Amelia Gene’s

A historic Memphis machine shop is transformed into One Beale’s fine-dining destination.

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For over a century, the Wm. C. Ellis and Sons ironworks has been a Memphis landmark, its name emblazoned on the historic brick building at 233 South Front. The surrounding area has welcomed new neighbors over the last couple years as the One Beale redevelopment project continued, and the former machine shop now hosts Downtown’s newest fine dining concept, Amelia Gene’s.

Amelia Gene’s is the newcomer in the Carlisle Restaurant Group, which also managed the now-closed Fancy’s Fish House nearby. Last fall, the group brought in Nate Henssler as a managing partner for the group and to serve as executive chef at Fancy’s (featured in the January 2023 issue of Memphis Magazine); he’s now helming Amelia Gene’s kitchen.

The restaurant, named for developer Chance Carlisle’s daughter Amelia Gene (she herself named for Carlisle’s dad, Gene), has been a long-time fixation for him as an anchor of the One Beale project, which currently boasts two Carlisle-owned restaurants and two hotels (Hyatt Centric and Caption by Hyatt).

A relative newcomer to Memphis, Henssler spent the last year-plus studying the local dining scene (including a recent trip to Payne’s BBQ with this magazine’s very own Michael Donahue). A personal look at all the city has to offer helped him shape Amelia Gene’s menu and fit within the local dining scene.

“I also looked at places like Dory, where the menu is constantly evolving and they’re experimental with their approach, and there aren’t a whole lot of places like that in this market. That was similar to how we’d envisioned Amelia Gene’s, as a place where the menu is constantly changing, where we could be experimental, and with a menu that would stand out in any city, not just Memphis.”

The setting needed to match the menu’s ambitions, and the redone interior of Amelia Gene’s adds plenty of elegant flourishes while paying homage to the building’s 110-year history. Behind the host desk is a mythologized portrait of Amelia Gene, the girl standing atop a large brown horse carrying a bevy of fresh vegetables. Plenty of the original building has been left intact: steel beams cross the ceiling, exposed brick from the original structure lines the walls, and a leftover crane from the old foundry sits dormant.

Elsewhere, deep purple velvet curtains tease entrances to private tables along the far sides of the restaurant, while leather banquettes surround tables in the main dining room. An enormous wine cooler runs almost the length of the restaurant. But the centerpiece is the large crystalline art installation extending from the ceiling, each of the many individual hanging ornaments crackling with light.

In the kitchen at Amelia Gene’s, Henssler’s philosophy is “restraint.” And no, that doesn’t mean that diners will only find small portions on their dinner plates. It’s a similar approach to his style at Fancy’s Fish House, where Henssler kept the total number of ingredients per dish low, for the sake of letting a meal’s core flavors shine.

“As chefs, we are trained to create,” Henssler noted when Amelia Gene’s first opened its doors in October. “But it is the art of discretion that differentiates us. I’ve always carried the line with me, ‘The best ingredient is the one you leave out.’”

“Take the duck, for example,” Henssler clarified when we spoke in November. “It’s a five-day, very involved process to take that idea from the kitchen to the table, but when you look at the plate, there are really just a few key components. We want to do as little as possible to the main ingredient and really let that speak for itself.”

That simple explanation, however, undersells the appeal of the succulent duck dish, for one. During my visit, the order was a half Rohan duck, although Henssler notes that the specific breed may change based on his supplier’s availability. Either way, Amelia Gene’s duck offering is Henssler’s take on duck à l’orange, and the fowl is prepared to crispy perfection, melding the simple savory hits of salt, pepper, and garlic with a few select sweet additions: A tangy orange purée and candied kumquats accent the breast’s perfectly crispy exterior.

The menu is divided into several sections, so diners can settle on just one large entry, or treat the experience as a multi-course meal. To begin the meal, Henssler features one of the restaurant’s top sellers so far, a freshly baked sourdough (served with cardamom honey butter and hummus) thanks to in-house baker Cherie Canelas. Local baked-good aficionados may recognize Canelas from her personal micro-bakery, Artesanal de Tala. The sourdough loaf is alluring in flavor and appearance, with a black-and-gold swirled crumb.

“She makes two separate doughs,” says Henssler, “one with charcoal and one with saffron, and then folds them together. We’re looking at including more baked goods as well. Earlier, she did a Japanese milk bread with pumpkin and pumpkin seeds, and we served it with a sweet egg jam.”

Several very small dishes set the tone for an excellent meal. Selections include a foie gras macaron, a golden potato fondue with Tête de Moine cheese and black truffle, or a Kaluga caviar beignet with sweet onion cream and Arkansas black apple.

Starters showcase creative options like coal-roasted radicchio or tuna crudo.

“The charred octopus salad has been killing it,” according to Henssler. “That’s going faster than I expected, and we’ve had trouble keeping up with that.” But my gaze was drawn to the Wagyu steak tartar, the raw cuts redolent with truffled green almond, bone broth, and perilla oil, and placed atop a potato latke. The latke, to my surprise and delight, transported me to early-morning fast-food breakfasts in childhood.

“That’s really close,” laughs Henssler. “We bind the potato with a bit of egg, some onions, some chives, a bit of potato starch, and then press it into a mold. So in the end, it’s basically a cross between a potato latke and a McDonald’s hash brown.”

If diners aren’t looking for a larger entrée, Henssler makes fresh pasta every day, ranging from bucatini (tossed with saffron, piquillo, and white tomato) to tortellini (Maine uni, herbs, caviar beurre blanc). The chef recommends “one of our top sellers,” the pappardelle with lamb, ramps, and red pepper and honey lamb jus.

For the main entrees, the half Rohan duck has been a popular choice, along with the elk short rib and the Massachusetts black sea bass (served in a caraway jus with red cabbage). For red meat enthusiasts, Amelia Gene’s offers a dry-aged prime bone-in New York strip with beef fat popover and sauce au poivre, or a domestic Wagyu filet with potato tartlets.

To round out the dinner experience, servers roll out a cart loaded with domestic cheeses, mostly from local providers. Diners can sample several selections, if they so choose, or move straight on to dessert. My nut allergy means I practice a safety-first abstinence from most desserts, but my fellow diners talked up the house’s carrot cake.

The aforementioned wine cooler boasts hundreds of selections, assembled by general manager Nathan Ellis. That might seem daunting, but the wine steward at Amelia Gene’s, Samantha Pilcher, can guide diners to their preferred vintage, or offer suggestions as to what might pair well with each meal.

“We started with a lot of options that will be familiar to Memphians,” says Pilcher. “We’ve started with French options, since we’re a French-inspired restaurant, and there’s an appetite here for California and Italian wines. But we want people to come in and say, ‘Wow, I haven’t heard of any of this before.’ We have a large list, and we’re actually waiting for quite a few more selections to arrive, so after the New Year we should have an even more robust selection. Our goal is to have the largest and most unique list in Memphis.”

Before leaving Amelia Gene’s, I spotted a cruvinet — a type of wine-dispensing system — behind the bar. With temperature controls, the cruvinet keeps open bottles fresh longer, giving diners more opportunities to sample wines by the glass. It’s a comparative rarity in Memphis, and to my knowledge, Amelia Gene’s is only the second restaurant in town to have one after Restaurant Iris. The cruvinet here, according to Pilcher, will be used to serve the restaurant’s white wines by the glass.

I couldn’t quite sample the entire menu during my visits, but from conversations with other guests, there are no misses at Amelia Gene’s. Popular dishes, like the duck, are slated as regulars on the menu going forward, but as Henssler says, he’s always looking to evolve the restaurant.

“We may change things up in January,” he says. “Nothing’s set in stone, but I’m looking at adding a squab appetizer, including skate wing and flat-iron steak entrees, and changing up a few of the pastas. Beyond that, it’s just making sure that service is tight, the experience is excellent for everyone, and to get people coming out. I’m really excited to share our new ideas at Amelia Gene’s.”

Amelia Gene’s is located at 255 S. Front St. Open for dinner 5–9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday; 5–10 p.m. Friday–Saturday. 686-5051.