photograph by jeff anderson
Michael Donahue enjoys ribs with all the trimmings.
With its vintage knotty pine-paneled walls and low lighting, Belmont Grill always reminds me of the perfect den. Except I’ve never been in anyone’s den where the Christmas lights are left up all year long.
It’s comfortable, even cozy. And you’ll usually find an old friend or meet a new one. You can’t sit at the bar for five minutes without being involved in a conversation.
I spent many late nights at ‘The Belmont,’ as most customers refer to it, in the ’80s and ’90s. That’s late as in 2:30 a.m., the bar/restaurant’s old closing time. They now close at 8:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
photograph by michael donahue
Belmont Grill manager-owner Jeff Anderson.
I remember ordering my old favorite, “Beefeater martini up with three olives,” which was superbly made by Jeff Anderson or the late “Big John” Deweese behind the bar, partially encircled with red, green, and blue Christmas lights. (The lights are strewn around the dining room, too.)
Anderson is still behind the bar at the Belmont, where he is also manager and an owner. “Been here for a while,” he says. “I was born in St. Joe, Missouri. I went to high school here. And, hell, I bartended at Elan and Confetti way when it was in the Clark Tower.”
Anderson met the Belmont owners when he was working at East End Grill. He began as a bartender at Belmont in 1984 and became an owner in 1986.
Curious about the Belmont’s past? Their menu offers “The Incomplete, Unauthorized, Unofficial, Often Rumored, Word-of-Mouth History of the Belmont Grill.” According to the story, the building “was constructed between 1910 and 1920 and was originally operated as a general store by Italia Bianchi and her family on what was known as Poplar Pike in the town of White Station.”
Several businesses stood on that corner over the years, including Bianchi Bros. Grocery and Louie’s Grill, which became Louie’s Bar & Grill in 1959. Then “sometime in the early ’60s the property was leased to Bob Lloyd, who turned it into the (infamous?) Sir Robert’s, where apparently half of East Memphis ate ham sandwiches, drank beer, and played shuffleboard.”
I remember drinking my first official beer — a Budweiser — at Sir Robert’s when I turned 21. I was working then at the nearby Seessel’s grocery store at Poplar and Perkins.
“Alan Gary (who also founded Huey’s) acquired the business in 1974 and re-named it The Half Shell,” the story goes on, and “ten years later, in 1983, The Half Shell moved to its current location on Mendenhall and the former Half Shell became The Belmont.”
photograph by michael donahue
A painting by the late Memphis artist Ernie Patton.
I ask Anderson to tell me the most popular Belmont items.
“Hamburgers, hot wings, po’ boys, and the steak sandwich,” he says. In a Memphis Flyer story I wrote a while back about this city’s best “wing experiences,” Anderson told me about the Belmont’s wings: “Back then a lot of places did the pieces, not the whole wing.” The sauce, he said, is “a blend of Louisiana hot sauce and melted butter. The butter helps the hot sauce stick to the wing. We don’t use a breaded wing. We use the real wing, so you can still taste the sauce and the meat from the chicken.”
The hamburger, served on a French loaf instead of a hamburger bun, is “different than anything else that was out there at the time,” Anderson says. “So, that’s what made it unique. That’s how the popularity started: the French loaf, and the sauce we put on it before we charbroil it.”
Then there’s my favorite Belmont item: the barbecued ribs. They cook them in an Alto-Shaam, a commercial oven that makes the meat tender.
Finally, I can’t talk about the Belmont without mentioning the paintings by the late Ernie Patton. They are an important part of the place. Anderson points out a particularly striking Patton portrait (above) which he believes has been at the Belmont for 50 years.
As I am leaving, I run into two friends, Bob Schreiber and Leslie Cohn. I ask them what they like about the Belmont. Without skipping a beat, Schreiber says, “It’s the neighborhood place to go. Period.”
Belmont Grill is at 4970 Poplar at Mendenhall.
