Photographs by Justin Fox Burks
Mama Gaia
Updated vegetarian food in the heart of Crosstown Concourse.
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Justin Fox Burks
Owners Cru and Philipp von Holtzendorff-Fehling
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Justin Fox Burks
Mama Gaia’s unique breakfast menu includes tofu-and-veggie stuffed pitas, along with smoothies and vegan parfaits.
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Justin Fox Burks
Cheese, tomato sauce, antipasti, eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers top the Diva Petitzza.
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Customers place orders at the window and choose a seat, either inside or out.
The rain fell hard and fast and just as effortlessly dismissed itself like a man tipping his hat when my friend Clare and I pulled in to park at one of Memphis’ grand success stories of late — Crosstown Concourse in Midtown. Therefore, we had the good fortune of sitting outside on the city-block-long deck of the former Sears Crosstown building to try out the menu at Mama Gaia, an eatery that opened in late March.
I don’t know if the breeze made the food taste more scrumptious or if it would have been just as perfect sitting at the large community table inside. Either way, Mama Gaia means “Mother Earth” in Greek, and the menu at this eatery is 100 percent vegetarian and 100 percent organic — the only one in Memphis that can stake such a claim.
The owners, Cru and Philipp von Holtzendorff-Fehling, a German couple who moved to Memphis five years ago after living in Seattle and Europe, start with a base menu such as the Diva — some antipasti of zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers; the Gaia — made with falafel, feta, and tzatziki sauce; or the Cena — a mushroom-based dish. Customers go from there, ordering the dishes as a pita, a pizza, a quinoa bowl, or a salad with varying herbs and other ingredients.
I dove into the Diva Salad, a bowl of all my favorite things served on arugula (which I could eat every day), mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil and topped with balsamic vinaigrette. Clare ordered the Copia Bowl — quinoa served with oven-roasted zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and leek and topped with olive-basil sauce, Parmesan, and basil. She gave up a fork or two for me to try, and I would have been just as happy with her order.
Philipp, of course, knows the menu by heart and eats an Asia Pita pretty much every day, and I can see why. It comes with sesame-crusted tofu, Asian slaw, Mama Gaia Sauce, and cilantro. I didn’t ask for a bite as I’ve only known him for a short time, but put money on the fact that the Asia Pita will be my next dish to try.
Philipp and Cru opened Mama Gaia with the intention of offering healthy food that tastes good and is served quickly. After Cru was diagnosed with Lyme disease, she became vegan and ate only organic, non-GMO foods. Eventually, the couple decided to create a healthy restaurant themselves without compromising taste, and Cru was the one to do it. She worked for a Michelin five-star chef in Germany. “I look for each ingredient to be part of a composition and for each to be just what it is,” she says. — Lesley Young
1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 137, (901) 203-3838
Open: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Atmosphere: Clean, modern, and casual.
Extras: Outdoor seating on a repurposed loading dock, sound-muffling rooms for meetings or a quiet meal, and weekday breakfast offering cinnamon oatmeal, berry parfaits, and a hearty morning pita.
Prices: Entrees ($7.50-$12); sides and soup ($3.50-$7); kids’ menu ($4-$5); desserts ($3-$4).
Three to try: Asia pita (I can’t wait to eat this); hand-cut baked fries (no dish is ever fried at Mama Gaia); organic agave soda (look for the organic soda machine loaded with drinks).
Zaka Bowl
A scoop of this and a scoop of that to feed and fuel every day.
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Justin Fox Burks
Owner Ed Cabigao
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House-made sauces brighten up veggie-centric bowls featuring add-ons like herbed chicken, poké beets, or sushi-grade tuna.
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Zaka’s baked falafels, made with chickpeas, parsley, and macadamia nuts, top jasmine brown rice and agave Brussels sprouts.
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Justin Fox Burks
The beet poke bowl is served over sushi rice with edamame, pickled red onion, avocado, and pineapple pico
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Friendly staffers at Zaka Bowl are happy to suggest bowl combinations.
For me, eating dinner from a 32-ounce Zaka Bowl is a lot like eating Oreo cookies. In other words, technique matters. As with a bite of chocolate cookie, separated from its vanilla cream, I start with the bowl’s singular ingredients: a mini falafel cake; a spicy roasted chickpea; a forkful of black bean salad.
Next, I dig down to its hearty core — garlic and olive oil quinoa or maybe a mound of sushi rice — until I mix it all together with a squirt or two of sweet curry sauce. Almost magically, the flavors transform, like an Oreo when it finally gets dunked into a glass of cold milk.
A new concept for Memphis, veggie-centric meals-in-a-bowl are hugely popular in other cities, and for good reason. Zaka — a Sanskrit word for vegetable and a Hebrew name meaning pure — sums up the restaurant’s mantra: Serve healthy food with chef-driven flavors that are bright and satisfying.
Here’s how the concept works. Decide on a salad bowl, a Zaka bowl, or a poké bowl. (Poké is a Hawaiian version of tuna tartare.) Select a pre-made bowl from a menu or build your own with a base of grains, chopped spinach, or zucchini noodles; warm and cold vegetables like agave Brussels sprouts or apple jicama slaw; and premium add-ons such as herbed chicken or roasted tofu. Bowl ingredients are freshly prepared and ready to scoop up to order by a knowledgeable staff that can help mix and match.
Open since October, Zaka Bowl is the second restaurant for Ed and Brittany Cabigao, the duo behind South of Beale, downtown’s popular gastropub South of Beale. The two restaurants — one full-service with a bar, the other quick-serve with house-blended juices — couldn’t be any more different, a turn prompted by Ed’s lifestyle changes. “I went vegetarian for health and ethical reasons, and in a year-and-a-half, went from 220 pounds to 160,” he says. “I became passionate about this kind of eating.”
Passionate, for Cabigao, however, doesn’t mean preachy. Salt and pepper shakers line up on the condiment counter next to handy squirt bottles filled with house-made sauces like Sriracha BBQ and avocado vinaigrette. The restaurant also has a friendly and unpretentious vibe, along with friendly and informed servers. “Some of our customers have never tasted a beet or don’t know what quinoa is,” Cabigao says. “We are happy to explain.”
— Pamela Denney
575 Erin Drive, (901) 509-3105
Hours: Monday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Atmosphere: Take out or dine in. Either way, be sure to appreciate Zaka’s 3-D garden patch graphics and purple and aqua color scheme designed by Memphis-based Loaded for Bear.
Extras: Don’t mention the V-word to meat-loving friends, but except for the chicken and tuna, Zaka Bowl is vegan and gluten-free.
Prices: Salad bowls ($8); Zaka and poké bowls (start at $9); premium add-ons ($2-$4); freshly made juices ($7 a glass/ $18 a gallon).
Three to try: Herbed chicken in an Italian-inspired marinade adds heft to any bowl; poké turns sushi-grade tuna into an island vacation; a pint of Zaka sauce to-go cranks up the flavor for bowls made at home.
City Silo Table and Pantry
Reimagined comfort food with wholesome and creative ingredients.
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Justin Fox Burks
City Silo Owner Scott Tashie (right) with head Chef Will Byrd
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The Green Micro Machine Salad, the Silo Burger, and the Foxy BBQ, make for healthy vegetarian dishes for dinner or lunch.
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A “Becky with the Good Hair” wellness latte.
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Offering healthful options that keep your taste buds happy is nothing new to Scott Tashie, the virtuoso behind Cosmic Coconut and the I Love Juice Bar. What he has done now with City Silo Table and Pantry in the old Cosmic Coconut space is expand this idea. “My goal with City Silo was to create a whole menu and a place that is all-inclusive and creative,” Tashie says. “It is comfort food that is good-tasting, filling, and enjoyable.”
For Tashie, eating clean and healthy has been a fire in his belly for a number of years now. The former pro golfer, who tore his ACL twice, even nurtured a burgeoning wheatgrass operation in his brother’s back yard for a while. When he noticed a lack of nutritional options in Memphis — something that is transforming before our very eyes — he decided to put his money where his mouth is.
Tashie had long planned on expanding his smoothie and juice spot on Sanderlin, and the space next to Cosmic Coconut became available last year, as did some partnerships from his I Love Juice Bar operation on Cooper in Midtown. “I thought if you’re going to do it, now’s the time,” he says.
Now customers can build-their-own veggie burgers at City Silo with options such as the Beet Walnut Burger, a Marinated Portabella Burger, or the top-selling Silo Burger, as well as a menu of breads and cheeses — traditional and gluten-free and vegan. The menu also offers Smoothie Bowls, or bowls of fruits mixed with superfoods, excellent salads (I am a salad connoisseur), and Hearty Bowls — more root-based dishes with heavier sauces executed in such a way that the flavor of each ingredient shines independently while dancing lithely with the other players.
I keep going back for the smoothies, though, and I let the chef, Will Byrd, know that he now has an addict on his hands. The restaurant also offers Wellness Lattes, which are coconut cream/almond cream drinks with turmeric or Siberian chaga mushrooms as the lead mixed with cacao, carob, pink salt, cinnamon, vanilla — you get the idea. Hint: Order an extra-large.
With City Silo Table and Pantry, Tashie has added more options to his menu, including chicken and egg as add-ons, wine and beer (and Benefizz kefir drink on tap), and a pantry, a small market for patrons to take healthy options home with them. “A lot of the items I stock are not easily found here,” Tashie says. “I hope to evolve and get more and more in.”
— Lesley Young
5101 Sanderlin Center,(901-729-7687)
Hours: Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Atmosphere: Rustic contemporary with greenery and wood accents.
Extras: A market offers unique grocery items like local microgreens, exotic chocolates, and gluten-free goods to-go.
Prices: Smoothies ($8.50-$12); small plates and salads ($7-$11); Build-Your-Own Veggie Burger ($9 with cheese and toppings for $1 each); sandwiches ($7-$9); Hearty Bowls ($9).
Three to try: Foxy BBQ, named after Memphis food photographer and local cookbook author Justin Fox Burks, tosses roasted spaghetti squash with barbecue sauce; Chocolate Almond Daze smoothie tastes like a milkshake but treats you like a rock star; Becky with the Good Hair Wellness Latte is a pick-me-up without the milk or the coffee.
