Justin Fox Burks
Pastrami sandwich
Driving from East Memphis to Fayette County for dinner — past Gateway Tire and Rick’s Barbershop on Highway 64 — is an act of faith for first-timers. But we are adventuresome dinnermates, and the reputation of Raven & Lily layers on our optimism, even as we hunt for its location in an Oakland strip mall with no visible restaurant sign.
Once inside, the eatery feels comfortable like a country place, unassuming and friendly. To our left, a large table of family members — ages 3 years to 80 — celebrates a birthday. We try to focus on the menu, updated often and printed on copy paper, but the intoxicating parade of food to the birthday table pulls us away. “What is that? What are they having?” we ask our server, trying not to point.
To our right, a table of two orders an RL Burger to share. When it arrives, we let go of subtlety to ogle a bit. The burger is a colossal beauty, stacking patty, bacon, red onion, cheddar cheese, fried green tomato, and farm-fresh egg inside a house-made bun. Even when cut in half, the burger needs two hands, so the women pass a happy baby back and forth to take turns eating.
Still undecided on our entrees, we focus instead on first courses: smoked onion and carrot soup with a bright green swirl of pistou; chopped Romaine salad with Parmesan crisps and anchovies; and a remarkable pork-rind salad with pickles and vinaigrette. (“It’s healthy. It’s a salad,” my husband says with a grin.)
For main courses, we order more excellent dishes from a chef-driven menu with scrumptious Southern roots. The ingredients are familiar, but the flavors are bold, bright, and layered in: Louisiana red fish and lump crab with roasted vegetables and micro-greens; chipotle hot chicken with spiced cabbage; tender beef deckle on creamy mashed potatoes with bordelaise sauce. And for dessert? A warm and indulgent chocolate soufflé dusted with a snowfall of powdered sugar and served with crème anglaise.
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Justin Fox Burks
Shrimp and grits Benedict
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Justin Fox Burks
Raven & Lily staffers include, from left to right, Keke Perkins, Andrian Campbell, Katie Fields, Elizabeth Thomas, and owners Justin and Amy Young.
Raven & Lily, open since October, may seem enigmatic until one meets owners Justin and Amy Young, a couple whose talents and timing seem superbly matched. They met at the lauded La Tourelle. Justin was a chef; Amy a server. Today, at their own restaurant, they divide duties in a similar way. Amy runs the front of the house (“I try to stay out of the back as much as I can!” she says) while Justin heads the kitchen.
A native of Arkansas, Justin attended culinary school at Johnson & Wales University. In Memphis, he cooked with Erling Jensen for long stretches two different times. He and Amy moved to Somerville with their daughter Gracie about three years ago, and the drive from Fayette County to East Memphis got to be too much.
“It seemed like the right time for us to do our own thing. Plus, we really love Fayette County,” Amy says. “We’ve grown some roots here, and we wanted to be a part of this community.”
Already, the pair cater civic functions and prepare Wednesday night suppers for their local church. The name of the restaurant, Raven & Lily, references verses in the book of Luke that are meaningful to the couple. And the restaurant’s concept for a modern Southern eatery? It is the kind of food they want to eat. “We knew we wanted awesome sandwiches, breakfast food on Saturdays and Sundays, and to use as many local ingredients as we possibly can,” Justin says.
Even eggs come from the couple’s own chickens, and the sandwiches served at lunch — oversized like the burger — are piled high with pastrami or thick-cut bologna from Midtown-based Smok’d Meats. The pastrami, stacked with romaine, pickled red onions, and mustard made in-house, is bacon-like and dark at the edges like pork butt, cooked low and slow. The sandwich bread — also the base for the restaurant’s memorable bread pudding — is naturally yeasted for flavor and texture. “When you bite into it, you think the bread isn’t going to let go, but when it finally tears, it’s wonderful,” Justin explains.
While the pastrami sandwich is a menu regular, other dishes come and go. Justin likes to experiment, and his classical culinary training shines through, starting with the mussel stock he makes every day. The mussels go into several dishes, including mussel gratin and seafood mac ’n’ cheese. The stock makes tasso gravy the color of shrimp tails for shrimp and grits Benedict served with two poached eggs for weekend brunch.
Across the menu, the chef’s background in Continental cuisine shows up in many ways, including colorful plating and creative prep. Even okra, the workhorse of the Southern vegetable plate, gets special treatment. Justin cuts the pods in half and then slices them from top to bottom. “We get a 10-pound bag for $5 from a lady who lives close to us,” Justin says. “Even our chicken salad gets an okra garnish, a little something extra on top to show we care.”
Pam’s Pics: Three to Try
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Justin Fox Burks
Onion Ring & Pork Rind Salad: ($9)
”It’s a monster,” says chef Justin Young, ticking off the ingredients of this manly plate: pickles, iceberg, local lettuce, pork rinds fried light and airy, and matchstick radishes inside a pile of onion rings.
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Justin Fox Burks
Chipotle Hot Chicken with Spiced Cabbage: ($16)
Garnished with haricot verts and perched atop a mound of fragrant spiced cabbage, the fried chicken breast rises like a harvest moon, amber and magical.
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Justin Fox Burks
Lemon Curd, Strawberries, and Shortbread:($8)
Best-friends-forever, these personable companions are intensely flavorful: crumbled shortbread, lemon curd, golden like summer sunshine, and macerated strawberries, pretty in pink.
