photograph by bruce vanwyngarden
Melicia Coleman serves an “Express-O Martini.”
I think I got my love for the hospitality business from my mother,” says Melicia Coleman. “She is a huge homemaker and hostess, so I grew up helping with big family dinners and hosting parties. It’s something I’ve always liked — seeing people enjoy themselves with friends and family.”
So that would make it only natural that Coleman is now serving drinks at a place called Momma’s, a restaurant owned by Aldo Dean (Slider Inn, Bardog, Aldo’s Pizza) in the South Main area, just off Crump Boulevard.
Momma’s opened in August in the building that formerly housed a chicken joint called The Dirty Crow. It has a charmingly funky bar area and a new and extensive deck. The staff and clientele on this weekday afternoon are friendly and welcoming, and over the speakers, Tom Petty sings about his Last Dance with Mary Jane. I like this place.
Coleman is Memphis born and raised, an alumna of Cordova High School and the University of Memphis, where she earned a criminal justice degree. We bid a temporary farewell to her happy customers as she leads me out to the deck area to chat.
As has been the case with many of the bartenders and restaurant people I’ve interviewed, Coleman got her start in the trade working part-time while in school. “When I started college,” she says, “I got a job at Buffalo Wild Wings at Poplar and Highland, near campus. That’s where I began learning about the business, and I soon realized that it was something that I loved.”
photograph by bruce vanwyngarden
An “Express-O Martini”
A year later, Coleman landed a job at Fox & Hound in the Sanderlin Center and liked what she found. “I worked at Fox & Hound from age 19 to 32,” she says. “That was a long ride, and it taught me a lot. After that, I worked for Chef Ryan Trimm at 117 Prime and Sunrise. Then I started at Momma’s in August, when it opened.”
Momma’s is a “trucker-themed” restaurant that serves some tasty-looking fare, including what Coleman says is the hands-down customer favorite, the “Firebird,” a cheesy, fried-chicken sandwich on a toasted bun. But I’m not here to eat, at least not today. I’m here to get to know Melicia and let her make me a drink for my Sips column, so I get right down to the hard-hitting journalism I’m known for: “What kind of drinks do you like to make?” I ask.
“I like refreshing drinks,” she says. “Maybe it’s because I like being outside. I’m a gardener and I love being in nature. It’s therapeutic.”
At this point, I’m thinking, uh-oh, I’m about to get served something with cucumbers and kale, but Coleman crosses me up.
“How do you feel about martinis?” she asks.
“Oh, I feel good about martinis.”
“I’m going to make you our ‘Express-O Martini,’ she says. “It’s one of our most popular drinks, and it’s made with a coffee twist.”
That sounds way more interesting than cucumbers, I think, happily. We go back inside and Coleman steps behind the bar and explains the process. “We blend Grind Espresso Shot liqueur and Saint Brendan’s Irish Cream,” she says, shaking a blender. “Then we serve it in a martini glass with ground coffee beans and sugar on the rim — and a few coffee beans on top.”
Sounds like a drink that will give you a buzz, one way or another, I think. When it arrives, it looks like it could be quite delish — foamy and chocolatey, with coffee beans surfing on top. And it is.
The Irish Creme liqueur is reminiscent of Bailey’s Irish Creme and brings to mind an Irish coffee, except this drink is cold and refreshing, not hot. The Grind Espresso Shot is also hovering in there somewhere, delivering a little caffeine and a nice dollop of alcohol. The drink is sweet but not overpoweringly so, and balanced by the ground coffee and sugar combo on the rim. It’s an excellent cocktail, and not one that I’ve tasted anywhere else in town.
“This is really very good,” I say, cleverly.
“The ladies really love it,” Coleman says, smiling.
And so will you, I’m guessing. My advice would be to head to the South Main area and have Melicia Coleman make you an “Express-O Martini.” Your Momma would approve.
Momma’s is located at 855 Kentucky Street.
