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Justin Fox Burks
Sautéed mushrooms add flavor to the Luna Restaurant’s Louisiana shrimp and grits;
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Asian-inspired skewers lead the tapas menu
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Spicy olive pecan spread plays off a family favorite, as does Napoleon French toast topped with berries and powered sugar.
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Justin Fox Burks
Spicy olive pecan spread plays off a family favorite, as does Napoleon French toast topped with berries and powered sugar.
For a journalist like me, schooled during the heyday of legacy newspapers, eating inside downtown’s historic Scimitar building holds a special allure. Recently renovated into a swank boutique hotel, the building constructed in 1902 was the original home of the Memphis Press-Scimitar. Bound newspaper books in the hotel’s lobby, yellowed and anachronistic, remember the hotel’s history, but in the Luna Bar and Restaurant, Chef Eric Hagerman’s choices are resolutely new American.
At Hotel Napoleon’s grand opening earlier this year, the party’s clamorous millennials made a well-appointed match for Hagerman’s tapas menu. Asian beef tenderloin, marinated for 48 hours and skewered for easy eating, were scrumptious umami morsels, savory and sweet. Spicy olive pecan spread topped toasted slices of baguette, and kickin’ chicken sliders recaptured the mini-sandwiches’ glory days: roasted and shredded chicken, tossed with chipotle and lime juice sauce and stacked with Swiss cheese and house-made Ranch on a freshly baked bun.
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Justin Fox Burks
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My husband and I returned for dinner a week or so later, and from the bar we see the Sterick Building, where the opulent mansion of the hotel’s namesake, Napoleon Hill, once stood. We order from an entrée menu that gets right to the point. The salmon’s glaze — orange juice, lime juice, Dijon, and a little sugar — is soft and true like the salmon’s pink center. And the shrimp and grits? A splendid rendition of extra-large shrimp sautéed with bacon and mushrooms and plated with creamy cheesy grits.
Later, I chat with Hagerman about his inspirations, which include his mom (“She cooks better than anyone I know”), along with Asian, Italian, and Mexican dishes. Southern home-style cooking from his rural Louisiana roots plays a role, too.
“One of my best friend’s mom used to make cream cheese French toast for me whenever I spent the night,” Hagerman recalls. “I loved it, and her recipe turned into the Napoleon French toast we make at the restaurant for breakfast.”
179 Madison Ave. (901-526-0002). Open for breakfast every day; lunch Monday through Friday, and dinner Monday through Saturday. $-$$$.
