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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Chewing Over the Food News of 2015

In looking over 2015, one thing stood out: brand expansion. Aldo’s Pizza Pies, with its swell rooftop patio, and City Market (grab and go!) came to Cooper-Young. Fino’s opened a second restaurant in East Memphis (yay sandwiches!), and Mediterranean mainstay Casablanca returned to Midtown. Both Bedrock Eats & Sweets, the paleo eatery, and the all-vegan Pink Diva Cupcakery and Cuisine got places to call their own.

Justin Fox Burks

Bedrock Eats & Sweets

Ermyias Shiberou, owner of Stickem food truck, opened Blue Nile Ethiopian Kitchen on Madison in Midtown, next to the Bar-B-Q Shop. Stickem’s awesome kabobs are on the menu, and the lentil sandwich is terrific. Reverb Coffee got into the food-truck game, and Relevant Roasters opened its own coffee bar. Tamp & Tap Triad was unveiled in East Memphis.

Justin Fox Burks

Blue Nile Ethiopian Kitchen

Last year, all the action was in Overton Square. This year, one could argue, it’s South Main. The new location of Rizzo’s, after much delay, opened in March. Don’t worry, the Lobster Pronto Pups are still on the menu. The great and always-packed Maciel’s offers downtowners tacos, tortas, and more. South Main Sushi & Grill took over the Grawemeyer’s space, and there’s Ray’z World Famous Dr. Bar-b-que a few blocks north. The hipsteriffic 387 Pantry is a small, curated market with locally sourced goods like Dr. Bean’s coffee and Hanna Farm grits and cornmeal.

Justin Fox Burks

Ray’z World Famous Dr. Bar-b-que

Also new to downtown is the build-your-own tacos and burritos and nachos joint Burrito Blues (mmmm, nachos) and the Cuban and Mexican restaurant Sabrosura (try the Cuban sandwich). Jeff Johnson’s latest venture Agave Maria, with its masterful decor and endless tequila menu, opened on Union. Recommendation: the cheesy mushroom and poblano enchilada. In April, Bass Pro finally opened in the Pyramid. Uncle Buck’s, the underwater-themed restaurant with a bowling alley, offers a little something for everyone. Up top, the Lookout has one of the best views in the city.

Germantown got all the grocery stores. There’s the 1,000,000-square-foot Kroger that opened. (Actually, it’s only 100,000 square feet, but to put it in perspective, the Union Kroger is 36,000 square feet). It has a juice bar and a Corky’s BBQ kiosk. The healthy-food-at-a-discount grocer, Sprouts, after opening Lakeland, introduced its second store in Germantown. Whole Foods opened its second Memphis-area store in Germantown, too. It features a charcuterie cave, a fresh pasta station, made-fresh savory and sweet crepes, and Korean street food from Kei Jei Kitchens. (I think about the steamed bao sliders all the time.) And, in September, there was news, which seems completely unfair depending on your zip code, that the first area Trader Joe’s would open in Germantown sometime in 2016.

Breakfast for dinner? Breakfast for lunch? Breakfast for breakfast? Whenever! Another Broken Egg, a chain, opened in East Memphis. Order one of their scrambled skillets and their beignet biscuits and you’ll feel like you’ve been hit by a bus, but in the best way possible. Also in the breakfast-whenever game is the colorful, pancake-centric Staks. You can even make your own pancakes, if you’re so inclined. They also offer soups, salads, and sandwiches (including the Memphis Hot Brown).

And, and, and … There’s Mac’s Burgers with a menu filled with gourmet mac-and-cheese and burgers. Coffeehouse/gift shop City & State opened on Broad. 3 Angels Diner made way for Maximo’s on Broad. Encore Cafe offers wraps, smoothies, and salads, plus a place for Cozy Corner while it gets its building ready. Crazy Italians is owned by real-live Italians and features a menu of affordable, classic dishes like spaghetti alla carbonara. I Love Juice Bar features juices, smoothies, and essential oil shots. Mardi Gras, in Crosstown, has gotten great word-of-mouth for its Cajun fare. Diners can tour the U.S.A. at Heritage Tavern & Kitchen, which has a menu of regional favorites. Healthy, tastefully done meals are Julles Posh Food‘s focus. Ditto for LYFE Kitchen, where there’s no fryer, and it’s not missed at all.

Finally, two words: Cheesecake Factory.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Maciel’s, South Main Sushi, and 387 Pantry open on South Main

Have you heard? Downtown is back. Over the last 15 years, while the population of Memphis has essentially remained flat, downtown has grown by a staggering 25 percent. And as the people have come back, so has the food. Lately two new restaurants and a gourmet grocery have opened along South Main.

The first is Maciel’s Tortas & Tacos, just across the alley from DeJaVu. It’s a tiny restaurant that serves up big flavors, perfect for a casual lunch. Owner Manuel Martinez is from La Michoacán, and family recipes comprise much of his menu.

One of my favorites is the chicken tinga tacos ($9). In Memphis, so much meat is oversauced, from pulled pork to jerked chicken. But these tacos strike the right balance; they are smoky and earthy with just the right level of spice. I also like the guacamole ($3.50), which resembles pico de gallo in that everything is chopped — nothing pureed or mushed.

Martinez says he wants to grow his dinner service, and the food is certainly there. But if he wants to appeal to a downtown dinner crowd, he may have to soften his décor. In its current incarnation, Maciel’s is a symphony of gray, with hard surfaces barely relieved by hand-drawn butcher diagrams.

Moral of the story? Office workers may not mind a no-frills lunch, but in the evening, they long for a little romance.

Maciel’s Tortas & Tacos, 45 S. Main, 526-0037

facebook.com/macielstortastacos

Now, I’m all for fine dining, but most of us can’t afford to eat at Erling Jensen every night. That’s why restaurants like South Main Sushi & Grill are so welcome. The food is tasty, the ambiance is inviting, and you won’t need a second mortgage to pay the check. Owner Ian Vo says he learned that lesson at Ryu Sushi Bar on Summer, which he has managed since 2010.

Vo is Vietnamese, but he has been cooking Japanese food since age 18, when he started flipping shrimp on the grill at Benihana. (“I incorporated magic tricks into my act,” he brags. “I could make an egg stand up all by itself.”) He was recruited into the business by his father, Van Vo, who today rolls all the sushi at the new restaurant on South Main.

This is one good reason to order the sashimi sampler ($9). In typical Japanese fashion, it’s sculptural and minimalistic, a feast for the eyes and the tongue. From there, graduate to gyoza (steamed dumplings, $7), because no one ever regretted a dumpling. If you’re sharing, round out the meal with the spicy seafood udon ($19), which is everything I want in a noodle dish: savory, spicy, and full-bodied.

South Main Sushi, 520 S. Main, 249-2194

facebook.com/southmainsushiandgrill

For those who haven’t had the pleasure, Stock & Belle inhabits an ultra-chic, minimalist space near the National Civil Rights Museum. They sell a bit of everything: clothes, furniture, cut flowers, fancy haircuts, local art. That may sound chaotic, but it works because it’s so well-curated.

In the words of founder Chad West, “It feels like home, and everything’s for sale.”

That same aesthetic applies to the ensuite grocery, 387 Pantry. Here you can find artisan sugar cubes, almond-ginger nut butter, fancy cured ham, Norwegian cream cheese, honeycomb, heirloom grits, Jamaican ginger ale, barbecue pickles, and (of course) bottle openers made in-house from recycled skateboards.

Justin Fox Burks

All right, it ain’t Kroger, but you can definitely build a meal here. For example, at the urging of curator/general manager Josh Conley, I picked up a north Georgia Candy Roaster squash ($8) from Hanna Farm. A hard-to-find heritage vegetable, it’s like the Incredible Hulk to a butternut’s Bruce Banner.

Back home, I baked it in the oven with salt and olive oil, then served it with a fig and balsamic butter ($6) from Banner Butter and sauteed pancetta ($10) from Pigasus. The squash had a nutty flavor, which was beautifully complemented by the salty pancetta and the tangy butter. Best part? Everything was local.

“Cities are judged by their food,” Conley says. “So how cool is it to point at something in the grocery store and say, ‘You know, we made that?'”

387 Pantry, 387 S. Main, 734-2911

instagram.com/387pantry