FOOD WRITING AND REPORTING
What follows are many stories written for my food writing class at University of Memphis:
Nov. 30, 2017 from Memphis Magazine
Drive west down Central long enough, and you’ll cross the gates of Midtown hipsterdom: Cooper Street. But stop a few buildings short, and you can pull into the parking lot of Railgarten Diner, part of an acre-and-a-half hangout with outdoor beach volleyball courts and indoor ping-pong tables. There’s plenty of seating, appropriately dim lighting, and didn’t your best friend date that waitress back in high school? That looks like her, but let’s not ask.
Instead, let’s focus on the mix of “world-league flavors and American cuisine,” as chef Aaron Gardner describes the menu, served since mid-April when the diner opened. The Korean Crispy Chicken Sandwich, a prime example of this marriage, includes a marinated chicken thigh, kale kimchi, and Sriracha ginger chili aioli with scrumptious fries alongside.
“We’ve taken the traditional kimchi and mixed it with a more Americanized version, so it would be kind of easier on the American palate,” Gardner says.
Typically, kimchi includes fermented shrimp, but Railgarten’s kimchi eliminates the shrimp and heads in a different direction. “We use the ginger, the hot sauces, the chili pepper, but ours is more sweet and savory instead of that punch you get from the fermented shrimp,” Gardner explains.
The result is a sweetness I mistake as the taste of honey.
Korean and other global flavors extend across Railgarten’s menu, a collection of upscale diner food that includes interesting burgers, breakfast omelets, a Diner Dog, and entrees like Short Rib Mac & Cheese and fish tacos topped with avocado. For appetizers, don’t skip the cheese curds, battered and deep-fried and served with a drizzle of hot sauce.
Jordan Walker, general manager, credits his own introduction to the creamy curds to his time living in Chicago when he often traveled to Milwaukee, where cheese curds are ubiquitous menu options.
“I’d never heard of cheese curds, and didn’t know what they were growing down in Memphis,” Walker says. “The first time I tried one, I was in love.”
ADVOCATE KIMBAL MUSK ANSWERS REAL QUESTIONS ABOUT ‘REAL FOOD’
Nov. 29, 2017
South African native and the brother of a Silicon-Valley tech billionaire, Kimbal Musk seems to have two words constantly on his mind - “real” and “food.”
When he isn’t aiming to marry the two through restaurants and food-related projects in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, or Boulder, where he lives, the 45-year-old can be found in Memphis. Here in the Bluff City, the entrepreneur has opened nearly 100 outdoor classrooms he calls “learning gardens,” as well as the Shelby Farms chapter of his restaurant brand The Kitchen and The Kitchenette, a grab-and-go restaurant in the Shelby Farms visitor center.
His latest venture is Crosstown Concourse-eatery Next Door, where he recently held a meet-and-greet with customers. I met up with him before the event to talk about cowboy hats, his big brother Elon and how he hoped nourishing food might steer Millennials away from Taco Bell.
MM: How does a billionaire who lives in Colorado become so interested in Memphis?
KM: “I don’t like to really think of myself that way. I just love working with America and finding these beautiful gems like Memphis that have so much potential. There’s so many great things going on to sort of recognize and join the community here. From folks like Andrew Michael to Taylor Berger, the restaurant scene here is just amazing, the school scene with Dorsey (E. Hopson) superintendent of Memphis schools - it’s just a wonderful community.”
MM: What do think about Memphis in general? Have you done any sightseeing?
KM: “I love Memphis. I’ve been to Graceland twice. Shelby Farms Park is my favorite destination. That is just stunning and wonderful. We’re so proud to be a part of that development.”
MM: Have you heard any good Memphis music?
KM: “I’ve gone to Raiford’s many times, which is amazing. I’ve brought a lot of my friends there. It’s the star attraction I think in the whole city. And then, just enjoying the serendipitous musical discoveries - going to Loflin yard and hearing a band you’ve never heard of, but they’re great. That sort of stuff is really fun for me.”
MM: So you’re basically aiming to take the food system in the country back focused on healthy, organic food rather than food with chemicals…
KM: “I like to use the phrase ‘real food.’ We are not here to preach ‘healthy.’ We think healthy has a bad reputation. It means food doesn’t taste good. We work very hard to make sure our menu is gluten-free, or at least absolutely accessible to people who are gluten-free to vegetable forward. But there’s a kickass cheeseburger, and there’s a kickass pork sandwich. It’s all real food - food that you trust to nourish your body, you trust to nourish the farmer and you trust to nourish the planet.”
MM: You haven’t been without your critics. Some people have said “his heart is in the right place, but he doesn’t know this or that.” How do you usually convince these critics that, while you are a billionaire, you get your hands dirty and you know what you’re doing?
KM: “You know I think I work very hard. I don’t phone it in, so to speak. And I think all of those folks who you are mentioning are wonderful people and very much a part of the movement. For me, just working hard and delivering delicious, real food is what I focus on.”
MM: How do you convince Millennials to stay away from chains like Taco Bell?
KM: “The most important thing is with your taste buds. Real food just tastes better. If you go to Next Door and you have a cheeseburger versus any of the fast food chains out there it’s just so much better at Next Door. It’s delicious, it’s nourishing, it doesn’t make you feel crappy afterwards. It’s a really good cheeseburger.”
MM: Can you tell me a little bit more about the community gardens?
KM: “Yeah, we call them ‘learning gardens.’ Unlike a community garden, it’s about teaching kids science through the growing of food. We teach about 70,000 Memphis kids science through the growing of food where they learn how to pull a carrot out of the ground, eat it raw and it’s delicious and nourishing. It’s so powerful because it’ll change their entire life if we just get them to try delicious real food at a young age.”
MM: What should someone expect before visiting these ‘learning gardens?’
KM: “Well they’re beautiful outdoor classrooms. A learning garden is designed to be a place where teachers spontaneously teach in it, where kids will spontaneously play in it. Each school will decide, but they’ll often put it to bed in the winter and they’ll plant garlic and tulips and then watch for spring. Spring will be determined by when the tulips sprout. It’s really beautiful. To give kids that appreciation of the seasons is really quite profound.”
MM: Following 9/11 you spent six weeks volunteering as a cook for fire fighters. What was that experience like?
KM: “Honestly it was an awful and wonderful experience at the same time. To see this giant piles of melting metal - still melting after six weeks - moved me to my core. And to feed these firefighters ... they would connect with each other, eat the food and thank us then go right back into these giant piles of metal and save American lives. It was such a wonderful and difficult experience, but I’m forever grateful I was able to help a little bit.”
MM: You’re a younger brother and you used to cook for your family. Brothers don’t always get along. Is there something you cooked that your brother turned his nose up at and didn’t like?
KM: “My brother - well, my whole family are actually pretty picky eaters - I’ll be honest. Beets, for example (which I love and I serve a ton of beets in our restaurants) [are] still impossible to get my family to eat. They’ll try it and they’ll say ‘ok that’s fine.’ They won’t turn their nose up at it, but they’ll just be like ‘not for me.’ But it’s a labor of love and slowly but surely they’re all, including my brother, just enjoying their food more and at the end of the day real food just tastes better … Since I was 12 years old cooking for the family - it was just a wonderful way to get my family (which is a family that never sits still) to sit down, connect with each other. If I cooked, the food tastes better and they would just sit down and we’d enjoy it more. To me it was wonderful because it was my gift that I could give to the family.”
MM: I’ve got to ask about the hat. Disney just announced they are remaking “The Lion King” with a new cast. Are you holding out that they also remake “Toy Story?” Would you accept the role of Woody if you had the opportunity?
KM: “Oh I love that ... I totally would, that would be amazing. I’ll take it.”
MM: Has it been the same hat the whole time?
KM: “I’ve actually only had two in my life. The first one lasted for about three years and I really pushed that one to the edge. This one I’ve had for about six months and I’ve broken it little bit, but that’s part of the character. But it’s a really simple hat. It’s a working hat. It’s not a fancy hat. I started wearing it and I’ve spent a lot of time on farms - you have to have a hat anyway. And it’s a fun symbol of America. I love America. It’s my adopted country, so for me supporting the American way is really good for me.”
MM: Do you think food, in a sense, is something that can heal some of the divisions in this country?
KM: “Food is the most wonderful way to bring people together from different viewpoints, to different income levels, to different educations, to different races, to different countries - food is the gift we give each other three times a day. Let’s make it real food and delicious.”
COFFEE AND MUSHROOMS AT THE COOPER-YOUNG FARMER'S MARKET
Sept. 16, 2017
Fruits, organic foods, and locally brewed coffee could be seen upon entering the Cooper Young Farmer’s Market while acoustic renditions of Tom Petty, Maroon 5 and even The Offspring could be heard on Saturday, Sept. 16.
In this video interviews form market vendors as well the sights and sounds of the market itself were captured:
SEATTLE CHEF THIERRY RAUTUREAU BRINGS SALMON TO BLUFF CITY
Nov. 12, 2017
Memphians followed their noses, their ears and hungry crowds at the Memphis Food & Wine Festival Oct.14.
Along with culinary talent from across the globe, the second annual festival also featured a number of musical acts. As Ghost Town Blues Band performed a lengthy set riddled with familiar blues hits and sprinkled with surprise renditions of Led Zeppelin tunes, residents of the Bluff City and guests alike tasted dishes, sampled wines and participated in a live auction. .
Thierry Rautureau, the chef behind Seattle’s popular restaurants Loulay Kitchen and Bar and Luc, was one of three dozen chefs who participated in the event. In between serving guests, he took a few minutes to discuss his food and why he likes to eat before getting stoned.
What are we serving tonight?
TR: “We focus very much on local, seasonal ingredients and today we feature wild king salmon with olive tapenade, lobster sauce and Japanese shiso. The lobster sauce is a French base and the Japanese shiso is from the Japanese influence we have in Seattle. I love shiso.”
Where are you from?
TR: “I am from France. I’ve been in the country for 40 some years - lived in Seattle for 30 years. I’m loving it. The quality of life in Seattle is … probably the best in the country. We have a quality of life that’s quite amazing. We’re surrounded by mountain, lakes, water, ocean. We have a lot of great things going, and it’s a cool place to live. Plus, we can smoke pot. It’s legal.”
When you get the munchies, what do you like to cook?
TR: “I try to eat before I get stoned. Usually eating when you’re stoned is a shitty idea because end up eating the crappiest shit in the world. You’re not making decisions very well, so it’s much better to eat beforehand. Plus, it’s better for your high. I think your body is a bit more equilibrate.”
What do you think about the festival tonight and Memphis in general?
TR: “I think you guys are putting together some serious stuff. Man this is really cool. This is a great event. You don’t expect this. In smaller cities it’s hard to find events like this, but the size and the quality and the standard of this event is very cool. Chefs coming in from all over the country - including this one from Paris. That is some serious pull. That is some big standard quality man. The level is up. And the quality of the customers is really cool. They’re willing to try everything they are very open. I do a lot of events all around the country, and you guys know how to pull the damn thing out.”
How did you know you wanted to be a chef?
TR: “I wanted to be fed, have a roof above my head and travel the world around. That was the only job that fit the criteria that would make me happy. Plus I don’t just read the menu, I like to f***ing eat it.”
HUEY’S KEEPS GETTING OLDER, MEMPHIANS STAY THE SAME
Nov.6, 2017
It can be a real conundrum for a group of college-aged people to decide where to eat, which is why my friends and I pretty much wind up at Huey’s 99 percent of the time. I guess it’s also how us Memphis Millennials contribute to that secret plan to kill Applebee’s or whatever.
For almost six decades the Huey’s name has meant beer, burgers and a certain ambience that unmistakably screams “Memphis.” Founder Allen Gary started Huey’s in March of 1970, naming it after his own childhood moniker. Then the business was sold to two other fellows in 1973. Eventually Thomas Boggs, a University of Memphis graduate and corporate office worker from Dallas’ location of TGI Friday’s, moved home and joined the Huey’s team as a bartender.
Boggs eventually rose to become CEO/co-owner of Huey’s and is credited with foreseeing a casual dining trend, transitioning the bar into a restaurant with a full-fledged menu. Years later Boggs’ kids, including Vice President Ashley Robilio, run their father’s business reflecting his vision.
“As far as us keeping Huey’s energetic and fun, I think that just comes form our employees and our customers and obviously the managers,” Robilio says. “We like to keep it clean and lively and family-friendly. It’s just kind of our culture that we have cultivated, and we like to keep it that way.”
Huey’s is the kind of place where nobody bats an eye if three 20-somethings stagger in through the front door after a night of sleepless soul-searching and sit down a few feet away from a clean-cut family of four. The Eagles’ “Take it to the Limit” has everybody feeling good, and the Huey’s Sunshine Burger will make perfect sense as the first thing those 20-somethings have eaten in several hours.
This beyond-tasty behemoth boldly stacks a fried egg on angus beef, adding bacon, cheddar cheese and grilled mushrooms to the mix.
“Their sauteed with butter and then we put our Huey’s seasoning on them,” Robilio says. “And the burger meat you know is 6 oz. and we’re now using Certified Angus Beef … It’s certified, so it’s more expensive and it’s better quality. And it’s more consistent.”
This Certified Angus Beef-switch happened about a year ago Robilio says, but as for changes like menu additions, they originate from different managers and cooks themselves.
“Sometimes we have a contest,” Robilio says. “Sometimes we just say ‘Hey if you’ve got a good idea go see your manager’ … It usually comes about from somebody just experimenting in the kitchen.”
The Bluff City Burger, the Madison Avenue Burger and the Texas Toast Burger all came to be on the Huey’s menu through this “table tent” process, according to Robilio. Since October, Huey’s has been testing out the newest possible addition to their menu: tater tots.
“We’re always open-minded to new ideas,” Robilio says.
HOT TAMALE SPOT RECEIVES WARM RECEPTION IN BLUFF CITY
Nov. 6, 2017
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCxyLV-1hHs&feature=share
If it takes two to make a thing go right, then Larry Turner and Larry Hall are right on target with Larrys Hot Tamale, a restaurant specializing in “Mississippi delta-style tamales” and relocated from Mississippi to 1621 Getwell Road.
Turner, who originally ran Larry’s (singular, with an apostrophe) in Clarksdale Mississippi for years before Larry Hall, a Germantown resident, asked Turner to move the business to Memphis. After Hall agreed to finance the move, Turner was in. The two dropped the apostrophe to reflect that there were now two Larrys involved with the eatery, and set up shop not 15 minutes from the University of Memphis.
Though Turner still commutes from Clarksdale to Memphis, the Bluff City’s reception to the spot so far has been as warm as the tamales they serve. Following an article about the tamale spot in The Commercial Appeal written by Jennifer Biggs, business has been “booming,” Turner says.
“We have more items to add to the menu that’s gonna make it even better,” he says.
The store itself currently has no menu and minimal decorations inside, but the focus seems to be on the product - a slightly spicy tamale with an original, creamy sauce that is not found elsewhere. Most Mississippi-delta tamale cooks use seasoned water instead of this sauce, Turner says. But the creamy sauce seems to make the difference with the new Memphian customers exposed to it.
“I guess they found a better tamale prior to what was offered before I got here,” Turner says.
STORIFY: THE LIFE OF CRAIG CLAIBORNE
Nov. 28, 2017
IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT: FRUIT BOWL
Sept. 28, 2017
Bananas, black cherries and creamy caramels invited eager Iphone-photographers into a stress-relieving mini-meal, halting the routine collegiate chaos of a Wednesday. A bountiful tin saucer from Chinatown in Los Angeles will provide any Journalism major with the healthiest mid-day snack they’ve had in three months.
The fruit bowl’s avocado is smooth, like a fruity butter, and it’s green apples are as crisp as a German sunrise - seen while contemplating through a seventh-floor dorm room.
The peak and pinnacle of this experience is a tie between professor Pam Denney’s home-grown tomatoes called Black Cherries, bursting with positive flavor, and the chocolate-covered walnuts. These delicacies offer a such a rewarding crunch and an invitingly smooth, chocolate aftertaste that makes memories of a recently-separated lover begin to melt away.