Tag: The Liquor Store

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Loaded Santas: The Miracle Christmas Pop-Up Bar Hits Broad this Weekend

CREDIT: Magrino PR

The Liquor Store on Broad will host the very first Miracle pop-up bar in Memphis. So what the heck is a Miracle pop-up bar anyway? Miracle is a global pop-up concept that partners with bars and restaurants around the world to offer masterfully crafted Christmas cocktails in cheery holiday-themed settings.

You can expect groovy concoctions like the Fruitcake Flip, Bad Santa, and Christmas Carol Barrel served in kitschy glassware. Guests can also expect the space to be transformed with over-the-top décor so you feel like you’ve walked into a nostalgic holiday wonderland.

Magrino PR

Have a “Hard (Cider) Candy Christmas” with the Miracle pop-up at The Liquor Store.

In order to prepare the bar and staff, The Liquor Store gave notice via Facebook last Friday: “We will be closed through Thanksgiving Thursday. Our team has earned some much-deserved time off, and we need to transform the space into @miraclepopup. We’ll see you on the other side.”

Due to COVID, drinks will also be offered to-go. Still as cheesy. Still as festive. Still a Miracle. You can reserve a 15-minute time block to come in, take photos, and pick up food and drinks to-go. Guests can also purchase the holiday-themed custom glassware, with a portion of the proceeds being donated to the James Beard Foundation’s Open for Good campaign to aid the relief efforts of independent restaurants and bars due to the negative impacts of COVID-19.

Cheers! Salute! Prost! Bottoms up!

Miracle Christmas Pop-Up Bar, The Liquor Store, 2655 Broad, starts Friday, Nov. 27, and continues through Friday, Dec. 25, cocktails from $6-$15.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Miracle Brings Christmas Cocktails to The Liquor Store

CREDIT: Melissa Hom

Ok, sure, it’s still a little early to be busting out the Christmas and holiday events, but we could all use a drink these days. I mean, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet! But something I think we can all get behind in this rollercoaster of a year is more cocktails. And the ones soon to be on tap at retro diner The Liquor Store just so happen to be of the Christmas variety.

Melissa Hom

The ‘Bad Santa’ cocktail’s mulled red wine and Christmas spices will have you feeling both naughty and nice.

Starting on Black Friday, November 27th, the Miracle pop-up bar will be setting up shop at The Liquor Store. Miracle is a New York-based global pop-up concept that “partners with bars and restaurants around the world to offer masterfully crafted Christmas cocktails in cheery holiday-themed settings.” Indeed, diners have been warned to expect over-the-top Christmas themed décor all around the restaurant, with contributions from local Memphis artist Lindsay Julian (founder of She. Builds. Things.)

Miracle’s cocktail offerings will be served alongside the restaurant’s regular menu, and The Liquor Store will have expanded hours to accommodate guests seeking some Christmas Spirit(s). A few specialty drinks include the Fruitcake Flip (brandy, rum, amaretto, fruitcake, cherry bitters, whole egg), Bad Santa (mulled red wine, port, orange liqueur, Christmas spices), and Christmas Carol Barrel (tequila, coffee liqueur, dry curaçao, spiced chocolate). Cocktails are priced between $6 and $15 and are served in kitschy glassware. A few rounds of these, and you’re sure to have visions of sugar-plum fairies dancing in your head, too.

Melissa Hom

The ‘Fruitcake Flip’ mixes sweet amaretto, fruitcake, and cherry bitters with brandy, rum, and a whole egg for good measure.

There are a few changes to Miracle’s usual format, with COVID-19 in mind. All cocktails will be available in a to-go format, while dine-in reservations are restricted to one hour and parties of six or fewer. Wednesday nights, however, offer a quick in-and-out experience; if guests are uncomfortable dining in, they can reserve a 15-minute time slot to take photos alongside the Christmas decorations and pick up their orders (with a minimum spend of $40). Holiday themed Cocktail Kingdom custom glassware will also be available for purchase, with a chunk of proceeds heading towards the James Beard Foundation’s Open for Good campaign, which helps independent bars and restaurants affected by the pandemic.

The Liquor Store is also adding expanded hours through dinner service Wednesday-Saturday nights, to give diners more of a chance to check out the restaurant’s holiday makeover.

Miracle at The Liquor Store (2655 Broad Ave.) runs from November 27th-January 2nd.

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Memphis Whistle Delivers Cocktails and Food to Your Door



Wet your whistle with Memphis Whistle — a new Memphis drinks-and-food-to-go service.

“‘Memphis Whistle’ is a slang term for moonshine,” says David Parks, who, along with Jef Hicks, operate seven days a week at The Liquor Store restaurant on Broad Avenue.

They were approached by The Liquor Store owners Luis and Lisa Toro. “They were curious when we were going to get back up and running,” Parks says.

The Liquor Store had not been operating at night several months before the quarantine, Parks says. “We’ll take over their bar and turn it into a cool little bar and nightspot. Until we feel safe enough to do this, we’re going to do this cocktails to-go and make us all some money.”

Parks and Hicks started a Facebook group, which they called “Memphis Whistle.” “We do a lot of interaction with people on the page. A lot of back and forth. We take suggestions. We do polls about, ‘We’re thinking about doing a new cocktail. Here are two we’re thinking about. You guys write which one you want and that’s the one we do.’

“Memphis Whistle,” which also is slang for a sex position, is “just a way to promote The Liquor Store and the to-go and delivery that is just fun and is just silly. And nobody gets bent out of shape when I make an off-color joke or say something obnoxious. They know I’m a sick and twisted individual.”

They moved into The Liquor Store about a month ago, Parks says. “Luis literally carved out space for us to store all our gear and supplies we need.”

Jef Hicks and David Parks of Memphis Whistle

The Liquor Store is open for breakfast and lunch in-house dining. “At 3 or 4 [p.m.], their people go on about their business except two kitchen staff. They stick around and cook and we come in and we get everything staged up for delivery and pickup. They’ve got a pickup window. We’ll bring it to your car. We deliver.”

They have a “fairly limited menu” at night, Parks says. “Because some things don’t travel well. You go to the website [thebroadliquorstore.com] and that’s how you do your ordering.”

And, Parks says, “I put on enough drivers that we can do ‘on demand.’ If you order something at 3, unless we’re super busy, we can have it to you by 4 or 4:30.”

Customers no longer have to give 48 hours notice if they’re ordering.

Parks describes the food as having “a real Cuban influence to it.”

They now offer seven cocktails, which are served in Mason jars, on the menu. “But of those seven, three of them you can have your choice of the spirit you want. Vodka, gin, and bourbon.”

 Raspberry Sage Sipper, Blackberry Bramble, and Blueberry Lemonade are among their most popular cocktails.

“A lot of people ask for most of the recipes. The Tequila Mockingbird is usually popular. And the Purple Drank.”

Cocktails to go are available all day for pickup. But customers must order food if they order drinks to-go, Parks says.

Joining Parks and Hicks at Memphis Whistle are Justin Wells and Jordan Hester. “They kind of keep the books, and they respond to emails and keep up with orders.”

Memphis Whistle has been in operation for two weeks. “People are starting to discover us. I had 68 new people trying to join the group yesterday.”

“The community” is what makes Memphis Whistle special, Hicks says. “In the sense that we all banded together to make sure we all took care of each other in this pandemic time,” he says. “And the fact that we’re trying to look out for others.”

“As soon as we feel safe enough, we’ll start opening at night,” Parks says. “Let people come in. At first, we’ll let people come sit on the patio. And then we’ll open up the inside. But I don’t feel it’s prudent to do that right now.”

And if you’re thinking about ordering Memphis Whistle drinks out of Tennessee, Parks says, “Even though I am the sheriff of The Twilight Zone, I cannot deliver across Tennessee state lines. I don’t care if you want my cocktails in Michigan or in Arkansas or in Virginia, I cannot deliver across Tennessee state lines.”

The Liquor Store is at 2655 Broad Avenue; (901) 405-5477. Email is memphiswhistle@gmail.com for special orders.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

The Liquor Store: dog-friendly and Instagram-worthy.

Gather your friends and rescue dogs, check your three-drink weekday maximum at the door, and rejoice! It’s patio season in Memphis!

This is the time of year where Memphians can get away with double-digit amounts of draft beers on a Tuesday just because it’s 70 degrees outside. They can justify sugary drinks and cheese fries because calories don’t count when consumed outside. In the spirit of the looming patio season, I opted for an outside drinking experience. That is to say, I stepped outside my comfort zone of “dark and smoky” and into the patio zone of “light and airy.” I went to The Liquor Store’s brand-new patio, a patio I felt I could use to ease into the season because “liquor” is in the name of the place.

The Liquor Store has been open just a few months, so they missed out on patio season last year. Last week, they opened their patio, nestled among the shipping containers out back of the building. The space is covered in AstroTurf and filled with bright white picnic tables and tangerine umbrellas. It’s all enclosed within a cinder block wall, also painted a bright white. My friend and I decided it looked like an outdoor space in a Pee-Wee Herman movie, so we’ve nicknamed it Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Patio. The shipping containers may soon house an outdoor bar, and, if you’re lucky, Paul Reubens on a bicycle.

Seasonal cocktail

The success of a Memphis patio can be difficult to predict. A patio that I don’t think will make it is suddenly booming, whereas some of the great patios in this city remain underappreciated and underutilized. The Liquor Store’s patio has a lot of what people like: colors that look great in Instagram photos, dog-friendliness, and unique drinks made with a liqueur no one at the table can pronounce. Not only did I take a picture and pet a dog, but I also indulged in the patio-worthy drinks on the menu. There’s the Fortified Broad with Rhum Barbancourt, orgeat, white port, and cinnamon, which was as good as a rum cocktail gets if you’re not much of a rum drinker. I also drank an Earl Grey Sour, made with brandy and egg whites. We ordered mojitos, too, because it just felt right on a breezy, spring night. They weren’t listed as a specialty drink, but they were delicious without being too sweet. Not to be outdone by liquor, there’s a strong showing on the menu from local beers and, for the less fancy, 40 oz. High Life. The allure of drinking 40’s on an AstroTurf patio off Broad Avenue may be too much for Memphis to resist; the only thing that kept me from going that route was the lack of the proper soundtrack.

While a great patio must have great ambience, food plays into the equation as well. The Liquor Store serves breakfast all day, and anyone who has ever found themselves falling into a CK’s at 4 a.m. knows what a beautiful tango exists between booze and breakfast entrees. We ordered the steak and eggs, the former deliciously cooked and knocking the socks off the steak that five shots of Jameson deem passable at a 24-hour diner. The steak and eggs was also served with a large pancake, which we didn’t know, so its presence was like finding a bonus tater tot in an order of french fries. The Liquor Store: making your 9 p.m. patio breakfast dreams come true since 2018. Lunch and dinner are offered as well, and here’s a second gentle reminder that cheese fries’ calories don’t count when you eat them outside.

I’m glad I began patio season at the Liquor Store. It was full of people and puppies at sunset mid-week: a good omen in my book. The summery feel of the place and cold rum drinks have me yearning for all the other Memphis patio power-players to get into the swing of it. In Memphis, our patio season can be fleeting as the weather goes from cold rain to sweltering Hades in a matter of days. It’s important to take advantage of the season while it’s here and to make the most of any weather opportunity that makes your 40-year old friend take his shirt off in public and order a round of breakfast shots.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Now open: The Liquor Store and Sunrise

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

A couple weeks ago, a customer at Five in One Social Club on Broad was hungry. Where should she go to lunch?, she asked the owners. What about Bounty? The owners suggested the newly open Liquor Store, as Broadway Pizza was the only place in the area serving lunch.

It was a scenario exactly pictured a few years back by Lisa and Luis Toro of the high-end gift and coffee shop City & State. When a liquor store just about a block away from City & State became available, Toro kept her eye on it, sure that other folks could see the wide-open market for a breakfast and lunch place. No one did, so Toro took on the project herself, opening the Liquor Store.

“There was a black ceiling, black wood beams. There was no plumbing,” says Toro. What it did have, according to Toro, was “such personality, such character. “The sign’s iconic.”

What Toro envisioned for the space was “mid-century Miami” — bright whites and playful palm leaf prints of Toro’s own design. The mood she was going for was “happy.”

Happy, indeed. Folks can follow their bliss down the cocktail menu with its trio of toast-worthy champagne drinks. There’s also the intriguing Negroni Bianco with pisco, cocchi Americano, port, vermouth, bitters, and palo santo — described as “a spirit-forward brandy cocktail with a mysterious smoky finish.”

The breakfast menu, available all day, includes classic egg plates and pancakes as well as biscuit sandwiches. For lunch, vegan and vegetarians will most certainly tuck into the Cuban Platter, a colorful array of fried plantains, black beans, yellow rice, and other veggies. More Latino/by-the-sea influence is seen in the crab cakes with a lime vinaigrette and the fantastic Dulce De Leche cake from Ali Rohrbacher.

Next up for the Toros is expanding the smallish space. The plan is to add storage containers for a bar and a patio area in the back.

Sunrise opened on November 27th downtown, more than a year after it was supposed to. The founders held a “soft opening” the week beforehand to work out the kinks. One thing they adjusted was the biscuit recipe. They reworked the recipe to make it hold up better to the ingredients — ingredients such as house-smoked sausage, eggs, chicken, cheese, pork shoulder, steak, and pickles. Other dishes include the Bim Breakfast, a popular dish with pork, scrambled egg, kimchi, scallion, daikon served over sticky rice. The Three Amigos Tacos are breakfast tacos with eggs, chorizo, potatoes, cotija, salsa, and jalapeños.

The menu, says manager Johnny Lawrence, “goes a little against tradition. We were not anticipating the [Bim Breakfast] to be the best-seller. The Chicken biscuit is doing well. It’s not your everyday chicken biscuit. Its cajun batter is super crispy, a little spicy. It’s very Southern.”

Another thing worth crowing about is Sunrise’s house-smoked meats, specifically the salami and sausages. They took advantage of the old smokers left behind by the Neelys, who used to operate a restaurant in that space.

Sunrise serves exactly one type of beer — Miller Lite. Miller Lite is a favorite of Sunrise co-founder Ryan Trimm (along with Craig Blondis and Roger Sapp). Miller Lite also makes an excellent Beermosa, according to Lawrence.

As for the space itself, it’s comfortable with tables and chairs painted by local artist Karen “Bottle” Capps. A jukebox is stacked with classics (Cash, Redding, Parton, etc.), and there are no TVs.

Lawrence says that business has been pretty good so far, and booming on the weekends. They modeled Sunrise’s approach after Central BBQ, an establishment that knows how to pack people in and get them fed in an orderly fashion.

“It’s the brainchild of three native Memphians,” Lawrence says. “It’s held true to what the city is about — blues, Sun Studio, and Elvis.”

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

A look back at 2017 food news

2017 was looking to make me a liar. In last year’s “Look Ahead” story, I had several places set to open that just barely made it this year. They include: Sunrise, the biscuit-centered breakfast place from Central BBQ’s Craig Blondis and Roger Sapp and Sweet Grass’ Ryan Trimm, which opened in late November; the food hall South Main Market, which held a grand opening on December 2nd with an opening roster of promising eateries; and the Liquor Store, from the same folks as City & State, which opened in November.

One of the bigger food stories was related to the opening of the Crosstown Concourse building. Mama Gaia was the first out of the gate in early spring. They were followed by French Truck Coffee, Farm Burger, Next Door Eatery, MemPops, So Nuts, Curb Market, and I Love Juice Bar. I frequent the place and pay — gasp! — $11 for a small smoothie from the Juice Bar at least once a week.

Closing down and moving on: The first location of LYFE Kitchen in East Memphis closed in the fall. The second, in the Chisca downtown, closed for a short while and reopened as a reinvented space with a new menu and new decor. Also seeing new life were Brass Door and the Riverfront Grill (now the Front Porch), both forced into shape by Deni and Patrick Reilly of the Majestic Grill. The much-beloved Elwood’s Shack was closed for several months after a fire in December. It reopened in March.

Happy news: The Cosmic Coconut was turned into the City Silo, a vegan-forward space with several great, thoughtful dishes. The oldie but goodie Front Street Deli changed owners and reopened with a John Grisham-themed menu.

Elwood Shack

Sunrise

More milestones: Beauty Shop marked its 15th year with beehives and 1997 prices. Jim’s Grill, the longtime place for graduate lunches and Mother’s Day brunches, closed for good after an attempt at a revival by Alex Grisanti. Other Memphis favorites, the Peanut Shoppe on Summer closed earlier this month after 58 years and Spaghetti Warehouse closed after 30 years in downtown.

A few things found life beyond the confines of this column. Let’s start with Meddlesome and its cheekily named 201 Hoplar IPA, which a lot of folks found problematic, while the vast majority really loved the name-play. (Also, the IPA is really good.) Another hit was the video by Michael Donahue of the “Pie Lady” Katherine Perry. Perry made her caramel pie and a few others and found an enrapt audience. That video had more than one million (!) views. David Scott of Dave’s Bagels is, how do we put it???, super-hot. And folks like his freshly made, truly excellent bagels, too. You can find them pretty much everywhere.

After pouring millions into the old 19th Century Club building to open the restaurant Izakaya, the owners quickly reconsidered the rather unfocused approach, reopening as the chiefly Japanese and quite good Red Fish. The popular food truck Sushi Jimmi found new life in a brick and mortar space on Poplar. The same goes for Riko’s Kickin’ Chicken, which opened on Madison near Cleveland. Lucky Cat gathered quite a following for its pop-ups before settling on a space at the corner of Cooper and Peabody.

Nobody knows trouble like Taylor Berger. His grand vision for shipping crates serving as a venue was almost quashed as the some of the campus of Railgarten did not have proper inspection. It was all eventually worked out, and now the place serves as a happy meeting ground for young folks looking for fun.