photograph by justin fox burks
We don’t know about you, but we think about food all the time: What we’re going to eat for breakfast, where we’d like to spend our lunch break, whether we’re going to cook something at home or claim a seat at a restaurant. With dining establishments back to business as usual (whatever that means), owners and chefs have embraced a newfound zest for their craft, trying fresh ideas, doubling down on old favorites, and keeping their pantries stocked and bottles full for Memphians looking to enjoy a meal out.
Memphis is blessed with brilliant new restaurants from inventive culinary minds, but we like to kick back and enjoy some of our old favorites too. The last couple of years, our Memphis magazine dining contributors have used this section to highlight some of the best dishes and restaurants around, whether that was through the traditional Top 10 New Restaurants list, or a quirkier idea like 2021’s “Memphis Eats A-Z” feature.
This year, we’re focusing on some of our favorite meals (and a dessert) that we ate over the course of 2022. Plenty of new establishments wowed us with their ideas. Fancy’s Fish House served us a pirate’s bounty worth of delectable seafood. A completely transformed and relocated Restaurant Iris, now in Laurelwood, combined some of Kelly English’s best ideas with those of current chef Russell Casey. And the new Ciao Bella hit the ground running with its exceptional chicken marsala.
But old favorites mixed it up, too. Tops Bar-B-Q debuted some new ideas for the first time in a long time with its fire-braised chicken sandwich, while Michael Donahue just can’t stop talking about the sticky Italian chocolate pudding at Andrew Michael. What follow are these two writers’ Top 9 Dishes of 2022. To see what bites reign supreme among our readers, be sure to check out the winners of our annual Readers’ Restaurant Poll. And refer to our City Dining Listings for all the restaurant details you need to plan your next evening out. — Samuel X. Cicci
photograph by justin fox burks
Coco Curry Ramen — Good Fortune Co.
Arturo Leighton and Sarah Cai at Good Fortune Co. have been pouring every ounce of their passion for handmade noodles and dumplings into their dishes since opening the restaurant in 2021. The co-owners have made their Main Street digs a hotspot for Downtown’s hip dining crowd, with a slew of social media posts reveling in their delicious food and chic interior.
The GFC Wings have been a sleeper hit that quickly entered the “best wings” conversation. But my go-to order is the “coco curry” noodles, a spicy dish based around coconut broth and fried tofu. That’s been one of the restaurant’s mainstays since it opened, and is consistently one of the top sellers.
“Here in the States, most people don’t make their curry from scratch; they might start with a paste and go from there,” says Leighton. But he and Cai decided that if they were to serve a curry, “We wanted to stick to our ethos of making everything from scratch. We’re able to get most of our spices at Viet Hoa Market [on Cleveland], and the rest we have to source from elsewhere, so it’s certainly a labor of love. We’ve got things like galangal, ginger, lime, plenty of things like that to give it a unique, southeast Asian flavor profile.”
Leighton says more than 20 ingredients go into the coco curry. As for the tofu, Leighton says he and Cai love challenging themselves to make some of their dishes vegan, and adding tofu was an easy choice when putting the finishing touches on their curry. “We’d completed our recipe, and all the ingredients we used were vegan, no pork fats, no animal fats,” he says. “So we thought, let’s just keep it fully vegan. It has tons of coconut and amazing aromatics, and we thought adding meat would distract from the recipe we spent so long building.” — SXC
photograph by jay adkins/Farmhouse Branding
Seafood Tower — Fancy’s Fish House
Quality beats quantity, sure. But sometimes you just want to order the very biggest thing on the menu and have at it. And it turns out, seafood fans don’t have to choose between size and substance at Fancy’s Fish House. Carlisle Restaurant Group’s latest venture at One Beale recently revamped its menu, adding an eye-catching aquatic behemoth to its selection.
Fancy’s Seafood Tower comes in three different sizes, each packed to the gills with all of the finest fish from the restaurant’s raw bar.
At the largest level, the tower is built of poached jumbo shrimp, marinated blue crab claws, East and West Coast oysters, and a bowl of ahi tuna tartare. It’s all delicious, but the tuna stands out, delicious little smooth and buttery cuts that are marinated in chef Nate Henssler’s spicy mix. “We dice the tuna half an inch,” says Henssler, “and then pack in the flavors of habanero, toasted almonds, diced pear, shaved mint, and some ancho chile.”
“We really view it as a party piece, or something to celebrate around,” adds Chase Carlisle of the restaurant group bearing his surname. “Come on out for a birthday, a promotion, an anniversary, pop a bottle of Champagne, and order one of the seafood towers.” — SXC
photograph by michael donahue
Fire-braised Chicken Sandwich — Tops Bar-B-Q
The fire-braised chicken sandwich at Tops Bar-B-Q is so good, I’ve eaten about a dozen since Tops introduced the dish just a few months ago.
My habit began with a single small sandwich. Now I order two of the large ones. I love them. Chicken, seared over a fire (as you might guess from the name), is topped with a Memphis white sauce, which was based on Alabama white sauce. But Tops created its version in-house and added its own twist.
Tops CEO Randy Hough told me, “This sauce is very similar in terms of remaining really creamy and tangy. I don’t want to call it ‘hot’ or ‘heat,’ but there’s something a little different, a little snappy to it on the back end.”
I love that sauce. But I also cheat and ask for the red Tops barbecue sauce when I order the chicken sandwich. I dip a piece of the sandwich with the white sauce into the red sauce. It’s a tasty variation.
The chicken on the sandwich is pulled — like Tops’ barbecue — so it has the same basic consistency as the barbecue. If you want a change from eating barbecue, but you still want the feeling, try this sandwich.
Sometimes, I’ll pair the fire-braised chicken sandwich with Tops’ turkey burger, which they introduced about 10 years ago — which was the most recent time an item had been added, until the fire-braised chicken entered the scene. I ask them to dress it just like their famously delicious hamburger — with cheese, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, and onion. — Michael Donahue
photograph by samuel x. cicci
Kona Strawberry Roll — Dō Sushi Pop-up at Bar DKDC
I arrived in Memphis in 2011 as a young, naive college student. In hindsight, I regret that my off-campus excursions didn’t include a trip to Karen Carrier’s Dō Sushi on Cooper. That restaurant closed in 2012, and Carrier’s Bar DKDC, operating in the same space, became a home for enthusiasts of local music and those looking for a nice cocktail.
But for several magical nights in 2022, Carrier placed DKDC into a time machine and turned back the clock a decade, getting most of the sushi team back together and dishing out all the rolls of old. I saw a couple of posts on social media leading up to the first pop-up, and figured I’d wander in.
As far as I could tell, everyone else in Memphis had the same idea. DKDC was packed wall-to-wall, with more customers waiting outside and filling the Beauty Shop next-door to grab a drink while they waited. These were rolls in demand, and it was easy to see why when I sampled the kona strawberry roll, a blend of flavors infused with a mild natural sweetness that I didn’t realize could be achieved with sushi. Crab and seared walu (escolar, sometimes called “white tuna”) melded with masago (a fish roe), sweet soy reduction, and some fresh strawberry slices that brought both sweetness and a hint of acidity.
Beyond the kona strawberry roll, the menu also included other assorted rolls, sashimi plates, and noodle dishes. The temaki made a big impression, an alternate take on sushi with the ingredients packed into a cone of seaweed. I give a shout-out to the spicy tuna temaki (a hand roll), which blew me away with its spice and still managed to retain the buttery and creamy tuna taste. I’m not aware of current plans for another Dō Sushi pop-up, but I know Memphians would come out again in droves. — SXC
photograph by justin fox burks
Pan-Seared Flounder — Restaurant Iris
Chef Kelly English made a gamble when he decided to move Restaurant Iris into a much bigger location in East Memphis. But the restaurateur unveiled a magnificent new space in Laurelwood, with crescent-shaped booths, murals, colorful ambient lighting, Alice in Wonderland-esque private dining rooms, a cruvinet (a type of wine-dispensing station), and plenty of the old Restaurant Iris favorites.
As part of the move, longtime Memphis chef Russell Casey took over Iris’ kitchen, and he put his own spin on the menu. Iris offers plenty of enticing options, but one of Casey’s favorite dishes is on the simpler side: the pan-seared flounder. “We’ve got a lot of cool things on the menu that are a synthesis of my and Kelly’s ideas, but I think we did a really good job with the flounder,” he says. “We use a classic béarnaise sauce on top and pair it with a really good lima bean succotash.”
The flounder was a big hit when Memphis first covered the new Iris, and it remains so. It’s an approachable seafood dish: warm, light, and flaky, with a crispy exterior. A little dash of vinegar mixed in with the thick blanket of béarnaise cuts any excessive fishiness, and the succotash provides a firmer accompaniment with its mix of sweet vegetables.
“The fish has to be perfect,” says Casey, “so we’ve got to layer it, build it step-by-step as we go through. We start by making our fish stock. Then we season the flounder perfectly with a little salt and white pepper, use the béarnaise, with flavors of vinegar, tarragon, lots of butter, and hot sauce. Then the succotash adds fresh lima beans, basil, tomatoes, corn. And then when all of those finally come together, it’s a kind of synergy. It’s really good.” We agree. — SXC
photograph by michael donahue
Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding — Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen
I flipped the first time I tried the Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding with brown-butter-pecan powder and salted caramel gelato at Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen.
That was years ago, and it’s still on the menu. I would be willing to bet others have flipped, too.
The base is a date cake, topped with chocolate, butterscotch sauce, salted caramel gelato, and brown-butter-pecan powder. The powder ties together the gelato and the cake, and it’s far more than meets the eye. The magical substance is made by boiling candied pecans in simple syrup before tossing them in powdered sugar and frying until crisp. Next, a puree consisting of candied pecans and brown butter mixed with maltodextrin, a tapioca-based starch.
I usually refer to the powder as “dust” because I can’t remember to call it “powder.” But it’s the most delicious dust you’ll ever eat. It’s still my favorite restaurant dessert in town. You’re really getting three desserts in one: the gelato, the date cake, and the dust. — MD
photograph by michael donahue
Chicken Marsala — Ciao Bella Italian Grill
I had never ordered chicken marsala at a restaurant before I ordered it a few months ago at Ciao Bella Italian Grill. I ordered it because my sister did, and we both loved it.
I’m biased; I love dishes cooked with wine. So I was delighted I found this flavor in a dish that I could eat whenever I wanted.
I tried the chicken marsala again recently when I visited the elegant new location of Ciao Bella Italian Grill on Sanderlin Avenue, and it’s still a favorite.
Ciao Bella executive chef Branon Mason told me about the dish. “Chicken marsala is simple,” he says. “And it’s about the right ingredients. We try to get the best available ingredients to make that dish happen. Instead of using a traditional beef stock, we use a veal demi-glace reduction.”
And, he says, “We use a really good Marsala wine. Not just your standard cooking wine — it’s an actual Marsala.” As for the chicken, Mason says the key is “getting it butterflied and pounded to achieve the right thinness in order for it to be fork-tender.”
The “cutability” of the scallopini, or slices of chicken, is important. “You’re not supposed to need a knife when you’re eating a Ciao Bella chicken marsala.” The chicken is accompanied by button mushrooms, sautéed spinach, and linguine with garlic, olive oil, and a touch of parmesan. — MD
photograph by michael donahue
Turkey and Dressing — The Four Way
A heaping plate of turkey and dressing with side items at The Four Way is, well, heaven on Earth.
Owner Patrice Bates Thompson told me turkey and dressing is the restaurant’s most popular item. The most popular sides vary between greens and yams. But the macaroni and cheese is also a hit.
You can celebrate Thanksgiving every visit to The Four Way by ordering the turkey and dressing. Whenever I eat this plate of food, it’s like I’m at a feast.
Thompson’s personal favorites, though, are the fried fish and chicken wings. Her favorite food combination is macaroni and cheese with yams. And a little cornbread.
When you go, I recommend completing the meal with the restaurant’s bestselling desserts: Order the peach cobbler or strawberry cake (or both).
Thompson once told me why she thinks The Four Way is so celebrated. “We cook with passion and love,” she said. “And we take pride in what we do. I’m sure we’re not only going to give you a good product, but good service.”
That M.O. has been serving The Four Way well for many years. Thompson is part of the Bates family that has owned the place since 2002, when her parents, the late Willie Earl Bates and the late Jo Ellen Bates, bought the business that Clint and Irene Cleaves originally opened at Mississippi and Walker in 1946. — MD
photograph by samuel x. cicci
Vegetable Paella — Tonica
Sabine Bachmann has long since proven her chops as a purveyor of fine European cuisine in Memphis, drawing in customers over the years to the Italian-inspired Ecco, along with Libro at Laurelwood. But her talents took on a new, more Iberian shape in 2022 when she opened the doors to Tonica in Midtown.
The Spanish-style restaurant serves a variety of tapas with authentic Spanish roots and some Memphis flourishes. Plus plenty of wine. “I like the idea of small plates,” says Bachmann. “That’s how I like to eat. I like to go to restaurants and just have a bunch of appetizers rather than a big, full entree. And then with every appetizer I have a different glass of wine.”
Most of the tapas could earn a spot on our Top 9. The chicken wings (aliutas de pollo) have a delicious sweet-spicy sauce made from Calabrian peppers, while it’s easy to snack on the grilled pimiento peppers garnished with flaky sea salt. But choosing just one small plate defeats the communal experience of Tonica, so for the purposes of this list, I’m sticking with one of their larger entrees: a big, steaming bowl of paella.
“We use bomba rice as the base,” says Bachmann. “We mix it with herbs, spices, some vegetables, and any one of the meats that we offer.” I usually order the veg etarian option, which is a velvety mix of soft rice and Spanish vegetables, perfect for taking quick bites while chatting with your companions, the gentle scent of the herbs and spices transporting you to a picturesque Spanish setting . Oh, and it’s shareable, too.
“The paella is authentically Spanish, which is what we’re focusing on,” says Bachmann. “But there are plenty of things to enjoy; we also have a few surprises that may not be as traditionally Spanish.” — SXC
