Memphis • THE CITY MAGAZINE • W W W.MEMPHISMAGAZINE.COM

A ROUND T HE HOU SE | IR E NE CR IS T | R E S TA UR A N T S W E MIS S T HE MO S T | 901 HE A LT H

THE CITY MAGAZINE

VOL XLI NO 11 | F E B R U A R Y 2 01 7

TOP 10 NEW RESTAURANTS!

PRESENTING THE

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DISPLAY UNTIL MARCH 10, 2017

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THE EXPLORER II Built to accompany intrepid explorers, engineered for adventures to extreme frontiers. It doesn’t just tell time. It tells history.

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Dining with the best view in Memphis.

Ride the world’s tallest freestanding elevator 28 stories to the top of the Memphis Pyramid and find yourself in The Lookout at the Pyramid. Enjoy a menu of delicious food and unique specialty drinks while taking in the spectacular 360° view of Memphis below. The unique, steampunk-style of décor is complemented by an aquarium in the middle of the restaurant and multiple glass observation decks. This one-of-a-kind dining experience is something you have to see to believe.

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Built to be driven. Beautiful to behold. The 2017 C-Class. Mercedes-Benz engineers and designers have done it again — creating a vehicle as breathtaking to look at as it is to drive. Its quiet, spacious interior is perfectly complemented by an aggressively sculpted exterior. Its assertive style is furthered by a powerful turbo-4 engine working in tandem with the DYNAMIC SELECT drive program, which allows the driver to transform the car’s characteristics — from Sport to Comfort mode, and beyond — with the simple flip of a switch. Sensual, seductive, scintillating — the C-Class is something you must see and drive for yourself. MBUSA.com/C-Class

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2017 C 300 Sport Sedan in Iridium Silver metallic paint shown with optional equipment. *Stated MSRP excludes all options, taxes, title, registration, transportation charge and dealer prep. Options, model availability and actual dealer price may vary. See dealer for details. ©2017 Authorized Mercedes-Benz Dealers For more information, call 1-800-FOR-MERCEDES, or visit MBUSA.com.

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We are your chest pain center when seconds count. ACCREDITED CHEST PAIN CENTERS: Baptist is the only health care system in the Mid-South that offers

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MEMPHIS FUNERAL HOME The Most Trusted Name In Memphis. Since 1931.

A gathering of family and friends will always be the cornerstone of a Celebration of Life. Memphis Funeral Home offers its Life Remembrance Center as the perfect choice for these gatherings. Unique? Indeed. The only one of its kind in the Mid-South. 5599 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, TN 38119 • 3700 North Germantown Road, Memphis, TN 38133 (901) 725-0100

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TOP 10

VOL XLI NO 11 | FEBRUARY 2017 on the cover: Bruchetta and a flight of Cider from Long Road Cidery.

22 12 in the beginning 14 fine print 16 city journal 18 out and about 20 style

WINNERS OF OUR 2017 READERS’ RESTAURANT POLL

NE W RES TAU R AN TS FOR 201 7

PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSTIN FOX BURKS

Up Front

PRESENTING THE

46

Features

22 Farther up the Road

A trio of young Midtowners brings small batch hard cider to rural Shelby County. ~ by pamela denney

33 2017 Readers’ Restaurant Poll Winners!

Plus the top ten new restaurants in town.

46 Gone But Not Forgotten

Our readers chose the ten Memphis restaurants they miss the most. ~

by vance lauderdale

52 Curtain Call

Memphis actress Irene Crist plans her last performance. ~ by chris davis

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86

96

Columns

59 around the house

Audiovisual Wizardry Audio Video Artistry owner Brad Parsley on the latest technology and home theater installation. ~ by sam cicci

64 901 health

Mending a Broken Heart One patient’s success story with a new type of cardiac ablation. ~ by michael finger

76 books

Southern Voices Three writers span time and space to bring us tales tall and true.~ by richard j. alley

86 city dining

Tidbits: Southern Social; plus the city’s most extensive dining listings.

Memphis (ISSN 1622-820x) is published monthly for $15 per year by Contemporary Media, Inc., P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101 © 2017. Telephone: 901-521-9000. For subscription info, please call 901-521-9000. Subscription customer service mailing address is Memphis magazine, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. All rights reserved. • Periodicals Postage Paid at Memphis, TN. Postmasters: send address changes to Memphis, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101.

96 last stand

Food for Thought A well-known restaurateur remembers his favorite dining establishments. ~ by george falls

FEBRUARY 20 17 • MEMPHISMAGA ZINE.COM • 9

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Memphis THE C IT Y MAGAZ INE

General Excellence Grand Award Winner City and Regional Magazine Association 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014

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PUBLISHER/EDITOR kenneth neill EXECUTIVE EDITOR michael finger MANAGING EDITOR frank murtaugh ARTS & LIFESTYLE EDITOR anne cunningham o’neill FASHION EDITOR augusta campbell FOOD EDITOR pamela denney ASSOCIATE EDITOR shara clark CONTRIBUTING EDITORS richard j. alley,

jackson baker, john branston, susan ellis, tom jones, vance lauderdale, jane schneider, lesley young EDITORIAL OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE sam cicci

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CREATIVE DIRECTOR brian groppe PRODUCTION OPERATIONS DIRECTOR margie neal SENIOR ART DIRECTOR carrie beasley ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR christopher myers GRAPHIC DESIGNERS jeremiah matthews,

bryan rollins PHOTOGRAPHY justin fox burks, brandon dill,

karen pulfer focht, larry kuzniewski

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SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES joy bateman,

sloane patteson taylor

Memphis Wine + Food Series Celebrating our 25th anniversary, the Memphis Wine + Food Series proudly continues our tradition of bringing together award-winning chefs and prominent vintners for a series of fundraising events that directly impact our museum’s ability to bring art education to some of the most underserved in our community.

March 31 Brooks Uncorked Our Series kicks off with this Disco BALL at the Brooks! General Admission $100 before March 20, $125 thereafter.

May 19 Grand Artisans’ Dinner This exclusive and intimate dinner will be held at the historic Hunt-Phelan mansion. $800 per person. Complimentary admission to the Grand Auction is included. WINEMAKERS: Scarpetta Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and Bobby Stuckey, Master Sommelier | Whetstone Jamey Whetstone | Rudius Jeff Ames CHEFS: Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman with Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and Ryan Prewitt

May 20 The Grand Auction Don’t miss this high-energy live auction under the tent on the museum’s plaza. Raise your paddle and raise a glass to the event that just gets better with age! $150 per person / $2000 reserved table for 12.

memphiswine.org/tickets

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE zach scott ADVERTISING ASSISTANT roxy matthews

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published by contemporary media, inc. memphis, tn 901-521-9000 p • 901-521-0129 f subscriptions: 901-521-9000

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER kenneth neill CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER molly willmott CONTROLLER ashley haeger DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT jeffrey a. goldberg EDITORIAL DIRECTOR bruce vanwyngarden DIGITAL MANAGER kevin lipe DISTRIBUTION MANAGER lynn sparagowski EVENTS MANAGER jackie sparks-davila MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER kendrea collins EMAIL MARKETING MANAGER britt ervin IT DIRECTOR joseph carey ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT celeste dixon RECEPTIONIST kalena mckinney

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february 2017

Art from everywhere. An experience for everyone. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Overton Park

member: City and Regional Magazine Association member: Circulation Verification Council

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IN THE BEGINNING | by kenneth neill

The End of History, Part Two

I CELEBRATING 38 YEARS SELLING

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n 1992, three years after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, Francis Fukuyama, a prominent American political scientist, authored The End of History and the Last Man. Fukuyama’s thesis was that, after the triumph of democracy in Russia and eastern Europe, the international political landscape had changed dramatically. “What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War,” he wrote, “but the end of history as such.” He suggested that we were nearing “the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”

Alas, things have not turned out quite the way Fukuyama hoped. Yes, the 1990s went well enough, but then came 9/11 and with it, President George W. Bush’s ill-fated decision to invade Iraq under false pretenses, letting no end of genies out of the sectarian MiddleEast bottle. This turmoil was accompanied by an international economic collapse in 2008. The biggest impact of the Great Recession that followed was the creation of a degree of income inequality unknown in America since the nineteenth century. If this is “the end of history,” I dread to see what happens next.   Today, a more literal version of “the end of history” is confronting us in this country. I am speaking of the complete abandonment, by large segments of the American population, of any interest in historical fact, and a commensurate disinterest in understanding just how and why our country functions as it has for over 200 years. Donald Trump is not the first American president to garble historical facts in order to get ahead politically. But he will rank first among those who best connected with that part of the electorate that prefers falsehood to factbased reality. Last fall, he managed to convince large numbers of Americans that, as Henry Ford once said, “History is more or less bunk!” Something dangerously toxic is now rotting our body politic. Deliberate distortions of truth meander their way through Facebook and Google, as more and more Americans prefer living in their silos of intellectual convenience, avoiding inconvenient truths like the plague. How in the world can we preserve a democratic future for our country when ignorance is bliss to so many of our fellow citizens? Yes, there is now considerable momentum for modifying our Electoral College system, at least to ensure that the popular-vote winner in a Presidential election doesn’t “lose” the White House by finishing several million votes ahead. But such a Constitutional change is most unlikely in today’s polarized America, given that 34 of our 50 states would have to agree to such

an amendment to the Constitution. Actually, there is something we might consider doing. And while I realize that what I’m about to suggest is as unlikely to happen as a blizzard striking Memphis in August, there already is a mechanism in place that just might provide a potential model for our democracy’s future. To explain, I’ll have to bring up a much-maligned part of our federal bureaucracy: the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service. With a +$3 billion budget, the USCIS does its best, often under adverse circumstances, to police our borders and to ensure order when it comes to immigration issues. One thing the USCIS does well is to provide a test for all prospective candidates for American citizenship. Unlike most of us who just happen to be born here, all immigrants to our country need to pass a civics test in order to be approved for naturalization, at which point, of course, they are allowed to vote in elections. Every year, the USCIS publishes a 100-question (with the answers) civics test, a crib-sheet which prospective Americans can study while preparing for the real-life exams that they take as the final hurdle before naturalization. Ten questions from that test bank are asked, usually orally, and the applicant is required to answer at least six correctly in order to gain citizenship. (To check out a sample test, visit this website: uscis.gov/ citizenship/learners/study-test.) Over the years, I have attended half a dozen citizenship-naturalization ceremonies. If you’ve never done so, please do. Our “new” citizens are usually smarter and certainly more excited about being Americans than the rest of us. To them, the right to vote is a precious gift, not just a meaningless bauble. If we ask new Americans to prove that they know something about the history of this country and how our government works, how can we ask anything less of those of us lucky enough to have been born here?

Kenneth Neill publisher/editor

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FINE PRINT

Lies and Rumors Fake news is not news and it’s nothing new.

by john branston

“This circulation of false news by official liars will probably grow worse hereafter.”

B

“And if he sometimes falls for a imprimatur of “official sources.” whopper,” Mencken wrote, “then In 2002, nine months after 9/11, Shelby County Medilet us not forget that he also detects many another, and heaves it cal Examiner O.C. Smith was into his wastebasket.” found wrapped and gagged in barbed wire, chained to a If only. The billionaire titans of Facebook cannot even decide window grate in a stairwell of the building where he worked, whether they should exercise any editorial responand doused with Before the dawn a n a c i d i c s ub sibility at all, or just stance. The topcontinue to rake in of social media clicks and advertisper — there was a and twisted ing dollars by feabomb strapped to turing patently bohis chest. This was Tweeters with gus peddlers of junk how it was told at Internet access, about the suicide of a press conference Bill Clinton and/or by the police and fake news had to the death of Jerry Smith himself (“our make its way past Seinfeld. doc,” as friendly the gatekeepers of local law enforceBefore the dawn ment called him) of social media and big media. — the work of a twisted Tweeters with Internet access, fake news madman seeking vengeance for had to make its way past the gatehis work on a high-profile case. keepers of big media. When it For several days, the dubious did, it was more apt to be called tale was reported without any “rumor mongering” than outskepticism from news media or right lies. In my 32 years in the official sources. Weeks later, the Memphis media, I remember only Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and one local whopper that got broad Firearms and others concluded that Smith did it to himself, for circulation, and that was with the

reasons never made clear. Federal prosecutors indicted and tried him. The case ended in a hung jury and was not retried. The madman, long forgotten, has not struck again. Tainted as it was, the Smith story was a far cry from today’s fake news generated without the collaboration of official sources. The perps can be mischief makers, political extremists, or sociopaths. The enablers range from traditional media outlets that don’t demand attribution and verification to social media giants like Facebook that waff le on accepting bogus stories from known fake news artists. And the good guys/ladies?

My vote goes to fact-checkers, wherever they are, who expose the frauds and stand for honest journalism even if it means losing some revenue or getting beat on a story by a competitor. “Get it first but first get it right,” was the motto of United Press International (UPI) back in the day. The Commercial Appeal also had high standards in its glory days. Stories had to pass inspection by three editors before getting into print, then the early edition was scrutinized one more time by a night editor who made the first three look like pushovers. I try to remember that whenever I get the urge to bash the CA. Mencken tells the story of the managing editor of “an eminent New York paper, on the night of the Titanic disaster, [whose editor] refused to believe or print the first report of it.” The event, like the retelling, was hard to believe, but true. Some incredible things actually happen. And sadly, more and more of them do not.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DREAMSTIME

ingo. Double bingo, because this prophecy was written by H.L. Mencken for the The Baltimore Sun in 1939. The liars Mencken was writing about nearly eight decades ago were both more and less harmful than the practitioners of “fake news” who are flourishing today. They were more harmful because they invented dispatches about exiled Jews being invited back to Germany, the defeat of the German army in Warsaw, and other falsities in the early years of World War II. They were less harmful because even these unscrupulous frauds were usually scrutinized by a bonafide managing editor working in the fog of war.

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Audi Memphis

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CITY JOURNAL

Art for All Public art helps to create a sense of community.

T

wenty years ago, the itinerary for a tour of public art was easy: a few places downtown and a couple of cemeteries. Back then, Memphis had a smattering of busts and statues of the famous, infamous, and mythical — Andrew Jackson, W.C. Handy, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Jefferson Davis, and the Hebe fountain in Court Square — but the critical mass was found in Elmwood or Forest Hill Cemetery’s monuments and statues, and the Memorial Park Cemetery Crystal Shrine Grotto’s 80-year-old sculptures by Mexican immigrant Dionicio Rodriguez in the 1930s and the carvings by Memphian David Day 40 years later. That was about it. Then there was a burst of support for public art in the 1970s that produced Richard Hunt’s I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, John McIntire’s Muse, John Seyfried’s The River, and Harris Sorrelle’s Yellow Fever Memorial, but for the next two decades, public art was an afterthought, if it was thought of at all. That all changed in 1997 when an interest in improving “livability” led to public art as a vehicle to make it happen. It gave birth to the UrbanArt Commission and a subsequent push to set aside one percent for art in public capital projects led Memphis City Schools and then the City of Memphis to adopt that funding policy. In those early years, the group of advocates for the public art program could be gathered around a small conference table, but today, support for the UrbanArt Commission runs deep and wide, as proven by the crowd at the commission’s 20th anniversary celebration last month. Among them was Carissa Hussong, hired as the program’s first executive director a year after moving to Memphis from Seattle, and she spent her first

couple of years explaining to Memphians what public art was. All that changed in 2000 with one project: the Cooper Young Trestle. It took what was a neighborhood eyesore and turned it into a neighborhood icon by covering the railroad trestle with a 150-foot long steel sculpture by metal artist Jill Turman that mimics homes and

“Artists have an incredible ability to create an emotional connection and that’s what we need when we talk about thoughtful, livable neighborhoods.” —Lauren Kennedy, executive director, UrbanArt Commission businesses found in the Cooper-Young district. Hussong said that it was public art at its best, “bringing back a sense of place and sense of community,” but it “also moved the heart of Cooper-Young further north, promoting growth between Young and Central.” It won an award from Americans for the Arts, and callers to

title: Living in Community (detail) artist: Charlie Forrester location: 533 North 5th Street, Memphis, TN. Charlie’s design shows his interest in creating beauty and creativity in the streets of Memphis while demonstrating how artwork can communicate a distinct soul of Memphis’ family roots.

Hussong were no longer asking so much what public art was, but how soon could they get some of it. Because of Hussong’s thoughtful, steady leadership, the UrbanArt Commission developed credibility that led to today’s more than 140 works all over Memphis; about 20 more artworks are under way. Equally important, local philanthropies and the private sector have propelled the public art movement in Memphis; foundations took the lead in putting public art in the Benjamin Hooks Central Library, while Robert and Louis Loeb at Loeb Properties filled Overton Square with so many artworks that it has its own self-guided tour. “It’s about community vibrancy, not just a piece of art,” according to current UrbanArt

Commission executive director, 30-year-old Lauren Kennedy, originally from Little Rock and another of Rhodes College’s CODA (Center for Outreach in the Development of the Arts) program participants who put roots down in Memphis. “It’s about Memphis being understood as an arts center. We want to do more locally in a way that ripples nationally, and we want to build up people locally who can apply for projects in other cities.” The organization is now partnering with grassroots groups like Advance Memphis in the 38126 ZIP code of South Memphis where it is fighting blight. “We want to take on the role as connector and support community organizations, and the response has been really positive,” Kennedy says. “It’s about imbedding artists to reflect community values. It’s about community engagement, not about project management.” The ultimate test of its expanded role comes with Memphis 3.0 — launched by Mayor Jim Strickland as the first comprehensive plan to set the city’s future direction in 40 years — where artists will be included in the planning process. “UAC’s niche in this work is the direct inclusion of artists and creative people in the responses and plans for blight and neighborhood improvement,” says Kennedy. Artists have an incredible ability to create an emotional connection and that’s what we need when we talk about thoughtful, livable neighborhoods.” In other words, if there’s an art to creating a better city, the UrbanArt Commission plans to be at the heart of it.  

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY URBAN ART COMMISSION

by tom jones

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What’s Haute Altrezza Salon has the solution to Hair Loss. Male- or Female-Pattern & Medical Hair Loss. Call today for your free analysis. Don’t suffer through hair loss alone. 5736 Stage Road, Bartlett. 901.384.1680.

Unique, handcrafted and custom rugs. Serving the greater Memphis community, Taghavi Oriental Rugs offers hand-cleaning, restoration, and sales, both new and antique. 3554 Park Ave; 901.327.5033; www.taghavirugs.com.

This rare 1850s silver wine ewer with matching goblets offers a glimpse into our extensive inventory of vintage silver flatware, holloware, and jewelry. We also offer a fine selection of coins, paper money, and exonumia. A Coin & Silver Shop; 4726 Poplar Ave., Ste. 6 in Poplar Village; 901.590.2022; acoinandsilvershop.com.

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Surprise your Valentine with the most moist, delicious strawberry cake this side of heaven — or take home a complete meal. No need to cook on this special day. Katie’s Kitchen in Germantown; 901.754.8444; katieskitchengtown.com.

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OU T A ND A BOU T |

FEBRUARY 2017 | compiled by sam cicci 2.11-19

Memphis Open

Garth Brooks 2.2-4 Garth Brooks World Tour

The Memphis Open returns to the Racquet Club in its 41st iteration. Four-time reigning champion Kei Nishikori will not be returning to Memphis in 2017, leaving the championship open to a wide field of candidates. Last year’s finalist, teenager Taylor Fritz, will be looking to go one better and take home the gold. John Isner joins the fray as the highest ranked player in the tournament (no. 19 in ATP rankings), while Sam Querrey seeks to win his second Memphis title fresh off a victory last summer over Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. Racquet Club of Memphis, 5111 Sanderlin Avenue memphisopen.com

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

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arth Brooks kicks off a series of four shows in Memphis as part of the Garth Brooks World Tour. The smash-hit country singer, the number-one selling performing solo artist in U.S. history and reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, is accompanied by country singer, author, and actress Trisha Yearwood. Brooks’ extensive repetoire, plus reasonably priced tickets, make this show a must-see. While in town, Brooks is giving away $20 from each purchase of his new boxed set to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. FedExForum, 191 Beale St. fedexforum.com

2.10-18

We Need to Talk

2.10

Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors

Who? The Warriors? Those upstarts from the West Coast? Didn’t Big Spain and Co. roll over Curry and Durant last time they came to town? I’d pay good money to see that again. FedExForum, 191 Beale St. fedexforum.com

With International Singles Day (also known as Valentine’s Day) fast approaching, check out an exhibit exploring the other half of the relationship scale. Crosstown’s newest exhibit, “We Need to Talk,” focuses on the ghost of relationships past. Sometimes, a memento from a former partner is just too hard to throw away, and the exhibit aims to tell the story of various memorabilia contributed by the larger Memphis community. Commiserate with your peers and exorcise the demons of all your lost loves. Crosstown Arts, 422 N. Cleveland Crosstownarts.org

Memphis for a bevy of feature films about the Jewish experience. The movies cover a wide variety of topics, from refugees struggling for civil rights in Tel Aviv, to a search for Israeli cuisine, to the tale of a brushmaker helping deaf employees avoid internment camps during the Holocaust. Memphis Jewish Community Center, 6560 Poplar Ave. jccmemphis.org

Memphis Open

2.13

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson: An Astrophysicist Goes to the Movies

You know how there’s always that one person who doesn’t like the latest movies because the “science” is wrong? That person suddenly became cool, because his name is Neil deGrasse Tyson. With a scientist’s CV as large as the cosmos, Tyson’s credentials speak for themselves as he tackles pop culture favorites such as Star Wars and Frozen to examine the scientific aspects of various films, searching for things that the filmmakers got wrong, but also pointing out what was portrayed correctly. No movie is safe from Tyson’s telescopic gaze, with cinema selections ranging from modern hits to recognizable classics. The Orpheum, 203 S. Main St. orpheum-memphis.com

2.16

Book & Author Series: Chained in Silence

The National Civil Rights Museum’s Book & Author Series continues with Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South. Author Talitha L. LeFlouria looks back to the late nineteenthcentury Georgia, which made its increasingly large number of convicts available for hire. Using primary accounts, Dr. LeFlouria explores what the women endured in the Georgia prison system. National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry St. Civilrightsmuseum.org

2.16-27

International Jewish Film Festival

The Memphis Jewish Community Center teams up with Indie

The Pirates of Penzance

2.17-19

The Pirates of Penzance

February 29, 1897: Frederic, a pirate of Penzance, has been promoted to a full-blown pirate on his 21st birthday. However, the man quickly finds himself caught up between the world of pirates and the sophisticated sphere of gentlemen. Opera Memphis hosts Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic comedy about a group of well-intentioned pirates. Clark Opera Memphis Center, 6745 Wolf River Pkwy. operamemphis.org

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2.19

TEP Gumbo Contest

The Tennessee Equality Project tackles their own celebration of Mardi Gras right here in Memphis. Teams gather from all over the country to compete for the best gumbo in town. A panel of judges will select the winners and dole out prizes accordingly, while the community can have its say in the People’s Choice award. Hilton Memphis, 939 Ridge Lake Blvd. tnep. nationbuilder.com

TEP Gumbo Contest

2.20 Juicy J

Three 6 Mafia may be gone, but Juicy J is still going strong. Fresh off his work on a new remix with Project Pat, the Memphis rapper is slated to drop a new album titled Rubba Band Business: The Album. Juicy J’s Rubba Band Tour takes him to Minglewood

Hall, mixing his new material with old favorites like “Bandz a Make Her Dance” and “Bounce It.” For those in need of a local rap experience, look no further, for the Juice Man cometh. The performance will be accompanied by special guest Belly. Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison Ave. minglewoodhall.com

2.21

Breaking Ground at Crosstown

The journey to redevelop the Sears Crosstown building began five years ago, and those plans are about to come to fruition. The new and improved Crosstown Concourse building is holding its groundbreaking with a formal ceremony, food, live music, new exhibitions, and more. Crosstown Concourse, 495 N. Watkins St. Crosstownconcourse.com

2.27

Trolley Night

Head on down to the South Main Arts District for the monthly trolley night and take in the merchandise, cuisine, and artwork in both shops and stands along the street. South Main Street 

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ST YLE

Home Cookin’

M

emphis is a restaurant boomtown right now — and we encourage you to get out there and support your local chefs and restaurant owners as much as possible. But in the cold, dark days of February in Memphis, sometimes you just want to make a good meal at home. Here are some of our favorite resources for just that very thing!

Modern Farmer

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Big Green Egg MiniMax You’ve seen the Big Green Egg; this MiniMax version is all of the good stuff in a nifty portable package, plus it comes with a sturdy, easy-to-grip carrier. Fits a 12-pound turkey, or four burgers, or two large steaks.

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$598, AVAILABLE AT KEN RASH’S, INC.

Sub-Zero PRO 48 Refrigerator

This top-of-the line 30 cu. ft. refrigerator offers professional features for the home chef, including triple evaporators, a magnetic door seal system, and much more.

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PRICE UPON REQUEST AVAILABLE AT FERGUSON BATH, KITCHEN, AND LIGHTING GALLERY

8 oz. Filet Mignon

Give that Green Egg MiniMax a workout with a finely marbled and aged steak ready to grill at home — from the folks who also operate local favorite Folk’s Folly Prime Steak House. A variety of fresh cuts are available.

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PRICES VARY AVAILABLE AT HUMPHREY’S PRIME CUT SHOPPE

Cuisine Couture Apron Protect your outfit and enhance it with this stylish apron.

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$39, AVAILABLE AT ANTHROPOLOGIE IN THE SHOPS OF SADDLE CREEK

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“Farther up the Road”

above: Bruschetta with herbed tomato and balsamic reduction pairs up with cider flights at Long Road Cider Company.

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by pamela denney | photographs by justin fox burks

SPIRITED YOUNG MIDTOWNERS BRING SMALL BATCH HARD CIDER TO A COUNTRY TOWN IN TENNESSEE.

T

he drive north on Route 14 to the Long Road Cider Company is not a long ride at all, although the cidery’s name springs from the commute between Midtown and Barretville, a historic Shelby County town tucked outside

Rosemark, near the Tipton County line. For me, the 30-minute ride to Tennessee’s first cidery and café —

Long Road Cider Company, operated by Dez and Clay Patterson, Jamarvis Thomas, and Scott Patterson (pictured above right) is located in historic Barretville, the birthplace of Memphis bluesman Bobby Blue Bland.

beyond Singleton Parkway, over the Loosahatchie River, and past the last Dollar General store — is both respite and destination, an homage to a countryside gem that marries millennial entrepreneurship with the birthplace of a Memphis music icon. Here the fields open up, and I am so captivated by the strong white oaks in the late winter sun that F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 23

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I almost miss the little red sign telling us to turn left and then right onto Barret Road. First, I see a barn painted by time, and then a resident peacock with a stunning train of big-eyed feathers, but it’s the historical marker planted just past the Barret homestead that makes me yell, “Stop the car.” I jump out (this is hallowed ground for my husband and me) to read how an 11-year-old Bobby Blue Bland, born in Barretville in 1930, earned 50 cents a song singing for mule-drawn wagon drivers at the Barret Cotton gin, once the largest cotton gin in western Tennessee. These days, the gin’s foundation, littered with black walnuts from a nearby tree, is an outdoor mini-museum for vintage farm equipment. Still, I don’t linger because a clapboard building, founded as the J.H. Barret & Son General Store in 1856, pulls me across the street to a sprawling front porch and the premise of my story: Long Road Cider Company, a startup so heartfelt that I have to settle into the bar for a few minutes to take in the unpolished linoleum and the calico cupboard curtains and BOBBY BLUE BLAND, BORN the warm smell of étouffée. “Hi,” Dez Patterson calls out IN BARRETVILLE IN 1930, from her countertop perch, where she updates a hand-letEARNED 50 CENTS A SONG tered menu of hard apple ciSINGING FOR MULE-DRAWN ders on tap, aged in bourbon barrels in the room next door. WAGON DRIVERS AT THE “I’ll be right down.” For newcomers like us, PatBARRET COTTON GIN, ONCE terson’s animated description of what we will be tasting is THE LARGEST COTTON GIN both appreciated and informative. Cider maker Scott PatterIN WESTERN TENNESSEE. son and his brother, Clay, who are prepping dinner in the kitchen, join in the conversation. The trio is a charming tag team, asking if we like sweet or sour, robust beverages or something light, in the manner of sommeliers. We have lots of drink options (house-made sangria, cider cocktails, Shiner beer on tap), but settle on cider flights, four-ounce pours of hearty ciders that taste like bourbon or ginger, along with more winsome mixtures like Loomiamiana, made with loomi (dried limes) and Damiana tea (a much touted aphrodisiac). Now, honestly. Who knew drinking cider could be so much fun?

Scott Patterson and Jamarvis Thomas transfer cider from one oak barrel to the next; Clay Patterson waits on Atoka residents Joe and Christine Cina; Dez Patterson explains how cider varieties taste from behind the bar at Long Road Cider Company.

#3

#3

C

#3

ertainly, Dez and Clay Patterson did, when the couple relocated from Arizona to Memphis to help open Long Road Cider Company in early December, a business four years in the F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 25

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making after Scott jumped from craft beer hobbyist to professional cider-maker. A visit to San Sebastian, Spain, where locals drink non-carbonated cider directly from barrels in a celebration called Txotx, spurred him on. “In Spain, they take the fruit, they press the juice, they put the juice in barrels, and they do very little else for six months to a year,” Scott explains. “It’s tart and funky, and I couldn’t believe cider could taste like that.” Back home, Scott got hooked on the science of cider-making, winning a gold medal at the Tennessee State Fair and a silver at the prestigious Franklin County Cider Days event in

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Massachusetts. He liked to experiment with wild and cultured yeasts for fermentation and fruits and sweeteners for taste and flavor. Walk alongside the three rows of barrels in the cidery’s temperature-controlled production room, and the description of cider ingredients reads like a cornucopia from Goddess Pomona’s garden: cherries, peaches, apricots, blackberries, figs, honey, vanilla beans, Blackstrap molasses, locally foraged persimmons, and apples of all kinds, including Mutsu, Winesap, and Arkansas Black.

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Sourcing local apples for his cider operation is a challenge, says Scott, who gets some supply from Jones Orchard in nearby Millington. Typically, he blends juice he crushes in-house with apple juice he buys from a coop in Ohio. Fermenting cider in 53-gallon oak barrels from bourbon makers like Heaven Hill requires even more finesse because of the barrels’ heavy toast. “They are actually charred inside, so you get the flavor of the bourbon, but you also get the harshness,” Scott explains. To compensate, he ferments cider first in fresh barrels and then siphons the batch

Small batch hard ciders made with apples and flavored with additional fruits like persimmons and cherries are served in four-ounce tasting flights.

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Memphis Magazine’s

THE 2016

FACE OF

COFFEE

ARTISAN COFFEES

SCRATCH BAKERY - SODA FOUNTAIN

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into a second barrel. After three batches, the barrels produce a more neutral taste. “We stand alone somewhat even in the cider world in that we are fusing traditional production techniques with some very unconventional recipes and on a small scale,” Scott explains. Experimentation is key to the burgeoning craft cider industry, which is developing along a similar trajectory as craft beer, says cider expert and educator Eric West, who organizes the Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the largest competition in the world. West also tracks small craft producers with an interactive map of cidery locations in the United States. “Five years ago, when the industry was just getting started, there were maybe 125 companies. Now there are easily

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Call us today at (901) 767-3600 for a free quote or visit us online at www.clayandland.com

CIDER’S ARTISANAL COMEBACK HAS LONGSTANDING AMERICAN ROOTS.

Todd Dyson

Michael Henry

Al Hollingsworth

Louis Clay

John Curry

Danny Bozof

Daniel Wynn

Jeff Michael

Lisa Meeks

Linda Wheeler

Marv Donnaud

Lynn Alford

Herbert Montgomery

Lynda Savage

Charles Ricketts

Fred Headley

Darlene Drogmiller

James McDonnell

Matt Lawrence

Fred Tate

Debbie McNeal

Tonya Bancroft

Milton Less

Jan Bounds

Marsha Silverstein

Barry Wilson

Tim Dacus

George Edmiston

Tom Church

Paul “Skip” Portis

#3

Hard cider was the beverage of choice among American colonists. John Adams reportedly drank cider every morning to settle his stomach, and politicians routinely used cider to buy votes.

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#3

As Americans moved west in the early 1800s, nurseryman and conservationist John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, started orchards and sold apple trees to settlers so they could make cider, not so they could eat fresh fruit. Only crab apple trees were indigenous to the U.S.

Truman Sandlin

Kathryn Cook

Trey Clay

Jeff Windsor

Kevin Herman

Patrick Morgan

John Meeks

Mark Price

Rodney Murphy

Neal McConnico

Mark Pinkston

Aubrey Carrington, Jr.

Greg Tate

Stan Addison

Shirley Hudson

Dusty Rhoads

Cary Murphy

Connie Jones

#3

By definition, cider must be made with apples or pears. Cider made with pears is called “perry.”

#3

Cider never fully recovered from the Temperance movement of the early twentieth century, when, after the Eighteenth Amendment was passed in 1919, Prohibitionists burned apple orchards to stop cider-making, a fundamental part of everyday life on family farms across America.

Mathew Fields

Alan Doyle

Joe Sciara

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#3

Today, the state of Washington produces more than half the country’s apples. New York and Michigan follow in second and third place.

#3

Get ready: As of January 1, 2017, cidermakers in Tennessee can increase the alcohol content, or ABV, of hard cider to 10 percent. (The same change also applies to breweries.)

#3

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STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE SINCE 1950

600 to 700,” he says. Despite the robust growth of craft producers, especially in urban and apple-producing areas, hard cider in America still occupies an uneven middle ground between beer, which is made from grains, and wine, which is made from fruit. Education helps, West says: “It’s

Memphis Magazine’s

THE 2016

FACE OF

appraisals handwash/cleaning sales reweaving repairs color run restoration pet and other stain removals moth damage odor removal and much more

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#3 “WE CAN TRY TO REPLICATE

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Since 1843, when family matters most.

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canalefuneraldirectors.com 2700 Union Avenue Extended, Memphis, Tennessee 38112 901.452.6400

the small producers like Long Road Cider who are helping cider build its own identity, who are educating people to have an open mind, so they can recognize that cider is a beverage of its own.” Scott Patterson agrees. He tries to teach customers that environmental factors like weather and soil composition impact the taste and complexity of cider, regardless of the recipe. “We can try to replicate ciders, but it doesn’t always work,” he says. “There’s going to be some fluctuation between batches, but that’s part of the fun.” We couldn’t agree more, and with alco-

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hol percentages hovering around 6 percent, the ciders we try have a modest but happy kick that pairs seamlessly with the café’s food: Andouille sausage and onion stewed in cider; chicken Gorgonzola pot pie baked inside a pastry pocket; cornbread and southern greens served in a pale blue cup; and an evolving menu of weekend specials like neck bones, French onion soup, and house-made ice cream.

In the cidery’s kitchen, Clay Patterson prepares Andouille sausage stewed in cider and plated with pickled watermelon rind on a soft baguette.

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Clay credits Scott with the menu (“I just make sure he has clean dishes,” he says) and describes the cidery’s simple approach to food like this: “We want food that complements the environment, that is good and easy to prepare and warming to the soul.” For Joe and Christine Cina, who live in nearby Atoka, the cidery is a welcome change from the area’s more typical fast-food restaurants. “We are blown away by this place,” Joe Cina says. “The cider is excellent, and you can’t find anything like it nearby. We are coming back tomorrow, and I am bringing my growler.” 

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(Editor’s note: Long Road Cider Company is open Thursday and Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. The company’s hard ciders are sold on tap in Memphis at Joe’s Liquors, Miss Cordelia’s, Cashsaver, Flying Saucer, Bounty on Broad, the Rec Room, Lucchesi’s Beer Garden, and Cheers Wines and Spirits in Collierville. Hot spice cider is sold at Curb Market in Midtown. Bottled cider is limited, but production will increase over the coming months.)

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TOP 10

PRESENTING THE

WINNERS

I

OF OUR MEMPHIS MAGAZINE READERS’ RESTAURANT POLL

t happens more times than you’d think. You enjoy a good meal as much as the next person, and you have a hankering for something new — let’s say you want to try Vietnamese food for the first time. So you ask a friend, or a neighbor, or perhaps a co-worker for a recommendation, and they name a place they like. But when you go there, it’s not quite what you expected. Maybe the food isn’t what you hoped for, or the service isn’t up to par. And so you don’t have a good experience, and you blame that friend, or neighbor, or c0-worker who steered you wrong. The more you think about, you question other advice they have given you over the years. Tensions develop; fights erupt. You unfriend your pal; you move to a different part of town; you search for a new job. All this stress can be avoided if you simply consult the winners of our 2017 Readers Restaurant Poll. With online voting and safeguards to prevent multiple entries, this can rightfully be considered our city’s most definitive and accurate dining poll. The winner in each category is listed in bold type, followed by other contenders in the order of votes received. To be declared a winner, that establishment had to receive at least 10 percent of the total votes. We’re happy to report that our readers still enjoyed many old favorites, as you’ll see, but we have noted that many new establishments made the list this year, proving that this city’s dining scene is very much alive and well.

NE W RES TAU R AN TS FOR 201 7

A

fter a year of discontent at almost every turn, the top ten new restaurants in Memphis provide a much-needed admonition to all sides of the table: Please people. Let’s eat. Happily, dining out in Memphis couldn’t be any easier, especially when the city’s new restaurants offer food ranging from Southern-style meat-and-threes to carefully executed (and pricier) shareable plates. Even more fun, Memphis magazine’s annual poll includes so many new restaurants that diners can eat out for almost a month with no duplication. They will, however, have to traverse the city from downtown to the eastern suburbs, an area traditionally underserved by independently owned restaurants. The times, it seems, are a-changing. Consider The Kitchen Bistro, which brought its Colorado sensibility to the redeveloped Shelby Farms Park, mixing sunset views with hand-crafted cocktails and a wood-fired grill. And what came next? Chef Michele D’Oto opened The Pasta Maker Restaurant in a Germantown shopping center, serving heavenly artisanal pastas all made in-house. For now, the push eastward continues. Build-outs are almost complete for a trio of new restaurants on the University District’s Highland Strip, and on Collierville’s town square, three more restaurants are on tap for later this year, joining the recently opened 148 North from chef Brian Thurmond and Mac Edwards’ more casual Brooks Pharm2Fork. Does anyone want to Uber? — Pamela Denney

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L OF L I N YA R D BEST PIZZA MEMPHIS PIZZA CAFÉ ALDO’S PIZZA PIES HOG & HOMINY BEST MEXICAN LAS DELICIAS LAS TORTUGAS / MOLLY’S LA CASITA (TIE) EL MEZCAL BEST ITALIAN ANDREW MICHAEL ITALIAN KITCHEN PETE & SAM’S / STRANO SICILIAN KITCHEN (TIE) FRANK GRISANTI’S BEST MEDITERRANEAN CASABLANCA RESTAURANT JIM’S PLACE TAZIKI’S MEDITERRANEAN CAFÉ / PETRA CAFÉ (TIE) BEST CHINESE WANG’S MANDARIN HOUSE MULAN A-TAN

Even in a winter’s chill chased away by a crackling pit fire, customers flock to the outdoor space at Loflin Yard, where chef Andy Knight’s food, like brisket chili served with crackerbread, joins barrel-aged cocktails, such as the Bitter Bison (above center).

R

ight now we are picturing you picturing yourself at Loflin Yard. It’s Memphis hot, but with the breeze on the patio, you don’t notice as your senses are piqued by the sounds of the waterfall and laughing children on the lawn and the hunger-pang-inducing smell of meat cooking in the smoker. You may be a little buzzed from one (or two) of the barrel-aged cocktails — perhaps the Sazerac or the Old Fashioned. Chef Andy Knight’s food

is already on the table — large piles of the expertly done beef brisket or pork tenderloin or the pimento cheese po’boy (for the vegetarians) with the great bread. Sides also are crowding the table as there’s too much to choose from: street corn, Tiny Bomb-braised collard greens, and that just divine crispy peanut slaw. You think to yourself: This is perfect; this is Memphis. It is no surprise to anyone at all that

Loflin Yard made the Best New Restaurant list (It also picked up first place in Outdoor Dining and a second place for People Watching), since roughly a minute after it opened, it was hailed as innovative. And we’ve got to give it to the folks behind the spot, who envisioned a little slice of heaven carved out of a mostly forgotten space in downtown’s South Memphis. — Susan Ellis 7 W. CAROLINA AVE. (901-249-3046)

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CHAR

BEST JAPANESE SEKISUI SAKURA OSAKA

RESTAURANT

BEST INDIAN INDIA PALACE GOLDEN INDIA BOMBAY HOUSE BEST VIETNAMESE PHO SAIGON PHO BINH LOTUS VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT BEST THAI BHAN THAI BANGKOK ALLEY JASMINE Char’s surf and turf offerings, updated to match the restaurant’s pleasing décor, include 12-ounce filets plated with house butter; crab claws marinated in balsamic and deep fried; and pan-seared Atlantic salmon with sun-dried tomato caper vinaigrette.

M

aybe it’s the 80 different bourbons, ryes, and whiskies on the drink menu or the infectious appeal of a steakhouse on a Saturday night, but Char Restaurant is popping. Located in an appealing mixed-used development called Highland Row, Char brings an upscale polish to the emerging University District, serving memorable dishes like East Coast-style crab cakes (all crab, no filler), seafood carbonara made with bucatini and

locally sourced duck eggs, and cowboy prime ribeye, cooked at high heat — up to 1,600 degrees — and plated with chili-infused house butter. The menus, directed by chefs Anthony Hatten and Steven Howell, combine classic favorites with some Southern whimsy, a feeling carried over to the restaurant’s décor. With 6,000 square feet, Char easily accommodates dinner celebrations, weekend brunch, and business lunches, when daily meat-and-two specials join more

expected fare like pimento cheese burgers and chicken BLTs. Owner Ben Brock says the steakhouse has soul, and I couldn’t agree more, especially when Le Tumulte Noir, a Memphis combo, riffs gypsy swing during Sunday brunch or Audie Smith plays Stevie Wonder songs for the couples snuggled up to his baby grand piano. — Pamela Denney

BEST VEGETARIAN / VEGAN LYFE KITCHEN FUEL CAFÉ BOUNTY ON BROAD BEST FOOD TRUCK CENTRAL BBQ FUEL CAFÉ SUSHI JIMMI / SAY CHEESE (TIE)

431 S. HIGHLAND (901-249-3533) F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 35

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CAT HERINE & M A RY ’S

BEST CAJUN / CREOLE BAYOU BAR & GRILL OWEN BRENNAN’S THE SECOND LINE BEST SHARED PLATES BABALU BOUNTY ON BROAD MCEWEN’S / ALCHEMY (TIE) BEST DELI ELWOOD’S SHACK FINO’S BOGIE’S DELICATESSEN BEST PLATE LUNCH SOUL FISH CUPBOARD RESTAURANT PATRICK’S BEST BURGER HUEY’S EARNESTINE & HAZEL’S BELMONT GRILL / ALEX’S TAVERN / TOPS BAR-B-Q (TIE)

Cocktails like the Sweet Melissa and inventive plates — crispy Brussels sprouts, Porcellino’s steak and potatoes au gratin, and tortellini en brodo — shape a seamless match with the beautifully renovated first floor of the Chisca Hotel.

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rom across the room, when the mirrored bar at Catherine & Mary’s backlights customers and liquor bottles, I feel caught in a vintage animation, slowed down and dreamy. But then a cocktail arrives named Heart On, and its Vida mezcal, grenadine, Prosecco, and citrus juices plant me firmly in the new year with lovely views out plate-glass windows of traffic and passersby. Located on the first floor of the newly renovated Hotel Chisca, Cath-

erine & Mary’s is the fifth restaurant for superstar chefs Michael Hudman and Andrew Ticer, who named the restaurant after their Sicilian and Tuscan grandmothers. “Our grandmothers made sure that whatever the occasion, both good and bad, revolved around some amazing food,” Ticer said before the restaurant opened in late September. The restaurant’s menu of shareable plates honors the chefs’ family traditions with regional Italian special-

ties organized into four parts: snacks, plates, pastas, and entrées. Chef Ryan Jenniges moved to the new restaurant from Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen on Brookhaven Circle, and his inspired cooking drives dishes like caviartopped oysters baked with creamy brandade that are so good I feel no shame in using my fingers to scrape up every morsel from the sea-shaped shells. — Pamela Denney 272 S. MAIN (901-254-8600)

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THE KITCHEN BI S T RO

BEST STEAK FOLK’S FOLLY BUCKLEY’S GRILL RUTH’S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE / THE CAPITAL GRILLE (TIE) BEST SEAFOOD (NON-FAST FOOD) TSUNAMI BONEFISH GRILL THE HALF SHELL BEST OYSTERS PEARL’S OYSTER HOUSE THE HALF SHELL FLYING FISH

Founder Kimbal Musk, silhouetted above on Kitchen Bistro’s lakefront patio, brings locally sourced plates to Shelby Farms Park, including heirloom tomato salad, field peas with Banyuls vinaigrette, and wood-roasted chicken with cornbread panzanella.

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ounders Kimbal Musk, Hugo Matheson, and Jen Lewin have created a visually elegant restaurant, with heart of pine paneling and stone appointments that give The Kitchen Bistro a contemporary, slightly Western feel. With floor-to-ceiling windows offering expansive views of Hyde Lake Park, sunsets from the patio — with the sky reflected off the water — are nothing short of breathtaking. But you came here to eat, didn’t you? Well, rest

assured, the food is just as eye-catching. Locally sourced and tastefully prepared, The Kitchen makes a trip to Shelby Farms, Memphis’ largest public park, a memorable one. Head chef Dennis Phelps charts a slightly Southern course, with offerings like pan-fried catfish and wood-roasted chicken served with a crunchy cornbread panzanella (think Tuscan croutons on a salad), but his densely flavored pork chops, garnished with a roasted corn and ham relish, are also a crowd-pleaser.

Cap off your meal with the Sticky Toffee Pudding, a popular closer. The Kitchen’s Saturday/Sunday brunch has also found a ready audience and will satisfy those who crave omelettes made to order, crispy home-fried potatoes, and sausage or ham. The ricotta and blueberries with honey are savory if a bit chewy. Less plentiful are vegetarian offerings, though egg-beater omelettes are available upon request. — Jane Schneider

BEST BARBECUE SANDWICH CENTRAL BBQ GERMANTOWN COMMISSARY THE BAR-B-Q SHOP BEST BARBECUE RIBS CENTRAL BBQ CHARLIE VERGOS’ RENDEZVOUS CORKY’S / THE BAR-B-Q SHOP (TIE)

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BU N T Y N CO R N E R CAFÉ

BEST FRIED CHICKEN GUS’S WORLD-FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN JACK PIRTLE’S UNCLE LOU’S BEST BRUNCH OWEN BRENNAN’S THE MAJESTIC GRILLE CAFÉ ECLECTIC / PAULETTE’S / THE BEAUTY SHOP (TIE) BEST BREAKFAST BROTHER JUNIPER’S BRYANT’S BREAKFAST BLUE PLATE CAFÉ BEST COFFEEHOUSE (NON-CHAIN) CAFÉ ECLECTIC MUDDY’S COFFEE AND BAKE SHOP / OTHERLANDS COFFEE BAR (TIE) BEST DESSERT SHOP MUDDY’S BAKE SHOP FROST BAKE SHOP CHEESECAKE CORNER

Owner Mike Wiggins reopened the much-missed Buntyn Café in East Memphis this year, serving breakfast and lunch with popular favorites such as pimento cheese sandwiches and meat-and-twos, including beef tips with beets and turnip greens.

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fter his father passed away in 1995, it took Mike Wiggins three years to copy down all the family recipes that had been used since the 1940s in the family eatery on Southern, Buntyn Restaurant, so he could take the helm from his mother. That restaurant, which had become something of a Memphis institution, with customers lined up at the door, closed for good in 2005, but Wiggins’ dedication to his family’s cuisine paid off

in 2015, when he leased a small space in the iBank building at 5050 Poplar. And so in November 2015, the legacy of Buntyn Restaurant and its famed yeast rolls, always delivered steaming hot, continued, this go-round under the moniker Buntyn Corner Cafe and with a somewhat modified menu. “There are no fryers here, so we can’t do our fried chicken, which everybody loved,” Wiggins says. “Only a handful of people have been disappointed.” Instead, they opt for the chicken and

dressing, a recipe that uses chicken stock, cornbread, onions, bell pepper, celery, and other seasonings. Wiggins is able to offer a light breakfast, mostly sandwiches, and the meatand-two type meals that the Buntyn name became known for — meatloaf, hamburger steak, roast beef (the center loin, Wiggins is quick to point out) vegetable soup, and peach cobbler. — Lesley Young 5050 POPLAR, SUITE 107 (901-424-3286)

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FINO’S EAST BEST FROZEN TREAT JERRY’S SNO CONES MEMPOPS LA MICHOACANA BEST CHAIN RESTAURANT HOUSTON’S AMERIGO BONEFISH GRILL BEST PLACE FOR PEOPLE-WATCHING THE PEABODY LOBBY BAR FLYING SAUCER / LOFLIN YARD (TIE) LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM Midtown’s Fino’s on the Hill now has a second location, Fino’s East, on Brookhaven Circle, where owner Jerry Wilson offers daily entrée and soup specials along with deli sandwiches and pizzas, including the sausage pizza (left).

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early every week, Fino’s East owner Jerry Wilson sees a new face walk through the door, amazed to find a second Fino’s on the Hill in East Memphis. “People are floored at how much room there is and how it looks,” Wilson says about the restaurant’s au courant use of exposed brick, chalkboard menus, and daily specials written on a continuous roll of brown craft paper. Of course, in order to make it on a Top 10 list — the two Fino’s also won number

two for Best Deli — the food must steal the show, and Fino’s East does not disappoint. The restaurant offers the Fino’s reliables, including the New York Club, an enticing stack of turkey, corned beef, Russian dressing, marinated tomatoes and onions, Swiss cheese, and lettuce on a crusty baguette. At the eastern location, however, regulars old and new can opt for combos, such as a small salad and a side item, like Fino’s cult-inspiring chickpea salad, or go full throttle with an Italian

Green salad, a half sandwich, and a half order of pasta. “That could almost kill you,” Wilson jokes about the amount of food in the large combo. He also can offer more pizza options due to the extra kitchen space. “It’s been great. People come in here nearly every day and ask, ‘How long have y’all been here?’” — Lesley Young

BEST LATE-NIGHT DINING HUEY’S THE HALF SHELL BARDOG TAVERN / HOG & HOMINY (TIE)

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M A X I MO S ON BRO A D

BEST DATE-NIGHT RESTAURANT FLIGHT RESTAURANT IRIS ANDREW MICHAEL ITALIAN KITCHEN / ERLING JENSEN THE RESTAURANT (TIE) BEST OUTDOOR DINING LOFLIN YARD BHAN THAI / THE SECOND LINE (TIE) FELICIA SUZANNE’S / CELTIC CROSSING (TIE) WORTH THE DRIVE CITY GROCERY (OXFORD, MS) BOZO’S HOT PIT BAR-B-Q (MASON, TN) AJAX DINER (OXFORD, MS) BEST PLACE TO IMPRESS OUT-OF-TOWNERS CHARLIE VERGOS’ RENDEZVOUS FOLK’S FOLLY GUS’S WORLD-FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN

Amy and chef Julio Zuniga bring fusion tapas and hand-crafted cocktails to an intimate bar and eatery located in the Broad Avenue Arts District. The couple serves dinner and brunch, including grilled Citrus Duck with strawberry Carpaccio and rosemary potato confit.

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n Spanish, Maximo means “superior,” an apt description for this new jewel of a restaurant that opened in the Broad Avenue Arts District last spring. Here, owners Amy and Julio Zuniga have created a contemporary, intimate eatery and bar that offers creative fusion dishes influenced by Julio’s background; his cooking skills were honed at the Yucatan resorts of his hometown in Cancun, Mexico. On Saturday nights, Maximo’s fills

quickly as diners arrive for offerings that not only taste good but are elegantly produced. Start with a tempting tapas, like the crispy avocado fries, Peruvian ceviche, or plump salmon cakes. Drizzled with tart chutney, these morsels embody the ideal trifecta of heat, texture, and crunch. Popular entrees include the tangy stuffed chicken served with a delicate risotto, and grouper accented with roasted tomatoes and Brussels sprouts. My favorite is the Angel Zarzuela, a

seafood stew brimming with fresh mussels, clams, shrimp, and calamari, all set in a spicy tomato broth. Be forewarned; servings are both generous and filling. The restaurant also serves a mean Sunday brunch, a welcome addition to this part of Midtown. Just be sure to leave room for dessert, as you’ll want to try the restaurant’s chocolate and cheesecake confections. — Jane Schneider 2617 BROAD AVE. (901-452-1111)

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T H E PA S TA MAKER RESTAURANT

RESTAURANT WE MISS THE MOST ANDERTON’S EAST JIM’S PLACE EAST JUSTINE’S JARRETT’S RONNIE GRISANTI’S / MIDTOWN JOHN GRISANTI’S STEAK AND ALE CAFÉ EXPRESSO FOUR FLAMES LULU GRILLE

Near the front of the restaurant, Lightning King makes artisanal pasta at The Pasta Maker in Germantown, where chef Michele D’Oto and partner Laura Derrick serve pizza flatbreads and pasta dishes reminiscent of D’Oto’s birthplace in Modena, Italy.

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ejoice, Germantown pasta lovers. Chef Michele D’Oto has relocated from Cordova, bringing his big personality, Sunday afternoon cooking classes, and chef-driven cuisine to Exeter Village Shopping Center. Simply put: Life in the ‘burbs is good. To be honest, I was a little worried when I heard D’Oto and his partner Laura Derrick closed their former restaurant Pasta Italia, but the couple understands change. They’ve been displaced by Hur-

ricane Katrina, opened a restaurant on the Collierville square, and moved briefly to Chattanooga. The couple’s latest venture, however, feels more permanent, a friendly and affordable venue with food that replicates the authenticity of D’Oto’s birthplace in Modena, Italy, the home of Ferraris and balsamic vinegar. House-made artisanal pasta and toppings to match are at the heart of D’Oto’s menu, served for dinner and lunch. On a recent visit, we tried four different dishes, and each one was a

happy union between garnish, sauce, and pasta. Across the menu, D’Oto elevates simple combinations with fresh ingredients into memorable and pretty plates. Yes, the meat lasagna and Rosette al Forno are exceptional, but don’t skip linguini Pomodoro, where the pasta — paper-thin and effortless — twirls on a fork like a Bolshoi ballerina on an endless pirouette. — Pamela Denney

BEST NEW RESTAURANT (OPENED SINCE NOVEMBER 2015) LOFLIN YARD CHAR RESTAURANT CATHERINE & MARY’S THE KITCHEN BISTRO BUNTYN CORNER CAFÉ FINO’S EAST MAXIMO’S ON BROAD THE PASTA MAKER RESTAURANT DIRTY CROW INN MACIEL’S TORTAS & TACOS

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DIRTY CROW INN BEST RESTAURANT RESTAURANT IRIS FOLK’S FOLLY ERLING JENSEN THE RESTAURANT / ANDREW MICHAEL ITALIAN KITCHEN (TIE) HIPPEST BAR SETTING LOFLIN YARD THE PEABODY LOBBY BAR BAR DKDC / BARDOG TAVERN / FOLK’S FOLLY / MOLLIE FONTAINE’S (TIE) BEST HAPPY HOUR FLYING SAUCER HUEY’S THE PEABODY LOBBY BAR BEST PLACE TO WATCH THE GAME FLYING SAUCER / FOX AND HOUND (TIE) HUEY’S BAYOU BAR & GRILL / BROOKHAVEN PUB (TIE)

Paul Atkinson credits his wings — brined all day, smoked with applewood, and served with wasabi ranch dressing — for the Dirty Crow Inn’s immediate popularity, but the bar’s amiable vibe and outdoor space in the South End also help.

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aul Atkinson came up with the tag line “five-star dive bar” to describe his first bar, the Dirty Crow Inn. He must be onto something, as the South End’s new hangout made it to our list of the Top 10 New Restaurants of 2017, thanks to his vision, as well as that of his kitchen manager, Chris Haggins, and fellow restaurant owner David Scott Walker. Atkinson points to his wings as reason No. 1 the Dirty Crow made

the cut. “They’re what put us on the map,” Atkinson says. “We brine them for 24 hours, then we smoke them with applewood, so they’re juicy and fall off the bone. Then we flash fry them so they’re crisp and warmed up.” Dirty Crow also offers six different specials a week, such as smoked bacon-wrapped shrimp and a choice of sandwiches, including the Dirty Hawaiian, with smoked, pulled chicken thigh sautéed in soy ginger sauce and

topped with pineapple chutney. Everything is homemade from scratch with the same joy, dedication, and enthusiasm that Atkinson shows when he greets every customer who walks through his doors. “We’re the melting pot of downtown,” he says. “We have lawyers, bikers, blue-collar workers, everything — all shapes and sizes. It’s been going really, really well.” — Lesley Young 855 KENTUCKY ST. (901-207-5111)

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M AC I E L’ S T O RTA S & TAC O S

BEST CRAFT COCKTAILS ALCHEMY THE PEABODY LOBBY BAR STRANO SICILIAN KITCHEN BEST DIVE BAR EARNESTINE & HAZEL’S ALEX’S TAVERN THE COVE BEST WINE LIST FLIGHT FOLK’S FOLLY / ERLING JENSEN THE RESTAURANT

Fresh ingredients drive the success of Maciel’s, where dishes like fried egg torta with beans and lettuce and fajita chicken or steak tacos attract a loyal customer following. Tip: Don’t miss the heavenly bakery located on the restaurant’s second floor.

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he first time I went to Maciel’s, shortly after it opened, I happened upon two acquaintances already at work on their baskets of food (the spicy chicken fried tacos, as I recall). They broke down the menu for me with such authority that my eyes grew wide. “Oh, we’ve been here before,” one of them purred. That’s the beauty of Maciel’s, which sprung up seemingly fully formed at 45 S. Main — an address where more than

a couple restaurants have failed. One could credit luck or good timing, and surely, those things can’t be dismissed, but let’s cut to the number-one reason for Maciel’s success and its appearance on the Best New Restaurant list: The food is outstanding, solid in every way. Those previously mentioned spicy chicken tacos (tinga) were what got folks buzzing initially, but the huaraches have since developed a loyal following, as has the Michael

Donahue-approved chicken chipotle soup (caldo tlalpeno). I’m partial to the (mashed!) potato fried tacos, three to a plate with beans and rice and a fine thing indeed. Then there’s the egg torta, a beauty of a sandwich with fried eggs, a smear of beans, lettuce, hot peppers, and other delights all on a large, soft, white bun. Oh, we’ve been here before. We will be back. — Susan Ellis

BEST BEER SELECTION FLYING SAUCER YOUNG AVENUE DELI BOSCOS SQUARED BEST LOCAL BREWERY WISEACRE GHOST RIVER MEMPHIS MADE

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KELLY ENGLISH (RESTAURANT IRIS / THE SECOND LINE)

ANDREW TICER AND MICHAEL HUDMAN (ANDREW MICHAEL ITALIAN KITCHEN / PORCELLINO’S / HOG & HOMINY / CATHERINE & MARY’S)

ERLING JENSEN (ERLING JENSEN THE RESTAURANT)

BEN SMITH (TSUNAMI)

DAVE KROG (INTERIM)

MAX HUSSEY (FOLK’S FOLLY)

JOSH STEINER (STRANO SICILIAN KITCHEN)

FELICIA WILLETT (FELICIA SUZANNE’S)

JOSE GUTIERREZ (RIVER OAKS)

PATRICK REILLY (THE MAJESTIC GRILLE)

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JUSTIN FOX BURKS

BEST MEMPHIS CHEFS

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g o o d

n o w Brunch is one of the highlights of a Sunday. But the highlight of our brunch? That’s up to you. Enjoy unique chef creations like Shakshuka, Brick Oven Brioche French Toast, White Peach Bellinis, and more. 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. MEMPHIS

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All you need to do is say “I do.” “This is how it should feel.”

“This is how it should feel.”

Promises and kisses are exchanged; toasts are inspired, but the feelings are indescribable. Let the specialists at the Westin Memphis Beale Street create a wedding experience that’s tailored to your personal style. • Select our intimate venue, perfect for your rehearsal dinner, ceremony, reception or day-after brunch. • Relax and rejuvenate in our guestrooms and suites featuring Westin’s Heavenly Bed for friends and family.

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Photo Credits: Christen Jones Photography, Le Fleur, Salt Style & Events, Tiger City Entertainment, White Door Events

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GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN ^6

OUR R E A DERS CHOSE THE TEN MEMPHIS R ESTAUR A NTS THEY MISS THE MOST.

^6

by vance lauderdale

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ne was located in an antebellum mansion near Elmwood Cemetery. Another was housed in a faux Tudor building in the heart of the Poplar Corridor. Yet another was tucked into an East Memphis

shopping center. Our city has an abundance of eating establishments, offering dining selections that would please any palate, but our readers still have fond memories of several restaurants that have closed their doors. When we asked them about “The Restaurant You Miss the Most” in our annual dining poll, these were their top-ten favorites:

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HERB ANDERTON PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSIT Y OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES

A NDERTON’S

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orn in 1913, Herb Anderton learned how to cook at an Army base in Texas. In 1945, he opened Anderton’s Oyster Bar downtown at 151 Madison. It was hugely successful; when the company celebrated its tenth anniversary, the employees baked a cake large enough to serve 2,500 customers; anybody who came in that day got a slice. During its first decade Anderton claimed he had served more than two million customers, who had gulped down six million oysters. In 1956, he purchased the old Gilmore Seafood Restaurant and named it Anderton’s East. With its pink and green terra-cotta facade and modernistic interior, including organic “blobs” that floated over diners and a blue glass panel etched with sea creatures — and who could forget the cozy bar designed to resemble a pirate ship? — well, this is the place our readers recall so fondly. Anderton opened a third restaurant in Whitehaven, and he became wealthy enough to build a custom-designed house on East Parkway, with a swimming pool shaped like an oyster. But the downtown restaurant closed in 1975, the Whitehaven location was shuttered a few years later, and Anderton’s East closed in 2005.

Various developers announced plans for the distinctive building, including possible uses as a real-estate office, but bulldozers pulled it down following damage from a summer storm. Today, the site is a vacant lot, but anyone wanting to revisit the unusual pirate-ship bar can find it at resurrected at The Cove on Broad Street.

Herb Anderton opened three restaurants in Memphis, but the Madison Avenue location — impossible to miss with its eye-catching design, inside and out — is the one our readers miss the most.

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JIM’S PL ACE EAST

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JUSTINE’S

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n its heyday, Justine’s had no peer — it was the finest of Memphis’ fine dining establishments. The building itself was as distinctive as its food, housed in a beautiful Italianate mansion called the Anderson-Coward House, built in 1843 and owned by various families before Dayton and Justine Smith purchased the house in 1957. Frequented by a Who’s Who of Memphis’ upper crust, the restaurant also served just about any VIP who happened to be in Memphis, including Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers, Yul Brynner, and Bill Clinton. Patrons enjoyed small dining rooms spread over two floors, surrounded by gilt mirrors, crystal chandeliers, plush carpeting, a grand staircase, and an overall sensation of elegance. Any visit to Justine’s became a special occasion, just by walking through the door. The restaurant closed on New Year’s Day in 1996. For a while it served as a party venue, but it has stood vacant and forlorn for years, a shell of its former opulence. New owners have announced plans to restore the building; we’ll keep our fingers crossed. In the meantime, readers wanting to remember Justine’s glory years might search for a book published years ago by the Smiths’ daughter,

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSIT Y OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES

Below: Justine’s reigned for years as the queen of local restaurants. Hugo Dixon (at right) meets with owners Dayton and Justine Smith.

he history of Jim’s Place goes all the way back to 1921, when two Greek restaurateurs — Jim Katsoudes and Nick Taras — opened a grille downtown in the basement of the Wm. Len Hotel. The place proved so popular that they soon moved to larger quarters on Union, across from The Peabody. In 1976, Jim’s Place East opened outside the city limits on Shelby Oaks Drive, in a 1940s farmhouse that had once been the Taras summer home. Filled with antiques, and tucked away from the noise of nearby Summer Avenue, the restaurant became a popular place for quiet dinners and wedding parties, since the interior was divided into several small dining rooms. Although the menu — peppered with spanakopita and taramosalata — showed the obvious Greek influence, diners also had their choice of more traditional options, such as steak and seafood. “I can see why Jim’s Place East does such good business,” wrote Tom Martin, this magazine’s dining critic, in a February 1986 review. “It is a restaurant well-suited to the tastes of many Memphis diners. The prices are reasonable, the portions ample, the atmosphere convivial, and while the menu might not offer many imaginative surprises, it also doesn’t offer any major disappointments, either.” Over the years, however, business declined, and the Taras family closed the Shelby Oaks location, auctioning off the antiques, fixtures, and china (the Lauderdale

family still dines on former Jim’s Place plates), and opened a new location, called Jim’s Place, at Poplar and Perkins. Another location, Jim’s Place Grille, is serving diners in Collierville, but readers, it seems, still hold fond memories of the old farmhouse.

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Janet Smith, called Justine’s Memories and Recipes. Full of photos of the old restaurant, inside and out, as well as some of Janet’s original artwork, the book also includes recipes from the restaurant that served diners for more than four decades.

JA R R ET T ’S

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eaders had to search for some of their favorite restaurants, which could be tucked away in unusual locations. Richard and Barbara Farmer opened Jarrett’s in the little shopping center at Quince and Yorkshire in 1994, moving into the space originally occupied by Hemming’s, and later by La Patisserie Bistro. They named their new establishment after their son. Born in Memphis, Rick Farmer traveled the country, working for various eateries, before returning home in 1988 to cook for acclaimed chef Jose Gutierrez, at the Peabody’s famed Chez Philippe. He became the chef at

the short-lived Riverside Restaurant at Number One Beale, as well as the California Cafe on Winchester. When that place closed, he moved to the kitchen of Cafe Max, at Poplar and Ridgeway. Jarrett’s was a success for several years, always a popular favorite with Memphis magazine readers. But in an interview with The Daily News, he admitted that the economic downturn of 2008 ultimately lead to the restaurant’s closing. Farmer served his last meal there on New Year’s Eve, 2009. “To be honest,” he told the newspaper, “it seems nothing was ever the same after 9/11. Before that, we didn’t have a care in the world. After that, things just changed. Not drastic, but it became difficult.” These days, Rick Farmer is the executive chef for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

RONNIE GR ISA NTI’S

PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSTIN FOX BURKS

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he Grisantis might be called the first family of Memphis restaurateurs, since in one form or another, a Grisanti eatery has been in operation in this city ever since the first Grisanti’s opened downtown on Main Street more than a century ago. All of them are related — brothers, cousins, sons, whatever they may be — so any family history gets incredibly complicated. What’s not complicated is their formula for success: high-quality, delicious, Tuscan-style food, served in relaxing environments. Ronnie got his start working for his uncle, John (see below), at what has been called the “original” Grisanti’s on Airways.

In 1979, he opened his own establishment at Union and Marshall, near Sun Studio, but in the early 1980s, he moved to the location our readers remember, at Poplar and Humes. Heaping platters of pasta in all shapes and flavors were served in an upscale setting, adorned with antiques and modern art. The restaurant had an interesting connection with Memphis magazine, by the way. When Memphis in May saluted Italy, our magazine featured a photograph of two smiling Italian women, covered with flour, just as they emerged from the bakery where they worked. Ronnie Grisanti had an artist reproduce the cover — with the women depicted almost life-size — on a back wall of the main dining room. Grisanti closed the Poplar location and opened a new establishment in the Sheffield Antiques Mall in Collierville, still in business today.

“Big John” Grisanti was one of Memphis’ bestknown restaurateurs and a recognized authority on wine.

6. GR ISA NTI’S “He’s the Memphis version of Sir John Falstaff, and his restaurant is the Boar’s Head Tavern.” That’s how Memphis magazine associate editor Mary Loveless described “Big” John Grisanti, in an October 1985 profile. Born in Memphis in 1928, Grisanti attended Christian Brothers High School and then started working at his father’s Main Street restaurant, a little place called Willie’s Grill, in the 1950s. It was there that he began to pick up his knowledge of food and wine that would make him the city’s recognized expert in both fields. In 1962, he opened his famous restaurant on Airways — moving into a building that had previously housed an F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 49

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FOUR FL A MES

“signpost” to the upscale restaurant at 1085 Poplar, they represented the Four Flames’ signature flambeau desserts: Cherries Jubilee, Bananas Foster, Peach Melba, and Baked Alaska. With brick walls 18 inches thick, the attractive two-story building was constructed around 1840 as the home of the Thomas Patton family. It changed owners over the decades, but in 1949 was home to the Heirloom Shop. Some ten years later, Lessie Gates bought the property and converted it into a restaurant called the Coach House, with an antique carriage housed in a glass enclosure in the front yard. After Gates’ death in 1965, Fields bought the place and developed it into one of our city’s top dining establishments, with 14 private dining rooms filled with antiques, oil paintings, and ornate chandeliers. A Commercial Appeal review summed up a visit this way: “The Four Flames uses its Southern setting and Southern atmosphere to provide authentic Southern hospitality.” The menu was described as “New Orleans-style” and a special treat was “little individual French stoves, so steaks can be lifted right off the flames at the table.” Another treat — unusual in Memphis at the time — was barbecued oysters. The restaurant began to struggle in the 1970s, and

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hen Harlan Fields purchased the old Patton Mansion in 1965, he erected four white pillars out front, topped with flames. Not only did they serve as an eye-catching

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UM LIBRARIES

When owner Harlan Fields purchased the former Coach House, he erected four pillars out front to celebrate the restaurant’s signature desserts. The Four Flames became a local landmark.

eatery called the Beacon — and gradually expanded the place over the years, transforming the green-andwhite structure into a local culinary landmark. It quickly became one of those places where everybody who was anybody dined, and civic groups like the Rotary Club held their monthly meetings in the large dining room upstairs. Grisanti made the news on countless occasions, most notably for his charitable work for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1978, when he paid $18,000 for an 1864 jeroboam of Chateau Lafite, and $31,000 for a smaller bottle of from the 1822 vintage, later offering special guests a taste — at $1,500 a glass — with the proceeds going to St. Jude. In the 1985 magazine profile, Grisanti said, “What you see is what you get. At home or in public, I’m the same guy. I don’t think my personality has changed since the day I was born. I was always flamboyant and jovial. I don’t want to say I was full of bull, but I was that, too.” “Big John,” considered the dean of Memphis restaurateurs, passed away in 1995. The site of his restaurant is now a Walgreen’s.

there were fears it would be demolished to make way for parking for the nearby VA hospital. The restaurant eventually closed in the mid-1980s, but luckily the historic building was rescued, and now serves as home for the Child Advocacy Center. The four columns still stand out front, but their flames have been extinguished for years.

STEA K A ND A LE

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t’s somewhat of a surprise that a chain restaurant made this list; with several locations around town (and across the country for that matter), one wonders which Steak and Ale our readers miss. At any rate, this was a national chain — part of the Legendary Restaurant Brands Company that operated Bennigan’s — and as the name suggests, the main item on the menu was steak, and diners could enjoy a glass of ale (usually beer) as they enjoyed the Olde English atmosphere of a Tudor-style mansion, complete with rough stucco walls and rustic beams. Founded in Dallas in 1966, the company constructed more than 280 locations around the country. (In some 50 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7

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cities, the identical establishment was called The Jolly Ox.) Perhaps the most popular locations in Memphis were on Poplar, Summer, and Shelby Drive. The parking lots were usually jammed with patrons enjoying New York strip, Kensington Club, filet mignon, and other treats. It’s hard to say why certain places close, but Steak and Ale went through various ownership changes, at one time purchased by the Pillsbury corporation, and then by another conglomerate. At any rate, in 2008, most of the Steak and Ales around the country closed. Their distinctive buildings are hard to miss; the location on Summer now houses an Asian restaurant. But the location on Poplar has been repurposed entirely, transformed into Sharky’s Gulf Grill, with strikingly modern architecture that makes it hard to recognize as the original structure.

LULU GR ILLE

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n 1991, owners Leigh and Don McLean transformed a former La Baguette bakery into one of our readers’ most-lamented lost restaurants. Naming it after one of their daughters, they called the little establishment Lulu Grille. (Another daughter was remembered with the Amanda Veranda.) It wasn’t easy to find — patrons had to look for Memphis Photo Supply in the little retail center at Poplar and Erin, and then take the walkway back to the place — but it was worth the journey. Dining critic Tom Martin, normally not so effusive, opened his July 1991 review with, “Oh, what a delightful surprise!” And it was a place of delight and surprises. After all, how many restaurants offer an egg and olive sandwich on their regular dinner menu (perhaps the city’s best egg and olive sandwich, as the Lauderdales can attest). Diners could take their pick of an outside patio, several cozy dining rooms that featured a rustic, country interior with exposed bricks and stucco walls, or rows of high-backed booths if they needed complete privacy. And in the bathrooms, regular visitors may remember the pair of jeans painted onto the walls of the cubicle, just as a lark. But, as Martin noted, “the real stars of the show at Lulu Grille are the desserts

— they make the end of the meal seem like the world’s greatest birthday party.” Anyone who ever enjoyed the establishment’s scrumptious carrot cake would agree wholeheartedly. Lulu Grille closed in 2008. The space currently houses Ciao Bella.

This colorful mural welcomed diners to the Lulu Grille. Owner Leigh McLean (at left) with Karen Henson prepare desserts for a special event.

CA FÉ EX PR ESSO

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hen the Belz family renovated The Peabody in 1981, they did more than reopen the doors to “The South’s Grand Hotel.” That project served as the catalyst that brought new life to a long-dormant downtown, and today it still serves as the heart of a thriving commercial and residential district. But from the start, it was known for more than its luxury rooms, or even its famous lobby fountain, complete with ducks. The Peabody quickly established a reputation for its enticing food, and its restaurants were standouts: Chez Philippe, still regarded as one this city’s premier dining experiences, and complementary establishments such as Dux, Mallards, and Cafe Expresso. Anyone who dined at Cafe Expresso, designed to resemble a French bistro with its gleaming white countertops and black-and-white checkerboard floor, remembers the tasty soups, sandwiches, and salads. But the heart of the menu was the dessert list — more than 25 cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream, malts, milkshakes and other delicacies, including eight different kinds of cheesecake. The Lauderdale family’s favorite was the Worldly White Chocolate Charlotte, and this is how it’s described on the menu: “Luscious white chocolate mousse hand-held by fresh-baked ladyfingers, white chocolate, and served with raspberry sauce.” It’s hard to forget a taste treat like that, so it’s no wonder that Cafe Expresso, which has been closed since 2002, is still fondly remembered by our readers. F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 51

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CURTAIN CALL M E M PH I S AC T R E S S I R E N E C R I S T PL A N S H E R L A S T PE R F OR M A N C E .

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by chris davis

Veteran actor Irene Crist was picking up a friend playwright David Lindsey-Abaire’s geriatric farce recently when she saw the plays let out. “I remember about odd-couple roommates who find themselves in the buzz starting,” she says. “I was sitting in my car on an all-out brawl to determine who reigns supreme in Cooper when people started coming out of Playhouse. the nursing home. Then they started coming out of CirCrist has been one of Memphis’ most cuit. And then they started walking reliable and recognizable actors since up the street from TheatreWorks. All she first went to work for Jackie Nichthese people had been to the theater. ols and Playhouse on the Square in 1978. All these people were coming out from She’s known Overton Square in its glory different spaces, having seen different days, remembers when it hit the skids, shows. It gave me such an incredible and watched it bounce back and the sense that all is well. It made my heart number of theaters grow from one to beat a little faster, like all of this was four. She dropped into the scene on a part of something much bigger. It was high note and it looks like the classithe first sense I got that Overton Square cally trained actress who built a repureally is a theater district. Which means tation for versatility, playing characters Irene Crist, at home in Memphis really is a theater town.” that ranged from Shakespeare’s ingeher natural habitat — If Memphis is a theater town as Crist nues to the pharmaceutical-impaired center stage. asserts, she did her part to make it so. matriarch of August: Osage County, will As an actor, she’s set a high bar. As a bow out on one too. teacher for Playhouse on the Square’s conservatory, “Now, I don’t want people to think I’m leaving the she’s shared her gifts across generations. She’s retiring theater,” Crist says more than once, mortified by the from the stage in June after one last performance at very idea that anybody could ever think such a thing. Circuit Playhouse in Ripcord, Pulitzer-prize winning She still loves teaching and will continue to direct

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY PLAYHOUSE ON THE SQUARE

verton Square gets an extra boost of energy weekend nights at just about 10 p.m., when final curtains start falling block by block. Ovations swell and fade into the night. Playhouse doors swing wide and audiences, dressed for an evening on the town, pour into the street and pool on sidewalks to chat, smoke, or both. Busy-seeming couples hustle past the loiterers and into waiting cars that ferry them away, while others stroll north, lured by a neon glow and the clatter and roar of nearby clubs. It’s a lively scene of life in transition that plays itself out while working actors, still in their dressing rooms, slip out of costume and character, and into themselves and civvies for the night. It’s a scene performers seldom witness — but sometimes they do.

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top left: Visiting the Far East with Barclay Roberts at Theatre Memphis. top right: A spitfire returns to the Circuit Playhouse stage in Spitfire Grill. bottom left: Confronting a serial killer in Frozen at Circuit Playhouse. bottom right: Sex and appeal diverge in The Little Dog Laughed at Circuit Playhouse.

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“We were too young to know any better and burning people out left and right,” Nichols says, remembering the austerity and long hours. Actors rehearsed 9-5 and performed six shows five nights a week, WednesdaySunday. “I laugh when people say we do too much today,” he says. “We did two shows on Saturday at 6 and 9. And when we closed a show, the next show opened five days later.” Crist, he says, fell right into the routine. actress and occasional activist put all her plans on hold to play the part of a demure, “She is extremely flexible,” Nichols says. Carter-era housewife. Or something like that. “She could do everything. We’re a resident “I joined the University Wives Club,” she company doing all different kinds of shows — says with a husky, cigarette-cured chuckle. Shakespeare, contemporary drama, comedy, “It was 1978 and it did not even occur to me you name it. She was all over it. Irene was to wonder why there was no such thing as a exactly what our company needed at that University Husbands Club.” To keep herself point in time. Enormously valuable.” occupied she joined a book club and signed The people Crist met in Overton Square up for a beginning tatting class even though weren’t like any she’d encountered anywhere else and she quickly decided the helpful people at Apartment Finders had done her no real favors by insisting that East Memphis was the key to her personal bliss. “I remember sitting at this little bistro right next to the theater with a banker and one of the Square owners,” Crist says, recounting her introduction to Midtown’s bohemian set, to which these two buttoned-down men clearly did not belong. To Crist’s surprise Memphis artist, puppeteer, washboard scratcher, and hippie hero Jimmy Crosthwait rounded out the dinIrene Crist makes her Memphis debut in Much Ado About ner party. Suits didn’t mingle with Nothing at Playhouse on the Square. the counterculture in the Beltway bedroom communities where she’d she didn’t really know what that was. “I knew come of age. This was all brand-new, endlesstatting had something to do with sewing,” she ly intriguing, and she wanted to move west as says, although it doesn’t, really. “I wasn’t very fast as she could. good at that sewing, but thought, ‘You know Crist left the theater for the second time what? I’m going to tatt!’” The first marriage in 1985 when she was pregnant with her proved rocky, and Crist, who would later earn first child. The pace was too hectic. The pay rave reviews as Edward Albee’s fierce uniwasn’t enough for a growing family. Through versity wife Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia connections she’d made on the Square, she Woolf, never did improve her tatting skills or found a job in marketing. She also spent time her sewing skills, nor did she make any of the working for The Commercial Appeal, developing club meetings she signed up for. newspaper-based education programs. She “I got a call from Playhouse on the Square,” missed the spotlight, but the new schedule she explains. “They were doing Shakespeare’s suited her better. Much Ado About Nothing and needed a Beatrice. “When I discovered you could leave a job So Crist, who was unaccustomed to audiat 5, go home, have the evening and weektioning, auditioned and landed the role of ends off too, I thought there was nothing Shakespeare’s famously combative advocate that could pull me back to theater. From high for gender equality. Two weeks later, Jackie school on, I’d never had any of that. It was Nichols invited her to join Playhouse on the marvelous.” Square’s resident company, where she’d take She was never fully reformed. Every couon principal roles in shows like Lillian Hellple of years Memphis actor/director Jerry man’s Another Part of the Forest and the Charles Chipman offered Crist a part in a show she Dickens musical Oliver! couldn’t say no to — roles like Anna in Lan“This is when Playhouse really was on the ford Wilson’s 80’s-era hit Burn This, or Eleanor Square,” Crist says. “Back when Jackie [Nichof Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter. She’d never ols] would wash the plastic cups at the bar.” worked in community theater before, and

“All these people were coming out from different spaces, having seen different shows. It gave me such an incredible sense that all is well. It made my heart beat a little faster. It was the first sense I got that Overton Square really is a theater district. Memphis really is a theater town.” and work behind the scenes. But there have been health concerns. Learning lines isn’t always easy, like it used to be. Crist wants to say goodbye before someone has to tell her it’s time, so fans are on notice. After a remarkable 38-year run in Memphis theater, there’s officially a limited number of opportunities to watch a local treasure do the thing she’s done so well for so long. Before moving South with her first husband — a college professor who found employment teaching mime at Memphis State University — Crist worked as a full-time actress with a small startup theater company in Rockville, Maryland. “I didn’t have to work a regular 9 to 5 job until I was at least 30ish,” she brags. Street 70, the company where she cut her teeth, started out as a project of the Montgomery County Dept. of Recreation. It grew into the Round House Theatre, an award-winning Beltway company with an Equity venue in Bethesda and an education center in Silver Springs. Helping to launch this company was Crist’s first real job. It was also the continuation of a lifelong student/mentor relationship with Round House founder June Allen, a British actress who’d trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts under the guidance of British stage icons like Sir Michael Redgrave and Sir John Gielgud. “She fascinated me with her very British accent,” Crist says of Allen, whom she met while she was still in elementary school, because she seemed to be the only kid in all of Montgomery County interested in the English transplant’s first attempt to launch a municipal theater project. “And I must have fascinated her too because she called my mother and said she wanted to teach me privately.” Rigorous private lessons continued through high school, and the two women remained close until Allen passed away in 2016 at the age of 92. Marriage changes things, and Crist’s promising theater career ended for the first time when she moved with her husband from the affluent D.C. suburbs to East Memphis at the recommendation of real estate consultants who assured the young couple they wouldn’t be happy living anywhere else. She only had one role in mind back then. The outspoken 54 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7

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wasn’t sure how she felt about it at first. “I’d always been paid,” Crist says. “But I loved working at Theatre Memphis. I felt the actors were respected and cared for. It was fun and I was making my living elsewhere, and that was okay.” Chipman says it was the juicy roles, not any personal charm of his own, that kept Crist at least occasionally engaged during a break that would last 18 years. His joy came from watching her work at close range, playing opposite her so many times in shows like Love Letters, Orson’s Shadow, or Other Desert Cities. “But directing her, playing opposite her, or just being held captive by another fine piece of her work as a member of the audience, the two things that always impress me the most are her honesty and her economy,” Chipman says. “She never wastes an opportunity to deliver a simple truth, and she never takes that moment too far or lets it land too wide. She’s a skilled and consummate professional. And then there’s that great husky, sexy voice.” Then 9/11 happened. “I started thinking about how we have a finite number of days,” Crist says. “And yes, I know it sounds cliché.” For her the national tragedy was extra personal, and extra tragic. An old friend and colleague was on board the flight hijackers crashed into the Pentagon. She remembers reading the news ticker when it was announced that In the Heat of the Night star Howard Rollins Jr. died in the crash. Rollins, who also appeared in films like Ragtime and A Soldier’s Story, once tried to say no to Crist’s mentor June Allen. He told her he wasn’t quite ready to play Othello. “Of course not, dear,” Allen responded. “I just want you to taste it.” “I was his Desdemona,” says Crist, who mourned the loss, but didn’t return to the stage until August 2003 when she bumped into Jackie Nichols at the Ostrander Awards. Crist had a good run at Theatre Memphis, appearing in dramas like Far East, The Real Thing, The Little Foxes, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses. When she finally cornered Jackie and told him she was thinking about coming back to the theater full-time, he said, ‘That’s funny, I was just thinking about you for Spitfire Grill.’” Crist wasn’t sure about the material but followed up on the offer, and when general season auditions rolled around, she also tried out for director Dave Landis, whom she describes as the love/hate relationship of her life. She sang Sondheim for him horribly but did everything else well enough to land the gig anyway. In short order she found herself back in the full-time acting game, starring in a folksy musical and more than a little bit terrified. “I hadn’t sung in 25 or 30 years,” Crist says, wincing at the prospect. All concerns aside, Spitfire turned out to be a terrific little show,

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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Saturday, May 6th, 2017

and an auspicious return to the professional stage. “Her focus could be just razor sharp,” says Landis, who compares their professional relationship to some of their more combative onstage partnerships — a little bit Golda and Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, a little bit Martha and George from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. “Now I think you see that same focus when she’s directing,” he says. Directing is still a new frontier for Crist, who never really considered ever being anything but an actor. A college instructor once observed her sweeping the shop floor and noted how lucky she was to have other theatrical skills. “So I figured if an actor is all I am, maybe I should just do that,” she says. But Crist’s comeback was accompanied by a shift in artistic focus. In addition to acting for Playhouse, she started directing shows for smaller theaters and suburban companies like Desoto Family Theatre. It was all pretty

Prolific actor, educator, and director Pamela Poletti says it’s hard to imagine a Memphis where Crist isn’t on stage playing Amanda in The Glass Menagerie or Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She’s compelled to brainstorm places where her friends’ talents can be put to use as soon as she says she’s through. “Maybe Chatterbox Audio Theater,” Poletti says hopefully, suggesting some future collaboration with Memphis’ enduring audio-only theater troupe. Poletti’s acting resume is expansive — from Shakespeare and Shaw to Beckett and Sarah Ruhl. As a director, she once guided Crist through one of her most vivid portrayals as Vivian Leigh in the backstage historical fiction, Orson’s Shadow. “I wanted that role,” Crist says. “I’d been cast over and over again in old lady roles. When I saw Circuit was doing the play, I did my research. The actress who played Viv-

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“When she’s onstage and fully present, there’s nobody else like her. There’s nothing else like her. She is one hell of an actress.”

Down Syndrome Association of Memphis Contact Martine Hobson & the Mid-South hosts 901.547.7588 office 901.262.0473 mobile the Sixth Annual “Get Down and Derby”

small stuff until 2010, when Theatre Memphis revived a production of Much Ado that Crist had set at the end of the Vietnam war and originally staged for Bartlett Community Theatre. The revival brought Crist’s Shakespearean romp more attention than it originally received and high praise for an offbeat cast and original, authentically psychedelic musical arrangements created by her son, Bennett Foster. So Much Ado — Crist’s first show as an actor in Memphis — also heralded her arrival as a director of note. In 2013, her epic simultaneous staging of Tony Kushner’s Angels in Amer$75 Individual Ticket • $30 Self-Advocate Ticket • $125 Couple ica PartsTicket 1 and 2 swept Memphis’ Ostrander Awards, bringing home 15 play prizes includTickets cost $75.00. Ask about our different Sponsorship Levelsing Best Dramatic Production and a Best DiPurchase tickets online at rector nod for Crist. In the following season dsamemphis.org/getdownderby she used her newfound talent for directing Proceeds Benefit or callAll901-547-7588. two plays at a time to stage richly imagined productions of Chekhov’s The Seagull, and Down Syndrome Association of Memphis & the Mid-South Christopher Durang’s Chekhov-inspired comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Purchase Tickets Online at Like Angels, it was an enormous undertaking and a similarly enormous success with Memphis theater judges, earning Crist and Playwww.dsamemphis.org/getdownderby or call 901-547-7588 house a second round of Best Director and Best Production Ostranders for the Durang. Crist is currently directing Hand to God, Robert Askins’ dark comedy about fundamentalist religion in Texas. It closes at Circuit Playhouse February 19.

Saturday, May 6, 2017 Ladies, wear your best hats and men, your nicest seersucker suit 4 to 9 p.m. for the sixth annual “Get Down Woodland and Derby”. Attend theHills live 10000 Woodland Dr. viewing of the KentuckyHills Derby Cordova, TN 38018 benefiting the Down Syndrome Association of Memphis and Entertainment • Food • Drink the Mid-South! Food, drink, Silent Auction silent • Wineauction, Pull • Hat Parade entertainment, wine pull and much more.

Irene and John Moore in The Little Dog Laughed.

ian on Broadway was the exact same age as me. So I sent Dave Landis one of those 3 a.m. emails I should have probably waited till morning to send.” Regardless, the email worked. Landis agreed that Crist had been stuck in little old lady roles for too long and thought she deserved a crack at Vivian — a character who’s older than the Scarlet O’Hara of our imaginations and fragile in every way. Poletti does theater today because, as a middle school student, Crist, still in her first go-round as a resident company member and teacher at Playhouse on the Square, singled her out in a class full of other middle school students, much like Crist’s mentor June Allen once singled her out. “I can still see Irene sitting, all coiled up on the floor,” Poletti says. “Are you serious about this?” Crist asked the young girl in a voice dipping down into bass registers. Like Allen, Crist saw something special and offered a chance to take private lessons. Poletti says the best thing about directing her first teacher was watching how she practiced what she taught. Then she describes, as well as anybody has or could, what Memphis will miss when the curtain comes down on Ripcord and this great lady takes her final bow. “When she’s onstage and fully present there’s nobody else like her,” Poletti says. “There’s nothing else like her. She is one hell of an actress.”  

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AROUND THE HOUSE

Brad Parsley sits with the studio’s control app. PHOTOGRAPH BY KAREN PULFER FOCHT

Audiovisual Wizardry

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ith a flood of technological updates thrown at customers on a regular basis, it can be hard to keep track of what kinds of programs and software function in their homes. Music and television are staples of the

Audio Video Artistry owner Brad Parsley sounds off about the latest technology and home theater installation.

entertainment industry today, and there’s nothing quite like experiencing

by sam cicci

Chris Rogers, the company’s aim was to provide a more creative approach to

both in the highest possible quality. Luckily, local installation business Audio Video Artistry can tick all the boxes. Founded in 1998 by Brad Parsley and home theater installation and ensure the best possible experience. Whether it’s audio, video, or even security, Audio Video Artistry has the technology and know-how to make it possible. F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 59

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AROUND THE HOUSE

Those looking to try before they buy should seek out Audio Video Artistry’s 5,000-square-foot home studio set.

AVA’s studio shows the seamless integration of screens into a home’s aesthetic.

“We wear a lot of hats,” says Parsley. “Basically, anything having to do with technology and communications and security. We specialize primarily in residential, but we also do commercial. We do a lot of bar and restaurant [business] and, believe it or not, wine and liquor stores lately. Everybody knows us as a home theater and speaker company, but actually the lion’s share of our business now is in control systems. If you want to be able to control everything in your home from an application on your smartphone, that’s what we do.” As a longtime participant in the audio/ video field, part of Parsley’s job is to stay with current trends. In the television industry, 4K TVs are emerging as the newest technology. “I believe that 4K is really what separates us from our competitors,” he says. “It’s not as simple as buying a TV, but there are a series of things that have to be planned to enjoy it as intended.” According to Parsley, 2K is still the main quality output from many content providers.

With many boxes and components not quite matching the technological output of 4K just yet, careful groundwork needs to be laid so that home theater setups aren’t quickly out of date. As for the audio aspect, Dolby Atmos is the best available option, according to Parsley. “It’s a gamechanger, the first real innovation since Dolby Pro Logic,” he says. Fortunately, there are two individual theaters at his studio where customers can experience the Dolby Atmos surround sound. One main hurdle when looking for the best equipment is price. The newest technology always runs up a high bill, but there are ways to cut costs. “You don’t have to spend-spend-spend to have the best home theater,” says Parsley. “I put my experience behind installing the best possible systems. Although I implement exotic systems as well, I can give people more performance and more value for the money than they can find somewhere else.” Parsley explains that many big box retailers have a “do it yourself” attitude when it comes to installation, which is what many people are turning toward. While grabbing anything that looks good on the shelf might provide some immediate technological boosts, if not implemented the right way, he says, the audio and visual variables might not line up right in terms of quality. Nothing grates more than having a clear picture with unintelligible sound. That’s where having an expert match up and install the equipment can come in handy. “We’re a dying breed in terms of the home theater industry,” Parsley says. “But, there are still plenty of people in Memphis who want a certain level of expertise and want the best, so we’ll stick with it.” Those looking to try before they buy should seek out Audio Video Artistry’s 5,000-squarefoot home studio set. Located near Shelby

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AROUND THE HOUSE

Farms, the studio provides a complete look at what the company offers, from the latest in visuals to a full sound experience. “It essentially shows a person all the options they’d have in a luxury home,” says Parsley. Some of the examples detail the fancier range of available selections. One television screen doubles as a mirror, while others can be concealed behind pieces of artwork, which roll up to reveal the screen. Those extra tricks allow for a full range of possibilities; electronics can be adapted to many styles of interior design, with the excess clutter, such as cables and boxes, hidden from view. “Most people don’t want equipment just sitting out in the middle of the room,” says Parsley. Whether tucked behind a screen or a painting, the needed equipment won’t affect the aesthetic appeal of a room after

Screens can be hidden behind movable artwork.

an installation. While having the latest video and sound equipment can create an entertainment haven, safety is a pressing issue for many clients in Memphis. Parsley aligns his technological expertise with some of the latest advanc-

es in home security. “For clients with larger homes, they need a more custom solution for security,” he says. “Most of the security companies now have gone to more of a cookie-cutter, wireless approach, which works great for small to medium homes. For larger homes, it does not.” Many security companies only provide wireless systems, so a more personal touch is needed to bring together various systems to handle the requirements of protecting a larger home. Audio Video Artistry’s separate company, Custom Integrated Alarm Systems, provides the necessary services. “They need a well-planned-out security solution, and we’ve stepped into that gap to specialize,” Parsley says. “We do customized surveillance equipment for homes and businesses, so we have cameras for all kinds of

1948 Vanderhorn Dr., Memphis, TN 38134 | 901-384-0070 | www.bishophome.com 62 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7

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purposes. We have one that covers a large area, and if it detects someone in its field of view, it will zoom in on that person, and it will follow them automatically until they’re out of the camera’s view. If a car goes by at night, it will zoom in on that car, which makes reading license plates a lot easier. All of that takes place automatically. That’s why it’s more effective than a standard wireless camera you buy from Home Depot or AT&T.” The niche security market has provided one of Audio Video Artistry’s biggest commercial booms, proving the demand for good home security in Memphis.

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Can you imagine... a world without children? Crucial systems and wiring can be kept out of sight.

Commonly advertised technological products only scratch the surface of what’s available to install in a home. With an inundation of available technology, sometimes it really does help to have a professional hand with setting everything up. Audio Video Artistry still gets to work in the community, with one of their recent installations being at the original Germantown Baptist Church building near the Methodist Baptist Church campus. Despite all the technological advances, the historic aesthetic of the building looks exactly the same. When those installing the system have a passion for their business, and what it can provide customers, it’s an added bonus. “I’ve been doing this since high school,” says Parsley, “ and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

We Can’t. Call 1-800-996-4100 to help.

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A

S P E C I A L

S U P P L E M E N T

T O

M E M P H I S

M A G A Z I N E

MENDING A BROKEN HEART

ONE PATIENT’S SUCCESS STORY W ITH A NEW T YPE OF CARDIAC ABLATION .

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by michael finger

t’s frightening to wake up in the middle of the night with the sense that something is terribly wrong. At 2 in the morning of February 27, 2001, that sensation was an odd fluttery feeling in my chest, not being able to catch my breath, and a terrifying wooziness when I tried to stand up. I was in no pain, so — at age 48 — I hoped I wasn’t having a heart attack, but since I didn’t think I was in any immediate

danger (more about that later), I had my wife drive me — running a few red lights along the way — to the Baptist Hospital Emergency Room.

They take things quite seriously in the ER when you tell them you’re having heart problems, and within five minutes a triage nurse was checking my pulse. For the first time, I heard those words: “You’re in atrial fibrillation.” For some reason, that was reassuring. I’d had an irregular heartbeat for years, mainly just skipped beats here and there (called PVCs, or “premature ventricular contractions”) and this was something new. Even so, I was under the impression this was the “safest” of all the various arrhythmias. “Oh, that’s a relief,” I recall telling the nurse. If only I knew.

T

he heart — along with the rest of the human body — is a truly amazing machine, as long as everything works as it should. Even a third-grader understands the heart’s main function is two-fold: circulate blood to the lungs, where it picks up the life-giving oxygen, and then pump that richly oxygenated blood to every organ and cell in the body. But what, exactly, makes the heart beat, for most people, around 60 times a minute, 3,600 times an hour, 86,400 times a day, an astonishing 31 million times a year — for as long as you live? A cluster of nerve cells called the sinus node, embedded in the upper wall of the heart, discharges a burst of electricity every second or so. This

energy is carried along the walls of the heart through invisible pathways. First, they reach the smaller, upper chambers of the heart — these are the atria — and the energy causes them to compress, pumping blood downward into the ventricles. Then, that same burst of electricity moves downward, to the larger chambers — the all-important ventricles — which pump the blood with considerable force everywhere from your brain to your toes. The slight delay between the upper and lower pulses causes the familiar thump-THUMP beat that you can hear with a stethoscope, though when you are checking your own pulse, you can only feel the harder beat of the ventricles. All this is well and good, until you have what amounts to a short circuit, and things go haywire. In atrial fibrillation, the first electrical charge sent to the atria heads to the ventricles, but before dissipating, it tends to circle upwards again, and again, and again — causing the atria to contract each time. Dr. Jeffrey Kerlan, an electrophysiologist — a cardiologist who specializes in rhythm disorders — explains it better: “The heart has its own electrical system, just like a house, and that energy works its way down what is essentially a highway of electrical tissue to the bottom chambers. So in a very rhythmic fashion, you have the top chambers contract, and then the bottom chambers

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contract — like a clock. But with atrial fibrillation, you have potentially abnormal sources that essentially interrupt this entire process.” The regular pulse then becomes chaotic, causing the atria to beat irregularly, as fast as 200 times a minute. They are, in fact, beating so rapidly that they are actually quivering like jelly, and the chambers don’t have time to empty fully between beats. This is the fibrillation part. If the fibrillation carried downward and reached the lower chambers of your heart, it would cause ventricular fibrillation, which is almost always fatal. But with a-fib, as it is called, the chaotic pumping is confined to the upper chambers, and the lower chambers continue to operate, though usually with

“The heart has its own electrical system, and that energy works its way down what is essentially a highway of electrical tissue to the bottom chambers.”

IMAGE COURTESY MEDTRONIC

— Dr. Jeffrey Kerlan some irregularity because they don’t always pick up the electrical signals sent from above. So why is this a problem? Well, when the atria start quivering, that rather sophisticated pumping action stops working the way it should. Even though the ventricles are still working as best they can, they are no longer pumping fully oxygenated blood to your brain, and your blood pressure can plummet — causing you to feel lightheaded, woozy, dizzy, and generally miserable. Some patients in a-fib tell doctors they don’t feel a thing; I learned to hate those people. In my case, as soon as I went into a-fib, I felt miserable. Even the quivering sensation in my chest was, to me, very unpleasant, and I instantly became weak and lightheaded. “What makes atrial fibrillation such a challenge is we have such a wide spectrum of how patients tolerate it,” says Kerlan. “We have some patients who are absolutely miserable when they are in a-fib. But I’ll see maybe five or six patients a week who go to their primary care physician for a routine screen, and he puts a stethoscope to their heart and picks up the irregular heartbeat. They had no clue.”

Called the Arctic Front system, this ablation process uses a thin catheter that is tipped with a balloon. When the catheter is threaded into place inside the left atrium, as shown here, the cardiologist fills the balloon with liquid nitrogen. The extremely low temperature creates a ring of scar tissue on the wall of the heart, blocking the electrical signals that are causing the atrial fibrillation.

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6

HEALTH CARE COLLEGES

Dentistry | Graduate Health Sciences Health Professions | Medicine Nursing | Pharmacy

4

FULL CLINICAL CAMPUSES Memphis | Chattanooga Knoxville | Nashville

1

MISSION: TRANSFORM HEALTH CARE Education | Clinical Care Public Service | Research

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This isn’t a case of ignorance being bliss, because there’s the matter of strokes. Since the atria are no longer emptying their chambers, and filling them with new blood with each pump, the blood tends to pool inside the heart. Non-moving blood has a nasty tendency to clot, and these clots form on the inside walls of the heart, and on the heart valves. This is not good. When the heart suddenly reverts back to its normal rhythm — a process called “conversion” which can happen on its own, or be induced by medicine or electrical shock — the patient can then “throw a clot” from the atria that can travel to the lungs or brain. There’s a certain window of time for a-fib patients. As soon as you go into a-fib, you have roughly 48 hours to convert, or you are at great risk of throwing a clot. So, in addition to the physical problems, there’s the added misery of anxiety. As soon as I would go into a-fib, I would write down the time on a calendar, and just hope I would convert on my own, within that 48-window, without making another trip to the emergency room, for an uncomfortable process called “cardioversion.” The anxiety affects you in other ways. A-fib patients live in constant awareness of their heartbeat — always worrying: Will I go into a-fib before I have to give this important speech, or before I hop in the car for a vacation trip? — or any situation at all, really. You live in a constant state of vigilance, with one eye on the clock and calendar. And, for many patients, it doesn’t take much to trigger an episode — climbing the stairs for some people, even drinking ice water in others. In my own case, that initial run of a-fib — the one that sent me in a panic to the ER — lasted 18 hours. Months passed, and then I had another run, this lasting about 20 hours. Only a few weeks passed before another episode. In fact, I was experiencing a specific type of a-fib called “paroxysmal” or “lone” atrial fibrillation. In these cases, like mine, there is no structural defect that causes the problems; the a-fib comes on suddenly, and just as suddenly goes away. But the episodes became more frequent: They started occurring once a week, then every few days, and then I began going in and out of a-fib several times a day.

I

n the beginning, cardiologists generally treat a-fib patients with a variety of medicines at their disposal. Drugs called beta-blockers, which have some control over the heart’s pumping action, are usually the first choice, because their side effects are, in most cases, not dangerous, but they tend to lower your blood pressure and your heart rate. Mine would drop into the 40s (normal is around 60) so I would feel miserably tired. Unfortunately, as with many medicines, your body builds up a tolerance to these meds, so

next the doctors usually try the so-called anti-arrhythmic drugs, which directly affect the electrical conductivity of the heart. The problem — and it’s significant — is that these medications tend to cause heart rhythm problems on their own — a condition called proarrhythmia — and some of these can be dangerous, so the patient needs to be monitored carefully while taking these drugs. Surely, there had to be a better way. In the 1980s, cardiologists began experimenting with different cardioversion procedures. They discovered that if they actually got inside the heart — and this re-

According to Dr. Jeffrey Kerlan, electrophysiologists at Stern Cardiovascular Center perform more than 500 ablations every year.

This tiny balloon, inflated with liquid nitrogen, is used during ablation procedures. The balloon is then deflated and withdrawn from the heart.

quired open-heart surgery, they could score lines across the inside of the atrium, which would build up a “barrier” inside the heart that would block these so-called “aberrant pathways” that were causing a-fib. This was known as the “maze” procedure, but since it involved major surgery, it was only reserved for the most severe cases. Later, electrophysiologists began trying the same approach, but using catheters — instruments threaded up inside the heart, through the femoral artery that runs inside your leg. They did this by using radio-frequency, or RF ablation. In terms we can understand, they were essentially us-

ing a soldering iron to burn a line on the wall of your heart, causing scar tissue to build up, which blocked the improper electric signals. This procedure, as you might imagine, carried very definite risks, which could result in — and I’ve always loved this term — a “negative outcome.” Meaning: You die. The normal way to reach the femoral artery is through the groin, since it’s close to the surface there. So, the EPs would make a deep incision, thread a catheter all the way from your groin to your heart, snake it around inside your heart, find the exact spot that was causing the problem, burn away that area, and then withdraw all this equipment. This sounds tricky enough, but remember that they are doing all this while your heart is filled with blood and beating. It would be like working on the valves of a car, while the engine was still running. If they missed the spot, or if the catheter snagged on something, well, that was a big problem. Another risk came from the heat caused by that “soldering gun” inside your heart. It seems your esophagus runs directly behind your heart, and actually presses against it. In rare cases, if the heat radiated through the heart muscle, it had an unfortunate tendency to “weld” the esophagus to the heart, or even to burn a hole between them. Blood pouring from your heart down your esophagus tends to cause a very negative outcome. Some dozen years ago, physicians came up with a different procedure, using liquid nitrogen — pumped into a tiny balloon which was then inflated and pressed against your heart wall — instead of the RF energy used in the “hot” approach. The balloon is then withdrawn and removed. The procedure that cured me is called a Pulmonary Vein Isolation. It seems that the most common problem area inside the heart is the opening around the four pulmonary veins that feed blood into the left atrium; for some reason, the heart’s electrical system tends to “short out” right at those round openings. The curved surface of the balloon quickly affects a larger area, so the EPs don’t have to dab away at tiny areas, trying to build up the scar tissue. “If you imagine each of those veins like a hose or a tube,” says Kerlan, “then this balloon, inflated at the entrance to those vessels, creates a circular freeze or isolation area that essentially blocks those signals.” The scar tissue also tends to be more uniform, so the heart — your body is alway searching for ways to repair itself — isn’t as likely to form new pathways through it.

I

met with Dr. Kerlan at Stern Cardiovascular Center in October, who determined that I was an excellent candidate for the procedure. He cautioned me that, as with anything else in medicine, it’s usually 80 to 90 percent effective, and I was willing to F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 67

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Treat your heart well, and you won’t miss a beat. February is American Heart Month. • There’s no time like right now to give your heart special attention. Do you know your risk factors for heart disease? • Our cardiac care team, including respected and knowledgeable cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons, are here to help. • From prevention to diagnosis to advanced treatments, our clinical team is committed to helping you stay heart healthy for life. And you can’t beat that.

Call 888-677-SFMP to make an appointment today or visit SFMP.com for more information.

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take those odds. And, even better, insurance companies are paying for these procedures. Years ago, they might have been considered experimental, but Kerlan tells me that he and the four other electrophysiologists at Stern perform more than 500 ablations every year now. That gives you an idea how prevalent atrial fibrillation can be; it is considered the most common of all the various rhythm problems that can affect the heart. I underwent the procedure at Baptist Hospital in Memphis in December 2014. Nurses first shaved and briskly scrubbed just about every square inch of me so they could attach

“What makes atrial fibrillation such a challenge is we have such a wide spectrum of how patients tolerate it. Some are absolutely miserable when they are in a-fib. Others had no clue they had it.” — Dr. Jeffrey Kerlan with

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Stern Cardiovascular Center all sorts of patches and electrodes and gauges so they could monitor my heart and other organs during the two-hour procedure. They wheeled me into the EP lab — an ice-cold room cluttered with monitors and tubes and gleaming tanks of liquid oxygen — I had a feeling I had zoomed into the future — where the ablation takes place. After a few minutes, where I confess I thought, “Hmmm, maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all,” somebody pressed an oxygen mask over my face, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital bed, my heart thumping normally. I spent the night in the hospital and went home early the next morning, without any monitors whatsoever (that made me nervous, but I soon learned that, yes indeed, the procedure worked). The only problem, for me, came from the incision made in one of my femoral arteries. They don’t sew those shut; instead, they close the opening with pressure bandages, and one of mine started to leak. It was nothing serious, but within days a yellowish-black hematoma the size of a football spread around the incision site. This was nothing to be concerned about, they told me, but it certainly looked awful. But that was it. I returned to Stern for followup visits and EKGs to monitor the results every two or three months, without anything unusual to report. What had become a weekly nightmare had vanished. I haven’t had a single episode of atrial fibrillation in more than two years. And since I tend to be a rather difficult patient — I always “enjoy” the side effects of medicines before any of the benefits can kick in — I consider the success of this procedure almost miraculous.  

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HEALTHY HAPPENINGS compiled by shara clark

I Custom Compounding for People and Pets 785 Brookhaven Circle E • Office 901-682-2273 • Fax 901-682-4146 PeoplesCustomRx.com

Memphis Magazine’s

THE 2016

FACE OF

INSURANCE AND SURETY

INSURANCE AND SURETY. In construction, manufacturing, healthcare, distribution and many other fields, we honor our client relationships with consistent, comprehensive and competitive insurance and surety performance. A Memphisbased agency, we bring national resources and perspective with the help of our insurance company partners. If you want an insurance or surety partner with a depth of knowledge, responsive service and competitive premiums, then we are here to serve. Try us.

BRINGING PREDICTABILITY IN AN UNPREDICTABLE WORLD.

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n Memphis and the surrounding area, sports, races, educational classes, and more are happening throughout the year to help keep us active, fit, and healthy. Here, we’ve included a selection of upcoming and ongoing sports and wellness activities for people of all ages, so you can run, play, walk, bike, or cook your way to better health and stay in tip-top shape.

Upcoming events Mike Cody 4-Mile Classic

February 4th, 9 a.m. Rhodes College Memphis, TN racesonline.com/events/mike-cody-4-mile-classic Benefiting the Rhodes College cross country/track & field teams. The 4-mile road race runs through and around the Rhodes College campus. Bartlett Parks & Recreation Valentine’s Day 10K & 5K Run/Walk

February 11th, 9 a.m. 3465 Kirby Whitten Road Bartlett, TN valentinesdayrun.racesonline.com Compete individually or in the Couples Sweetheart Division. Refreshments and awards ceremony will be held in the Bartlett Baptist Church auditorium. The event also features great food, door prizes, and more. Memphis Open

February 11th-19th Racquet Club of Memphis 5111 Sanderlin Avenue Memphis, TN 901-765-4400 memphisopen.com The Memphis Open is one of the longest-running American tournaments on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour and the only indoor ATP event contested in the United States. The Racquet Club of Memphis is the only private club in the world to host a professional men’s and women’s combined indoor event.

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Q: Who Has Vein Disease?

Memphis Mile

February 12th, 8 a.m. Memphis Jewish Community Center 6560 Poplar Avenue Memphis, TN 901-761-0810 jccmemphis.org/events One-mile swim for time for master swimmers, fitness swimmers, age-group swimmers, and triathletes. Heats every 45 minutes. Entry fee is $18 for MJCC members and $20 for non-members.

A: All of Them

(Yes, even the patient in the middle. Symptoms can include pain, swelling, aching, cramping at restless legs) Each treatment at our practice takes just a few minutes and there is no down time post treatment. We offer relaxing, light IV sedation for a world of difference to the experience.

DR. MICHAEL A. NELSON Board Certified in General Cardiology, Nuclear Cardiology, interventional Cardiology, Vascular Medicine, Phlebology (Vein Disease) and Endovascular Disease. Dr. Nelson performed his training at Yale, Emory and Harvard Schools of Medicine.

Varicose vein evaluation & treatment covered by most insurance plans. Spider Vein treatments also available.

Nanette Quinn Gobbler 5K

March 4th, 9 a.m. St. Mary’s Episcopal School 60 Perkins Extended Memphis, TN gobbler5k.racesonline.com Benefiting the Nanette Quinn Memorial Scholarship Fund that helps young women attend St. Mary’s. The course starts at the school, winds through the surrounding neighborhoods, and ends back at the school.

2014, 2015, & 2016

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Germantown Half-Marathon & Mayor’s Cup 5K

DR. NANCY A. CHASE and her staff are committed to having a positive impact on the lives of her patients from their cribs to the corporate world by providing them exceptional cardiac care and compassionate family service.

Benefitting the Special Olympics. The half-marathon course takes you through the rolling hills of Germantown. The start line, finish line, and all other race-related activities will take place at the Germantown Athletic Club.

Photo credit: Philadelphia Eagles

March 12th, 7:30 a.m. Germantown Athletic Club 1801 Exeter Germantown, TN germantownhalfmarathon.com

Stuttering never benched NFL superstar Darren Sproles. Don’t let it sideline you either. Get in the game!

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805 Estate Place, Suite 1, Memphis, TN 38120 901.287.4150 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 71

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Daffodil Dash 3-Miler & 1-Mile Family Fun Run

March 18th, 10 a.m. Memphis Botanic Garden 750 Cherry Road Memphis, TN memphisbotanicgarden.com/daffodildash

MEMPHIS’S

REALTOR J O S H

S P O T T S

Top producing individual agent for Crye-Leike Realtors Regional Headquarters office, assisting buyers and sellers throughout the Mid-South with all of their Real Estate needs.

Benefiting Memphis Botanic Garden’s education and horticulture programs. The race is an MRTC 3-mile certified route. The 1-mile Family Fun Run will begin on the great lawn, follow the pathway through the Prehistoric Plant Trail, and finish on Daffodil Hill. Overall Winners receive Live at the Garden concert series passes. Viking Half Marathon and 5K

March 25th, 8 a.m. Greenwood, MS vikinghalfmarathon.com Located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, the Viking Half Marathon and 5K promises Southern charm, fast times, and a great race experience. The races will begin and end in the historic Cotton Row district and will take you through the flat, tree-lined streets of Greenwood. Racers and spectators will pass by many site locations used in the filming of The Help. Kick It 5K

AN ANCHOR FOR LIFE Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal School is a coed, independent school located in the heart of Midtown’s beautiful Central Gardens neighborhood. Since 1947, GSL has been preparing boys and girls to become creative problem solvers, confident lifelong learners, and responsible citizens in their communities and the world.

April 2nd, 2 p.m. Shelby Farms Park 500 North Pine Lake Drive Memphis, TN kickit5k.racesonline.com Benefiting the Herb Kosten Pancreatic Cancer Research Foundation. In addition to the foundation’s ongoing research, its programs include a yearly symposium headlined by nationally recognized pancreatic cancer surgeons, as well as monthly support group meetings to provide hope and help for patients and their families.

Come see firsthand why so many Mid-South families choose to make GSL their Anchor for Life.

Preschool

Little Lukers (age 2) Pre-Kindergarten (age 3) Junior Kindergarten (age 4)

Lower School

Senior Kindergarten - 4th Grade

Middle School 5th - 8th Grade

gslschool.org • 246 S. Belvedere, Memphis, TN 38104 • learnmore@gslschool.org 72 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7

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Junior League of Little Rock Downtown Dash

ELIZABETH H. LEE, DDS 5180 Park Ave., Suite 280 Memphis, TN 38119 • 901.763.1600 www.elizabethleedds.com

April 8th, 8 a.m. 401 Scott Street Little Rock, AR jllrdowntowndash.racesonline.com

Dr. Lee is a general dentist in East Memphis. She and her team are friendly, caring, experienced, and ready to give you the smile you’ve always wanted. They keep up with new innovations and technology in dentistry to be certain the best service is offered to every guest. Dr. Lee is also certified to do Six Month Smiles which is short term braces for adults and provides implants to replace missing teeth. She has studied bite problems extensively and is an expert in smile design and delivering optimal oral function and comfort to her patients. Call us now so you can have your Beautiful Smile for Life.

The Downtown Dash 5K/10K supports the Junior League of Little Rock, an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

Ongoing Sports & Fitness events Cycling

Memphis Hightailers Bicycle Club offers weekly bicycle rides and social events for all ages and skill levels. Many rides do not require membership. Fee: $40 per year for individuals and $65 per year for households. memphishightailers.com

The beautiful home of one of our favorite clients.

Premier Fabrics — Impressive and affordable. Come see what we can do for you. Custom pillows, curtain panels, bedding, upholstered headboards and custom chairs.

Mid-South Trails Association offers a calendar of racing and mountain-biking events, and detailed maps of Memphis Area Trails. Members receive discounts at many area bicycle shops and work to promote offroad cycling. Fee: $30 per year for individuals and $45 per year for households. midsouthtrails.com Soccer

Greater Memphis Soccer Association offers men’s, women’s, and co-ed leagues for fall, spring, summer, and indoor, age 16 and up. Fee: $103-133 per season for individuals. memphissoccer.com or email: info@memphissoccer.com Softball

Memphis Division of Parks and Neighborhoods (MDPN) offers leagues for spring and fall, ages 18 and up. Register in March or August. Seasons run April-August and September-October. Entry fee: $500 per team for spring, and $350 per team for fall.

Memphis Magazine’s

THE 2016

FACE OF

FABRICS

7694 Poplar Avenue Germantown, TN 38138 901.758.0090 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-5

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“

We want women to know that

Bartlett Parks and Recreation Department (BPRD) offers men’s, women’s, and co-ed leagues for spring and fall. Register in February and July. Entry fee: $500 per team.

that can be explored for their pain and incontinence issues.

Germantown Parks and Recreation Department (GPRD) offers men and co-ed leagues for ages 18 and up. Register in February. Season runs September-November.

Ben Abdu, MD

Tennis

there are treatments ”

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Memphis Tennis Association offers year-round leagues for men and women age 18 and up. Runs the local USTA Tennis Leagues. memphista.com

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Track

Memphis Runners Track Club offers a racing schedule of events, retail discounts for running merchandise, training, and weekly workouts. Fee: $25 per year and $45 for two years for individuals and $30 per year and $55 for two years for households. For more information: memphisrunners.com

Free seminars are available. To learn how our services could help you, call us today at 901-515-3100.

Volleyball

BPRD offers spring and summer Leagues. Seasons begin in March and June. Entry fee: $210 per team.

Seminars sponsored by: RegionalOneHealth.org/Urogynecology East Campus |6555 Quince Rd. | Memphis, TN 38119

Your life. Our passion.

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Church Health caring from Crosstown begins February 2017

11/8/2016 8:41:14 AM

“Church Health saved my life”. Linda, patient

Ongoing Wellness Events The Church Health Center is offering a free, two-class course on diabetes education, helping people to take control of their diabetes. Classes are Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. at Church Health Center Wellness, 1115 Union Avenue. Those interested can start anytime. For more information, call 259-4673. No reservation required. Free healthy cooking classes are offered in the Nutrition Kitchen at Church Health Center Wellness, 1115 Union Avenue, Tuesdays at 9 a.m. Visit churchhealthcenter.org or call 259-4673 for more information.  

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BOOKS

Southern Voices Three writers span time and space to bring us tales tall and true.

by richard j. alley

T

hree new books take the reader from the dividing line of the North and South in the Civil War to the heyday of R&B and American Soul Music (with a stop along the way at Stax in Memphis), to a mix of tales that rely on past technology to tell today’s stories.

Signals ( A l f r e d A . K n opf)

T

im Gautreaux’s new collection of short stories, Signals, may be the perfect book for the age we find ourselves in. Connected to the world today as we are, via ones and zeros floating through space, it’s the real connections between human beings that tend to suffer. Gautreaux adeptly explores those connections in these 20 stories through a filter of technology. In many of his stories, though, that technology isn’t in the form of hand-held devices or social media, but through analog technology and networking. Old radios. Sewing machines. Card games. The author has an affinity for the past, and he sees how people today might benefit by plugging in, even if it is to watch those old vacuum tubes glow.

In “Radio Magic,” a man’s desire for fame leads him to create a museum of sorts in a back room of his house in Lincoln Foot, Ohio. Artifacts include a stuffed moose head “half the size of a Volkswagen,” an electric slot machine, a sofa made from the trunk section of a 1947 Plymouth, and a hilarious encounter with a supposedly dormant hornets’ nest. He imagines “the most famous man cave in the county” might eventually garner attention from regional news media. It’s the acquisition of a Philco 41-290 radio pulling in AM, shortwave, and police band that gets him the closest to the fame he desires. He comes across a regular radio program of a long-ago, stand-up comedienne whose act is played twice weekly. The show emanates from a station in the Solomon Islands, and when our man contacts the show’s announcer, he learns that the comedienne is only a town away. A connection nearly missed but for an antique piece of radio equipment. In the title story, it’s a Pioneer SX-1250 receiver that carries the story and is carried by Professor Talis Kimita from his home in Latvia to the U.S., where he bounces from school to school, “each less prestigious than the previous.” He is married and divorced, his social skills nearly nonexistent, and with only the music and talk shows coming from his old Pioneer keeping him company. When that radio finally gives out in Grand Crapaud, Louisiana, Talis is forced to seek the help of his handy-woman Janice, who teaches him that there are more important things — more important connections — in this world than those that come from any box full of electrical components. Gautreaux is the author of three novels and two story collections, and his work has appeared in GQ, The New Yorker, and Harper’s, among other publications. He is a writer with the blue-collar everyman of furnace repairmen, waterworks employees, and community college professors at heart.

In the Midnight Hour:

The Life & Soul of Wilson Pickett ( O x f or d Un i v e r si t y P r e s s)

T

here has been no shortage of books on the greatest music icons of the last century published in the past few years. Robert Gordon and Peter Guralnick have written their fair share with Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion and Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll, respectively, as examples. (Both have an extensive bibliography if you’re looking to fill out your library with music industry and biographic prose.) There have also been, just in the past year, autobiographies by Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello, and biographies on Curtis Mayfield and Paul Simon. And yet, with shelves full of such stories, there’s never been a book on Wilson Pickett. Until now. In the Midnight Hour: The Life & Soul of Wilson Pickett was published last month with a reading and signing at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music by its author, Tony Fletcher. It wasn’t his first trip to the museum,

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writing that his immersion into soul music “has included copious reading, the collecting The Carroll Farm Fight of box sets and scratchy old 45s alike, and ( F i v e S ta r P u bl i sh i n g) making the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis a compulsory stop on our ver his life as a photographfamily’s cross-American road trip in 2012.” er, editor, reporter, marketing ana“Immersion” is a good way to describe the lyst, and Vietnam veteran (a Vietway Fletcher works once he gets his hooks namese linguist with the 101st Airborne into a subject. Originally from London, where Division and 23rd Infantry Division), one he started his own music magazine at the age thing has remained constant — fiction. In of 13, he emigrated to the United States in 1980 the past 35 years, Greg Hunt, who makes and has written best-selling biographies on his home in Cordova, has published over Keith Moon, the Smiths, and R.E.M., as well 20 Western, frontier, and historical novels. as a memoir, novel, and a history of the New “Writing fiction has always been my true York City music scene. obsession,” he says. “I tried to give it up And still, despite so much research into a couple of times when things got rough, so many genres, he was as floored as we but it always kept its grip on me until I were to learn there was no Wilson Pickett finally realized that I could never not be a writer.” bio. “It suddenly occurred to me I had never come across His latest, The Carroll “The meandering spirit a biography of the man, and Farm Fight, to be published of Hunt’s life and of his I sought to understand why, on February 22nd, falls into especially as my shelves conthe historical fiction genre. own “restless spirit,” tained so many books on his Taking place in the rugged he says, “have steered peers,” he writes. Ozark country of Southwest me in many directions, He considers that perhaps Missouri, on the line that Pickett’s story “was simply not but since my early years divided the country into here, the novel becomes a revenge tale, that interesting.” But nothing the Union and Confederacy, Mel leading the women back to safety there was seldom a could be further from the Mel Carroll seeks only to before going after the men who have done truth, as Fletcher shows us. time, even in war, when marry his sweetheart and them harm. Hunt’s previous novels include The HaBorn in a two-room wooden live a quiet life plowing, you wouldn’t find a shack in Prattville, Alabama, harvesting, and tending his ven’s Raid, DeWitt’s Strike, The Ringer, and in 1941, Pickett would go on stock. When a Confederate Masks. This spring, he’ll publish Not Fit pencil in my pocket, a to join the great migration platoon shows up, though, To Print, a mystery novel set in Memphis, piece of paper close at of blacks to Detroit. He was followed shortly by their the main character the owner of a local there for the birth of Motown hand, and a plot coming foes from the north, Mel’s entertainment magazine “with plenty of as part of several R&B groups, life and future are thrown problems and a murder to solve.” together in my head.” but later moved to New York into chaos. “Most of my mystery protagonists live and a solo career. There, he Mel is held captive on his very messy lives,” Hunt says. would begin a volatile relationship with Jerry farm, yet manages to escape and spend The meandering spirit of Hunt’s life Wexler, powerhouse producer with Atlantic days in the rough terrain of the coun- and of his own “restless spirit,” he says, Records, and go on to be the first Atlantic tryside he calls home. When he makes “have steered me in many directions, but artist to record at both Stax and Fame studios it to the Adderly Farm, where his girl since my early years there was seldom a in Muscle Shoals. His hits include “In the lives with her family, he finds her father time, even in war, when you wouldn’t find dying of a leg wound and her mother half Midnight Hour,” “Land of 1,000 Dances,” and a pencil in my pocket, a piece of paper out of her mind. Rochelle’s brothers have “Mustang Sally.” close at hand, and a plot coming together in my head.” Pickett died in 2006, but Fletcher has in- been conscripted by the Union, while she Through all those years, all those adventerviews with (and the blessings of) brother and her sister are nowhere to be found. Maxwell Pickett and other family members, But Mel knows the terrain and finds the tures, he adds that his first rule of writing is business associates, colleagues, and friends, women held captive in an enormous cave, a simple one: “Tell a good story.” With The Carroll Farm Fight, he has done just that.  lending the book the weight of authenticity. Rochelle badly beaten and raped. From

O

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Valentine Bring Your

to Bleu Restaurant & Lounge

$70 plus tax and gratuity

Saturday 2/11 Sunday 2/12 Monday 2/13 Tuesday 2/14

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Seats go quickly, so make your reservation today! Call 901.334.5950 or visit us online at downtownbleu.com MM_FullPage_TrimSize_9x25_11x125.indd 1

1/19/17 4:04 PM

SCENE DINING 2017

special advertising section

Scene Dining Looking for the right spot for that first date? What about something new for your next anniversary? Or do you simply find yourself with a hankering for a nice, thick burger and fries? Whatever your craving may be, you’re sure to find a delectable destination on the following pages.

Aldo’s Pizza Pies Downtown

Aldo’s Pizza Pies Midtown

Voted Best Pizza, come see why! With 60+ beers and handcrafted cocktails we offer slices, pies, fresh salads, sandwiches, and the most authentic NY cheesecake in town. Approaching our 5th year in the heart of downtown on the trolley line, we feature a hip atmosphere and spacious patio. Great for large parties or before a big game! Kid friendly and downtown delivery. Eat more pie!

Our Midtown pizzeria offers a unique rooftop patio, exceptional service, and a cozy neighborhood feel. Full bar, great wine and house-made limoncello. You can enjoy the same fresh ingredients and hand-made pizza that our downtown location has become known for. We deliver in Midtown too!

100 S. Main Street • 901.5.777.PIE • aldospizzapies.com

752 S. Cooper Avenue • 901.725.PIES • aldospizzapies.com

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SCENE DINING 2017

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Arcade Restaurant

The Shop The Bar-B-Q Bar-B-Q Shop

The Arcade Restaurant opens at 7:00 a.m. every day. Memphis’ oldest café is located in the South Main Historic District, on the trolley line. Surrounded by glowing neon signs and 1920s architecture, diners enjoy such modern favorites as pesto, feta, and walnut pizza. Also serving country ham, sweet potato pancakes, hot plate lunches, cheeseburgers and fries. Large private dining room available. Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights open until 11 p.m. with a full bar. Sensational spiked shakes, marvelous Mimosas, Bloody Mary’s and spectacular specialty drinks.

Voted #1 BBQ restaurant in America by The Food Network. Now over 27 Voted #1 BBQ restaurant in America for ribs by The Food Network. Now over years in the Midtown area, west of Overton Square on Madison Avenue, The 27 years in the Midtown area, west of Overton Square on Madison Avenue, Bar-B-Q Shop has been using recipes made from scratch that are over 60 The Bar-B-Q Shop has been using recipes made from scratch that are over years old. Originators of BBQ Spaghetti & The Texas Toast BBQ Sandwich, 60 years old. Originators of BBQ Spaghetti & The Texas Toast BBQ we serve real pit barbecue cooked daily with a blend of our Dancing Pigs Sandwich, we serve real pit barbecue cooked daily with a blend of our Bar-B-Q Sauce and Dry Seasoning, also sold in Kroger. Featured on Dancing Pigs Bar-B-Q Sauce and Dry Seasoning, also sold in Kroger. USAToday.com, Andrew Zimmerman of The Travel Channel, & regularly in Featured on USAToday.com, Andrew Zimmerman of The Travel Channel, & Southern Living. Private dining and bulk orders available. regularly in Southern Living. Private dining and bulk orders available.

Bardog Tavern

Belle Bistro

Highly regarded and well-reviewed, a favorite neighborhood bar that opens its doors by 8 a.m. Monday-Friday. Bardog Tavern is a bar with a restaurant, not the other way around. Locals and tourist alike always enjoy the friendly staff and fun atmosphere, but they stay for the food. Serving up breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night menu until 2 a.m. Don’t forget brunch on Saturday and Sundays too! Bardog is a “21 and up” establishment with two dining and bar levels, smoking upstairs and non-smoking downstairs. Book the Underdog Room for private parties. Daily downtown delivery.

Come to Belle Bistro’s new alley bar in back of 117 Union in Barboro Alley (between Main Street and the Peabody hotel) for your late libation and menu by Belle’s Chef David Johnson featuring Mixologist Chris Ferri.

Broadway Pizza 2581 Broad Ave • 901.454.7930 & 629 South Mendenhall • 901.207.1546

Celtic Crossing

540 South Main Street • 901.526.5757 • arcaderestaurant.com

73 Monroe Avenue • 901.275.8752 • bardog.com

2581 Broad Avenue • 901.454.7930 & 629 S. Mendenhall • 901.207.1546 Old-fashioned pizza house with a lovely comfortable atmosphere where the Old-fashioned pizza house with a lovely comfortable atmosphere where the staff has you feeling like you are in their pizza home. Delicious hot pizzas staff has youwith feeling like you in their pizza home. Delicious pizzas overflowing toppings ofare your choice. Appetizers, salads, hot spaghetti, overflowing with toppings of cheese your choice. salads,wings, spaghetti, catfish, cheeseburgers, Philly steaks,Appetizers, Broadway whole daily catfish, cheeseburgers, steaks, Broadway whole wings, daily plate lunch specials, andPhilly more.cheese Located in Memphis’ Broad St. Arts District plate lunch specials, and NOW more.aLocated Memphis’ Broad St. Arts District and look out, Memphis... second in location at 629 South Mendenhall and look out, Memphis... NOW a second location at 629 South Mendenhall at Poplar. Legendary Pizza since 1977. Call-in orders are welcomed! at Poplar. Legendary Pizza since 1977. Call-in orders are welcomed!

1782 Avenue •• 901.272.1277 901.272.1277 ••dancingpigs.com dancingpigs.com 1782 Madison Madison Avenue

belletavern.com • 901.249.6580 • bellememphis.com • 901.572.1896

903 S. Cooper St. • 901.274.5151 • celticcrossingmemphis.com Celtic Crossing is an authentic Irish pub located in the heart of Midtown’s beloved Cooper-Young. Custom art and imported furniture from Ireland create a cozy neighborhood hangout where you’ll always find good food, cold Guinness, and lively conversation. There’s always something going on at Celtic Crossing. Open 7 days a week, we offer lunch and dinner, featuring daily specials. We also offer brunch Saturday and Sunday, with live EPL Soccer matches, Celtic music and drink specials. Don’t miss a thing; check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

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SCENE DINING 2017

Central BBQ •901.272.9377 901.272.9377

Ciao Bella

Voted Voted Best Best BBQ BBQ sandwich, sandwich, ribs, ribs, and and food food truck truck by by Memphis Memphis magazine. magazine. Our Our beef beef brisket, brisket, BBQ BBQ turkey, turkey, and and smoked smoked hot hot wings wings continue continue to to be be aa Memphis Memphis treasure. treasure. With With seating seating up up to to 200 200 folks folks there there is is plenty plenty of of room room for for all all your your family family and and friends. friends. Our Our catering catering team team can can bring bring you you the the best best Central Central BBQ BBQ has has to to offer offer to to any any location. location. Catering Catering business business luncheons, luncheons, private private parties, parties, and weddings. and weddings.

Located in the heart of East Memphis, Ciao Bella Italian Grill serves authentic Italian cuisine and hand-tossed gourmet pizzas. We offer a full bar with an extensive wine list, beautiful patio, and private party facilities with full visual equipment. Dine in or carry out. Catering available. Happy Hour Sunday 4-7pm, Monday-Thursday 11-7pm. Open for dinner 7 days a week. Lunch served weekdays. PGF Certified.

Como Steakhouse

Erling ErlingJensen Jensen

The famed Como Steakhouse, located in a 125-year-old former mercantile store, attracts visitors from around the Mid-South. In addition to its famous hand-cut steaks, the Como Steakhouse offers salmon, shrimp, chicken, and catfish prepared on one of the open charcoal pits. We offer a full bar, and feel free to dress casually when you stop by. Reservations are recommended for parties of 8 or more. Upstairs, you can visit Oyster Blues, where you can enjoy our quaint nautical decor and our casual dining menu. You can also enjoy a dozen raw oysters while you wait for your table downstairs.

InIn an elegantlysophisticated, sophisticated, yet warm and inviting atmosphere, Erling an elegantly yet warm and inviting atmosphere, Erling Jensen’s Jensen’s appetizers, suchLobster as Maine Lobster Pancakes or Crabcakes, Jumbo Lump appetizers, such as Maine Pancakes or Jumbo Lump are Crabcakes, are Atotally amazing. A few are entrees to mention Seasonal totally amazing. few entrees to mention Seasonal Sea Food,are Elk Chop and Sea Elk Chop and Filetand of Buffalo. Small Plates andbar. Specialty Drinks FiletFood, of Buffalo. Small Plates Specialty Drinks at the Wine Dinners atoffered the bar. Wine Dinners Fridaythree night. Sundays are Jensen’s Special: every Friday night. offered Sundaysevery are Special: courses for $38. three courses for $38. Jensen’s globally inspired classically approach is globally inspired andapproach classicallyisexecuted,using theand freshest, most executed,using the freshest, most seasonal ingredients to produce meals of seasonal ingredients to produce meals of the highest caliber for 19+ years. the highest caliber for 19+ years. Dinner nightly 5pm-10pm. Contact us for Dinner nightly 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Contact us for Special Events or Corporate Affairs. Special Events or Corporate Affairs.

4375 Summer Avenue • 901.767.4672 & 147 Butler • 901.672.7760

203 North Main Street, Como, MS 38619 • 662.526.9529

565 Erin Drive • 901.205.2500 • ciaobellamemphis.com

1044 Road• •901.763.3700 901.763.3700• •ejensen.com ejensen.com 1044 S. S. Yates Yates Road

Evelyn & Olive

Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar

630 Madison Ave. • 901.748.5422 • evelynandolive.com

39 South Main • 901.521.8005 • flightmemphis.com

Jamaican & Southern fusion cuisine includes such dishes as Ziggy Pasta, Kingston stew fish, Rasta Pasta, and black bean tacos. Open Tuesday Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday, 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Closed Sunday & Monday. Happy hour specials 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Ask about our gift cards!

Flight is honored to be named Top 100 Restaurants in the U.S. by Open Table for 2016. Flight offers the finest service featuring a knowledgeable wait staff from which guests can gain valuable insight to enhance their dining experience. Flight is the ideal place for any occasion, while it’s wine cellar is perfect for banquets and celebrations. Complimentary valet is offered seven nights a week and Sunday brunch.

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Huey’s

hueyburger.com hueyburger.com Huey’s is is celebrating celebrating over over 47 45years yearsofof“Blues, “Blues,Brews, Brews,and andBurgers” Burgers.” Home Huey’s and has of thevoted WorldBest Famous Burger, voted years Best by Burger for 31 consecutive been BurgerHuey for 32 consecutive the readers of Memphis years by the readers of Memphis Magazine! Enjoy live music on Sundays. magazine! Enjoy live music on Sundays, sip on a local brew, shoot frill picks in Shoot frill picks in the ceiling, and write on the walls. The menu offers over the ceiling and write on the walls. The menu offers 13 different burger choices, 13 different burger choices, a variety of delicious sandwiches ranging from a a variety of delicious sandwiches ranging from a grilled tuna fish sandwich to steak sandwich to a grilled tuna fish sandwich, awesome salads, and yummy a reuben, awesome salads and yummy homemade soups. Enjoy one of the homemade soups. Eight convenient locations. For directions and hours of World Famous Huey at one of our eight convenient locations. For operation, please visitBurgers hueyburger.com. directions and hours of operations, please visit hueyburger.com.

Itta Bena

145 Beale Street • 901.578.3031 • ittabenamemphis.com Up the fire escape above BB King’s Blues Club lies Memphis’ “hidden gem” Itta Bena. Itta Bena embodies the charm and inspiration of fine southern dining, from date night to rehearsal dinners or milestone celebrations, Itta Bena has something for everyone. Itta Bena invites you in for a cool libation and southern cuisine with a Delta twist in a relaxed atmosphere with unrivaled southern hospitality. For reservations of 12 or more call 901.202.9114.

Loflin Yard

Marlowe’s Ribs & Restaurant

Opened in spring 2016, Loflin Yard has topped numerous local and national lists of Memphis’ best restaurants. Chef Andy Knight’s distinctive hickory smoker-based menu and Mary Oglesby’s hand-crafted cocktails keep locals and Memphis visitors coming back to this restaurant/bar/music venue/ communal backyard in the heart of Downtown. Guests gather for live music, yard games, trivia nights and more in each of Loflin Yard’s appealing indoor/ outdoor spaces and private parties enjoy a unique pastoral experience in the middle of a thriving city.

Family-owned and operated since 1973, Marlowe’s is the longtime gathering place for Elvis fans. Known for Pink Cadillac limo rides featuring Elvis memorabilia on the walls and tables. Fully stocked gift shop, spectacular barbecue featured on Food Network, traditional American fare, Southern hospitality, and a full bar. Dine in or take out, plus delivery to area hotels. One mile south of Graceland. Open Noon-3 a.m. daily.

Medallion - Holiday Inn / U of M

Memphis Pizza Cafe

7 W. Carolina Avenue • 901.249.3046 • loflinyard.com

3700 Central Avenue • 901.678.8200

Select this this award-winning award-winning hotel hotel for for your your catering catering needs. needs. Located Located in in the the Select heart of Memphis, we’re first in banquets up to 1,000 people and receptions heart of Memphis, we’re first in banquets up to 1,000 people and receptions up to to 1,400. 1,400. Our Our European-trained European-trained chef chef reigns reigns over over aa 12,000-square-foot 12,000-square-foot up ballroom with a permanent stage and three wood-inlay dance floors. Ice ballroom with a permanent stage and three wood-inlay dance floors. Ice carvings, wedding cakes, and hand-made hors d’oeuvres are among our carvings, wedding cakes, and hand-made hors d’oeuvres are among our specialties. Also try our fabulous Sunday brunch. specialties. Also try our fabulous Sunday brunch.

4381 Elvis Presley Blvd. • 901.332.4159 • marlowesmemphis.com

memphispizzacafe.com memphispizzacafe.com Our crust is prepared one way — thin and crisp. Choose one of our specialty Our crust is prepared one way — thin and crisp. Choose one of our specialty pizzas or create your own from our extensive ingredients list, and see why pizzas or create your own from our extensive ingredients list, and see why we’ve been voted “Best Pizza” 20 years in a row. Best pizza. Coolest we’ve been voted “Best Pizza” 23 years in a row. Best pizza. Coolest workers. Five locations: Overton Square at 2087 Madison - 901.726.5343, workers. Five locations: Overton at 2087 Madison — 901.726.5343, East Memphis at 5061 Park Ave.Square - 901.684.1306, Germantown at 7604 W. East Memphis at 5061 Park Ave. — 901.684.1306, Germantown at 7604and W. Farmington - 901.753.2218, Southaven at 5627 Getwell - 662.536.1364, Farmingtonat—797 901.753.2218, Southaven at 5627 Getwell — 662.536.1364, Collierville W. Poplar - 901.861.7800 and Collierville at 797 W. Poplar — 901.861.7800.

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SCENE DINING 2017

Mulan Asian Bistro

Newby’s

Mulan Asian Bistro is one of the top rated Chinese restaurants in Memphis. Our authentic Szechuan cuisine will make you so warm inside you’ll be coming back for more. Now offering a new Asian fusion menu with Vietnamese spring rolls, Thai cuisine, and updated sushi menu. Let us cater your wedding or anniversary party. Private dining room is available at our Midtown location. We deliver up to 10 miles and are the only restaurant that delivers sushi in Memphis! Located at Young Avenue and Houston Levee in Collierville.

Newby’s — come for the game, stay for the wings, pizza, sandwiches, and the best beer in town. The rest of the menu is delicious as well. Great venue to see and hear local music. Open daily 11 a.m. - 3 a.m. Celebrating 40 years of good times!

Pancho’s Mexican Foods

Rendezvous

Take a trip to Mexico right here in Memphis. Pancho’s has wowed Memphians with its unique Mexican flavors since 1956. It’s the perfect in-town getaway. Famous for its mouth-watering cheese dip, Pancho’s also serves up a variety of tacos, enchiladas, and mix-and-match platters. 717 North White Station in Memphis, 901.685.5404, and 3600 East Broadway, in West Memphis, AR, 870.735.6466.

The Vergos family has been cooking up food in a downtown Memphis alley since 1948. The pork ribs are legendary, as are the waiters and the vintage Memphis décor. Winner of numerous awards in Southern Living and other publications, the menu offers barbecued ribs, pork shoulder, beef brisket, cheese plates, barbecue nachos, Greek salads, local beers and wine. We ship our ribs overnight, too! Call about private parties for lunch and dinner. Open for dinner, Tuesday - Saturday. Lunch, Friday - Saturday only. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Restaurant Iris

Slider Inn

2149 Young Ave. • 901.347.3965 & 2059 Houston Levee • 901.850.5288

panchoscheesedip.com

2146 Monroe Avenue • 901.590.2828 • restaurantiris.com Home of James Beard Award semi-finalist and one of Food & Wine magazine’s “Best New Chefs” for 2009, Chef Kelly English is inspired by the familiar flavors from his childhood in southern Louisiana and incorporates that inspiration into each dish he cooks. Restaurant Iris appeared on the Food Network’s Guilty Pleasures and was voted Memphis’ “Best Restaurant,” “Best Service,” and “Best Chef,” in 2012, 2011, and 2010 by Memphis magazine readers.

539 S. Highland Ave. • 901.730.0520 • newbysbar.com

52 South Second Street • 901.523.2746 • 888.HOGSFLY • hogsfly.com

2117 Peabody Avenue • 901.725.1155 • thesliderinn.com This is where most of the neighborhood comes to eat, drink, and play. We are dishing out burgers, chicken, fried green tomatoes, homemade meatballs, and many more custom sliders. Proudly serving the Mid-south’s only authentic lobster roll, a savory delight prepared with fresh Maine lobster shipped in 3 times a week. Try our house-made Jameson Slushie, it won’t disappoint. We’ve been told we have one of the biggest patios in town, but we’re not into comparing. Kitchens open till 2 a.m., bar closes at 3 a.m. Downtown location coming soon, come see what all the fuss is about! F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 83

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SCENE DINING 2017

special advertising section

South Main Sushi & Grill

Southern Social

At South Main Sushi & Grill, you’ll find outstanding Japanese cuisine, fresh sushi, and a vibrant atmosphere along the famed South Main. Specialties include sushi and hibachi food. 40 years of experience in the kitchen and you’ll taste that expertise with every bite. Open for lunch & dinner with happy hour between 3 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Premium bar, sake and wine varietals, simple menu, big taste...every time. Take out and call-ins are welcome. Grab a seat along the street-side patio or cozy up to the full bar for a great meal.

Located in the heart of old Germantown, Southern Social is a refreshing combination of tradition, class, and sophistication. Southern Social’s knowledgeable wait staff is available to provide a perfect fine dining experience seven nights a week and Sunday brunch. The restaurant also offers a full service bar and two private dining spaces, as well as an expansive patio for outdoor dining.

Tops Bar-B-Q

Wang’s Mandarin House / East Tapas & Drinks

Tops Bar-B-Q Bar-B-Q Inc. Inc.isisMemphis’ Memphis’oldest oldest and only home-owned chain of 15 Tops and only home-owned chain of 15 barbecue restaurants, restaurants, serving serving real real Memphis Memphis pit pit barbecue barbecue since since 1952. 1952. Now Now barbecue serving brisket brisket and and ribs. ribs. Slowly Slowlycooking cookingpork porkshoulders shouldersthe theold-fashioned old-fashioned serving way over overreal realhardwood hardwood charcoal hickory imparts way charcoal andand real real hickory woodwood imparts that that characteristic moist, moist, smoky smokyflavor flavorthat thathas hasdistinguished distinguishedour ourproducts products characteristic forfor over half a century. Coming August 2015: We’re relocating our Southaven over half a century. General offices: 5720 Mt. Moriah Road, 901.363.4007. location to 313 Stateline Road. General offices: 5720 Mt. Moriah Road, 901.363.4007.

Come to Wang’s to enjoy fine traditional and contemporary Chinese Cuisine, voted Memphis best since 1986. Our services include a lunch buffet, dinein, take-out, free deliveries, and catering. We also have a private room for business meetings and/or parties. Or go next door to East Tapas and Drinks which offers unique small plates prepared with an Asian twist, a long list of libations like no other, and live music on selected evenings. East is the place to wind down and relax after a long day of work.

520 S. Main Street • 901.846.8807

2285 S. Germantown Road • 901.754.5555

6065 Park Ave • 901.685.9264 • wangsmemphis.com • east-tapas.com

topsbarbq.com

Jack Pirtle’s Chicken (8 Memphis Locations) • jackpirtleschicken.com

®

Founders, Jack and Ovra Pirtle Photo taken in 1957 at the original store on S. Bellevue

CELEBRATING 60TH YEAR IN MEMPHIS. Jack Pirtle started serving fried chicken in Memphis in 1957, and from the beginning we’ve had something that sets us apart from chicken everywhere: Pirtle pride, and Memphis style. Jack Pirtle’s Fried Chicken was born in the city of Beale Street, barbecue and blues. It’s the town that gave the world Elvis Presley, who coincidentally purchased Graceland, just down the street from the original Jack Pirtle’s, the same year Jack opened his first restaurant at 1217 Bellevue. And it’s where soul music was created. People from all over the world come to Memphis for the music and the food, and we’re proud to have them here. But it’s the hometown folks we really aim to please, because we know that in Memphis, people know good food. From the start, they’ve loved the chicken at Jack Pirtle’s. Fine chicken, seasoned just right, and fried with pride by people who are proud to serve it. Fresh biscuits, hot from the oven; our signature country-fried steak sandwich; mashed potatoes, crinkle-cut fries or rice with our homemade chicken cracklin’ gravy, which is so popular people get gravy to-go even when they’re doing the cooking themselves. You’ve heard Southerners talk about gravy so good you could drink it by the glass? Well, they must’ve been to Jack Pirtle’s, where we really do sell gravy by the cup. Tour buses welcome! • For Good Ole’ Southern Style Catering, call 901.372.9897 Contact us with your favorite Jack Pirtle’s Chicken story at customer2jackpirtles@gmail.com

®

Keeping the tradition going today! Founders only son and wife, Cordell and Tawanda Pirtle

Dine In/Drive-Thru restaurant locations: 3571 Lamar Ave. • 2520 Mt. Moriah Rd. Drive-Thru Only restaurant locations: 811 S. Highland • 1370 Poplar Ave. • 1217 S. Bellevue Blvd. • 4349 Elvis Presley Blvd. • 2484 Jackson Ave. • 890 Thomas St

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The 2017

Now Accepting Nominations

B

usiness is pushed forward by change and evolution, and it is those in the forefront of that evolution — the tinkerers, the questioners, the visionaries — who keep the machine of commerce oiled. But who are these people? We want to know. Send us your best and brightest nominations for our fourth annual Innovation Awards issue coming in October. Please include any pertinent biographical or business information, and why the person, business, or organization should be recognized as a leader among innovators.

Email your nomination to richard@insidememphisbusiness.com. Deadline for nominations is June 15, 2017. MM_FullPage_TrimSize_9x25_11x125.indd 1

1/12/17 1:36 PM

OUR IN-DEPTH GUIDE TO MEMPHIS-AREA RESTAURANTS

PHOTOGRAPH BY BG

CITY DINING

TIDBITS

Southern Social

O

by pamela denney

ur table for two sits next to a large window, and through the dark I watch the headlights of an approaching train and wait for the whistle as the engine slides past the Germantown Depot. The sound is comforting — I hear the trains at home — and so I settle into my icy martini that sparkles like the dining room’s crystal chandeliers. On cue, our appetizers arrive, shareable and updated from retro roots: mini Beef Wellington in puff pastry and Tropical Crab Louie, a sunny stack of cucumber, mango, avocado, and lump crab that seems to blossom into summer on the plate. True to its name, Southern Social is a gracious restaurant, a reminder not to let busy lives preclude the niceties of dinner. An extensive renovation of the former Elfo’s space adds to the appeal. “We felt like the space was very welcoming, and that feeling drove our guest-driven concept from the start,” says owner Tom Powers, who operates Southern Social with managing partner Joe Fain. Culinary director Antony Field and executive chef Nick Acosta designed the restaurant’s menu with a similar approach focused on premium ingredients. Consider the popular tomahawk pork chop, sourced from California-based Niman Ranch and plated with sweet potato casserole. “And the prime ribeye currently on the menu,” Field adds. “I would put it against any steak, anywhere.” For our dinner, we opt for fish and fowl. The Chilean sea bass, seared crispy on the edges but soft and buttery inside, is served with wilted spinach, lemon beurre blanc sauce, and a cheerful ring of cherry tomatoes. Aunt Thelma’s fried chicken (absolutely divine!) comes with a honey butter biscuit and a story just as good. While working on the restaurant, Powers’ wife, Lauren Powers, discovered that her great aunt Thelma Brooks worked as the Germantown Depot master. “She was also known as a great cook, so we named the dish in her honor,” Powers says. 2285 S. Germantown Road (901-754-5555). Dinner seven nights a week and Sunday brunch soon to come. $$-$$$ clockwise from bottom left: Manager Blake Parrish mixtures a Southern Belle, one of the Southern Social’s signature cocktails; house-made herb butter tops a tomahawk pork chop; lemon and mascarpone risotto cradles Chilean sea bass; an extensive renovation includes a brick wall enclosed patio outside the restaurant’s front door, and bright and comfortable spaces for drinking and eating. We celebrate our city’s community table and the people who grow, cook, and eat the best Memphis food at

MEMPHISMAGAZINE.COM/FOOD-DINING

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CIT Y DINING LIST

emphis magazine offers this restaurant listing as a service Angus steaks, duck, pasta, and seafood. Closed Sun.-Wed. 4715 Rd. W. (Nesbit, MS). 662-781-5100. D, X, $-$$$ to its readers. The directory is not intended as a recommendation of the estab- Church BOOKSELLERS BISTRO—Serves soups, sandwiches, quiche, lishments included, nor does it list every restaurant in town. It does, however, salads, pasta, and seafood, including shrimp polenta; a specialty is pesto include most of the city’s finer restaurants, many specialty restaurants, and a representative pasta. The Booksellers at Laurelwood, 387 Perkins Extd. 374-0881. B, L, D, WB, X, $-$$ sampling of other Bluff City eating establishments. No fast-food facilities or cafeterias BOSCOS—Tennessee’s first craft brewery serves a variety of freshly are listed, nor have we included establishments that rely heavily on take-out business. brewed beers as well as wood-fired oven pizzas, pasta, seafood, steaks, and sandwiches. 2120 Madison. 432-2222. L, D, SB (with Restaurants are included regardless of whether they advertise in Memphis magazine. live jazz), X, MRA, $-$$ The guide is updated regularly, but we recommend that you call ahead to check on hours, BOUNTY ON BROAD—Offering family-style dining, Bounty serves small plates and family-sized platters, with such specialties as prices, and other details. Suggestions from readers are welcome; please contact us. chicken fried quail and braised pork shank. Closed Mon. 2519 Broad. Email dining@memphismagazine.com. 410-8131. D (Tues.-Sat.), SB, X, $-$$ BOZO’S HOT PIT BAR-B-Q—Barbecue, burgers, sandwiches, BAR LOUIE—Serves small plates, flatbreads, sandwiches, burgers, and subs. 342 Hwy 70, Mason, TN. 901-294-3400. L, D, $-$$ 148 NORTH—French cuisine meets Southern comfort food here salads, and such large plate entrees as blackened fish tacos and baked BRASS DOOR IRISH PUB—Irish and New-American cuisine with menu items such as chicken and waffles, duck confit, and Ke’s mac-and-cheese. 2125 Madison. 207-1436. L, D, WB, X, $-$$ includes such entrees as fish and chips burgers, sandwiches, salads, Knuckle Sandwich, made with lobster knuckle and puff pastry. 148 BAR-B-Q SHOP—Dishes up barbecued ribs, spaghetti, bologna; and daily specials. 152 Madison. 572-1813. L, D, SB, MRA, $ N. Main (Collierville). 569-0761. L, D, WB, X, $-$$ also pulled pork shoulder, Texas toast barbecue sandwich, chicken BROADWAY PIZZA—Serving a variety of pizzas,including the 901 GRILLE & MARKET—Neighborhood market and eatery sandwich, and salads. Closed Sun. 1782 Madison. 272-1277. L, D, Broadway Special, as well as sandwiches, salads, wings, and “soulserves burgers, gyros, falafel pitas, hot wings, and more. 711 E. X, MRA, $-$$ food specials.” 2581 Broad. 454-7930; 627 S. Mendenhall. 207Parkway S. 512-6171. B, L, D, $ BARDOG TAVERN—Classic American grill with Italian influence, 1546. L, D, X, $-$$ ABUELO’S MEXICAN FOOD EMBASSY—Mejores de la Bardog offers pasta specialties such as Grandma’s NJ Meatballs, as well as BROOKLYN BRIDGE ITALIAN RESTAURANT— casa — beef and stuffed shrimp — is a specialty here, along with salads, sliders, sandwiches, and daily specials. 73 Monroe. 275-8752. B Specializing in such homemade entrees as spinach lasagna and lobster tilapia Veracruz, quesadillas, chili rellenos, and chicken medallions. (Mon.-Fri.), L, D, WB, X, $-$$ ravioli; a seafood specialty is horseradish-crusted salmon. Closed 8274 Highway 64 (Bartlett). 672-0769. L, D, X, $-$$ BARI RISTORANTE ENOTECA—Authentic Southeastern Sun. 1779 Kirby Pkwy. 755-7413. D, X, MRA, $-$$$ ABYSSINIA RESTAURANT—Ethiopian/Mediterranean menu Italian cuisine (Puglia) emphasizes lighter entrees. Serves fresh fish and BROOKS PHARM2FORK—Serving fresh vegetables and meats includes beef, chicken, lamb, fish entrees, and vegetarian dishes; also beef dishes and a homemade soup of the day. 22 S. Cooper. 722responsibly grown by area farmers. Entrees include Marmilu Farms a lunch buffet. 2600 Poplar. 321-0082. L, D, X, $-$$ 2244. D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$ Pork Triangle Steak, Old School Salmon Patties, and Pan Seared Lake’s ACRE—Features seasonal modern American cuisine in a stylish BARKSDALE RESTAURANT—Old-school diner serving Catfish. 120 Mulberry. (Collierville). 853-7511. D, X, $-$$ setting using locally sourced products; also small-plates/bar. Closed for breakfast and Southern plate lunches. 237 Cooper. 722-2193. B, L, D, BROTHER JUNIPER’S—Breakfast is the focus here, with lunch Sat. and all day Sun. 690 S. Perkins. 818-2273. L, D, X, X, MRA, $ specialty omelets, including the open-faced San Diegan omelet; also $$-$$$ BAYOU BAR & GRILL—New Orleans fare at this Overton Square daily specials, and homemade breads and pastries. Closed Mon. 3519 AGAVE MARIA—Menu items at this Mexican eatery include duck eatery includes jambalaya, gumbo, catfish Acadian, shrimp dishes, red Walker. 324-0144. B, X, MRA, $ confit arepas, poached lobster enchiladas, and grilled lamb chops; also beans and rice, and muffalettas; also serves some favorites from the BRYANT’S BREAKFAST—Three-egg omelets, pancakes, and tortas and small plate selections. 83 Union. 341-2096. L, D, X, $-$$ former Le Chardonnay. 2094 Madison. 278-8626. L, D, WB, X, The Sampler Platter are among the popular entrees here. Closed ALCHEMY—Southern fusion, locally grown cuisine features small MRA, $-$$ Tuesday. 3965 Summer. 324-7494. B, L, X, $ and large plates; among the offerings is the pan-seared hanger steak BEAUTY SHOP—Modern American cuisine with international BUCKLEY’S FINE FILET GRILL—Specializes in steaks, with duck-fat-roasted fingerling potatoes; also handcrafted cocktails flair served in a former beauty shop. Serves steaks salads, pasta, and seafood, and pasta. (Lunchbox serves entree salads, burgers, and and local craft beers. Closed for dinner Sun. 940 S. Cooper. seafood, including pecan-crusted golden sea bass. Closed for dinner more.) 5355 Poplar. 683-4538; 919 S. Yates (Buckley’s 726-4444. D, SB, X, $-$$ Sunday. 966 S. Cooper. 272-7111. L, D, SB, X, $-$$$ Lunchbox), 682-0570. L (Yates only, M-F), D, X, MRA, $-$$ ALDO’S PIZZA PIES—Serving gourmet pizzas — including Mr. T BEDROCK EATS & SWEETS—Memphis’ only Paleo-centric BUNTYN CORNER CAFE—Serving favorites from Buntyn Rex — salads, and more. Also 30 beers, bottled or on tap. 100 S. restaurant offering such dishes as pot roast, waffles, enchiladas, Restaurant, including chicken and dressing, cobbler, and yeast Main. 577-7743; 752 S. Cooper. 725-7437. L, D, X, $-$$ chicken salad, omelets, and more. Closed Sun. 327 S. Main. 409rolls. 5050 Poplar, Suite 107. 424-3286. B, L, X, $ AMERIGO—Traditional and contemporary Italian cuisine includes 6433. B, L, D, X, $-$$ THE BUTCHER SHOP—Serves steaks ranging from 8-oz. fillets pasta, wood-fired pizza, steaks, and cedarwood-roasted fish. 1239 BELLE: A SOUTHERN BISTRO—Brisket in a bourbon brown to a 20-oz. porterhouse; also chicken, pork chops, fresh seafood. 107 Ridgeway, Park Place Mall. 761-4000. L, D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$ sugar glaze, and chicken with basmati rice are among the specialties; S. Germantown Rd. (Cordova). 757-4244. L (Fri. and Sun.), D, X, ANDREW MICHAEL ITALIAN KITCHEN—Traditional also seafood entrees and such vegetables as blackened green MRA, $$-$$$ Italian cuisine with a menu that changes seasonally with such entrees as tomatoes. Closed for dinner Sun. and all CAFE 1912—French/American bistro serving Maw Maw’s ravioli. Closed Sun.-Mon. 712 W. Brookhaven Cl. 347-3569. day Mon. 117 Union Ave. 433-9851. L, DINING SYMBOLS such seafood entrees as grouper and steamed D, X, MRA, $$-$$$ D, WB, X, $-$$$ mussels: also crepes, salads, and French onion ANOTHER BROKEN EGG CAFE—Offering several varieties of BENIHANA—This Japanese steakhouse B — breakfast soup. 243 S. Cooper. 722-2700. D, SB, X, eggs benedict, waffles, omelets, pancakes, beignets, and other breakfast serves beef, chicken, and seafood grilled at MRA, $-$$ fare; also burgers,sandwiches, and salads. 6063 Park Ave. 729-7020; 65 L — lunch the table; some menu items change CAFE ECLECTIC—Spanish omelets, and S. Highland. 623-7122. B, L, WB, X, $ monthly; sushi bar also featured. 912 D — dinner chicken and waffles are among menu items, THE ARCADE—Possibly Memphis’ oldest cafe. Specialties include Ridge Lake. 767-8980. L, D, X, $$-$$$ SB — Sunday brunch along with sandwiches, wraps, and sweet potato pancakes, a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, BHAN THAI—Authentic Thai cuisine WB — weekend brunch burgers. 603 N. McLean. 725-1718; 111 and breakfast served all day. 540 S. Main. 526-5757. B, L, D includes curries, pad Thai noodles, and Harbor Town Square. 590-4645; 510 S. X — wheelchair accessible (Thurs.-Sat.), X, MRA, $ vegetarian dishes, as well as seafood, Highland. 410-0765. B, L, D, SB, X, MRA, ASIAN PALACE—Chinese eatery serves seafood, vegetarian items, dim MRA — member, Memphis pork, and duck entrees. Closed for lunch $ sum, and more. 5266 Summer Ave. 766-0831. L, D, X, $-$$ Sat.-Sun. and all day Restaurant Association CAFE KEOUGH—European-style cafe A-TAN—Serves Chinese and Japanese hibachi cuisine, complete Mon. 1324 Peabody. 272-1538. L, D, X, $ — under $15 per person without serving quiche, paninis, salads, and more. 12 with sushi bar. A specialty is Four Treasures with garlic sauce. 3445 MRA, $-$$ S. Main. 509-2469. B, L, D, X, $ drinks or desserts Poplar, Suite 17, University Center. 452-4477. L, D, X, $-$$$ BLEU—This eclectic restaurant features CAFE OLE—This eatery specializes in AUTOMATIC SLIM’S—Longtime downtown favorite specializes $$ — under $25 American food with global influences and authentic Mexican cuisine; one specialty is in contemporary American cuisine emphasizing local ingredients; also local ingredients. Among the specialties $$$ — $26-$50 the build-your-own quesadilla. 959 S. extensive martini list. 83 S. Second. 525-7948. L, D, WB, X, MRA, are a 14-oz. bone-in rib-eye and several $$$$ — over $50 Cooper. 343-0103. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$ $-$$$ seafood dishes. 221 S. Third, in the SHADED — new listing CAFE PALLADIO—Serves gourmet BABALU TACOS & TAPAS—This Overton Square eatery Westin Memphis Beale St. Hotel. salads, soups, sandwiches, and desserts in a dishes up Spanish-style tapas with Southern flair; also taco and 334-5950. B, L, D, WB, X, $$-$$$ tea room inside the antiques shop. Closed Sun. 2169 Central. 278enchilada of the day; specials change daily. 2115 Madison. 274-0100. BLUE NILE ETHIOPIAN—Kabobs, flavorful chicken and lamb 0129. L, X, $ L, D, SB, X, $-$$ stew, and injera (flatbread) are traditional items on the menu, along CAFE PIAZZA BY PAT LUCCHESI—Specializes in gourmet BAHAMA BREEZE—Baby back ribs, Jamaican chicken wings, with vegetarian options. 1788 Madison. 474-7214. L, D, X, $-$$ pizzas (including create-your-own), panini sandwiches, and pasta. and coconut shrimp are among the entrees at this Caribbean-fusion BLUEFIN RESTAURANT & SUSHI LOUNGE—Serves Closed Sun. 139 S. Rowlett St. (Collierville). 861-1999. L, D, X, restaurant. 2830 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 385-8744. L, Japanese fusion cuisine featuring seafood, duck, and steaks, with $-$$ D, X, MRA, $-$$ seasonally changing menu; also, a sushi bar and flatbread pizza. CAFE PONTOTOC—Serves a variety of internationally inspired BANGKOK ALLEY—Thai fusion cuisine includes noodle and Closed for lunch Sat.-Sun. 135 S. Main. 528-1010. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ small plates, as well as salads and sandwiches. Closed Mon. 314 S. curry dishes, chef-specialty sushi rolls, coconut soup, and duck and BOMBAY HOUSE—Indian fare includes lamb korma and chicken Main. 249-7955. L, D, WB, X, $-$$ seafood entrees. Closed for lunch Sat. and all day Sun. at Brookhaven tikka; also, a daily luncheon buffet. 1727 N. Germantown Pkwy. CAFE SOCIETY—With Belgian and classic French influences, location; call for hours. 121 Union Ave. 522-2010; 2150 W. Poplar at (Cordova). 755-4114. L, D, X, $-$$ serves Wagyu beef, chicken, and seafood dishes, including baconHouston Levee (Collierville). 854-8748; 715 W. Brookhaven Cl. BONEFISH GRILL—Serves wood-grilled fish,as well as steaks, wrapped shrimp, along with daily specials and vegetarian entrees. 590-2585. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ chicken and pork entrees. 1250 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). Closed for lunch Sat.-Sun. 212 N. Evergreen. 722-2177. L, D, X, BAR DKDC—Features an ever-changing menu of international 753-2220; 4680 Merchants Park Circle, Carriage Crossing MRA, $$-$$$ “street food,” from Thai to Mexican, Israeli to Indian, along with (Collierville). 854-5822. L (Fri.-Sat.), D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$ CANVAS—An “interactive art bar” serving salads, sandwiches, and specialty cocktails. Closed Sun.-Mon. 964 S. Cooper. 272-0830. D, BONNE TERRE—This inn’s cafe features American cuisine with a flatbreads. 1737 Madison. 619-5303. L, D, $ X, $ Southern flair, and a seasonal menu that changes monthly. Offers F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 87

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CIT Y DINING LIST CAPITAL GRILLE—Known for its dry-aged, hand-carved steaks; among the specialties are bone-in sirloin, and porcini-rubbed Delmonico; also seafood entrees and seasonal lunch plates. Closed for lunch Sat.-Sun.  Crescent Center, 6065 Poplar. 683-9291. L, D, X, $$$-$$$$ CAPRICCIO GRILL ITALIAN STEAKHOUSE—Offers prime steaks, fresh seafood (lobster tails, grouper, mahi mahi), pasta, and several northern Italian specialties. 149 Union, The Peabody. 529-4199. B, L, D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$$ CARRABBA’S ITALIAN GRILL—Serves chicken Bryan, calamari, various pastas, and other “old-world” Italian entrees. 4600 Merchants Park Cl., Carriage Crossing (Collierville). 854-0200; 5110 Poplar. 685-9900. L (Sat.-Sun.), D, X, $-$$$ CASABLANCA—Lamb shawarma is one of the fresh, homemade specialties served at this Mediterranean/Moroccan restaurant; fish entrees and vegetarian options also available. 1707 Madison. 4216949; 5030 Poplar. 725-8557. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ CATFISH BLUES—Serving Delta-raised catfish and Cajun- and Southern-inspired dishes, including gumbo and fried green tomatoes. 210 E. Commerce (Hernando). 662-298-3814. L, D, $ CATHERINE & MARY’S—A variety of pastas, grilled quail, pâté, razor clams, and monkfish are among the dishes served at this Italian restaurant in the Chisca. 2 72 S. Main. 254-8600. D, X, $-$$$ CELTIC CROSSING—Specializes in Irish and American pub fare. Entrees include shepherd’s pie, shrimp and sausage coddle, and fish and chips. 903 S. Cooper. 274-5151. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$ CENTRAL BBQ—Serves ribs, smoked hot wings, pulled pork sandwiches, chicken, turkey, nachos, and portobello sandwiches. Offers both pork and beef barbecue. 2249 Central Ave. 272-9377; 4375 Summer Ave. 767-4672; 147 E. Butler. 672-7760. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ CHAR—Specializing in modern Southern cuisine, this eatery offers homestyle sides, char-broiled steaks, and fresh seafood. 431 S. Highland, #120. 249-3533. L, D, WB, X, $-$$$ CHEZ PHILIPPE—Classical/contemporary French cuisine presented in a luxurious atmosphere with a seasonal menu focused on local/regional cuisine. Afternoon tea served Wed.-Sat., 1-3 p.m. (reservations required). Closed Sun.-Tues. T he Peabody, 149 Union. 529-4188. D, X, MRA, $$$$ CIAO BABY—Specializing in Neapolitan-style pizza made in a wood-fired oven. Also serves house-made mozzarella, pasta, appetizers, and salads. 890 W. Poplar, Suite 1. 457-7457. L, D, X, $ CIAO BELLA—Among the Italian and Greek specialties are lasagna, seafood pasta, eggplant rolotini, gourmet pizzas, and vegetarian options. Closed for lunch Sat.-Sun. 565 Erin Dr., Erin Way Shopping Center. 205-2500. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$$ CITY GROCERY—Southern eclectic cuisine; shrimp and grits is a specialty. Closed for dinner Sunday. 152 Courthouse Square (Oxford, MS). 662-232-8080. L, D, SB, X, $$-$$$ CITY SILO TABLE + PANTRY—With a focus on clean eating, this establishment offers fresh juices, as well as comfort foods re-imagined with wholesome ingredients. 5101 Sanderlin. 7297687. B, L, D, X, $ COLETTA’S—Longtime eatery serves such specialties as homemade ravioli, lasagna, and pizza with barbecue or traditional toppings. 2850 Appling Rd. (Bartlett). 383-1122; 1063 S. Parkway E. 948-7652. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ CORKY’S—Popular barbecue emporium offers both wet and dry ribs, plus a full menu of other barbecue entrees. Wed. lunch buffets, Cordova and Collierville. 5259 Poplar. 685-9744; 1740 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 737-1911; 743 W. Poplar (Collierville). 405-4999; 6434 Goodman Rd., Olive Branch. 662-893-3663. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ COZY CORNER—Serving up ribs, pork sandwiches, chicken, spaghetti, and more; also homemade banana pudding. Closed Sun.Mon. 7 35 N. Parkway. 527-9158. L, D, $ THE CRAZY NOODLE—Korean noodle dishes range from bibam beef noodle with cabbage, carrots, and other vegetables, to curry chicken noodle; also rice cakes served in a flavorful sauce. Closed for lunch Sat.-Sun. 2015 Madison. 272-0928. L, D, X, $ CURRY BOWL— Specializes in Southern Indian cuisine, serving Tandoori chicken, biryani, tikka masala, and more. Weekend buffet. 4141 Hacks Cross. 207-6051. L, D, $ DEJAVU—Serves Creole, soul, and vegetarian cuisine, including po-boys, jambalaya, and shrimp and grits. 51 S. Main. 505-0212. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ DELTA’S KITCHEN—The premier restaurant at The Guest House at Graceland serves Elvis-inspired dishes — like Nutella and Peanut Butter Crepes for breakfast — and upscale Southern cuisine — including lamb chops and shrimp and grits — for dinner. 3600 Elvis Presley Blvd. 443-3000. B, D, X, $-$$$ DERAE RESTAURANT—Ethiopian and Mediterranean fare includes fuul, or fava beans in spices and yoghurt, goat meat and rice, and garlic chicken over basmati rice with cilantro chutney; also salmon and tilapia. Closed Monday. 923 S. Highland. 552-3992. B, L, D, $-$$

LOCALITY GUIDE BARTLETT

Jerry Lee Lewis’ Cafe & Honky Tonk Jim N Nick’s Bar-B-Q Abuelo’s Joe’s Crab Shack Applebee’s Logan’s Roadhouse Cajun Catfish Company Moe’s Southwest Grill Coletta’s T.J. Mulligan’s Colton’s Steakhouse O’Charley’s Dixie Cafe Olive Garden El Porton On the Border Exlines’ Best Pizza Osaka Japanese Firebirds Outback Steakhouse Gridley’s Pei Wei Asian Diner Hadley’s Pub The Presentation Room La Playita Mexicana Pyro’s Fire Fresh Pizza O’Charley’s Rafferty’s Ruby Tuesday Red Lobster Sekisui Romano’s Macaroni Grill Side Car Cafe Sekisui Side Porch Steakhouse Shogun Tops Bar-B-Q CHICKASAW GARDENS/ Skimo’s Tannoor Grill UNIV. OF MEMPHIS DOWNTOWN Another Broken Egg Cafe Agave Maria A-Tan Aldo’s Pizza Pies Brother Juniper’s Alfred’s Camy’s The Arcade Char Automatic Slim’s Cheffie’s Bangkok Alley Derae Bardog Tavern El Porton B.B. King’s Blues Club The Farmer Bedrock Eats & Sweets La Baguette Belle — A Southern Bistro Los Compadres Bleu Lost Pizza Blind Bear Speakeasy Medallion Blue Monkey Newby’s Bluefin Osaka Japanese Blues City Cafe Pete & Sam’s Brass Door Irish Pub Rock’n Dough Pizza Cafe Eclectic R.P. Tracks Cafe Keough Woman’s Exchange COLLIERVILLE/WEST TN. Cafe Pontotoc Capriccio (ARLINGTON, COVINGTON, Catherine & Mary’s MILLINGTON, OAKLAND) Central BBQ 148 North Chez Philippe Bangkok Alley City Market Bonefish Grill Cozy Corner Bozo’s Hot Pit Bar-B-Q DeJaVu Brooks Pharm2Fork Dirty Crow Inn Cafe Piazza Double J Smokehouse & Saloon Cajun Catfish Company Earnestine & Hazel’s Carrabba’s Italian Grill Eighty3 Chili’s Felicia Suzanne’s Ciao Baby Ferraro’s Pizzeria Corky’s Five Spot Crepe Maker Flight El Mezcal Flying Fish El Porton Flying Saucer Emerald Thai T.G.I. Friday’s Firebirds Ronnie Grisanti’s Italian Restaurant Green Beetle Gus’s Gus’s Fried Chicken Happy Mexican Hickory Tavern Hard Rock Cafe Huey’s Havana’s Pilon Jim’s Place Grille Huey’s Long Road Cider Co. Itta Bena Manila Filipino King’s Palace Cafe Mulan Kooky Canuck Osaka Japanese Little Tea Shop Memphis Pizza Cafe Local Pig-N-Whistle Loflin Yard The Sear Shack Lookout at the Pyramid Sekisui Maciel’s Tortas & Tacos Silver Caboose Max’s Sports Bar Stix McEwen’s on Monroe Vinegar Jim’s The Majestic Wolf River Cafe Memphis Lighthouse CORDOVA Mesquite Chop House Bahama Breeze Mollie Fontaine Lounge Bombay House The Office@Uptown Bonefish Grill Paulette’s Butcher Shop Pearl’s Oyster House Cheddar’s Pig on Beale Chili’s Ray’z World Famous Dr. Bar-B-Que Corky’s Rendezvous, Charles Vergos’ Crazy Italians Rizzo’s Diner East End Grill Rum Boogie Cafe El Mezcal Silky O’Sullivan’s El Porton South of Beale T.G.I. Friday’s South Main Sushi & Grill Flying Saucer Spaghetti Warehouse Fox Ridge Pizza Spindini Green Bamboo The Terrace Gus’s Texas de Brazil Happy Mexican Tug’s Hunan Palace Tuscany Italian Eatery Huey’s Twilight Sky Terrace J. Alexander’s

Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl & Grill Westy’s

EAST MEMPHIS

Acre Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen Asian Palace Bangkok Alley Belmont Grill Blue Plate Cafe Booksellers Bistro Broadway Pizza Brookhaven Pub & Grill Buckley’s Fine Filet Grill Buntyn Corner Cafe Carrabba’s Italian Grill Casablanca Central B B Q Chili’s Ciao Bella City East Corky’s Dixie Cafe El Mezcal El Porton Fino’s from the Hill Folk’s Folly Fox & Hound Fratelli’s The Grove Grill Half Shell Hog & Hominy Houston’s Huey’s Interim Erling Jensen Jim’s Place The Kitchen Bistro Las Delicias Lisa’s Lunchbox LYFE Kitchen Lynchburg Legends Marciano Mayuri Indian Cuisine Dan McGuinness Pub Mellow Mushroom Memphis Pizza Cafe Mempops Mortimer’s Mosa Asian Bistro Napa Cafe Neil’s New Hunan Old Venice One & Only BBQ Park + Cherry Patrick’s Pimento’s Porcellino’s Craft Butcher Rafferty’s The Sear Shack Sekisui Pacific Rim Soul Fish Cafe Staks Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Three Little Pigs Wasabi Whole Foods Market Zaka Bowl

GERMANTOWN

Belmont Grill The Cheesecake Factory Chili’s City East El Porton Exlines’ Best Pizza Germantown Comm. Mellow Mushroom Memphis Pizza Cafe Mesquite Chop House New Asia The Pasta Maker Petra Cafe Rock’n Dough Pizza Royal Panda Russo’s New York Pizzeria & Wine Bar Sakura Soul Fish Cafe Southern Social Stoney River Steakhouse and Grill West Street Diner

MEDICAL CENTER The Cupboard Evelyn & Olive Sabor Caribe Sabrosura Tops Bar-B-Q

Trolley Stop Market

MIDTOWN

901 Grille & Market Abyssinia Alchemy Aldo’s Pizza Pies Alex’s Applebee’s Babalu Tacos and Tapas Bar DKDC Bar Louie Bar-B-Q Shop Bari Barksdale Restaurant Bayou Bar & Grill Beauty Shop Belly Acres Bhan Thai Blue Nile Ethiopian Boscos Bounty on Broad Broadway Pizza House Cafe 1912 Cafe Eclectic Cafe Ole Cafe Palladio Cafe Society Canvas Casablanca Celtic Crossing Central B B Q The Cove Cozy Corner The Crazy Noodle The Cupboard Dino’s DWJ Korean Barbecue Ecco El Mezcal Fino’s from the Hill Frida’s Fuel Cafe Golden India HM Dessert Lounge Huey’s I Love Juice Bar Imagine Vegan Cafe India Palace Izakaya Jasmine Thai Java Cabana Lafayette’s Music Room LBOE Little Italy Local Mardi Gras Memphis Maximo’s on Broad Memphis Pizza Cafe Midtown Crossing Grille Molly’s La Casita Mulan Chinese Bistro Murphy’s Old Zinnie’s Onix Otherlands Outback Steakhouse P & H Cafe Peabody Point Cafe Pei Wei Asian Diner Pho Binh Pho Saigon Restaurant Iris Robata Ramen & Yakitori Bar Schweinehaus The Second Line Sekisui Side Street Grill The Slider Inn Soul Fish Cafe Stone Soup Strano Sicilian Kitchen Sweet Grass Tart Tsunami Young Avenue Deli

NORTH MISSISSIPPI Ajax Diner Applebee’s Blue and White Bonne Terre Catfish Blues Chili’s City Grocery Colton’s Steakhouse Como Steakhouse Corky’s Fox & Hound

Huey’s Lee’s Family Restaurant Logan’s Roadhouse Lost Pizza McEwen’s Dan McGuinness Pub Memphis Barbecue Company Memphis Pizza Cafe Mesquite Chop House Nagoya O’Charley’s Olive Garden Osaka Japanese Cuisine Outback Steakhouse Ravine STEAK by Melissa

PARKWAY VILLAGE/ FOX MEADOWS Blue Shoe Bar & Grill Leonard’s Jack Pirtle’s Chicken Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q

POPLAR/I-240

Amerigo Benihana Blue Plate Cafe Brooklyn Bridge Capital Grille, The City Silo Table + Pantry P.F. Chang’s Chipotle Exlines’ Best Pizza Fleming’s Frank Grisanti’s Happy Mexican Heritage Tavern & Kitchen Julles Posh Food Co. Mister B’s Olive Garden One & Only BBQ Owen Brennan’s Pyro’s Fire-Fresh Pizza Red Koi River Oaks Ruth’s Chris Salsa Seasons 52 Sekisui Wang’s Mandarin House

RALEIGH

Exline’s Best Pizza

SOUTH MEMPHIS Coletta’s The Four Way Interstate Bar-B-Q Jack Pirtle’s Chicken

SUMMER/BERCLAIR Bryant’s The Cottage Elwood’s Shack High Point Pizza La Taqueria Guadalupana Lotus Nagasaki Inn Orr Restaurant Pancho’s Panda Garden Queen of Sheba Tops Bar-B-Q

WEST MEMPHIS/ EASTERN ARK.

The Cupboard Pancho’s Sammy Hagar’s Red Rocker Bar & Grill

WHITEHAVEN Delta’s Kitchen Hong Kong Marlowe’s

WINCHESTER

Curry Bowl DWJ Korean Barbecue East End Grill Formosa Half Shell Happy Mexican Huey’s Logan’s Roadhouse Olive Garden Red Lobster Ruby Tuesday T.G.I. Friday’s Tops Bar-B-Q Tycoon

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CIT Y DINING LIST CASUAL DINING

These establishments offer American cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere. While some serve ethnic entrees, the emphasis is on steaks, salads, sandwiches, pasta, fish and seafood. Also some soul-food and homestyle cooking. J. ALEXANDER’S—2670 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 381-9670. APPLEBEE’S—2114 Union Ave. 725-7136; 2890 Bartlett Blvd. (Bartlett). 213-5034; 710 DeSoto Cove (Horn Lake, MS). 662-7725914; 7515 Goodman Rd. (Olive Branch, MS). 662-893-7555. AJAX DINER—118 Courthouse Sq., Oxford, MS. 662-232-8880. BELLY ACRES—2102 Trimble Pl, 5297017. BLUE AND WHITE RESTAURANT—1355 U.S. 61 N., Tunica, MS. 662-363-1371. BLUE PLATE CAFE—5469 Poplar. 761-9696; 113 S. Court. 523-2050. BLUE SHOE BAR & GRILL—Hotel Memphis, 2625 Thousand Oaks Blvd. 362-6200. CAJUN CATFISH COMPANY—336 New Byhalia Rd. Collierville. 861-0122. MRA. CHEDDAR’S—2147 N. Germantown Pkwy. 380-1119. THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY—2760 N. Germantown Pkwy, Suite 193 (Wolfchase). 937-1613. CHILI’S—7810 Poplar (Germantown). 756-5203; 4609 Poplar. 685-2257; 8100 Giacosa Pl. 372-3132; 287 W. Goodman Rd.

(Southaven). 662-349-7002; 237 Market Blvd. (Collierville). 853-7520; 1260 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 756-7771; 8526 Highway 51 (Millington). 872-0555. COLTON’S STEAKHOUSE—8030 Highway 64 (Bartlett). 383-8445; 8051 Goodman Rd. (Olive Branch). 662-890-4142. COMO STEAKHOUSE—203 Main St. Como, MS. 662-526-9529. THE COVE—2559 Broad Ave. 730-0719. THE CUPBOARD—1400 Union. 276-8015. MRA. ELWOOD’S SHACK—4523 Summer. 761-9898. MRA. T.G.I. FRIDAY’S—185 Union, Double Tree Hotel. 523-8500; 176 E. Goodman Rd. (Southaven). 662-349-4223; 7733 Winchester Rd. 752-1369; 8325 Highway 64. 372-2539. KEM’S RESTAURANT—2751 New Brunswick Rd., Holiday Inn & Suites. 2661952. LOGAN’S ROADHOUSE—2710 N. Germantown Parkway. 381-5254; 5901 Poplar. 684-2272; 7755 Winchester Rd. 759-1430; 6685 Airways Blvd. (Southaven). 662-772-5015. MAC’S BURGERS—4698 Spottswood. 512-4604. MIDTOWN CROSSING GRILLE—394 N. Watkins. 443-0502. O’CHARLEY’S—6045 Stage Rd., #74 (Bartlett). 373-5602; 1040 N. Germantown Pkw. 754-6201; 357 W. Goodman Rd. (Southaven). 662-349-6663; 656 W. Poplar (Collierville). 861-5811. THE OLIVE GARDEN—7778 Winchester. 624-2003; 8405 Highway 64,

DIRTY CROW INN—Serving elevated bar food, including poutine fries, fried catfish, and the Chicken Debris, a sandwich with smoked chicken, melted cheddar, and gravy. 855 Kentucky. 2075111. L, D, $ DWJ KOREAN BARBECUE—This authentic Korean eatery serves kimbap, barbecued beef short ribs, rice and noodles dishes, and hot pots and stews. 3750 Hacks Cross, Suite 101. 746-8057; 2156 Young. 207-6204. L, D, $-$$ ECCO—Mediterranean-inspired specialties range from rib-eye steak to seared scallops to housemade pastas and a grilled vegetable plate; also a Saturday brunch. Closed Sun.-Mon.  1585 Overton Park. 410-8200. L, D, X, $-$$ EIGHTY3—Contemporary menu of steaks and seafood offers a variety of eclectic specialties; also weekly specials, small plates, appetizers, and patio dining. 83 Madison Ave. 333-1224. B, L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$$ EL MEZCAL—Serves burritos, chimichangas, fajitas, and other Mexican cuisine, as well as shrimp dinners and steak. 402 Perkins Extd. 761-7710; 694 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 755-1447; 1492 Union. 274-4264; 11615 Airline Rd. (Arlington). 867-1883; 9045 Highway 64 (Lakeland). 383-4219; 7164 Hacks Cross Rd. (Olive Branch). 662-890-3337; 8834 Hwy. 51 N. (Millington). 872-3220; 7424 Highway 64 (Bartlett). 417-6026; 9947 Wolf River (Collierville) 853-7922. L, D, X, $ EL PORTON—Fajitas, quesadillas, and steak ranchero are just a few of the menu items. 2095 Merchants Row (Germantown). 754-4268; 8361 Highway 64. 380-7877; 3448 Poplar, Poplar Plaza. 452-7330; 1805 N. Germantown Parkway (Cordova). 624-9358; 1016 W. Poplar (Collierville). 854-5770. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ EMERALD THAI RESTAURANT—Spicy shrimp, pad khing, lemon grass chicken, and several noodle, rice, and vegetarian dishes are offered at this family restaurant. Closed Sunday.  8950 Highway 64 (Lakeland). 384-0540. L, D X, $-$$ ERLING JENSEN—Presents “globally inspired” cuisine: specialties are rack of lamb, big game entrees,and fresh fish dishes. 1044 S. Yates. 763-3700. D, X, MRA, $$-$$$ EVELYN & OLIVE—Jamaican/Southern fusion cuisine includes such dishes as Kingston stew fish, Rasta Pasta, and jerk rib-eye. Closed for lunch Sat. and all day Sun.-Mon. 630 Madison. 748-5422. L, D, X, $ EXLINES’ BEST PIZZA—Serves pizza, Italian dinners, sandwiches, and salads.  2935 Austin Peay. 388-4711; 6250 Stage

Wolfchase Galleria. 377-3437; 6615 Airways (Southaven). 662-536-3350; 5679 Poplar, #1. 761-5711. OSHI BURGER BAR—94 s. Main. 341-2091. OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE— 1110 N. Germantown Parkway. 751-9800; 2255 Union Ave. 728-5100; 125 W. Goodman Rd. (Southaven). 662-349-7488. MRA. RAFFERTY’S—4542 Poplar. 374-0096; 505 N. Germantown Pkwy. 755-4799. RUBY TUESDAY—1653 Sycamore View. 382-9280;7535 Winchester. 7556570. SIDECAR CAFE—2194 Whitten. 388-0285. MRA. SIDE STREET GRILL—31 Florence. 274-8955. MRA. SILVER CABOOSE—132 E. Mulberry (Collierville). 853-0010. SKIMO’S—1166 N. Houston Levee, #107 (Cordova). 756-5055. MRA. SOUL FISH CAFE—862 S. Cooper. 725-0722; 3160 Village Shops Dr. (Germantown). 755-6988; 4720 Poplar. 590-0323. MRA. SPAGHETTI WAREHOUSE—40 W. Huling. 521-0907. STONEY RIVER—7515 Poplar. 2071100. TUG’S—River Inn, 51 Harbor Town Square. 260-3344. MRA. VINEGAR JIM’S—12062 Forrest (Arlington). 867-7568. WOLF RIVER CAFE—460 U.S. 194 (Rossville). 853-2586.

Rd. (Bartlett). 382-3433; 2801 Kirby Parkway. 754-0202; 7730 Wolf River Blvd. (Germantown). 753-4545; 531 W. Stateline Rd. 662-342-4544 (check online for additional locations). L, D, X, MRA, $ THE FARMER—Serving upscale Southern cuisine, with a focus on locally grown ingredients. Among the specialties are smoked beef tenderloin and shrimp and grits. Closed for dinner Sun.-Mon. 3092 Poplar #11. 324-2221. L, D, X, $-$$ FELICIA SUZANNE’S—Southern cuisine with low-country, Creole, and Delta influences, using regional fresh seafood, local beef, and locally grown foods. Entrees include shrimp and grits. Closed Sun. and Mon. Brinkley Plaza, 80 Monroe, Suite L1. 523-0877. L (Fri. only), D, X, MRA, $$-$$$ FERRARO’S PIZZERIA & PUB—Rigatoni and tortellini are among the pasta entrees here, along with pizzas (whole or by the slice), with a variety of toppings. 111 Jackson. 522-2033. L, D, X, $ FIREBIRDS—Specialties are hand-cut steaks, slow-roasted prime rib, and wood-grilled salmon and other seafood, as well as seasonal entrees. 8470 Highway 64 (Bartlett). 379-1300; 4600 Merchants Circle, Carriage Crossing (Collierville). 850-1637. L, D, X, $-$$$ THE FIVE SPOT—Tucked behind Earnestine & Hazel’s, this popular eatery features innovative bar food by chef Kelly English.  531 S. Main. 523-9754. D, X, $-$$ FLEMING’S PRIME STEAKHOUSE—Serves wet-aged and dry-aged steaks, prime beef, chops, and seafood, including salmon, Australian lobster tails, and a catch of the day. 6245 Poplar. 7616200. D, X, MRA, $$$-$$$$ FLIGHT RESTAURANT & WINE BAR—Serves steaks and seafood, along with such specialties as pork ribeye and roasted duck, all matched with appropriate wines; also gourmet plate lunches. Closed for lunch Sat.-Sun. 39 S. Main. 521-8005. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$$ FLYING FISH—Serves up fried and grilled versions of shrimp, crab, oysters, fish tacos, and catfish; also chicken and burgers. 105 S. Second. 522-8228. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ FOLK’S FOLLY ORIGINAL PRIME STEAK HOUSE— Specializes in prime steaks, as well as lobster, grilled Scottish salmon, Alaskan king crab legs, rack of lamb, and weekly specials. 551 S. Mendenhall. 762-8200. D, X, MRA, $$$-$$$$ FORMOSA—Offers Mandarin cuisine, including broccoli beef, hot-and-sour soup, and spring rolls. Closed Monday. 6685 Quince. 753-9898. L, D, X, $-$$

Adventures in Music

T H E C E RU T I S T R I N G Q UA R T E T, in residence at the Rudi Scheidt School of Music, is embarking on an adventure to perform Beethoven’s entire string quartet output, all 16! This concert features Beethoven’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132. An added bonus is Brahms’ Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in B Major, Op. 8, featuring pianist Cathal Breslin, violinist Tim Shiu, and cellist Kimberly Patterson. Come be inspired! JOIN US

sunday February 19, 2017 3pm

15 6 0 C E N T R A L AV E N U E MEMPHIS, TN 38104

for ticket information and directions call 901.758.0150

Every

HERO needs a

mentor, every mentor needs a GUIDE. memphisparent.com F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 89

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CIT Y DINING LIST   CLUBS/PUBS/SPORTS BARS

From Beale Street night spots to neighborhood bars/grills, these places dish out a variety of food. Many offer live entertainment, and patrons can’t miss the large-screen TVs.

Cocktails • Oysters • Atmosphere

The Cove

SGWSTN_Santi_MMFeb17.pdf 1 1/17/2017 3:40:44 PM

21 and over (but no smoking)! • 2559 Broad Avenue • www.thecovememphis.com

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ENJOY MEMPHIS’ MOST ROMANTIC RESTAURANT — DOWN BY THE RIVER. JOIN US!

SERVING BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER 365 DAYS A YEAR & WEEKEND BRUNCH 50 Harbor Town Square • 901-260-3300 • paulettes.net

ALEX’S TAVERN—1445 Jackson. 278-9086. ALFRED’S—197 Beale. 525-3711. MRA. B.B. KING’S BLUES CLUB—143 Beale. 524-5464. MRA. BEALE STREET TAP ROOM—168 Beale. 576-2220. BELMONT GRILL—4970 Poplar. 767-0305; 9102 Poplar Pike (Germantown). 624-6001. MRA. BLIND BEAR SPEAKEASY—119 S. Main, Pembroke Square. 417-8435. MRA. BLUE MONKEY—2012 Madison. 272-2583; 513 S. Front. 5276665. BLUES CITY CAFE—138 Beale. 526-3637. MRA. BROOKHAVEN PUB & GRILL—695 W. Brookhaven Circle. 680-8118. MRA. BUFFALO WILD WINGS—3770 Hacks Cross Rd. 737-9463; 7188 Airways (Southaven). 662-349-7776; 8385 Highway 64. 3809294. DOUBLE J SMOKEHOUSE & SALOON—124 G.E. Patterson. 347-2648. EARNESTINE & HAZEL’S—531 S. Main. 523-9754. MRA. EAST END GRILL—7547 Highway 64. 937-1392; 7956 Winchester Rd. 432-4256. MRA. FLYING SAUCER DRAUGHT EMPORIUM—130 Peabody Place. 523-7468; 1400 Germantown Pkwy. 755-5530. MRA. FOX AND HOUND ENGLISH PUB & GRILL—847 Exocet Dr. 624-9060; 5101 Sanderlin Ave. 763-2013; 6565 Towne Center Crossing (Southaven). 662-536-2200. GREEN BEETLE—325 S. Main. 527-7337. MRA. HADLEY’S PUB—2779 Whitten Rd. 266-5006. HARD ROCK CAFE—126 Beale. 529-0007. HICKORY TAVERN—4600 Merchants Park Cir. 861-0196. HIGH POINT PUB—477 High Point Terrace. 452-9203. HUEY’S—1927 Madison. 726-4372; 1771 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 754-3885; 77 S. Second. 527-2700; 2130 W. Poplar (Collierville). 854-4455; 7090 Malco Blvd. (Southaven). 662-3497097; 7825 Winchester. 624-8911; 4872 Poplar. 682-7729; 7677 Farmington Blvd. (Germantown). 318-3030. MRA. JERRY LEE LEWIS’ CAFE & HONKY TONK—310 Beale. 654-5171. KING JERRY LAWLER’S HALL OF FAME BAR & GRILLE—159 Beale. 523-1940. KING’S PALACE CAFE—162 Beale. 521-1851. MRA. MAX’S SPORTS BAR—115 G.E. Patterson. 528-8367. MRA. MEMPHIS SPORTS PUB—5012 Park Ave. 767-8632. MIDTOWN CROSSING GRILLE—394 N. Watkins. 443-0502. MURPHY’S—1589 Madison. 726-4193. MRA. NEIL’S MUSIC ROOM—5727 Quince Rd. 682-2300. NEWBY’S—539 S. Highland. 730-0520. OLD ZINNIE’S—1688 Madison. 726-5004. PATRICK’S—4972 Park Ave. 682-2852. MRA. P & H CAFE—1532 Madison. 726-0906. PIG ON BEALE—167 Beale. 529-1544 ROCKHOUSELIVE—2586 Poplar. 324-6300. 5709 Raleigh LaGrange. 386-7222. R.P. TRACKS—3547 Walker. 327-1471. MRA. RUM BOOGIE CAFE—182 Beale. 528-0150. SAMMY HAGAR’S RED ROCKER BAR & GRILL— Southland Park, 1550 North Ingram Blvd. (West Memphis). 872-7353670. SILKY O’SULLIVAN’S—183 Beale. 522-9596. MRA. THE SILLY GOOSE—100 Peabody Place. 435-6915. THE SLIDER INN—2117 Peabody. 725-1155. SOUTH OF BEALE—361 S. Main. 526-0388. T J MULLIGAN’S—8071 Trinity Rd. (Cordova). 756-4480; 1817 Kirby Pkwy. (Germantown). 755-2481; 2821 N. Houston Levee Rd. 377-9997. UBEE’S—521 S. Highland. 323-0900. WESTY’S—346 N. Main. 543-3278. MRA. THE WINDJAMMER—786 E. Brookhaven Cl. 683-9044. MRA.

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CIT Y DINING LIST

T H E W I N E M AV E N

Look Before You Leap!

W

b y ch a r l i e wa r n er

e are fortunate to have quite a few fine restaurants in Memphis that are dedicated to providing a good selection of wines for their patrons. However, even those of us who know a little something about wine can be thrown off course when we are confronted with a particular restaurant’s wine list. Around town, there seems to be no standard convention. Some categorize by color; others by region; others by style or variety, and some apparently with no system at all. Prices are all over the place. Many wines are served by bottle only, while some are served only by the glass. Descriptors are sometimes indecipherable, which often makes it hard to understand the characteristics of the wines you are considering. Here is where a little knowledge goes a very long way. You need to have some basic grasp of the types of wine you enjoy. They can be catalogued in your mind by variety, style, region, producer, or any other criterion you find helpful. This way, you can choose sections from the wine list upon which to focus. One also needs to have some understanding of the ways in which a wine ages. The majority of wines that show up on local wine lists are ready to drink now. There will be a few on the average list that need time in the bottle before being ready to drink. However, many wines are much better when consumed young. With a handful of high-quality (and high price) exceptions, most white wines should be consumed within three years of bottling. A 2009 California chardonnay on a local list is probably not something you should seek out. Red wines generally last much longer; most age well for several years and often for many more. And, of course, the higher quality the red wine, the more likely it will age well. Unfortunately, many restaurants do not keep current with the vintages on their wine lists, so take care to ensure that the vintage advertised is the vintage you get. Don’t be afraid to ask your server/bartender to check that the vintage of the wine available is the same as the one shown on their wine list. Do you want a glass of wine before dinner while you look at the menu? If so, ordering wine by the glass may be the proper choice. And if you can’t decipher how much wine is poured by the glass, ask. An average pour is usually around four ounces. A bottle holds almost 26 ounces, so be sure to do the math. It may be more cost effective to buy a bottle if four people are having a glass of the same, or similar, wine. Properly served, wine by the glass should be poured at the table, so that you can verify what you are getting . More and more, there are restaurants in Memphis whose ownership is committed to providing good wine experiences for their customers, owners who have invested heavily in different wine-preservation systems that keep the wine fresh in the bottle for some time after it has been opened. These systems can usually be seen behind the bar and do an excellent job keeping wine preserved. Depending on the number of guests at the table, you may feel a full bottle would be too much for dinner. Remember, here in Tennessee (not in many states, by the way) it is legal for the wait staff to reseal the bottle and you may take it home. So usually a single bottle, even for two people, is the more cost-effective choice. So, red or white? This is where your personal knowledge comes into the equation. Of course, you also need to stay in your price range. Knowing that you like cabernet sauvignon and/or merlot, for

example, might lead you away from syrah or malbec. Having decided on a light fish course, you may want to skip the reds altogether and go straight to the whites. Here you draw on the fact that you might prefer an un-oaked sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, or riesling, leading you towards Europe rather than California or Oregon. Reading a wine list with several hundred entries (Bern’s Steak House in Tampa has more than 6,800 selections, for example) can be extremely entertaining and educational, but also tiresome, if you are trying to pick a single wine for dinner. Here’s where a sommelier/wine steward can be of service — if he/she is doing a proper job and is not just there as decoration. The sommelier’s job is to make your dining experience better. This is done by understanding your needs. The sommelier/ wine steward should be able to provide descriptions of several different wines at varying price points in a way that makes sense to you and your guests. It’s all about communication, and good wine stewards are very good at that. Although very few local restaurants have certified sommeliers on staff, any decent restaurant — and we have many in Memphis — will make sure the wait-staff is trained regarding the wine list. There may be one waiter more knowledgeable than his peers, or perhaps a bartender who is a closet wine freak, someone able to describe characteristics and taste profiles of the wines on the list. If you have questions about a certain wine, do not hesitate to ask. Good restaurants will have someone available to help. What if you want to take your own wine to a restaurant? Most restaurants in Memphis are fine with that, as long as you pay their corkage fee. It is best to call the restaurant beforehand to verify what their fee is. It may be anywhere from $10 to $50 a bottle. Some restaurants have a limit on how many bottles you can bring. In any event, there are a couple of conventions that should be followed if one is to be gracious. Never bring a wine to a restaurant that is on the restaurant’s wine list. Yes, I understand how the restaurant charges about two to three times more than what that wine is available for in shops. However, the restaurant invests time as well as money in maintaining a good list; if the restaurant sells that wine, it is rude to bring one of your own. As a general rule, I usually order one bottle off the list for every bottle I bring to the restaurant. (Remember, you can take it home!) And depending on your personal tipping philosophies, tip as if you had bought a bottle off the list, even if you did not. The wait staff still must open it and pour it for you. And they’re much more likely to welcome you back with open arms when next you visit! F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 91

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CIT Y DINING LIST THE FOUR WAY—Legendary soul-food establishment dishing up such entrees as fried and baked catfish, chicken, and turkey and dressing, along with a host of vegetables and desserts. Closed Monday.  998 Mississippi Blvd. 507-1519. L, D (call to check hours.), $ FOX RIDGE PIZZA—Pizzas, calzones, subs, burgers, and meatand-two plate lunches are among the dishes served at this eatery. 1769 N. Germantown Pkwy. 758-6500. L, D, X, $ FRATELLI’S—Serves hot and cold sandwiches, salads, soups, and desserts, all with an Italian/Mediterranean flair. Closed Sunday.  750 Cherry Rd., Memphis Botanic Garden. 766-9900. L, X, $ FRIDA’S—Mexican cuisine and Tex-Mex standards, including chimichangas, enchiladas, and fajitas; seafood includes shrimp and tilapia.  1718 Madison. 244-6196. L, D, X, $-$$ FUEL CAFE—Focus is on natural dishes with such specialties as bison burgers, quinoa chili, and tacos; also vegan and gluten-free options. Closed Sun.-Mon. 1761 Madison. 725-9025. L, D, X, $-$$ GERMANTOWN COMMISSARY—Serves barbecue sandwiches, sliders, ribs, shrimp, and nachos, as well as smoked barbecued bologna sandwiches; Mon.-night all-you-can-eat ribs. 2290 S. Germantown Rd. S. (Germantown). 754-5540. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ GOLDEN INDIA—Northern Indian specialties include tandoori chicken as well as lamb, beef, shrimp, and vegetarian dishes. 2097 Madison. 728-5111. L, D, X, $-$$ GREEN BAMBOO—Pineapple tilapia, pork vermicelli, and the soft egg noodle combo are Vietnamese specialties here.  990 N. Germantown Parkway, #104 (Cordova). 753-5488. L, D, $-$$ GRIDLEY’S—Offers barbecued ribs, shrimp, pork plate, chicken, and hot tamales; also daily lunch specials. Closed Tues. 6842 Stage Rd. (Bartlett). 377-8055. L, D, X, $-$$ FRANK GRISANTI’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT— Northern Italian favorites include pasta with jumbo shrimp and mushrooms; also seafood, fillet mignon, and daily lunch specials. Closed for lunch Sunday. Embassy Suites Hotel, 1022 S. Shady Grove. 761-9462. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$$ RONNIE GRISANTI’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT—This Memphis institution serves some family classics such as Elfo’s Special and chicken ravioli, along with lighter fare and changing daily chef selection. Closed Sun.  Sheffield Antiques Mall, 684 W. Poplar (Collierville). 850-0191. L (Mon.-Sat.), D (Thurs.-Sat.), X, $-$$$ THE GROVE GRILL—Offers steaks, chops, seafood, and other American cuisine with Southern and global influences; entrees include crab cakes, and shrimp and grits, also dinner specials. 4550 Poplar. 818-9951. L, D, SB, X, MRA, $$-$$$ GUS’S WORLD FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN—Serves chicken with signature spicy batter, along with homemade beans, slaw, and pies. 310 S. Front. 527-4877; 215 S. Center St. (Collierville). 853-6005; 2965 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 373-9111; 730 S. Mendenhall. 767-2323; 505 Highway 70 W., Mason, TN. 901-294-2028. L, D, X, MRA, $ HALF SHELL—Specializes in seafood, such as King crab legs; also serves steaks, chicken, pastas, salads, sandwiches, a ”voodoo menu”; oyster bar at Winchester location. 688 S. Mendenhall. 682-3966; 7825 Winchester. 737-6755. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$$ HAPPY MEXICAN—Serves quesadillas, burritos, chimichangas, vegetable and seafood dishes, and more. 385 S. Second. 529-9991; 6080 Primacy Pkwy. 683-0000; 7935 Winchester. 751-5353. L, D, X, $ HAVANA’S PILON—Tiny eatery serving Cuban cuisine, including fried plantains in a pilon topped with shrimp, ropa vieja (shredded beef in tomato sauce), roasted pork, and a Cuban sandwich. Closed Sunday.  143 Madison. 527-2878; 3135 Kirby-Whitten, Suite 108 (Bartlett). 512-6359. L, D, X, $ HERITAGE TAVERN & KITCHEN—Featuring classic cuisine from the country’s five regions, including lobster rolls, fried chicken, smoked tamales, Green Goddess shrimp, and more.  6150 Poplar, Regalia. 761-8855.L, D, WB, X, $-$$$ HIGH POINT PIZZA—Serves variety of pizzas, subs, salads, and sides. Closed Monday.  477 High Point Terrace. 452-3339. L, D, X, $-$$ HM DESSERT LOUNGE—Serving cake, pie, and other desserts, as well as a selection of savory dishes, including meatloaf and mashed potato “cupcakes.” Closed Sunday and Monday. 1586 Madison. 290-2099. L, D, X, $ HOG & HOMINY—The casual sister to Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen serves brick-oven-baked pizzas, including the Red-Eye with pork belly, and small plates with everything from meatballs to beef and cheddar hot dogs; and local veggies. Closed for lunch Mon. 707 W. Brookhaven Cl. 207-7396. L, D, SB, X, $-$$$ HONG KONG—Cantonese and Mandarin standards are sweetand-sour chicken, and pepper beef. Closed Sunday. 3966 Elvis Presley. 396-0801. L, D, X, $ HOUSTON’S—Serves steaks, seafood, pork chops, chicken dishes, sandwiches, salads, and Chicago-style spinach dip.  5000 Poplar. 683-0915. L, D, X $-$$$  I LOVE JUICE BAR—Serving an extensive line of juices and grab-and-go lunch items. 553 S. Cooper. 612-2720. L, D, X, $

T UNICA TA BLES CHICAGO STEAKHOUSE AT THE GOLDSTRIKE—1010 Casino Center Dr., Robinsonville, MS, 1-888-24KSTAY /662-357-1225. FAIRBANKS AT THE HOLLYWOOD—1150 Casino Strip Blvd., Robinsonville, MS, 1-800-871-0711 JACK BINION’S STEAK HOUSE AT HORSESHOE—1021 Casino Center Drive, Robinsonville, MS, 1-800-303-SHOE. LUCKY 8 ASIAN BISTRO AT HORSESHOE—1021 Casino Center Drive, Robinsonville, MS, 1-800-303-SHOE. THE STEAKHOUSE AT THE FITZ —711 Lucky Ln., Robinsonville, MS, 1-888-766-LUCK, ext 8213. IMAGINE VEGAN CAFE—Dishes range from salads and sandwiches to full dinners, breakfast items served all day. 2158 Young. 654-3455. L, D, SB, X, $ INDIA PALACE—Tandoori chicken, lamb shish kabobs, chicken tikka masala are among the entrees; also, vegetarian options and a daily lunch buffet. 1720 Poplar. 278-1199. L, D, X, $-$$ INTERIM—Offers American-seasonal cuisine with emphasis on local foods and fresh fish; macaroni and cheese is a house specialty. Closed for lunch Sat. 5040 Sanderlin, Suite 105. 818-0821. L, D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$ INTERSTATE BAR-B-Q—Specialties include chopped porkshoulder sandwiches, ribs, hot wings, spaghetti, chicken, and turkey. 2265 S. Third. 775-2304; 150 W. Stateline Rd. (Southaven). 662393-5699. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ ITTA BENA—Southern and Cajun-American cuisine served here; specialties are filet Oscar and shrimp and grits, along with steaks, chops, seafood, and pasta. 145 Beale St. 578-3031. D,X, MRA, $$-$$$
 IZAKAYA—This fine dining Asian fusion steakhouse, located in the historic 19th Century Club mansion, serves sushi and a variety of steakhouse-style dishes, such as Wagyu beef steaks, pasta, and seafood. 1433 Union. 454-3926. L, D, X, $-$$$ JASMINE THAI AND VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT—Entrees include panang chicken, green curry shrimp,and pad thai (noodles, shrimp, and peanuts); also vegetarian dishes. Closed Mon.-Tues. 916 S. Cooper. 725-0223. L, D, X, $ JIM ’N NICK’S BAR-B-Q—Serves barbecued pork, ribs, chicken, brisket, and fish, along with other homemade Southern specialties. 2 359 N. Germantown Pkwy. 388-0998. L, D, X, $-$$ JIM’S PLACE/JIM’S PLACE GRILLE—Features American, Greek, and Continental cuisine with such entrees as pork tenderloin, several seafood specialties, and hand-cut charcoal-grilled steaks. Closed for lunch Sat. and all day Sun. 518 Perkins Extd. 766-2030; 3660 Houston Levee (Collierville). 861-5000. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$$ JOE’S CRAB SHACK—Serves a variety of seafood, along with chicken, steak, and pasta. 7990 Horizon Center Blvd. 384-7478. L, D, X, $-$$$ JULLES POSH FOOD CO.—The changing menu features seasonal “cooking light” dishes such as salmon-shrimp cakes with green salad and roasted sweet potato wedges; also cold-pressed juices, to-go dishes, and desserts.  6300 Poplar. 509-8675. B, L, D, X, $-$$ THE KITCHEN BISTRO—Tomato soup, grilled fish, sticky toffee pudding, and dishes made using in-season fruits and veggies are served at this establishment at Shelby Farms Park.  415 Great View Drive E., Suite 101. 729-9009. L, D, X, $-$$ KOOKY CANUCK—Offers prime rib, catfish, and burgers, including the 4-lb. “Kookamonga”; also late-night menu. 87 S. Second. 578-9800; 1250 N. Germantown Pkwy. 1-8002453. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$$ LA BAGUETTE—An almond croissant and chicken salad are among specialties at this French-style bistro. Closed for dinner Sun. 3088 Poplar. 458-0900. B, L, D (closes at 7), X, MRA, $ LA PLAYITA MEXICANA—Specializes in seafood and Mexican entrees, including red snapper, tilapia, oysters, chimichangas, tostadas, and taco salad. 6194 Macon (Bartlett). 377-2282. L, D, X, $-$$ LA TAQUERIA GUADALUPANA—Fajitas and quesadillas are just a few of the authentic Mexican entrees offered here. 4818 Summer. 685-6857; 5848 Winchester. 365-4992. L, D, $ LAFAYETTE’S MUSIC ROOM—Serves such Southern cuisine as po boys and shrimp and grits, and wood-fired pizzas; also live music. 2 119 Madison. 207-5097. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$ LAS DELICIAS—Popular for its guacamole, house-made tortilla chips, and margaritas, this restaurant draws diners with its chicken enchiladas, meat-stuffed flautas, and Cuban torta with spicy pork. Closed Sunday. 4002 Park Ave. 458-9264; 5689 Quince. 8002873. L, D, X, $ LAS TORTUGAS DELI MEXICANA—Authentic Mexican food prepared from local food sources; specializes in tortugas — grilled bread scooped out to hold such fillings as brisket, pork, and shrimp;

also tingas tostados and such sides as steamed corn. Closed Sunday. 1215 S. Germantown Rd. 751-1200. L, D, X, $-$$ LBOE—Gourmet burger joint serves locally sourced ground beef burgers, with options like the Mac-N-Cheese Burger and Caprese. Black bean and turkey patties available. 2021 Madison. 725-0770. L, D, X, $ LEONARD’S—Serves wet and dry ribs, barbecue sandwiches, spaghetti, catfish, homemade onion rings. and lemon icebox pie; also a lunch buffet. 5465 Fox Plaza. 360-1963. L, X, MRA, $-$$ LISA’S LUNCHBOX—Serving bagels, sandwiches, salads, and wraps.  5030 Poplar, 761-4044; 5885 Ridgeway Center Pkwy., Suite 101. 767-6465; 2659 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Suite 1200; 2525 Central (Children’s Museum). B, L, $ LITTLE ITALY—Serving New York-style pizza as well as subs and pasta dishes.  1495 Union. 725-0280, L, D, X, $-$$ THE LITTLE TEA SHOP—Downtown institution serves up Southern comfort cooking, including meatloaf and such veggies as turnip greens, yams, okra, and tomatoes. Closed Sat.-Sun.  69 Monroe. 525-6000, L, X, $ LOCAL GASTROPUB—Entrees with a focus on locally grown products include lobster mac-and-cheese and pork osso bucco. 95 S. Main. 473-9573; 2126 Madison. 725-1845. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$ LOFLIN YARD—Beer garden and barbecue restaurant with barbecue and vegetarian fare cooked on a custom-made grill. 7 W. Carolina. 249-3046. L (Sat. and Sun.), D, $-$$ LONG ROAD CIDER CO.—Specializes in hard apple ciders made with traditional methods. Cafe-style entrees include black eye peas with cornbread and greens, chicken Gorgonzola pockets, cidersteamed sausage, and housemade ice creams. Closed Sun. through Wed. 9053 Barret Road. (Barretville, TN). 352-0962. D, X, $ THE LOOKOUT AT THE PYRAMID—Serves Southern fare, including catfish tacos and crawfish tails. 1 Bass Pro Dr. 6204600/291-8200. L, D, X $-$$$ LOS COMPADRES—Serves enchiladas, burritos, tamales, tacos, and vegetarian dishes; also Cuban entrees. 3295 Poplar. 458-5731. L, D, X, $-$$ LOST PIZZA—Offering pizzas (with dough made from scratch), pasta, salads, sandwiches, tamales, and more. 2855 Poplar. 5721803; 5960 Getwell, Southaven. 662-892-8684. L, D, X, $-$$ LOTUS—Authentic Vietnamese-Asian fare, including lemon-grass chicken and shrimp, egg rolls, Pho soup, and spicy Vietnamese vermicelli. 4970 Summer. 682-1151. D, X, $ LYFE KITCHEN—Serving healthy, affordable wraps, bowls, sandwiches, and more; entrees include roasted salmon and “unfried” chicken. 6201 Poplar. 684-5333; 272 S. Main. 526-0254. B, L, D, WB, X, $ LYNCHBURG LEGENDS—This restaurant with a Jack Daniels’ theme and Southern cuisine serves such entrees as Bourbon Street salmon, buttermilk-fried chicken, and grilled steak and wild mushroom salad. DoubleTree Hotel, 5069 Sanderlin. 969-7777. B, L, D, X, MRA, $- $$$ MACIEL’S TORTAS & TACOS—Entrees include tortas, hefty Mexican sandwiches filled with choice of chicken, pork, or steak. Also serving fried taco plates, quesadillas, chorizo and pastor soft tacos, salads, and more. Closed Sun. 45 S. Main. 526-0037. L, D, X, $ THE MAJESTIC GRILLE—Housed in a former silent-picture house, features aged steaks, fresh seafood, and such specialties as roasted chicken and grilled pork tenderloin; offers a pre-theatre menu and classic cocktails. 145 S. Main. 522-8555. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$$ MANILA FILIPINO RESTAURANT—Entrees include pork belly cutlet with lechon sauce, and shrimp and vegetables in tamarind broth; also daily combos, rice dishes, and chef specials. 7 849 Rockford (Millington). 209-8525. L, D, X, $ MARCIANO MEDITERRANEAN AND ITALIAN CUISINE—Rack of lamb with roasted potatoes and demi-glace is among the entrees; also steaks, seafood, and gourmet pizza. 780 Brookhaven Cl. 682-1660. D, X, $-$$
 MARDI GRAS MEMPHIS—Serving Cajun fare, including an etouffee-stuffed po’boy. 496 Watkins. 530-6767. L, D, X, $-$$ MARLOWE’S—In addition to its signature barbecue and ribs, Marlowe’s serves Southern-style steaks, chops, lasagne, and more.  4381 Elvis Presley Blvd. 332-4159. D, X, MRA, $-$$ MAXIMO’S ON BROAD—Serving a tapas menu that features creative fusion cuisine. Closed Mon. and Tues.  2617 Broad Ave. 4521111. L, D, SB, X, $-$$ MAYURI INDIAN CUISINE—Serves tandoori chicken, masala dosa, tikka masala, as well as lamb and shrimp entrees; also a daily lunch buffet, and dinner buffet on Fri.-Sat. 6524 Quince Rd. 7538755. L, D, X, $-$$ MCEWEN’S ON MONROE—Southern/American cuisine with international flavors; specialties include steak and seafood, sweet potato-crusted catfish with macaroni and cheese, and more. Closed Sun., Monroe location.  120 Monroe. 527-7085; 1110 Van Buren (Oxford). 662-234-7003. L, D, SB (Oxford only), X, MRA, $$-$$$ DAN MCGUINNESS PUB—Serves fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, burgers, and other Irish and American fare; also lunch and dinner

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5.1875” X 7.3125”- MEMPHIS MAG – ACHIEVE CIT Y DINING specials. 4694 Spottswood. 761-3711; 3964 Goodman Rd. 662890-7611. L, D, X, $ MEDALLION—Offers steaks, seafood, chicken, and pasta entrees. Closed for dinner Sunday. 3700 Central, Holiday Inn (Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality). 678-1030. B, L, D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$ MELLOW MUSHROOM—Large menu includes assortment of pizzas, salads, calzones, hoagies, vegetarian options, and 50 beers on tap. 9155 Poplar, Shops of Forest Hill (Germantown). 907-0243; 5138 Park Ave. 562-1211. L, D, X, $-$$ MEMPHIS BARBECUE COMPANY—Offers spare ribs, baby backs, and pulled pork and brisket, along with such sides as mac and cheese, grits, and red beans.  709 Desoto Cove (Horn Lake, MS). 662-536-3762. L, D, X, $-$$ MEMPHIS LIGHTHOUSE—Chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, and oxtails are among the dishes served at this soul food/Cajun restaurant in Court Square. Closed Sat. and Sun.  60 N. Main. 310-5711. L, D, X, $-$$ MEMPHIS PIZZA CAFE—Homemade pizzas are specialties; also serves sandwiches, calzones, and salads. 2087 Madison. 726-5343; 5061 Park Ave. 684-1306; 7604 W. Farmington (Germantown). 7532218; 797 W. Poplar (Collierville). 861-7800; 5627 Getwell (Southaven). 662-536-1364. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ MEMPOPS—Specializes in handcrafted popsicles. Cream and fruit pop flavors include Mexican Chocolate and Hibiscus Lemonade; menu changes. 1243 Ridgeway. 421-5985. L, D, X, $ MESQUITE CHOP HOUSE—The focus here is on steaks, including prime fillet, rib eyes, and prime-aged New York strip; also, some seafood options. 5960 Getwell (Southaven). 662-890-2467; 88 Union. 527-5337; 3165 Forest Hill-Irene (Germantown). 249-5661. D, SB (Germantown), X, $$-$$$ MISTER B’S—Features New Orleans-style seafood and steaks. Closed for lunch Sat. and all day Sun. and Mon. 6655 Poplar, #107. 751-5262. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$$ MOLLIE FONTAINE LOUNGE—Specializes in tapas (small plates) featuring global cuisine. Closed Sun.-Tues. 679 Adams Ave. 524-1886. D, X, $ MOLLY’S LA CASITA—Homemade tamales, fish tacos, a vegetarian combo, and bacon-wrapped shrimp are a few of the specialties. 2006 Madison. 726-1873. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ MORTIMER’S—Contemporary American entrees include trout almondine, several chicken dishes, and hand-cut steaks; also sandwiches, salads, and daily/nightly specials. Closed for lunch Sat.Sun. 590 N. Perkins. 761-9321. L, D, X, $-$$ MOSA ASIAN BISTRO—Specialties include sesame chicken, Thai calamari, rainbow panang curry with grouper fish, and other Pan Asian/ fusion entrees.  850 S. White Station Rd. 683-8889. L, D, X, MRA, $ MULAN—Hunan Chicken, tofu dishes, and orange beef served here; some sushi, too. 2059 Houston Levee (Collierville). 850-5288; 2149 Young. 347-3965. L, D, X, $-$$ NAGASAKI INN—Chicken, steak, and lobster are among the main courses; meal is cooked at your table. 3951 Summer. 454-0320. D, X, $$ NAGOYA—Offers traditional Japanese cuisine and sushi bar; specialties are teriyaki and tempura dishes. 7075 Malco Blvd., Suite 101 (Southaven). 662-349-8788. L, D, X, $-$$$
 NAM KING—Offers luncheon and dinner buffets, dim sum, and such specialties as fried dumplings, pepper steak, and orange chicken.  4594 Yale. 373-4411. L, D, X, $
 NAPA CAFE—Among the specialties is miso-marinated salmon over black rice with garlic spinach and shiitake mushrooms. Closed for lunch Sat. and all day Sun. 5101 Sanderlin, Suite 122. 683-0441. L, D, X, MRA, $$-$$$ NEW ASIA—Specializing in authentic Chinese food, including roast Peking duck. 2075 Exeter, Suite 90. 758-8388. L, D, X, $ NEW HUNAN—Chinese eatery with more than 80 entrees;also lunch/dinner buffets. 5052 Park. 766-1622. L, D, X, $ THE OFFICE@UPTOWN—Offering sandwiches, wraps, pizza, soups, salads, and several vegetarian options. Closed Sunday. 594 N. Second St. 522-1905. B, L, D, X, $ OLD VENICE PIZZA CO.—Specializes in “eclectic Italian,” from pastas, including the “Godfather,” to hand-tossed pizzas, including the “John Wayne”; choose from 60 toppings. 368 Perkins Ext. 767-6872. L, D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$ ON THE BORDER—Dishes out such Tex-Mex specialties as fajitas and Southwest chicken tacos; also fresh grilled seafood specials. 8101 Giacosa Pl. (Cordova).881-0808; 6572 Airways (Southaven). 662-655-4750. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $ ONE & ONLY BBQ—On the menu are pork barbecue sandwiches, platters, wet and dry ribs, smoked chicken and turkey platters, a smoked meat salad, barbecue quesadillas, and more. 1779 Kirby Pkwy. 7513615; 567 Perkins Extd. 249-4227. L, D, X, MRA, $ ONIX RESTAURANT—Serves seafood dishes, including barbecued shrimp and pecan-crusted trout, and a variety of salads and sandwiches. Closed Sun. 1680 Madison. 552-4609. L, D, X, $-$$ ORR RESTAURANT—Serves Mediterranean/African cuisine, such as lamb Kowzi flavored with raisins and roasted nuts and served with

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white bean soup. 661 N. Mendenhall, Suite 101. 275-8692. L, D, X, $-$$ OSAKA JAPANESE CUISINE—Featuring an extensive sushi menu as well as traditional Japanese and hibachi dining. Hours vary for lunch; call.  3670 Houston Levee (Collierville). 861-4309; 3402 Poplar. 249-4690; 7164 Hacks Cross. 662-890-9312; 2200 N. Germantown Pkwy. 425-4901. L, D, X, $-$$$   OWEN BRENNAN’S—New Orleans-style menu of beef, chicken, pasta, and seafood; jambalaya, shrimp and grits, and crawfish etouffee are specialties. Closed for dinner Sunday. The Regalia, 6150 Poplar. 761-0990. L, D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$ PANCHO’S—Serves up a variety of Mexican standards, including tacos, enchiladas, and mix-and-match platters; also lunch specials. 3600 E. Broadway (West Memphis). 870-735-6466. 717 N. White Station. 685-5404. L, D, X, MRA, $ PANDA GARDEN—Sesame chicken and broccoli beef are among the Mandarin and Cantonese entrees; also seafood specials and fried rice. Closed for lunch Saturday. 3735 Summer. 323-4819. L, D, X, $-$$ PARK + CHERRY—Partnering with chefs Wally Joe and Andrew Adams of Acre Restaurant, the Dixon offers casual dining within the museum. Menu features sandwiches, like truffled pimento cheese, as well as salads, snacks, and sweets. Closed Monday. 4 339 Park (Dixon Gallery). 761-5250. L, X, $ THE PASTA MAKER—This Italian eatery specializes in artisanal pasta. Entrees include Spaghetti allo scoglio, Penne Boscaiola, and Fusilli Primavera. Gluten-free options available. Restaurant closed Sunday (cooking classes by reservation). 2095 Exeter, Suite 30 (Germantown). 779-3928. L, D, X, $-$$ PAULETTE’S—Presents fine dining with a Continental flair, including such entrees as filet Paulette with butter-pepper cream sauce and popovers with strawberry butter; also changing daily specials. R iver Inn. 50 Harbor Town Square. 260-3300. B, L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$$ PEABODY POINT CAFE—Serves dinner salads, paninis, and pasta. Entrees include lasagna and build-your-own pasta dishes with choice of noodles and sauce. 2 43 Cooper. 722-2700. D, X, $ PEARL’S OYSTER HOUSE—Downtown eatery serving seafood, including oysters, crawfish, and stuffed butterfly shrimp, as well as beef, chicken, and pasta dishes. 299 S. Main. 522-9070. L, D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$ PEI WEI ASIAN DINER—Serves a variety of Pan-Asian cuisine, including Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Thai. Noodle and rice bowls are specialties; a small plates menu also offered. 1680 Union Ave., #109. 722-3780; 2257 N. Germantown Pkwy. 382-1822. L, D, X, $-$$
 PETE & SAM’S—Serving Memphis for 60-plus years; offers steaks, seafood, and traditional Italian dishes, including homemade ravioli, lasagna, and chicken marsala. 3886 Park. 458-0694. D, X, $-$$$ PETRA CAFÉ—Serves Greek, Italian, and Middle Eastern sandwiches, gyros, and entrees. Hours vary; call. 6641 Poplar (Germantown). 754-4440; 9155 Poplar (Germantown). 7555440. L, D, X, $-$$ PF CHANG’S CHINA BISTRO—Specialties are orange peel shrimp, Mongolian beef, and chicken in lettuce wraps; also vegetarian dishes, including spicy eggplant. 1181 Ridgeway Rd., Park Place Centre. 818-3889. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ PHO BINH—Vietnamese, vegetarian, and Cantonese specialties include lemon tofu and spring rolls. Closed Sunday. 1615 Madison. 276-0006. L, D, $ PHO SAIGON—Vietnamese fare includes beef teriyaki, roasted quail, curry ginger chicken, vegetarian options, and a variety of soups. 2946 Poplar. 458-1644. L, D, $ PIG-N-WHISTLE—Offers pork shoulder sandwiches, wet and dry ribs, catfish, nachos, and stuffed barbecue potatoes.  6084 Kerr-Rosemark Rd. (Millington). 872-2455. L, D, X, $ PORCELLINO’S CRAFT BUTCHER—Small plates, charcuterie selections, specialty steaks, house-made pastries, and innovative teas and coffees are offered at this combination butcher shop and restaurant featuring locally sourced menu items.  711 W. Brookhaven Cl. 762-6656. B, L, D, X $-$$ PRESENTATION ROOM, THE—American bistro run by the students of L’Ecole Culinaire. Menu changes regularly; specialties may include such items as a filet with truffle mushroom ragu. Closed Fri.Sun. 1 245 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 754-7115. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ PYRO’S FIRE-FRESH PIZZA—Serving gourmet pizzas cooked in an open-fire oven; wide choice of toppings; large local and craft beer selection. 1 199 Ridgeway. 379-8294; 2035 Union Ave. 2088857; 2286 N. Germantown Pkwy. 207-1198. B, L, D, X, MRA, $ QUEEN OF SHEBA—Featuring Middle Eastern favorites and Yemeni dishes such as lamb haneeth and saltah. 4792 Summer. 207-4174. L, D, $ RAVINE—Serves contemporary Southern cuisine with an emphasis on fresh, locally grown foods and a menu that changes weekly. Closed Mon.-Tues. 5 3 Pea Ridge/County Rd. 321 (Oxford, MS). 662-2344555. D, SB, X, $$-$$$

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CIT Y DINING LIST RAY’Z WORLD FAMOUS DR. BAR-B-QUE—Serves dry-roasted barbecue, pulled or chopped pork, beef brisket, ribs, salads, and more. Closed Mon. 302 S. Main. 527-9026. L, D, X, $ RED KOI—Classic Japanese cuisine offered at this family-run restaurant; hibachi steaks, sushi, seafood, chicken, and vegetables.  5847 Poplar. 767-3456. L, D, X $-$$ RED LOBSTER—Specializes in crab legs, lobster, and shrimp dishes; also pastas, salads, steaks, and chicken. 8161 Highway 64 (Cordova). 387-0056; 6535 Airways (Southaven). 662-536-1960; 7750 Winchester. 759-9045. L, D, X, $-$$ RENDEZVOUS, CHARLES VERGOS’—Menu items include barbecued ribs, cheese plates, skillet shrimp, red beans and rice, and Greek salads. Closed Sun.-Mon. 52 S. Second. 523-2746. L (Fri.Sat.), D, X, MRA, $-$$ RESTAURANT IRIS—French Creole cuisine includes shrimp and delta-grind grits, and New York strip stuffed with fried oysters and blue cheese. Closed Sun. 2146 Monroe. 590-2828. D, X, MRA, $$-$$$ RIVER OAKS—A French-style bistro serving seafood and steaks, with an emphasis on fresh local ingredients. Closed for lunch Sat. and all day Sun. 5871 Poplar Ave. 683-9305. L, D, X, MRA, $$$ RIVERFRONT BAR & GRILL—Beale Street Landing eatery serves Southern American specialties, including Tom Lee Catfish, and Tennessee Caviar, a fresh veggie salsa of black-eyed peas and cilantro with pimento cheese and toast points; also sausage-cheese appetizer. Closed Monday.  251 Riverside Dr. 524-0817. L, D, X, $ RIZZO’S DINER—Chorizo meatloaf, lobster pronto puff, and brisket are menu items at this upscale diner, Closed for dinner Sun. and all day Mon.  492 S. Main. 304-6985. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$ ROBATA RAMEN & YAKITORI BAR—Serves ramen noodle bowls and Yakitori skewers as well as rice and noodle dishes, and sake.  2116 Madison. 410-8290. D, WB, X, $ ROCK’N DOUGH PIZZA CO.—Specialty and custom pizzas made from fresh ingredients; wide variety of toppings. 3445 Poplar Ave., Ste. 1. 512-6760; 7850 Poplar, #6 (Germantown). 7792008. L, D, SB, X, $$ ROMANO’S MACARONI GRILL—Serves MediterraneanItalian cuisine, including hand-crafted pasta Milano and penne rustica, and create-your-own pasta; also steaks, seafood, and salads.  2859 N. Germantown Pk wy. (Cordova). 266-4565. L, D, X, $-$$ ROYAL PANDA—Hunan fish, Peking duck, Royal Panda chicken and shrimp, and a seafood combo are among the specialties.  3120 Village Shops Dr. (Germantown). 756-9697. L, D, X, $-$$ RUSSO’S NEW YORK PIZZERIA AND WINE BAR— Serves gourmet pizzas, calzones, and pasta, including lasagna, fettuccine Alfredo, scampi, and more. 9087 Poplar, Suite 111. 7550092. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$ RUTH’S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE—Offers prime steaks cut and aged in-house, as well as lamb, chicken, and fresh seafood, including lobster. 6120 Poplar. 761-0055. D, X, MRA, $$$-$$$$ SABOR CARIBE—Serving up “Caribbean flavors” with dishes from Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Closed Sunday. 662 Madison. 949-8100. L, D, X, $ SABROSURA—Serves Mexican and Cuban fare, including arroz tapada de pollo and steak Mexican.  782 Washington. 421-8180. B, L, D, X, $-$$ SAKURA—Sushi, tempura, and teriyaki are Japanese specialties here. 2060 West St. (Germantown). 758-8181. 4840 Poplar. 572-1002. L, D, X, $-$$ SALSA—Mexican-Southern California specialties include carnitas, enchiladas verde, and fajitas; also Southwestern seafood dishes such as snapper verde. Closed Sun. Regalia Shopping Center, 6150 Poplar, Suite 129. 683-6325. L, D, X, $-$$ SCHWEINEHAUS BBQ—Serving barbecue and Bavarianinfluenced fare with a Southern twist; includes wurst platters, pork schnitzel, smoked brisket, pulled pork, and more. 2110 Madison. 347-3060. L, D, WB, X, MRA, $-$$ THE SEAR SHACK BURGERS & FRIES—Serving Angus burgers, fries, and hand-spun milkshakes. Closed Mon. 875 W. Poplar, Suite 6 (Collierville). 861-4100; 5101 Sanderlin, Suite 103. 567-4909. L, D, X, $ SEASONS 52—This elegant fresh grill and wine bar offers a seasonally changing menu using fresh ingredients, wood-fire grilling, and brick-oven cooking; also a large international wine list and nightly piano bar. Crescent Center, 6085 Poplar. 682-9952. L, D, X, $$-$$$ THE SECOND LINE—Kelly English brings “relaxed Creole cuisine” to his new eatery; serves a variety of po-boys and such specialties as barbecue shrimp, and andouille, shrimp, and pimento cheese fries.  2144 Monroe. 590-2829. L, D, WB, X, $-$$ SEKISUI—Japanese fusion cuisine, fresh sushi bar, grilled meats and seafood, California rolls, and vegetarian entrees. Poplar/Perkins location’s emphasis is on Pacific Rim cuisine. Menu and hours vary at each location. 2 5 Belvedere. 725-0005; 1884 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 309-8800; 4724 Poplar (between Perkins & Colonial). 767-7770; 2130 W. Poplar (Collierville). 854-0622; 2990

DELI DISH

Serving sandwiches and salads, burgers and bagels, wings and chicken, these are popular spots. BOGIE’S—715 S. Mendenhall. 761-5846. MRA; 2098 LaSalle Place. 272-0022. MRA; 80 Monroe. 525-6764; 2028 W. Poplar (Collierville). 854-8555.Cheffie’s—483 High Point Terrace. 3430488. CAMY’S—2886 Walnut Grove. 725-1667. MRA. CHEFFIE’S—483 High Point Terrace. 343-0488. MRA. CHING’S HOT WINGS—1264 Getwell. 743-5545. CITY EAST BAGEL & GRILLE—6698 Poplar at Kirby. 754-2660. CITY MARKET—66 S. Main. 729-6152. CORDELIA’S TABLE—737 Harbor Bend Rd. 526-4772. FINO’S FROM THE HILL—1853 Madison. 272-3466; 703 W. Brookhaven Cir. 334-4454. MRA. HOLIDAY HAM—2087 Union. 881-6433; 585 Erin Dr. 7634499; 7652 Poplar (Germantown). 869-6650; 3750 Hacks Cross Rd., #112. 624-4848. MRA. JASON’S DELI—1213 Ridgeway. 685-3333; 1585 Chickering (Cordova). 844-1840; 3473 Poplar. 324-3181. KWIK CHEK—2013 Madison. 274-9293. LENNY’S SUB SHOP—2893 Poplar. 320-0022; 7424 Stage Rd. 937-0800; 22 N. Front. 543-9230; 521 S. Highland. 454-7077; 2095 Exeter, Suite 30 (Germantown). 755-0750; 4970 Raleigh-LaGrange. 371-9979; 1016 W. Poplar (Collierville). 8548299; 4726 Spottswood. 202-4800; 4740 Showcase. 368-4215; 8950 Hwy. 64 (Lakeland). 12 S. Cooper. 276-5775; 6300 Poplar, #111. 761-2403. MRA. LETTUCE EAT SALAD COMPANY—6641 Poplar, Suite 106 (Germantown), 552-5604. LUCCHESI’S BEER GARDEN—84 S. Reese. 452-3002. LUCCHESI’S RAVIOLI—540 S. Mendenhall, #3. 7669922. MRA. LUNCHBOX EATS—288 S. Fourth. 526-0820. MCALISTER’S DELI—3482 Plaza Ave. 452-6009; 7990 Trinity Rd. (Cordova). 737-7282; 7710 Poplar (Germantown). 753-1507; 975 580 S. Mendenhall. 763-2711; 3855 Hacks Cross. 881-6068; 6600 Stage Rd. (Bartlett). 213-3311. 9091 Poplar (Germantown) 756-5292. MRA. NEWK’S EATERY—3680 S. Houston Levee (Collierville). 861-1221; 2200 Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 377-8796; 5336 Poplar. 820-0415. PANERA BREAD—714 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 754-5813; 4530 Poplar. 767-3116; 5865 Poplar, Ridgeway Trace. 683-9384; 7850 Poplar. 759-1439; 7501 Goodman Rd. (Olive Branch). 662-890-1985. MRA. PARADISE CAFE—6150 Poplar, Suite 120. 821-9600. PIMENTO’S—6450 Poplar, #123. 602-5488. JACK PIRTLE’S FRIED CHICKEN—3571 Lamar. 7941254; 2520 Mt. Moriah. 565-0203. MRA. RAFFE’S DELI—3358 Poplar. 458-5110. SCHLOTZSKY’S DELI—4758 Poplar. 763-0741. UNCLE LOU’S FRIED CHICKEN—3633 Millbranch. 332-2367. MRA. WHOLE FOODS MARKET—5014 Poplar. 685-2293. YOUNG AVENUE DELI—2119 Young. 278-0034. Kirby-Whitten (Bartlett). 377-2727; 6696 Poplar. 747-0001. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$$ SHOGUN JAPANESE RESTAURANT—Entrees include tempura, teriyaki, and sushi, as well as grilled fish and chicken entrees. 2324 N. Germantown Pkwy. (Cordova). 384-4122. L, D, X, $-$$ SIDE PORCH STEAK HOUSE—In addition to steak, the menu includes chicken, pork chops, and fish entrees; homemade rolls are a specialty. Closed Sun.-Mon. 5689 Stage Rd. (Bartlett). 3772484. D, X, $-$$ SOUTHERN SOCIAL—Shrimp and grits, stuffed quail, and Aunt Thelma’s Fried Chicken are among the dishes served at this upscale Southern establishment. 2285 S. Germantown Rd. (Germantown). 754-5555. D, X, $-$$$ SOUTH MAIN SUSHI & GRILL—Serving sushi, nigiri, and more.  520 S. Main. 249-2194. L, D, X, $ SPINDINI—Italian fusion cuisine with such entrees as wood-fired pizzas, gorgonzola stuffed filet, and fresh seafood; pizza specials on Mon.; large domestic whiskey selection.  383 S. Main. 578-2767. D, X, $$-$$$ STAKS— Offering pancakes, including Birthday Cake and lemon ricotta. Menu includes other breakfast items such as beignets and French toast, as well as soups and sandwiches for lunch. 4615 Poplar. 509-2367. B, L, WB, X, $

STEAK BY MELISSA—Aged, choice-grade, hand-cut steaks are a specialty here. Also serving fresh seafood dishes, plate lunches, burgers, and sandwiches. 4975 Pepper Chase Dr. (Southaven). 662-342-0602. L, D, X, $-$$$ STIX—Hibachi steakhouse with Asian cuisine features steak, chicken, and a fillet and lobster combination, also sushi. A specialty is Dynamite Chicken with fried rice.  4680 Merchants Park Circle, Avenue Carriage Crossing (Collierville). 854-3399. L, D, X, $-$$ STONE SOUP CAFE—Cooper-Young eatery serving soups, salads, quiche, meat-and-two specials; and daily specials such as Italian roast beef. Closed Monday. 993 S. Cooper. 922-5314. B, L, SB, X, $ STRANO SICILIAN KITCHEN & BAR—Presenting a Sicilian/Mediterranean mix of Arab, Spanish, Greek, and North African fare, Strano serves small plates, wood-grilled fish, and hand-tossed pizzas such as the King Alaska, with salmon and chevre. Closed Mon.  948 S. Cooper. 275-8986. L, D, SB, X, $$-$$$ SWEET GRASS—Low-country coastal cuisine includes such specialties as shrimp and grits. Closed Mon. The restaurant’s “sister,” Sweet Grass Next Door, open nightly, serves lunch Sat.-Sun. 937 S. Cooper. 278-0278. D, SB, X, MRA, $-$$$ TANNOOR GRILL—Brazilian-style steakhouse with skewers served tableside, along with Middle Eastern specialties; vegetarian options also available.  830 N. Germantown Pkwy. 443-5222. L, D, X, $-$$$ TART—Combination patisserie, coffeehouse, and restaurant serving rustic French specialties, including baked eggs in brioche, topped with Gruyere, and french breads and pastries.  820 S. Cooper. 725-0091. B, L, WB, X, $-$$ TERRACE—Creative American and Continental cuisine includes such entrees as filet mignon, beef or lamb sliders, five-spice salmon, and grilled vegetarian eggplant; also small plates. Rooftop, River Inn of Harbor Town, 50 Harbor Town Square. 260-3366. D, X, $$ TEXAS DE BRAZIL—Serves beef, pork, lamb, and chicken dishes, and Brazilian sausage; also a salad bar with extensive toppings. 150 Peabody Place, Suite 103. 526-7600. L (Wed.-Fri.), D, SB, X, $$-$$$ THREE LITTLE PIGS—Pork-shoulder-style barbecue with tangy mild or hot sauce, freshly made coleslaw, and baked beans.  5145 Quince Rd. 685-7094. B, L, D, X, MRA, $ TOPS BAR-B-Q—Specializes in pork barbecue sandwiches and sandwich plates with beans and slaw; also serves ribs, beef brisket, and burgers. 1286 Union. 725-7527. 4183 Summer. 324-4325; 5391 Winchester. 794-7936; 3970 Rhodes. 323-9865; 6130 Macon. 371-0580. For more locations, go online. L, D, X, MRA, $ TROLLEY STOP MARKET—Serves plate lunches/dinners as well as pizzas, salads, and vegan/vegetarian entrees; a specialty is the locally raised beef burger. Also sells fresh produce and goods from local farmers; delivery available. Saturday brunch; closed Sunday.   704 Madison. 526-1361. L, D, X, $ TSUNAMI—Features Pacific Rim cuisine (Asia, Australia, South Pacific, etc.); also a changing “small plate” menu. Specialties include Asian nachos and roasted sea bass. Closed Sunday.  928 S. Cooper. 274-2556. D, X, MRA, $$-$$$ TUSCANY ITALIAN EATERY—Serves classic Italian dishes. Menu includes paninis, deli subs and wraps, pasta, soups, and more. Closed Sunday. 116 S. Front. 626-8848. L, D, X, $ TWILIGHT SKY TERRACE—Offers small plates of tostados, nachos, flatbreads, paninis; also hand-crafted cocktails and sweeping rooftop views of the downtown Memphis skyline. Open, weather permitting.  The Madison Hotel, 79 Madison. 333-1224. L (Sat.Sun.), D, WB.X, $ TYCOON—Among the Asian entrees are spicy garlic shrimp, Thai gumbo, and special house noodle soup. 3307 Kirby Parkway. 3628788. B, L, D, X, $ UNCLE BUCK’S FISHBOWL & GRILL—Burgers, pizza, fish dishes, sandwiches, and more served in a unique “underwater” setting.  Bass Pro, Bass Pro Drive, 291-8200. L, D, X, $-$$ WANG’S MANDARIN HOUSE—Offers Mandarin, Cantonese, Szechuan, and spicy Hunan entrees, including the goldensesame chicken; next door is East Tapas, serving small plates with an Asian twist.  6065 Park Ave, Park Place Mall. 763-0676. L, D, X, MRA, $-$$ WASABI—Serving traditional Japanese offerings, hibachi, sashimi, and sushi. The Sweet Heart roll, wrapped — in the shape of a heart — with tuna and filled with spicy salmon, yellowtail, and avocado, is a specialty.  5101 Sanderlin Road, Suite 105. 421-6399. L, D, X, $-$$ WEST STREET DINER—This home-style eatery offers breakfast, burgers, po’boys, and more. 2076 West St. (Germantown). 757-2191. B, L, D (Mon.-Fri.), X, MRA, $ WOMAN’S EXCHANGE TEA ROOM—Chicken-salad plate, beef tenderloin, soups-and-sandwiches, and vegetable plates are specialties; meal includes drink and dessert. Closed Sat.Sun. 88 Racine. 327-5681. L, X, $ ZAKA BOWL—This vegan restaurant serves build-your-own vegetable bowls featuring ingredients such as agave Brussels sprouts and roasted beets. 575 Erin. 509-3105. L, D, $ F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • M E M P H I S M A G A Z I N E . C O M • 95

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LAST STAND

Food for Thought A well-known restaurateur remembers his favorite dining establishments.

W

hen I came to Memphis in 1960 to go to work for Holiday Inns of America, there were not many fine-dining restaurants here, or even upscale bistros. But there was one — and it was very special. It was called Justine’s. Because my job at Holiday Inns involved a lot of travel, I was able to experience many of the best restaurants in the U.S. and around the world, and I can tell you that beyond a doubt there was not a better fine-dining restaurant anywhere than Justine’s. Justine Smith made sure that she served consistently great food; just consider that 17 of her recipes called for crabmeat! There was unsurpassed ambience, excellent service, and a classy, unforgettable maitre d’ by the name of Ervin McDonald. Everyone seemed to agree that in the 1960s and 1970s Memphis was very fortunate to have such a renowned establishment. Other “nice” establishments we enjoyed back then were The Embers, Anderton’s, The Luau, the Bell Tavern, Jim’s Place, “Big John” Grisanti’s, and the Knickerbocker. Remember, these all operated before liquorby-the-drink. At that time, you brought your wine or whatever in a brown paper bag. Restaurants that served alcohol were technically private clubs. Liquor-by-the-drink was the result of a referendum in 1971. After it was voted in, the restaurant scene here changed dramatically, starting first with the opening of T.G.I. Friday’s (the first one outside of New York) in Overton Square. What a success the Square was for the late visionary Ben Woodson and his

associates, including my old pal, George Saig. In the Seventies and Eighties, there was a dining explosion in Memphis, as all kinds of restaurants came into existence. There

George Falls were locals and chains, fine dining and casual, cheap and expensive. Count me as one of those who jumped into the fray in the early 1970s. I invited Paulette Fono, a native Hungarian, who had created the Magic Pan Restaurant concept in San Francisco, to come to Memphis and establish a restaurant in Overton Square. We became partners, and Paulette’s opened in April of 1974. In late 1979, with friends and Holiday Inn associates, Frank Flautt and Jeff Mann, we bought

Paulette out. I became the sole owner in 1984, and Don Eschelweck, a master organizer and “back of the house” expert, came along about that time to help move Paulette’s forward. We are still working together every day. Before that, in 1973, there was a very significant “opening” that took place; only a few may recall it. Martha and Glenn Hays began serving Sunday brunch at Zinnie’s on Madison and Evergreen. Zinnie’s was closed on Sundays, so Glenn (he was then the track coach at Memphis State) and Martha took advantage of it. They prepared the food at their Midtown home, brought it over, and served it to a delighted crowd for $10 a person. At the time there was nothing like it in Memphis. Then in July 1977, the Hays made a permanent name for themselves by opening the incomparable LaTourelle. Today they run Café 1912. Over these past 57 years in Memphis, I have seen this industry of ours grow, become stronger, more diversified, and quite successful. To me, the most notable expansion in the past 40 years has been Downtown, a revitalization that was sparked by the re-opening of The Peabody and the emergence of the Beale Street bars and eateries. Before that, as John Vergos puts it, “If you went downtown, you were either going to the Rendezvous, or you were lost.” Beginning in 1989, Henry Turley and Jack Belz developed the now-extraordinary planned community of Harbor Town. In 2007, the River Inn opened there, and in March 2011, we moved Paulette’s to the Inn, after oper-

ating in Overton Square for 37 years. It’s been a very positive move. Every year, there is a category in the Memphis magazine poll for “the restaurant you miss the most.” My favorite never wins, but I always write-in “Burkle’s Bakery.” Wow, what a great place! It was located in the building where Bar Louie is now in Overton Square. Herman Burkle and his sister Ruth made it great, along with unforgettable server Madge Logan; the pastries and baked goods were the freshest and best ever. They served lunch and dinner daily, but breakfast there was just “over the top.” Herman set the standard for wonderful comfort fare and hospitality. It closed on July 4, 1976, with long-time customer, Sam the Sham, surprising everyone with a memorable performance on his guitar at breakfast time. Speaking of hospitality: Here’s how renowned New York restaurateur, Danny Meyer, in his book Setting the Table, explains the difference between service and hospitality. “Hospitality is how you make someone feel. Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you.” To me, good hospitality has always been an integral part of the Memphis dining scene. It’s “on the menu” here, so to speak. Whenever James Beard, the famous chef and food writer, was asked what his favorite restaurant was, he always used to say, “Why, it’s the one who knows me the best, and loves me the most.” Fortunately, our own town has more than its share of very “loving” restaurants! Since 1974, George Falls has owned and operated Paulette’s, originally in Overton Square and now at the River Inn at Harbor Town.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANDON DILL

by george falls

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