Food Lovers’ Savor the Flavors of Memphis inside you’ll find • Favorite restaurants and landmark eateries • Specialty food stores and markets • Farmers’ markets and farm stands • Food festivals and culinary events • The best barbecue spots • Recipes from top Memphis chefs • Food trucks • Wineries, breweries, and cocktail lounges • Gastropubs, dives, and Beale Street bars Pamela Denney has® worked as a writer and editor for newspapers and magazines for more than 25 years She is now a journalism professor at the University of Memphis and the food editor for Memphis magazine, where she reviews restaurants and writes the magazine’s food blog, Memphis Stew Cover series design by Diana Nuhn Front cover image licensed by Masterfile.com Back cover image licensed by Shutterstock.com ® Memp h i s The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings Food Lovers’ guide to With delectable recipes from the renowned kitchens of the city’s iconic eateries, diners, and elegant dining rooms, Food Lovers’ Guide to Memphis is the ultimate resource for food lovers to use and savor t o Memphis Memphis may be primarily known for its famous barbecue, but this small city hosts many chefs who are putting a spin on the traditional Southern style It turns out there’s enough room for comforting home-style barbecue and the exciting farm-fresh flavors of creative local establishments In Food Lovers’ Guide to Memphis, seasoned food writer Pamela Denney shares the inside scoop on the best places to find, enjoy, and celebrate these culinary treasures A bounty of mouthwatering delights awaits you in this engagingly written guide g u i d e 1st Edition Globe Pequot Press Guilford, Connecticut GlobePequot.com Pamela Denney Food Lovers’ G u i d e t o memphis FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd 9/11/12 3:43 PM FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd 9/11/12 3:43 PM Food Lovers’ Series Food Lovers’ G u i d e t o MEMPHIS The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings First Edition Pamela Denney ® FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd 9/11/12 3:43 PM ® Copyright © 2012 Morris Book Publishing, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437 Editor: Kevin Sirois Project Editor: Julie Marsh Layout Artist: Mary Ballachino Text Design: Sheryl Kober Illustrations by Jill Butler with additional art by Carleen Moira Powell and MaryAnn Dubé Maps: Alena Pearce © Morris Book Publishing, LLC ISBN 978-0-7627-8261-1 Printed in the United States of America 10 All the information in this guidebook is subject to change We recommend that you call ahead to obtain current information before traveling FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd 9/11/12 3:43 PM Contents Introduction, Memphis: Reinventing Southern Food on the Banks of the Mississippi, How to Use This Book, Getting Around, Keeping Up with Food News, Festivals & Events, 12 Food Trucks, 23 Let’s Talk Barbecue: Words You Need to Know, 30 Downtown Memphis, 32 Foodie Faves, 34 Landmarks, 51 Barbecue & Blue Plates, 56 Specialty Stores, Markets & Producers, 63 FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd 9/11/12 3:43 PM Midtown Memphis, 71 Foodie Faves, 73 Landmarks, 102 Barbecue & Blue Plates, 109 Specialty Stores, Markets & Producers, 113 East Memphis, 125 Foodie Faves, 127 Landmarks, 150 Barbecue & Blue Plates, 155 Specialty Stores, Markets & Producers, 161 Memphis Suburbs: Germantown, Cordova, Collierville & Bartlett, 177 Foodie Faves, 179 Landmarks, 187 Barbecue & Blue Plates, 188 Specialty Stores, Markets & Producers, 189 vi Contents FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd 9/11/12 3:43 PM Beer, Cocktails & Pub Grub, 196 Beale Street Favorites, 197 Wineries & Breweries, 205 Bars & Gastropubs, 206 Cocktails & Lounges, 223 Dive Bars, 228 Wine & Liquor Stores, 230 Worth the Drive, 236 Foodie Faves, 237 Landmarks, 244 Barbecue & Blue Plates, 246 Specialty Stores, Markets & Producers, 250 Recipes, 263 Tomato Tartare with Chickpea Panisse, Chèvre & Baby Arugula (Andrew Adams, Executive Chef of Acre), 264 Bacon, Lettuce & Fried Green-Tomato Salad (Felicia Willett, Chef/Owner of Felicia Suzanne’s), 266 Contents FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd vii 9/11/12 3:43 PM Thai-Style Beef Salad with Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette (Karen Carrier, Owner of Do–, the Beauty Shop, Mollie Fontaine Lounge, and Another Roadside Attraction), 268 Shrimp Mole with Apple Kohlrabi Slaw & Johnny Cakes (Connor O’Neill, Executive Chef of Eighty3), 271 Crispy Ahi Tuna with English Pea–Wasabi Puree & Orzo Pilaf (José Gutierrez, Chef/Owner of River Oaks Restaurant), 274 Amandine of Gulf Flasher & Cauliflower Puree (Kelly English, Chef/Owner of Restaurant Iris), 276 Frogmore Stew (Ryan Trimm, Chef/Owner of Sweet Grass and Sweet Grass Next Door), 278 Shrimp & Grits (Ryan Trimm, Chef/Owner of Sweet Grass and Sweet Grass Next Door), 279 White Bean Chicken Chili (Jennifer Chandler, Consulting Partner for Cheffie’s Cafe and cookbook author), 281 Braised Beef Brisket in Achiote (Jonathan Magallanes, Chef/ Owner of Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana), 283 Braised Pork Cheeks with Sweet Potato Puree (Rick Saviori, Executive Chef of Napa Cafe), 285 viii Contents FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd 9/11/12 3:43 PM Butter Pound Cake (Leslee Pascal, Manager at The Elegant Farmer), 287 Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (Kat Gordon, Owner of Muddy’s Bake Shop), 288 Appendices, 291 Appendix A: Eateries by Cuisine, 292 Appendix B: Dishes, Specialties & Specialty Food, 300 Index, 309 Contents FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd ix 9/11/12 3:43 PM ... many food lovers in Memphis are both prodigious and homegrown Food Lovers? ?? Guide to Memphis FL_Memphis_CS55_3pp.indd 9/11/12 3:43 PM How to Use This Book Is there a right way to organize a Food Lovers? ??... kitchen Over the past few years, they traveled from Virginia to Alabama to study how ethnic traditions shape Southern food The resulting book, The World in a Skillet: A Food Lover’s Tour of the New... Allow to sit for 15–30 minutes Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fruit filling into the chilled pie shell Discard the leftover juice Return pie to the refrigerator while making the other crust