Mortimer’s Restaurant, 590 N. Perkins, 761-9321

Dixie Queen

Cheeseburger at Dixie Queen

Where’s a good burger? I ask my kids. “Five Guys,” they say. “No,” I say, done that. Josh says, “Okay, I go to the Dixie Queen near where I live in Cordova, and when they hand you that brown paper bag with grease spots all over, you know it’s going to be good.” There’s around a dozen of the no-frills joints around town, so, I go to the one on Summer Avenue next to what used to be the Paris Adult Theatre (we shall now respectfully call it the Luciann), and order the single cheeseburger, with everything, regular fries, and, help me Lord, a chocolate shake. Emerging from the window was a brown paper bag with grease spots all over and a cheery “You have a blessed day.” The burger was mashed at the bottom of the bag, crinkle fries dumped on top (the wife disapproves as that indicates “frozen” and they were, in fact, not memorable). It was a thinnish patty with gobs of mayo. Some tomato slices and lettuce bits were, I reckon, not fresh from the garden. No matter. It was sloppy and tasty and required every last one of the napkins layered on top of the bag. Get a double or triple if the patty size isn’t to your liking. Don’t expect your doctor to approve.

— Jon W. Sparks

Dixie Queen, 2442 Summer, 567-4701

Mojo Cafe

Byron Donut Burger at Mojo Cafe

I’m kind of a burger snob. I like it plain and simple — just good meat between a bun. So when I ordered the Byron Donut Burger from Mojo Cafe, I was a little wary.

Still, because I adore burgers, and donuts were my first love, I was hopeful about the journey my taste buds would soon embark on.

As the name suggests, this baby is served on a warm glazed donut. The sweet aroma of the donut caught my attention first. Before biting into the work of art in front of me, I paused to admire the craftsmanship of the sliced donut, buttered and toasted to perfection. An egg fried over-hard, melted cheese, six ounces of beef, and slices of candied bacon sit between it.

The donut might seem like the star of the show, but the ground chuck patty, seasoned with care like a burger from your mom’s kitchen, is the real MVP. It doesn’t matter what accoutrements are on a burger, it won’t rise to the occasion if the beef doesn’t. Mojo’s did.

Mojo bills itself as the “Burger and Sammie Joint where we make the best burger and Sammies you’ve ever had,” and I might have never heard a truer statement.

The donut burger is only sold on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

— Maya Smith

Mojo Cafe, 7124 US Highway 64,
207-6041

LBOE

The Grizz at LBOE

The Grizz at LBOE is the monster truck of Memphis burgers.

It’s bulked up with double everything — double beef patties, double portions of hardwood smoked bacon, and double cheese (yellow and white American). The whole thing is Memphis-ized with a tasteful drizzle of barbecue sauce. It’s all dressed out with lettuce, tomato, and pickles.

And, yeah, it is a whole thing. At $14.95, The Grizz is the single most expensive item on the LBOE menu. Its enormity was apparent even as the waitress was carrying it from the kitchen. Its size was enough to raise a few eyebrows from fellow diners. I could swear I heard a low thud as she sat the burger on the table.

How on earth was I going to eat this thing? I decided it wasn’t going to be a polite affair, so I simply dove in and did the best I could. You know how your head shakes when you’re trying to take too big of a bite? Yep. And I came away with sauce and all that other burgery goodness all over me.

The taste is all-American. It ain’t flashy, but it’s everything you think a proper burger should be. Neither sleek nor subtle, The Grizz is a bonafide, badass hunger crusher.

— Toby Sells

LBOE, 2021 Madison, 725-0770

Second Line

The Cheeseburger at Second Line

Anyone ordering a burger at The Second Line by Kelly English should already know it will be out of the ordinary. For one thing, it’s not a burger joint, but one of the city’s best purveyors of New Orleans cuisine. For another, it’s run by a chef who’s been celebrated by Food & Wine magazine. Finally, the menu notes that this burger is served “Cooter Brown style.”

“It’s named after Cooter Brown’s Bar in New Orleans,” Second Line team member Christopher Williams tells me. “It’s an homage to their burger. So it’s got beef patties set side by side on our po’ boy bread, a little Creole seasoning, salt, pepper, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mayonaisse.”

But there’s an echo of a Memphis mainstay in this burger as well. “It has to meet the standard of the Tops cheeseburger,” Williams says. “Kelly was once asked, if he was gonna leave something for Santa Claus, what would it be? And he said a Tops cheeseburger.”

Indeed, this gem of a burger captures much of that no-nonsense goodness, which, it turns out, perfectly complements the earthy po’ boy qualities of its Crescent City references. With a side of Second Line’s epic battered onion rings, it makes for a wholly unique burger epiphany.

— Alex Greene

Second Line, 2144 Monroe, 590-2829

Categories
Cover Feature News

The Bird’s the Word

Over the weekend, a man was arrested for stabbing a gas station worker over “bad chicken.” Now we’re not ones to condone violence —no stabbing! — but people around these parts have certain expectations that their chicken is going to be good.

This issue is all about good chicken. Plenty of words have been written about Gus’s and Uncle Lou’s, so we decided to explore Memphis’ other chicken avenues. We guarantee that you’ll be hungry after reading this.

The Smoked Chicken Debris PoBoy
@ The Dirty Crow Inn

If heaven ain’t a lot like The Dirty Crow Inn, I don’t want to go. (I checked, and it’s fine to rip off Bocephus when you’re talking chicken. “He wouldn’t mind,” is what the rule book says.)

I’d heard tell of a chicken Philly sandwich at the Inn. It’s a special sometimes, the bar man told me, but not part of the regular menu. At that low moment, a ray of hope cut those rainy clouds — the word “debris.”

The Inn keepers have called it the “Chicken Debris PoBoy” online, but the Dirty Crow menu said, “smoked chicken debris” sandwich. To me, debris is debris any way you cut it (or don’t, I guess). And I’ve seen it swimming in the serving pan at Mother’s, the famed New Orleans restaurant that invented debris (the term anyway).

My sandwich at the Dirty Crow was every bit a po’boy, beautifully smoked chicken bathed in an earthy brown gravy riding two light (and lightly toasted) pieces of French bread from Gambino’s, that fine and famed New Orleans bakery.

Sometimes “smoked” menu items, even in Memphis, don’t taste that way. The Crow’s chicken debris sandwich does not leave you guessing. Its smoke flavor is present but delicate, the way it ought to be. It blends seamlessly with that gravy and a nice dose of melted cheese that pulls away in a pizza-commercial string as you pull the sandwich from your mouth.

The place is heaven for dive-bar aficionados (like me). The food makes it a before-you-die destination for all Memphians. — Toby Sells

Dirty Crow Inn, 855 Kentucky, 207-5111, facebook.com/thedirtycrowinn

Fried Chicken @ Cash Saver

Sometimes, you just gotta have fried chicken. Last week, I was so desperate I went to the KFC drive-thru and ordered a box. “Thlbetwtyminawtfcxx” came back over the microphone.

“What?”

“Thlbetwtyminawtfcxx”

“What?”

After several attempts, the fellow managed to get the message to me: “There will be a 20-minute wait for chicken.” Right. At a chicken restaurant. So …

I’ve been hearing about Cash Saver’s fried chicken for more than a year now. Midtowners who I know and trust have said to me, “That fried chicken is the real deal. And cheap!” Some said it was the best in town. I don’t know about that, but I’m here to tell you, they were right about it being very good. And very cheap.

Fried Chicken at Cash Saver

I ordered two breasts and two thighs. Total cost? $5.19.

The pieces were very large, crispy on the outside and perfectly moist on the inside. The flavor of the skin was savory, lightly seasoned but with a little bite. In short, great fried chicken — the real deal. Highly recommended. I’ll be back for more. — Bruce VanWyngarden

Cash Saver, 1620 Madison, 272-0171, memphiscashsaver.com

Romaine Salad with Chicken Skins @ Hog & Hominy

Anytime I see someone slip off and discard the skin from an otherwise perfect piece of fried or baked chicken (but especially fried), I inwardly pray for their poor soul and wonder who it was that set you down a path of self-deprivation.

It’s not only that they are missing out on some heart-healthy unsaturated fats, it’s that they might still fall victim to this woefully false myth that this is something you have to do to make your chicken healthy enough to consume (spoiler, it’s not).

Well, someone at Hog & Hominy decided, “Screw that, we’re devoting a dish solely to chicken skins.” And just to round it out, lest the consumer grew up under the anti-skin mythology, that someone decided to build their chicken dermis homage on a bed of Romaine lettuce.

The result is an unexpectedly cohesive salad, misleadingly and simply titled, “Romaine.” The chicken skins used are more akin to a pork rind rather than the double-breaded crunchiness of most fried chicken pieces. These puffy morsels are strewn atop a decent portion of lettuce, which is in turn covered in snowy Parmesan and drizzled with pecorino vinaigrette.

Justin Fox Burks

Romaine Salad with Chicken Skins at Hog & Hominy

The skins are lightly seasoned so the vinaigrette can come in and work its magic by introducing a low level of spice and tang, two flavors that pair surprisingly well with the fried fat essence of the skins. The Romaine lettuce does what Romaine was put on this earth to do, namely, trick us into thinking we’re consuming something mega-healthy when we are not. And, of course, it’s the perfect semi-crunchy vehicle that supports the crispiness of the skins.

Be warned, though, this is not the type of salad loaded down with auxiliary vegetables and croutons. It’s not going to fill you up. But it will deliver piquancy worthy of what I have determined to be the greatest part of the chicken.

— Micaela Watts

Hog & Hominy, 707 W. Brookhaven,
207-7396, hogandhominy.com

Chicken Tamales from Tacqueria La Guadalupana food truck

Tamales were among the earliest food imports from south of the border to make it onto Norde Americano menus, and they remain a staple, whether in supermarket cans or on restaurant tables. Something of a debate rages as to whether the meat base in those wraparound masa cylinders should be beef or pork, but there is a third possibility — chicken — and a good place to sample it is from the Tacqueria La Guadalupana food truck that sets up daily on the north side of the shopping-center lot where Cordova Road intersects with Germantown Parkway — in an area that is more multi-ethnic than you might imagine. (The internationally focused Cordova Farmers Market is the big-box anchor on the lot.)

The La Guadalupana truck offers numerous cooked-while-you-wait specialties, several involving chicken. Order tamales, and what you get, for a mere $7.99, is three YUGE tamales, each with a generous and succulently breaded tortilla coating, within which is packed none of that minced mystery-meat filling you get at so many places, but steamed and tender morsels of freshly carved, fresh-off-the-bone-looking chicken meat. Two sauces are available as condiments, the green one appears to mix guacamole with chili; the red one (maybe laced with habanero) is scalding hot.

— Jackson Baker

Taqueria La Guadalupana at the corner of Cordova Road and Germantown Parkway

Wood Roasted Half Chicken @
The Kitchen Bistro

Served in a round ceramic casserole the color of red clay, the Kitchen’s wood-roasted chicken earns it $29 price tag with looks, smarts, and personality. First, cornbread panzanella sets the dish with a seasonal cacophony of tomatoes, onions, and olives. Next comes the chicken, brined, flattened, and wood-roasted to a deep and rustic char. And what swirls on top with magical brushstrokes of taste and color? The dressing, a pesto of sorts made with garlic, olive oil, lemon, and anchovies. “You don’t want to eat the chicken and think the chicken tastes like fish,” explains head Chef Dennis Phelps. “You want to eat the chicken and think the chicken tastes delicious.” — Pamela Denney

Justin Fox Burks

Wood Roasted Half Chicken at the Kitchen Bistro

The Kitchen Bistro, 415 Great View Drive East, 729-9009, thekitchen.com

General Tso’s Chicken @ Mulan

It’s a conundrum every office has had to face as they order takeout lunch: What’s the deal with General Tso’s Chicken? Who was the eponymous military man? What’s his connection with poultry? How do you even pronounce it?

If these questions have ever prompted debate at your workplace, take heart. The answers are out there, in the form of Ian Cheney and Jennifer Lee’s 2014 documentary The Search for General Tso. It’s a fascinating look into the ways immigrant communities adapt to American life that also tells you everything you need to know about the sweet and spicy Hunan-style dish which, it turns out, is virtually unknown in China.

The first two things I noticed about the General Tso’s Chicken at Mulan is that the garnish contained a glowing LED and a dearth of broccoli on the plate. Many Chinese restaurants include plentiful broccoli with the stir-fried dark meat, and the florets come in handy for sopping up the sauce that gives the dish its deep red color. But once I bit into the succulent chunks of chicken, I realized the vegetable would have been a distraction from the main show. Each morsel was just a little crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. It was outstanding. I got the standard spice level for scientific purposes, so the sweetness and heat were finely balanced. But if you like it spicy, they’ll be more than happy to oblige.

Chris McCoy

Mulan General Tso’s Chicken

For the record, the Chinese character transliterated as “Tso” or “Zho” means “left.” It’s a syllable that English does not contain, but it is roughly pronounced as “jowh.” However, to avoid confusion with your server, you should probably just go with “so.” — Chris McCoy

Mulan, 2149 Young, 347-3965 mulanmidtown.net

Chicken and waffles @
The HM Dessert Lounge

I’m aware of no other restaurant in Memphis where one can dine surrounded by paintings of the late, great Prince hung on purple walls. I discovered the promised land, and it’s named HM Dessert Lounge. The restaurant’s focus is in its name, with one exception: chicken and waffles.

The chicken is dipped in double honey hot sauce, Jamaican jerk sauce, or spicy peach glaze. It’s then paired with a regular, cornbread, honey butter biscuit, blueberry, sweet potato, or a maple bacon waffle. Options, indeed.

Justin Fox Burks

Chicken and waffles at The HM Dessert Lounge

I settled on four chicken breasts bathed in double hot honey sauce and coupled with a maple bacon encrusted waffle — $12 well spent. Sticky as it is, the hot honey sauce slides from the chicken and blends with the maple syrup, creating a sweet and spicy combination that brings magic to a dish which otherwise would have been too obvious. The chicken isn’t flaky but smooth, and each piece shines beneath the sauce. Slice the waffle, cut the chicken, and fork ’em together. Sauce and syrup united, the waffle coats the chicken, and bacon bits provide a necessary crunch.— Joshua Cannon

The HM Dessert Lounge,

1586 Madison, 290-2099,

facebook.com/fashionablysweetlounge

Smoke Chicken @ Picosos

There are fewer words in the English language sadder than, “Sorry, not today.” Especially if those words are spoken with genuine disappointment in a Mexican accent at Picosos, a terrific little south-of-the-border diner on Summer Avenue. The restaurant’s “Smoke Chicken” is an old-Memphis-meets-old-Mexico delicacy that sells fast, is only available on the weekends, and so succulent and good it’s worth heading out early to get your order in before the Saturday lunch crowd arrives. Served with rice and refried beans and topped with a handful of french fries, the meal is exactly what it sounds like — a quarter, half, or whole chicken covered with a heady-not-hot spice rub that’s a little on the salty side and slow-smoked to barbecue-lover’s perfection. It’s tempting to just wolf the whole thing down, but advisable to savor every spicy, smoky, chickeny bite. — Chris Davis

Smoke Chicken at Picosos

Picosos, 3937 Summer, 323-7003

The Family Chicken Dinner @ SuperLo

It was a snobby Midtowner’s dilemma.

Our Target basket was full. The kids were getting pissy. We were all hungry, but the grown-ups didn’t want to make lunch.

“But there’s nothing to eat in East Memphis,” we whined without saying a word.

Wheeling through the parking lot, my wife caught a scent on the wind. “Oh my god, somebody’s fried chicken smells GOOD!” she said. We both whirled, like castaways searching the skies for a rescue plane.

The only thing that made sense was the deli counter of the Target-adjacent SuperLo. We’d been there infrequently, but I thought I remembered a big deli case. I remembered correctly.

The star of the SuperLo show was a fried chicken dinner, perfect for a Sunday lunch. Plenty of dark-brown-fried breasts and thighs lined a warming tray. But we wanted the eight-piece meal and the case offerings would not do for our wonderful deli helper.

“Nuh-uh. Give me two minutes, baby,” the woman said to my wife. “I’m going to make you up some fresh.”

Two minutes later, she filled a white, cardboard service box with two breasts, two thighs, two drummies, and two wings, like a Memphis-style Noah’s Ark. That Ark came with big-ole sides of green beans, mashed potatoes, and four King’s Hawaiian rolls. (They even added two cookies for my son. No charge.)

The chicken was crunchy-crispy on the outside, fork-tender and moist on the inside, warmly spiced, but not too spicy. It was that eye-rolling, soul-feeding, conversation-stopping, back-home-style kind of good. And all of it for about $14.

Who says there’s nothing to eat in East Memphis? — Toby Sells

SuperLo, 4744 Spottswood, 683-6861, superlofoods.com

Fried Buffalo Chicken Slider (add peanut butter) @ The Slider Inn

The first thing you need to know about Slider Inn’s Buffalo Chicken Slider is that you should order it fried. They’ll serve it grilled, but that’s your loss. As is, the sandwich comes with a palm-sized chicken breast drenched in buffalo wing sauce and topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and ranch.

Here’s the second thing you need to know — hidden off the menu, secret but paramount. Ask for peanut butter, and the sandwich will come with a layer of crunchy goodness spread across the bottom bun. The ranch, buffalo sauce, and peanut butter assemble in your mouth upon first bite. It’s manna on the tongue.

For all its glory, there’s no way around it, you’ll smack your way through this mess of a meal. The peanut butter serves as a medium between the milky ranch and hot and tangy buffalo sauce, softening the spice to let the flavors shine.

— Joshua Cannon

The Slider Inn, 2117 Peabody, 725-1155, facebook.com/sliderinn

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Chefs Speak Out

It’s not easy to eat your way through Memphis, one piece of chicken at a time, especially if you’re trying to go veg (I’m at about a week this go around). That’s why I asked some of my favorite chefs in town to serve as my chicken-chowing proxy and name the chicken dishes they go for when they get a break from the grind.

Chef Kelly English, who can do things with chicken that grant him James Beard Semifinalist awards and spots on television and in Bon Appetit, can’t say enough nice things about the magic that happens in the kitchens of Memphis visionary chef Karen Carrier. “I just had my favorite chicken dish ever at the Beauty Shop — Karen’s smoked chicken dish,” English says. He’s referring to the Hickory Grilled Chicken, which comes in a Thai green curry broth with candied garlic chips, pickled red onion, watermelon, Thai basil, mint, cilantro, and corn fritter. “It was fan-frickin’-tastic. It is my favorite chicken dish I’ve ever had at a restaurant.” He may or may not have posted on Facebook that “Karen Carrier is the coolest kid in school.”

Justin Fox Burks

Gary Williams

Chef Gary Williams, of DeJaVu legendari-ness, has done his share of traveling and sharing his New Orleans recipes with A-listers, and points to several restaurants who serve up chicken goodness in Memphis, including Cozy Corner’s Cornish Hen, Uncle Lou’s honey chicken, and HM Dessert Lounge’s ability to take chicken and waffles to the nth degree. “I’m a chicken connoisseur,” he says. But there’s one spot in particular that has his heart. “There’s this little spot called Pho Binh on Madison, and they do this chicken dish that has pineapple and is a little spicy, served over rice. That is one of my favorite places. It’s a gem,” Williams says. — Lesley Young

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Being Pirtle

So what’s it like being a Pirtle? It’s good, say Cordell and Tawanda Pirtle. And as they go over the past, present, and future of Pirtle’s Fried Chicken, a couple approaches and asks for a picture. As they move on, the woman exclaims in a whisper, “Oh my goodness!” “Happens all the time,” Tawanda says.

Cordell is the only child of Jack Pirtle, the founder, with his wife Orva, and the force behind Jack Pirtle’s. Cordell describes his father as an outgoing man, a doer and a creator. Jack opened his first restaurant near the Firestone plant in the 1940s and then hooked up with Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Jack sold Kentucky Fried Chicken using Sanders’ special seasoning, alongside Pirtle’s burgers and hotdogs.

Cordell says the first contract with Sanders was a single page, double-spaced. Later, when KFC sought a more formalized agreement, Jack decided to move on, eventually phasing out the KFC part of the business.

Justin Fox Burks

Cordell and Tawanda Pirtle

“He couldn’t use the same cooking equipment because it was part of the process for KFC. He built his own cooking equipment, pressurized cookers, and then my mother had a degree from the University of Tennessee in home economics, so she and he together tried different formulas. They went through a lot of different formulas and came up with this and varied it some for the first year as they saw how it did. That started in 1964,” says Cordell.

Pirtle’s seasoning was originally mixed in a device Jack built that looked like a concrete mixer. The recipe is top secret. “That’s what Pirtle’s is known for, that taste that we have,” Tawanda says. “It’s the same seasoning that the gravy is made out of. It’s a huge deal for us. And the spices have to be mixed up for a period of time for all of them to combine correctly.”

Cordell, who started working at Pirtle’s at 13, took over the business in 1979. “It was doing well. We had six stores at the time. When I took it over, I had been a store manager for 17 years. So I had pretty much been there/done that on almost everything,” Cordell says. “When I took it over it was almost more of an organizational change.”

“Your daddy thought you were going to go broke,” Tawanda interjects.

“Precisely,” Cordell agrees, noting his father’s concern over the purchase of expensive cash registers and a centralized warehouse.

Pirtle’s didn’t go broke. There are now eight stores. They get approached a lot about franchising — about three times a week, says Tawanda.

They’ve resisted franchising, as they want to work out the best deal for them and the franchisee. While none of their kids (he’s got three, she’s got two) have shown any interest in the business, they’re hoping that one of their grandkids or great-grandchildren will sign on and take on franchising.

As for the future, they’re considering more stores. They’ve thought about opening a Jack Pirtle’s Cafe.

Cordell is 72 and retired. Sort of.

“I tell everybody they’ve got the tired part right,” he says, laughing. “But, no, as far as being totally retired, when you’re involved in a business your entire life and you’ve grown up in it and you know all the people, you really can’t just simply say, I’m done. It’s always there. It’s always on your mind.” — Susan Ellis

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Chicken

Playlist

Oblivians — “Call the Police”

We’ll kick this thing off with an instant classic from the Oblivians. This track was on the band’s last album Desperation. Listen close for the chicken reference.

The Meters — “Chicken Strut”

One of the best Meters songs happens to have some squawking in it, but I would include this in any playlist because the Meters rule, plain and simple.

Those Darlins — “The Whole Damn Thing”

Before Those Darlins went all Fleetwood Mac on us, this was arguably their most popular song. This simple tune about eating a whole chicken was catchy enough to get the band some notoriety and is worth revisiting while raiding the fridge.

Hasil Adkins —
“Chicken Walk”

If you haven’t heard Hasil Adkins before, do yourself a HUGE favor and track down the album Out to Hunch.

Charles Mingus —
“Eat That Chicken”

A classic from jazz legend Charles Mingus.

Project Pat — “Chicken Head”

Hell yeah I included this song in this playlist. Project Pat for life.

Billy Swan — “I Can Help”

By now you’re going to need some help getting out of that chicken coma. Let this classic from Billy Swan get you moving again.

Rufus Thomas —
“Do the Funky Chicken”

A classic from Rufus Thomas. The live footage on YouTube of his performing this song is amazing and should be played on a big screen at every chicken restaurant from now on.

Patrick Hernandez —
“Born to Be Alive”

We’ll close this thing out with a toast to any vegetarians or vegans who picked up the Chicken Issue. If you believe that all animals are born to be alive, dance around with your fake chicken nuggets to this obscure ’70s classic.

— Chris Shaw

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Plans for Second Slider Inn Downtown

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

Aldo Dean

Aldo Dean confirmed plans for a second Slider Inn in the South Main district. 

Dean, who owns Slider Inn, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, and Bardog Tavern, says he currently finalizing the purchase of a building at 363 Mulberry. 

The building includes the bocce ball court, and Dean envisions the green space as outdoor seating, outdoor bar, and community gathering place. 

“I’ve seen how that area has sprung to life,” Dean of South Main. “I’m looking forward to getting involved and helping add to it.”  

Dean hopes to have the restaurant open by next spring. 

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

The Drinks of Summer

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

It’s that time of year when no one wants to admit that it’s too hot to sit on a patio and drink all day. Enter the drinks of summer.

Jameson Slushie

Slider Inn has an amazing patio — now with misters — and the absolute best way to enjoy it is with a Jameson Slushie (or two). The slushie consists of Barritt’s Ginger Beer, house-made lemonade, delicious Jameson Irish Whiskey, and bitters. Depending on the glass situation, it either gets served in a branded Mason jar or a pint glass. (The latter is obviously the better deal.) At $9 a pop, Slider is selling upwards of 300 each week — the hotter the weather, the higher the sales. They are very drinkable, probably too drinkable. I can’t imagine summer without them. I won’t!

Justin Fox Burks

Slider Inn’s Jameson Slushie

Frozen Lemonades

The newly opened Mac’s Burgers, which is out east in part of the former Dan McGuinness, is also selling freshly squeezed frozen lemonades — some with alcohol, some without. The virgin options include blueberry, strawberry, mango, peach, pomegranate, and pineapple — all made with freshly puréed fruit. Their spiked varieties ($8 to $11) include a Jameson Slush (sounds familiar!), Arnold Palmer Freeze (Tito’s Vodka, lemonade, and iced tea), and Frozen Bellinis (peach lemonade with an inverted champagne split).

Boozy Milkshakes

Staying cool downtown requires a boozy milkshake. Oshi has six to choose from, and they are also available without alcohol, but where’s the fun in that? Even the most lactose intolerant would be foolish to pass up the Kentucky Head Hunter. It’s made with bourbon, apple brandy, vanilla ice cream, and bacon dust. Yes, bacon dust! It mostly tastes like frosty bourbon, which is awesome if you consider how much bourbon it takes to outshine the ice cream. Other popular shakes are the Malt Shoppe (vanilla ice cream, malted milk balls, bourbon) and the Godzilla (crème de menthe, Godiva white chocolate, vanilla ice cream, Oreo pieces). They’re $10 a pop, $6 without booze.

Beer Floats

Beer drinkers need not feel left out. Hammer & Ale is serving beer floats ($6). Genius, right? There’s only one flavor of ice cream — vanilla — but the choice of beer is up to you. (There are 24 to choose from, however, a dark or a sweet beer is recommended.) So far the most popular picks are the Gotta Get Up To Get Down Coffee Milk Stout from Wiseacre and the Illusive Traveler Grapefruit Shandy. Now that they serve food, you could have a beer float for dessert or just have one as a treat between regular beers. (Mexican soda and ginger beer are also available for teetotalers.)

Justin Fox Burks

Hammer & Ale beer float with Wiseacre’s Gotta Get up to Get Down.

Coffee Soda

And because we need a different kind of buzz on occasion, City & State is now offering house-made carbonated coffee sodas. Say it with me: coffee soda. The first, the Hampliner, is a carbonated iced coffee with pomegranate syrup, fresh lime, and maraschino cherries to top it off ($4.75). The second, the Purist, is carbonated iced coffee with simple syrup, lime juice, and lime slice for garnish ($4). The Hampliner is rich but not too sweet. It feels decadent, which is what summer is all about. Beware, the Purist may give you a grown-up feeling since you’ll pat yourself on the back for being so smart and ordering it.