New Kids on the Block

Even in a turbulent year, new local restaurants continue to open their doors.

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It goes against all logic; in a year that has seen disaster after disaster, including a pandemic that has placed incredible strain on the restaurant industry, surely this wouldn’t be the time to start a new food venture? But good food is one of the great comforts in uncertain times, and plenty of culinary entrepreneurs have stepped up to the plate to provide unique offerings during a strange 2020. Memphis has explored some of these creative ventures, like Brittney Adu’s Furloaved bakery, or Marisa Baggett’s kosher catering company, Zayde’s NYC Deli. But plenty of traditional-style restaurants have sprung up over the past year as well, either original concepts or a pivot of sorts. Here are just a few of the new (and some slightly older) kids on the block.

Memphis Chess Club

Who knew that good food and chess would be two concepts to go hand in hand? For Casey Hill, president of Left Field Properties, it was a no-brainer. The longtime member of Memphis Chess Club had been seeking a permanent home for the organization, but knew it would need an extra draw. “I’ve always been intrigued by the game,” he says, “but we felt we needed something to bring non-chess players here, too.” Now, Memphis Chess Club’s new location across from the Visible Music College doubles as both a spacious chess headquarters and a cozy café.

Executive chef Grier Cosby has been cooking as a caterer and private chef since she was a teenager and is in charge of Memphis Chess Club’s menu. “I tend to like to use what we have,” says Cosby. “Looking at Downtown, looking at the process, looking at people that enjoy chess, we were always going to be a casual affair, but a high-quality one.”

“Everything we make here is homemade,” adds Hill. “From a food perspective, we want to be known as the best value restaurant in Memphis. I personally think that we’ve found the best chef in Memphis, in Grier. I don’t think Memphis knows that yet, but I think they will soon.”

Breakfast, served from 7 to 11 a.m., is stacked with both healthy and familiar options. The Hearty Bowl serves up scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and cheese, while the açaí bowl’s fruit and granola base is complemented by honey and roasted almond butter. The coffee is also unique to Memphis Chess Club, with Cosby sourcing beans from countries like Colombia, Ethiopia, and Brazil before roasting it herself. “For our flavor profile, I’d describe our house blend as half Colombian, half Ethiopian,” she says. Expect bags of ground beans to be available for sale soon.

Soups and salads round out a nice lunch spread, but the big draw is the pizza, each variety named for a chess grandmaster. The Fischer is your classic meat-lover’s style, marinara sauce topped with Italian sausage, pepperoni, and bacon. The Anand offers a lighter vegetarian swing, with spinach, peppers, mushrooms, and roasted tomatoes melding with white sauce and gruyere cheese. But the recently added Polgár is proving to be a big hit, with its pesto and roasted garlic profile making it one of the most popular items for regulars.

“And so those two things are key,” says Hill. “Coffee in the morning goes with chess, and so does pizza in the evening, believe it or not. If you grew up playing chess at all, or going to any tournaments, there was always pizza around. It’s kind of synonymous with the game.”

At Memphis Chess Club, that rings true for the patrons. Each table, both on the spacious ground floor and upstairs mezzanine, has its own chessboard carved into it, but there’s still plenty of space for food. Diners can rent a chess set ($5 for a day pass) to play a few matches, or simply enjoy their food. Multiple membership tiers are available that give Memphians unlimited access to wooden chess sets, classes, tournaments, and the club’s library, which includes old chess magazines and strategy books. The chess club hosts classes every day, and also hosts daily tournaments. A membership is not required to hang out at the club.

“The sign says Memphis Chess Club, but we want this to be a place for everybody,” says Hill, “regardless of whether or not you’re a grandmaster, or you’ve never picked up a chess piece before in your life. And if chess isn’t your thing, we have really good coffee and an outstanding menu.”

Memphis Chess Club is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday. 195 Madison Ave. 901.602.6402

Southall Café

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and Southall Café embraces that ethos with a chef-focused menu that uses locally sourced ingredients. Mark Pender and Mitchell Spurlock have given chef Jesus Ramon free reign to craft a menu that suits his cooking background, and that’s reflected in the wide variety of options across both breakfast and dinner menus.

The menu is built around Chef Jesus Ramon (previously of El Mero Taco and Bishop), who utilizes his previous cooking experiences, as well as his travels as a Marine, to influence the food at Southall. “It’s a very chef-driven menu,” explains assistant general manager Zachary Bryant. “We’ve got a Mexican-American theme for some of our items, and Chef Ramon has been able to come up with things that are oriented to both his palate, and the general public’s.”

These shared experiences come to the fore with many of Southall’s items. Bryant says that it’s common to see techniques learned from Ramon’s French culinary training fused with traditional Mexican-American dishes.

Southall intentionally seeks out local vendors to keep everything very Memphis. A lot of ingredients are sourced from places like Bluff City Fungi or Old World Farms, or if they have to look out of town, companies like Grit Girl Grits based in Mississippi. “We try to make sure we work with our community well,” says Bryant, “and find vendors who can provide both the quantity we need, and the quality we want.”

While there are many familiar faces on the menu, Southall’s breakfast tacos have been a big hit in the early months of business. The raw masa tortillas are made in-house (and gluten-free!), and bedecked with chorizo verde, eggs and potatoes, crema, queso fresco, and cilantro. The thick battered chicken sandwich, covered in pickles and chipotle sauce, is also popular with diners.

“I can honestly say this is one of the best chicken sandwiches I’ve had in my life,” says Bryant. For something sweeter, the stack pancakes are topped with whipped cream, macerated berries, and a little bit of lemon zest.

Expect some tweaks to the food in the near future, with Southall having rolled out a new menu on November 27th. The restaurant will be keeping much of its popular fare, but wanted to take the opportunity to swap out a few items. “We just wanted to compress a few things to hone in on what we’re good at,” says Bryant. “For example, one thing we’re adding is a new breakfast panini, with bacon, scrambled eggs, salsa crudo, caramelized onions, chives, cilantro, queso fresca, and served on rye bread.” Expect more tacos too, like beef carnitas, pork belly, or the vegan pastor option, which includes a marinated pineapple chutney.

Bryant, fresh off a stint at Catherine & Mary’s, utilizes his bartending background to whip up some creative cocktails. “Since we’re a breakfast and lunch spot, don’t expect something super boozy or crazy,” he says. “I’m doing a cocktail called The Big Green, which uses a green power blend (arugula, spinach, other health sources) and pairs that with orange juice, lemon juice, a little bit of Riverset Rye, and Mi Campo tequila.”

Southall Café is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday – Friday, and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 669 S. Mendenhall Rd. 646-5698

Cocozza Italian American Cuisine

Halloween may be past, but the “ghost restaurant” pop-up concept by the Majestic Grille team is still sticking around. There’s nothing spooky, however, about Main Street’s Mediterranean experiment. In fact, is there anything more comforting than a nice big bowl of spaghetti and red sauce? Maybe that’s just my Italian ancestry speaking, but Cocozza American Italian Cuisine will have you seeing red in the best possible way.

During the summer, Majestic Grille co-owners Patrick and Deni Reilly didn’t feel comfortable reopening their restaurant at the peak of the pandemic. Instead, they turned to Deni’s Italian heritage for inspiration. And that menu is fully stocked with all the staples of Italian-American cuisine one could ask for. There are the classics from your youth, like chicken parmesan (a crispy chicken breast smothered in mozzarella, parmesan, and marinara sauce); alternatively, the Chicken Picatta combines flavors both sour and smooth, melding together a calming blend of lemon, capers, and white wine butter.

The pasta list, as expected, ticks all the boxes. Spaghetti and meatballs? Check. Hearty layers of baked lasagna? All the meat and cheese you could ask for. But for the risk-takers, there’s no getting around the penne arrabiata (the Italian word for ‘angry’). The aptly named dish merges red sauce with a fiery mix of spices and red chile flakes, making for one mean kick. It’s a spice lover’s dream, and the succulent shrimp tossed into the mix makes for some true Mediterranean flair.

Really, there’s nothing that will steer you wrong on the Cocozza menu. Can’t decide whether it’s a pasta or entrée kind of day? Don’t fret; each entrée comes with a side of penne thrown in marinara sauce. With the checkered table clothes, scent of tomato sauce floating in the breeze, and finely made pasta, Cocozza evokes feelings of dining on the Italian Riviera, a street performer gently bowing away on a violin just up the cobblestoned street as the waves lap against the shore. There may have been no escaping 2020, but the Reilly’s Italian pivot might have just been the comfort we needed.

Cocozza is open 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday – Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday & Tuesday. 145 S. Main. 523-0523

Parish Grocery

It’s tough to beat good Louisiana cuisine at the top of its game. Memphis has plenty of unique tastes to call its own, but Parish Grocery brings a little bit of that New Orleans flavor to the Bluff City.

Tucked away in a quiet section of Midtown just a few minutes from Crosstown Concourse, Parish Grocery is the brainchild of Jeff Johnson, who also owns Local; the restaurant sits on the former site of Atomic Tiki, and leans into a Memphis take on one of the Bayou’s most recognizable dish: the po’boy. And Parish Grocery’s menu doesn’t skimp, offering a whopping 13 varieties of the sandwich, including crawfish, roast beef debris, and even a fried green tomato BLT. Spoiled for choice, we settled on the classic and chose the shrimp variety.

I’ve bit into a few po’boys with spiky fried shrimp and rock hard bread, which makes the sandwich at Parish Grocery stand out even more. The shellfish, oozing freshness, lightly battered, and soft to the touch, almost melts in your mouth with every bite, and is accompanied by the usual accouterments of lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. And while I can’t confirm for certain, the soft bread holding it all together sure tastes like it comes fresh out of a Cartozzo’s bakery. The whole thing pairs quite nicely with a bag of Zapp’s voodoo chips as well.

Not in the mood for a whole sandwich? Snack away on some fried green tomatoes and popcorn shrimp, or treat yourself to some of the magnificent hot crab dip. And don’t forget the red beans & rice, either. If December blesses us with warm weather, it’s worth it to grab a sno-ball for dessert, one of New Orleans’ specialty frozen custard and whipped cream treats. It all may not make up for the cancelled trips to Mardi Gras this year, but it sure as heck comes close. While Parish Grocery is open for lunch and dinner at the time of writing, brunch options are on the way.

Parish Grocery is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday – Sunday. Closed Monday. 1545 Overton Park Ave. 207-4347

Hazel’s Lucky Dice Delicatessen

Chef Karen Carrier wasted no time in adapting to the lay of the land when the pandemic first hit, including (as detailed in the August issue of Memphis), the use of biodomes to keep diners separated in the back patio. So it’s no surprise that the Beauty Shop owner didn’t leave her adjacent Bar DKDC space vacant for long. For now, at least, Cooper-Young can call itself home to one of Memphis’ few New York-style delis.

If visions of enormous sandwiches piled high with deli meats come to mind, well, that’s correct. Hazel’s takes after Katz’ Delicatessen with its enormous helpings. Take the Reuben: layers upon layers of pastrami or corned beef, smothered in sauerkraut, and rounded off with Russian dressing and gruyère cheese. And if meat’s off the menu, just replace it with tofu instead.

But then, Hazel’s trump card might just be the Oy Vey Fries, an “appetizer” that flips the notion of what French Fries should be on its head. This is, perhaps, the kosher deli-style answer to fully loaded nachos. Fat fries are filling enough on their own, but the stacked, yet still artistic, helping of carbs is decked with pastrami, cheese, scallions, and a spicy kick of jalapeños. If that sounds like a lot of savory on the palette, close things out with a sweet slice of chocolate babka for dessert.

Hazel’s Lucky Dice Delicatessen is open for lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday – Friday. 964 S. Cooper St. 272-0830