Memphis Stew - January 2012

01/27/12

Matzo Ball Soup (plus more) from Shoaf's Loaf

Cold weather finally hit the Winter Market at Tsunami last Saturday, so I was thrilled to see several quarts of matzo ball soup still on the table at Shoaf's Loaf Organic Bakery. Sarah Tinkler has added soup making to bread making during the winter months, in addition to her more standard selection of sticky buns, wholewheat rolls, and hard-crusted breads. “I worked until 10 o'clock last night,” said Tinkler, wrapped in layers of clothing to fend off the cold. “I use three, 20-quart stew pots. It's total insanity.” Shoaf's Loaf added soup to its repertoire for a soup and bread CSA, and offerings include such options as sweet-potato corn chowder (available this weekend) and a coconut-based Indian soup called...

Posted at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments

01/25/12

BGR The Burger Joint Lands on Poplar

A new burger franchise called BGR The Burger Joint is coming to Poplar just east of the 240 loop in the Ridgeway Trace Center. The Memphis BGR is the first in Tennessee, and the burgers look rather spectacular: a touch of gourmet with a lot of heft. That's the "Wellington" burger to the left and in adddition to the burger, there's caramelized onions, garlic with mustard seed, blue cheese, and "mojo sauce" on a brioche bun. The restaurant website says the beef is "all natural, hormone free and grass fed," so what's not to love about that? I checked out the menu online, and there's lots of options, including the tuna burger pictured here. There's also a ground lamb burger and the "Southerwestern," which incudes...

Posted at 07:21 AM | Permalink | Comments: 4

01/23/12

Grawemeyer's Deli on South Main: Opening Soon

Have you noticed the apple-green paint and the repurposed front doors from the Orpheum? Grawemeyer's Deli at 520 South Main is heading toward a mid-February opening, promising downtown's historic arts district another choice for eating and drinking. So says Steven Shipp, pictured here, who will be managing the front of the house for Grawemeyer's, named after Mark and Cynthia Grawemeyer, longtime downtowners who are rehabilitating the block of South Main one storefront at a time. The deli will offer a smoke-free setting for beer, wine, and food, with a full-service bar coming later. “We're calling it a deli, but nothing will be deep-fried,” Shipp said. I met Shipp Friday when I had lunch with co-workers at Rizzos Diner, located...

Posted at 06:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

01/19/12

EVOO Straight from Italy: So Good!

I made a breakthrough discovery recently while sauteing Brussels sprouts: All olive oils are not created equal. I know this is a pedestrian observation, but I'd never cooked with super-fresh olive oil until my sister-in-law Holly hustled home a 5-liter can from Italy. That's Holly in the photo above picking olives at her friend Riccardo's orchard in Panicale, Umbria, one of the premier olive oil regions in the world. Riccardo has more than 100 trees and picking olives in November is a life ritual. “Some olives were green, others were black, some were almost a deep plum color, some were plump and large, other's quite small,” Holly explained. This year's harvest was on the smaller side, according to Riccardo, because olives tend...

Posted at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

01/13/12

Nine-Year-Old Midtown Chef Creates Winning Jif Burger

Feeling good about your kitchen cred? Well step back and consider this: A 9-year-old kid in Midtown named Logan Guleff is probably a better cook than you, at least when it comes to inventive recipes using Jif natural peanut butter. The young chef has just been named one of 10 finalists in Jif's “Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest,” beating out hundreds of other youngsters with his Chomp Burger and broccoli slaw, a tasty and healthy concoction using peanut butter, ground turkey, mushrooms, cayenne, and Yakisoba sauce, which, frankly, I don't even know what that is. “It was a long, drawn-out process, but the judges were very impressed with Logan's creativity,” said spokeswoman Shae Sneed. “We all had...

Posted at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments: 2

01/09/12

Homemade Cupcakes at Mosa Asian Bistro

I’ve reluctantly come to accept that when I eat Asian food, I’m not getting dessert because I don’t like green tea ice cream, fortune cookies or sliced fruit. But Charlene Pao at Mosa Asian Bistro is changing my mind with her assortment of homemade cupcakes for $1.50 each that tempt even a dessert snob like me. I simply can’t explain how thrilled I was to see our server Michael Maxey waltz out a bin of cupcakes in three delicious flavors. Okay, he didn’t actually dance, but he seemed very pleased to suggest his favorite: red velvet. I went with his recommendation and couldn’t have been happier. The cupcake wasn’t too big or too small, the swirl of vanilla almond cream cream cheese icing was ample but not overpowering, and a...

Posted at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments

01/05/12

Boneheads Opens in East Memphis

For years, the intersection at Perkins and Poplar stayed relatively the same due to a stable collection of retail shops and a great-looking Sears store that has anchored the intersection’s northwest corner since 1958. Then the economy tanked, and businesses folded until a lovely new Jim‘s Place restaurant reversed the trend last year. Now the busy East Memphis intersection has another promising restaurant with the opening of Boneheads, an Atlanta franchise specializing in grilled fish and chicken seasoned with a choice of five different sauces made from piri piri, a spicy pepper discovered hundreds of years ago in Mozambique by Portuguese explorers. The restaurant is the first Boneheads in Memphis, but folks who frequent Humdingers will...

Posted at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments: 4

	01/27/12 Matzo Ball Soup (plus more) from Shoaf's Loaf Cold weather finally hit the Winter Market at Tsunami last Saturday, so I was thrilled to see several quarts of matzo ball soup still on the table at Shoaf's Loaf Organic Bakery. Sarah Tinkler has added soup making to bread making during the winter months, in addition to her more standard selection of sticky buns, wholewheat rolls, and hard-crusted breads. “I worked until 10 o'clock last night,” said Tinkler, wrapped in layers of clothing to fend off the cold. “I use three, 20-quart stew pots. It's total insanity.” Shoaf's Loaf added soup to its repertoire for a soup and bread CSA, and offerings include such options as sweet-potato corn chowder (available this weekend) and a coconut-based Indian soup called... Posted at 07:32 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	01/25/12 BGR The Burger Joint Lands on Poplar A new burger franchise called BGR The Burger Joint is coming to Poplar just east of the 240 loop in the Ridgeway Trace Center. The Memphis BGR is the first in Tennessee, and the burgers look rather spectacular: a touch of gourmet with a lot of heft. That's the "Wellington" burger to the left and in adddition to the burger, there's caramelized onions, garlic with mustard seed, blue cheese, and "mojo sauce" on a brioche bun. The restaurant website says the beef is "all natural, hormone free and grass fed," so what's not to love about that? I checked out the menu online, and there's lots of options, including the tuna burger pictured here. There's also a ground lamb burger and the "Southerwestern," which incudes... Posted at 07:21 AM \| Permalink \| Comments: 4
	01/23/12 Grawemeyer's Deli on South Main: Opening Soon Have you noticed the apple-green paint and the repurposed front doors from the Orpheum? Grawemeyer's Deli at 520 South Main is heading toward a mid-February opening, promising downtown's historic arts district another choice for eating and drinking. So says Steven Shipp, pictured here, who will be managing the front of the house for Grawemeyer's, named after Mark and Cynthia Grawemeyer, longtime downtowners who are rehabilitating the block of South Main one storefront at a time. The deli will offer a smoke-free setting for beer, wine, and food, with a full-service bar coming later. “We're calling it a deli, but nothing will be deep-fried,” Shipp said. I met Shipp Friday when I had lunch with co-workers at Rizzos Diner, located... Posted at 06:31 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	01/19/12 EVOO Straight from Italy: So Good! I made a breakthrough discovery recently while sauteing Brussels sprouts: All olive oils are not created equal. I know this is a pedestrian observation, but I'd never cooked with super-fresh olive oil until my sister-in-law Holly hustled home a 5-liter can from Italy. That's Holly in the photo above picking olives at her friend Riccardo's orchard in Panicale, Umbria, one of the premier olive oil regions in the world. Riccardo has more than 100 trees and picking olives in November is a life ritual. “Some olives were green, others were black, some were almost a deep plum color, some were plump and large, other's quite small,” Holly explained. This year's harvest was on the smaller side, according to Riccardo, because olives tend... Posted at 10:19 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 1
	01/13/12 Nine-Year-Old Midtown Chef Creates Winning Jif Burger Feeling good about your kitchen cred? Well step back and consider this: A 9-year-old kid in Midtown named Logan Guleff is probably a better cook than you, at least when it comes to inventive recipes using Jif natural peanut butter. The young chef has just been named one of 10 finalists in Jif's “Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest,” beating out hundreds of other youngsters with his Chomp Burger and broccoli slaw, a tasty and healthy concoction using peanut butter, ground turkey, mushrooms, cayenne, and Yakisoba sauce, which, frankly, I don't even know what that is. “It was a long, drawn-out process, but the judges were very impressed with Logan's creativity,” said spokeswoman Shae Sneed. “We all had... Posted at 02:41 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 2
	01/09/12 Homemade Cupcakes at Mosa Asian Bistro I’ve reluctantly come to accept that when I eat Asian food, I’m not getting dessert because I don’t like green tea ice cream, fortune cookies or sliced fruit. But Charlene Pao at Mosa Asian Bistro is changing my mind with her assortment of homemade cupcakes for $1.50 each that tempt even a dessert snob like me. I simply can’t explain how thrilled I was to see our server Michael Maxey waltz out a bin of cupcakes in three delicious flavors. Okay, he didn’t actually dance, but he seemed very pleased to suggest his favorite: red velvet. I went with his recommendation and couldn’t have been happier. The cupcake wasn’t too big or too small, the swirl of vanilla almond cream cream cheese icing was ample but not overpowering, and a... Posted at 07:25 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	01/05/12 Boneheads Opens in East Memphis For years, the intersection at Perkins and Poplar stayed relatively the same due to a stable collection of retail shops and a great-looking Sears store that has anchored the intersection’s northwest corner since 1958. Then the economy tanked, and businesses folded until a lovely new Jim‘s Place restaurant reversed the trend last year. Now the busy East Memphis intersection has another promising restaurant with the opening of Boneheads, an Atlanta franchise specializing in grilled fish and chicken seasoned with a choice of five different sauces made from piri piri, a spicy pepper discovered hundreds of years ago in Mozambique by Portuguese explorers. The restaurant is the first Boneheads in Memphis, but folks who frequent Humdingers will... Posted at 09:06 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 4