Tag: The Gray Canary

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

The Gray Canary to Close

The Gray Canary, one of the restaurants owned by Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, is closing this week.

Asked about the move, Ticer says, “Not to say we might not open it some place else, but we’re definitely going to miss that hearth. It was a fun thing to cook on.”

The announcement was made on The Gray Canary Facebook page: “Memphians, this week (January 24-28) will be a celebration of the final week of service at The Gray Canary. As our lease comes to a close, we wish our friends at Old Dominick Distillery the best of luck as they expand their event space. The past five years at 301 S. Front St. have been memorable and we thank all of the staff and guests who have enjoyed the space over the years. Come hang out with us this week Tuesday-Saturday and celebrate everything we love about this special place.”

Another post reads, “The Gray Canary was born on a vision. From the very start, chefs and owners Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman stayed true to a dream of a restaurant in Downtown Memphis that encompassed energy, excitement, and fire. From the raw bar to the hearth, The Gray Canary is full of surprises.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Your Heart’s Desire: Local Restaurants Offer Valentine’s Take-Out Specials

CREDIT: Becky Githinji

Light the candles. Start the mood music. Scatter the rose petals. And let Memphis area restaurants provide the romantic Valentine’s Day dinners. Several local establishments put all their hearts into creating dinners you can pick up and enjoy in the privacy of your own love nest. Here’s a sampling:

Erling Jensen: The Restaurant at 1044 South Yates Road (901 763-3700) is featuring its Valentine’s Day To-Go, which includes clam and potato bisque and an arugula, pear, chèvre, and almond salad with saba vinaigrette; your choice of a 16-ounce beef Wellington or prosciutto-wrapped sea bass served with au gratin potatoes and roasted asparagus; and chocolate-covered strawberries. The dinner for two is $190. There will be an additional cost to interchange the options. Note: Erling’s also will be offering a half-dozen chocolate-covered strawberries for $25 on February 12th, 13th, and 14th.

Chef Tam’s Underground Cafe at 668 Union Avenue (901 207-2598) is offering a Steak Valentine’s Box for two, which includes one tomahawk steak with buttered mushrooms, butter-herb asparagus, garlic smashed potatoes, four honey-butter rolls, grilled strawberry shortcake, two premium cocktails, and one bottle of champagne. Price: $165 with cocktails and wine or $140 without. Becky Githinji

Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza

Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza at 1761 Madison Avenue (901 410-8866) is providing a “fun, interactive Valentine’s meal” for two, says owner Miles Tamboli. His Valentine’s Dinner Date Meal Kit, which will be available February 13th and 14th, includes a bottle of rose or Pasqua Romeo & Juliet Passione Sentimento (red or white) wine, an appetizer, pizza dough, sauce, and toppings; a recipe card so you can make your own pizza;, and tiramisu for two. Price: $59.95.

Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen at 712 West Brookhaven Circle (901 347-3569), Catherine & Mary’s at 272 South Main Street (901 254-8600), and The Gray Canary at 301 South Front (901 249-2932) are offering a four-course Valentine’s Day Take & Bake dinner for two. First course: salmon tartare with trout roe, apple, crème fraîche, fine herb, versus bianco, and C&M cracker. Second course: Gemelli lobster amatriciana, with panna gratta and basil. Third course: beef tenderloin with root vegetable purée and black truffle bordelaise. Fourth course: chocolate sticky butter toffee pudding with brown butter pecan powder and salted caramel gelato. Wine is an Arnaud Lambert Château de Brézé Crémant de Loire cabernet rosé. The special can be ordered at any of the restaurants until February 11th. Pickup is between noon and 5 p.m. February 13th. Price: $125.

Iris at 2146 Monroe (901 590-2828). Iris partnered with Muddy’s Bakeshop, Joe’s Wine & Liquor, and Rachel’s Flower Shop. The package for two includes an artisan cheese and accoutrement plate, your choice of slow-roasted American kobe short ribs or red snapper and Gulf shrimp court bouillon. These are served with sides of grits and roasted Brussels sprouts. Also, two Muddy’s cupcakes, six roses from Rachel’s, two chocolate martinis from Second Line, and a bottle of Constantia Uitsig South African sparkling wine from Joe’s. And it comes with a card for you to pour your heart into to whoever you’re sharing (or not sharing) the package with. Price: $165.

Magnolia & May at 718 Mount Moriah (901 676-8100) is offering a Filet and House-Made Pasta Magnolia Farm Chef Box for two. It includes local veggies, including Bluff City Fungi mushrooms, and a mustard cream sauce. The box comes with a recipe card and a YouTube video link with preparation instructions. Wine pairings can be added, or you can order a cocktail box, which features Maker’s Mark whiskey and includes a recipe card and video link with directions to make an old fashioned and a blueberry basil smash. Price: $44 for the dinner box and $50 for the cocktail box if it’s ordered with the dinner box. The price is $55 for the cocktail box if it’s ordered separately.

Sweet Grass at 937 Cooper Street (901 278-0278) is featuring a Valentine’s Day Prime Rib Dinner for Two that includes a winter cobb salad, loaded baked potatoes, horseradish cream, Boursin- and pistachio-stuffed piquillo peppers with black garlic honey, artisan rolls with whipped butter, chocolate-covered strawberries, and a bottle of wine. Price: $99 plus tax or $79 plus tax without wine.

Sunrise Memphis at 670 Jefferson Avenue (901-552-3168 ) is doing Valentine’s Day breakfasts: brioche bread with cheesecake frosting and a chocolate drizzle, topped with a chocolate-covered strawberry, for $14; and a Southern Surf and Turf Benedict: pan-fried country ham with fried oysters on an open-faced biscuit, topped with champagne hollandaise and scallions, for $15. Sunrise also will offer “breakfast in bed” delivery via Chow Now online at sunrise901.com. Sunrise recommends ordering early in the day because delivery orders between 10 a.m. and noon are sometimes severely delayed.

Cocozza American Italian at 145 S. Main Street patio (901 523-0523 to order), is offering a That’s Amore Valentine’s Dinner take-out special that includes an aperitivo: a Sicilian Spritzer, house-made of arancello, prosecco and pellegrino; a salad: roasted pepper Caprese with Buffalo mozzarella, re-roasted sweet peppers, basil, olive oil, and balsamic glaze, or a Caesar with romaine, parmesan, croutons, and creamy garlic dressing; pasta: Seafood Cannelloni, which are delicate crepes filled with shrimp, lobster, and crab and baked in a sherry cream sauce with parmesan, or a vodka rigatoni: lightly spiced tomato vodka cream. Entree is a choice of a six-ounce filet mignon Barolo, with red wine reduction, cremini mushrooms, and roasted potato wedges; Herb Crusted Salmon with roasted Brussels sprouts, champagne citrus butter, and balsamic drizzle; or Chicken Cocozza: chicken cutlets sautéed with artichokes, peas, prosciutto, and basil Alfredo. Desserts are a chocolate raspberry torte or a Grande Marnier Creme Caramel. Price: $75 per person plus tax and to-go fee, which includes a cocktail.

Cocozza also is offering the Lady & the Tramp Package, which includes a red-and-white checkered linen tablecloth, a red glass globe candle, and a Cocozza Valentine’s Spotify playlist code. Price: $20. Ask about to-go Wine & Bubbles specials. The take-outs will be available for curbside pick-up at the time you specify on February 14th. Unless they’re sold out, orders may be placed up to 2 p.m. on February 14th.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Award-Winning Chefs Ticer and Hudman Talk Bishop, the Fire at Hog & Hominy, and More

Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman have been busy opening a new restaurant, reacting to a fire at Hog & Hominy, and being honored by the James Beard Awards. Here’s a look at what’s happening with the award-winning chef team.

MF: How does your new restaurant, Bishop, complement or contribute to the presence of French cuisine in Memphis?

Hudman: Memphis is always, to us, a place that starts by acknowledging where we come from. French cooking is rooted in that same style of techniques, passed down, done right. It’s about mentorship. These are things that we value in our company. We’re always looking for ways to build our people, and this was a natural entry point. When the idea came to us, it just made sense to flex those old muscles as a callback to where we started. The moment that we saw the space that Natalie Lieberman had designed and the collateral and branding from Loaded for Bear, it clicked. We’d wanted to do a French brasserie for a while, and here it all was, ready to go.

Ticer: It’s funny. My brother Olivier is from France, and he just happened to be in town the week we soft opened. He told us that, often, brasseries are attached to train stations and breweries, and here we were opening one in a train station. It just made sense. We have our homage to Downtown trattorias at Catherine & Mary’s, our riffs on Southern food and oysters from the fire at The Gray Canary, and then our classic French spot attached to a train station.

Memphis-based restaurateurs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman (left to right)

What was it like opening a restaurant in the Central Station Hotel?

Ticer: There are challenges to opening any restaurant, but a restaurant in a hotel is a fun experience. We have to focus on all aspects of the food and beverage, from Eight & Sand and Bishop, to the events in the Grand Hall. The biggest challenge is that we really opened three spaces at once, so there are a lot of moving parts that needed to be focused on all at once.

Hudman: For us, it’s all about assembling the right team who can carry that culture of our restaurants. We want everything to feel like it was paid attention to and thought about for our guests, and that takes some time to get right. We opened in the middle of the holiday season, too, which was pretty intense.

How did your experience at Chez Phillippe contribute to the development of the menu and culture at Bishop?

Ticer: Chez Phillippe was such an amazing experience where we really learned to cook and really understood for the first time what it meant to cook with high standards. Chef Jose Gutierrez taught us so much about how to cook, how to pay attention to the details. A lot of the traditional menu items we first tasted cooking there, and after, when we were in Lyon, we were like, “Oh, this is how that started.”

The new Bishop restaurant inside Central Station Hotel

What are some menu recommendations you would make for someone visiting Bishop for the first time?

Hudman: That’s always so hard because we love everything. But the tinned seafood is really special and really specific to European cuisine. We have a lot of classic items to French cooking that we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel on, just make it properly. Salade Lyonnaise, French onion soup, tarte flambée, the raclette. It’s about the classic preparation, and we had fun testing until we had it right.

Ticer: I love to start with the grand aioli or the escargot, and the spinalis is beautiful. But there are lots of things. I think go in with an open mind and try things you haven’t heard of. And drink some wine! Ryan Radish, our wine director, really had a field day putting together this 150-bottle, all-French list that is really beautiful and fun to drink from.

How does Bishop benefit from being part of the Central Station Hotel?

Ticer: When we first met with McLean Wilson about the hotel and he gave us his vision of it, we were like, yeah, this will be a cool thing to be a part of, a place that celebrates Memphis and really feels local. We really appreciated that McLean wanted us to open our restaurant inside the hotel and not the other way around, a hotel restaurant. It allows us a lot of freedom to do exciting and fun things with the menu. Just like our experience with Ace, there’s a lot of infrastructure that the hotel has that gives us the ability to do things we’ve never done before, including working with these awesome design teams. Because the hotel really wants to function as the living room of South Main, we see a lot of guests from all over, but we’re still a part of the fabric of South Main and the Memphis community, rather than separate from it.

Another of your restaurants, Hog & Hominy, suffered an electrical fire earlier this year. How has the restaurant and the staff recovered since then?

Hudman: It’s been a real process. Our first priority was to get everyone working, and we met with everyone as a group, and individually, to make sure they were happy going to another restaurant. Our team was loyal to Hog & Hominy, and none of them wanted to leave, but they understood and are now doing their thing throughout the company. They’ve added a lot, too, to those restaurants, and when they come back for the reopening, they’re going to have learned a lot. It’s like an extended externship for them.

Ticer: We’re going through the insurance process now, which can be pretty frustrating at times. But what we know is that we’re bringing the existing structure down and starting over. Fitting Hog & Hominy into a ranch house was always something we were working around, even during the remodel that started last year. So now, we’re starting over with a blank slate. It will always need to feel like the old Hog & Hominy, but we have an opportunity to address things like comfortable chairs, noise, kitchen layout, server stations. It’s going to take longer than we hoped, but we’re not afraid of taking our time to get it right.

The James Beard Awards are an extremely high honor, recognizing chefs and restaurateurs from across the country. How did it feel to be named semifinalists once again — and also to be the only semifinalists from Memphis?

Hudman: It’s a huge honor to be on the list. I mean, just looking over the list of the chefs on there from our region and around the country, it’s really humbling to see your name on there. Our teams work so hard to produce in the restaurants, so while it is our name, it’s a nod to them as well. We can’t do it without them.

Ticer: Memphis is growing around the country as a place to come and visit, to see, to move to. We’re a city of history, culture, and great food in all kinds of restaurants. It’s an honor to represent that on a stage like the James Beard Awards.

What’s it like representing Memphis cuisine to those who may not be familiar, or who might think of Memphis food as just barbecue and fried chicken?

Ticer: You know, I think that Memphis might be known for barbecue and fried chicken, but we think of Memphis food as coming from the family table. It’s about feeding people because you care. We grew up and got into food because of our grandmothers and our family meals. Sure, you might get yelled at, but there was always good food, and everything came from a place of love. If we can make people feel cared for, then we’re showing them what Memphis food is.

What’s next for the Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman team?

Hudman: We are mainly focused on getting Hog & Hominy back open, but we do have lots in the pipeline. We’re just about finished with the redesign of the interiors at Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen that Natalie Lieberman has headed up. We’re trying to make that restaurant feel updated and even more comfortable for our guests. And we have some plans to move into Catherine & Mary’s for some adjustments as well. It’s been running for four years and needs a little love. Mainly, we’re focusing on making sure that the restaurants feel good for the guests and work for the staff.

Learn more about these award-winning chefs at enjoyam.com.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Gray Canary Sous Chef Heats Things up on Stage and in the Kitchen

Bailey Parks Patterson spent much of his 26 years trying to figure out if he wanted a career in food or music.

Patterson, now sous chef at The Gray Canary, says, “I’ve always been a big dude. I’ve always liked food. I always wanted to eat and try new things.”

But he also loved playing music after he learned to play bass in high school and joined his first bands, Voltron and Up-State.

Michael Donahue

Bailey Parks Patterson

He spent two semesters at Southwest Tennessee Community College, but he dropped out because he “couldn’t find the motivation.” He just wanted to play music.

Patterson’s first restaurant job was at Ubee’s. “Driving food around town and prepping hamburger balls,” he says. “Just goofy little things. Washing dishes.”

Six months later, he began cooking, then working as daytime manager and tending bar. “I did everything in a restaurant real quick. Figured it out slightly enough to where I was like, ‘I like this.’ It felt good doing it.”

Working at a restaurant gave him “a weird sense of confidence,” he says.

Two years later, Patterson left Ubee’s and got a job as a pizza cook at Hog & Hominy, where he worked with owners Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman. “I got to work right next to them in the kitchens a lot and learn straight from them. Learning from Mike Hudman how to extract pizza dough was pretty cool. Especially for a 22-year-old.”

He created his first pizza when the restaurant was closed because of snow. He and a couple of other cooks came in to feed the yeast starter. “We made some dough, and we were like, ‘We might as well start the oven and cook some pizzas.’ I threw some stupid stuff on a pizza.”

It was a hit. “It was like Canadian bacon and red sauce and some cheese. And some lemon zest and something else. Nothing fancy by any means. But Mike was like, ‘Hell, yeah. Snow Day Pie.’ For whatever reason, the bacon was sliced real thin and it curled up. He just freaked out.”

They ran the Snow Day pizza as a special for several weeks after the restaurant re-opened.

“It definitely fired me up,” Patterson says. He still wanted to play music, but he says, “It made sense for me to be in a kitchen because it’s like-minded people. It’s like a judgment-free zone. Everyone does their own thing, looks their own way, says what they want. We’re pirates.”

Patterson progressed to salads, desserts, and the hot line, and “just tried to learn everything that I could,” he says.

He then moved to the old Porcellino’s Craft Butcher, which also was owned by Ticer and Hudman. He joined a new band, Pillow Talk. They recorded their full-length album in Tolono, Illinois, with Matt Talbott, vocalist/guitar player from Hum, at Talbott’s “really cool, crazy studio.”

“That was definitely the coolest adventure music ever took me on,” he says.

Eight months later, Patterson moved to The Gray Canary, where he began as a cook working on the open fire hearth. He joined Overstayer, a hardcore band, a few months later.

Patterson quickly moved from cook to chef tournant, the person under the sous chef. That’s when he decided his focus was going to be on cooking instead of music. “I felt like it really clicked,” he says. “Because I always knew this is a cool thing I can do. And I feel like I’m good at it. And I’ve made my way.

“I see kids my age or older or younger coming in fresh out of culinary school who just can’t hang,” he says. “They know they have good information, but when it starts going, they can’t because they’ve never worked in a serious restaurant. So, all of the sudden it’s like, ‘I need this right now. Hey, I need this. Where’s that? This doesn’t taste right. Redo it.’ And they go down.”

Two months ago, Patterson was made sous chef.

So, how does he identify himself? A chef or a musician? “A chef,” Patterson says. “That’s the first time I’ve said that, but I guess that really is what I’m doing now. And what I want to do.”

The Gray Canary is at 301 South Front. Visit thegraycanary.com for more info.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Eight & Sand Opens in Central Station Hotel

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand opens October 24th.

Eight & Sand opens at 4 p.m. Thursday, October 24th in Central Station Hotel.

The sleek, new bar fills up the train station’s old waiting room. Travelers still can wait in the old space, but now they can wait in groupings of four to eight people at mixed Mid-Century-style tables and chairs and sip classic drinks, including martinis and Manhattans. They also can try a “Memphis Bell,” “Hurricane Elvis,” and “Knuck if you Buck” cocktails.

They also can listen to Memphis music.

The restaurant is by Andrew Michael and Andrew Ticer, who brought you Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, The Gray Canary, Catherine & Mary’s, and Hog & Hominy restaurants. Ticer and Hudman partnered with Central Station Hotel to do the bar and the upcoming Bishop restaurant, which is slated to open November 15th.

“Eight” is the highest throttle or “top speed” on the train and “Sand” stands for the sand they used to throw on the tracks so the train wheels wouldn’t slip, says Central Station Hotel food and beverage director Evan Potts. So, the name means “wish you a safe and speedy journey.”

The also Mid-Century looking bar features 10 seats as well as seats for the disabled.

The emphasis is on cozy. The vibe for Eight & Sand is “the living room of South Main.”

The look of the room is “clean” without feeling “sterile,” Potts says. “It’s so warm and so fun.”

They want Eight & Sand to be where people stop for a drink before a show at The Orpheum or other venue and then re-visit it after the performance or game, he says.

The bar menu will include “small snacks” or “share-ables,” Potts says. These will include the pimento puffed pastry, which was a popular item at the old Ticer/Hudman restaurant,  Porcellino’s Craft Butcher.

All the music is either recorded in Memphis, by Memphis artists, or about Memphis, Potts says. The console in the deejay booth is an old organ.

Vinyl records will be played by deejays, but programmed Memphis music also will be played when deejays aren’t in the booth.

So, what’s the first song to be played at the opening? “Probably ‘Melting Pot,’’” says music curator/head deejay Chad Weekley. The Booker T. & the M.G.s song is “a good track,” Weekley says. And, he says, the song “sums up our city.”

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand

Michael Donahue

Eight & Sand