photograph by houston cofield
Dry-aged prime bone-in New York strip with beef fat popovers and sauce au poivre.
What’s for dinner? Here at Memphis Magazine, that’s a question we find ourselves asking quite frequently, with thoughts turning to food as the workday ebbs away. Lucky for us, Memphis chefs and entrepreneurs continue to embrace new ideas and adventures, blessing the city with an abundance of new restaurants and tasty dishes to satisfy our growing appetites. For the last couple of years, our dining contributors have used the annual February food issue to take a deeper dive into Memphis’ culinary world. We’ve explored it through traditional means (a top restaurants list), through a selection of our favorite dishes over the course of a year, or even 2021’s “Memphis Eats A-Z” feature.
But it’s back to basics this year. There are almost too many fresh options to choose from, so through our “Dinner at 8” feature, we’re here to let our readers know about the eight new restaurants that made the biggest impression on us in 2023. We’re spoiled for choices, but we’re not complaining!
The One Beale development needed a slam dunk with its new dining option, and it got it thanks to Amelia Gene’s. The newest establishment of the Carlisle Restaurant Group dazzles in the former Wm C. Ellis & Sons ironworks shop on Front Street, with a selection of fine dining entrees created by chef Nate Henssler, an extensive wine list, and a glitzy interior.
Amelia Gene’s divides the menu into several sections. Diners can treat themselves to one large entry, try several of the small bites, or craft their own personalized several-course dinner. But let’s pause a moment to focus on a pre-dinner snack, and one of the restaurant’s standouts.
Henssler partnered with local baker Cherie Canelas to offer fresh baked bread as an option before every meal. The sourdough loaf catches the eye with its black-and-gold swirled crumb, made from two charcoal and saffron doughs, which keeps diners’ hands flying back to the basket when set up with a spread of hummus and cardamom honey butter.
For appetizers, favorites from the small bites menu include the foie gras macaron, Kaluga caviar beignet with sweet onion cream and Arkansas black apple, and a golden potato fondue with Tête de Moine cheese and black truffle. The slightly larger starters see Henssler continue to flex his fine dining muscles with coal-roasted radicchio or tuna crudo.
The Wagyu steak tartar was my personal favorite, the raw beef cuts mingling with truffled green almond, bone broth, and perilla oil. All that is served atop a potato latke, a crisp and comforting treat more reminiscent of the simple pleasures of fast-food breakfasts, rather than the expected pretension of a high-class meal. Henssler also makes fresh pasta daily, from bucatini to ravioli. It’s an excellent option if you’re looking for a full meal on the lighter side.
The main entrees bring out the big guns, with the half Rohan duck a standout, the crispy fowl bedecked with savory salt, pepper, and garlic notes smoothed out with candied kumquats and an orange puree. The Massachusetts Black Sea Bass, with red cabbage and caraway jus, continues to impress, and the elk short rib offers sophisticated game alongside leeks, grits, and mango. If the Wagyu tartar wasn’t enough beef, the eight-ounce domestic filet comes with its own potato tartlette, vidalia onion, and a touch of umami with Cantonese XO sauce.
The wine list is extensive and continues to grow, and diners can gaze at the two large wine coolers lining the sides of the main dining room, or a vast wall of liquor behind the bar extending up to the ceiling. They’ll undoubtedly be delighted with the visual splendor of the dining room’s hanging crystalline art piece, with light ornaments stretching across the expanse, providing small gleams and sparkles of light, just as the machines in the old ironworks shop once must have. A fine spectacle for a fine night out.
