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Some of the restaurant’s popular dishes include sweet and spicy pork belly plated with collards, fried chicken and waffles, craft cocktails like the Black Maria, oxtails and Grit Girl grits made with smoked cheddar, Jack cheese, and cream cheese, and for dessert, chocolate pecan pie.
Photographs by Justin Fox Burks
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Some of the restaurant’s popular dishes include sweet and spicy pork belly plated with collards, fried chicken and waffles, craft cocktails like the Black Maria, oxtails and Grit Girl grits made with smoked cheddar, Jack cheese, and cream cheese, and for dessert, chocolate pecan pie.
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Some of the restaurant’s popular dishes include sweet and spicy pork belly plated with collards, fried chicken and waffles, craft cocktails like the Black Maria, oxtails and Grit Girl grits made with smoked cheddar, Jack cheese, and cream cheese, and for dessert, chocolate pecan pie.
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Some of the restaurant’s popular dishes include sweet and spicy pork belly plated with collards, fried chicken and waffles, craft cocktails like the Black Maria, oxtails and Grit Girl grits made with smoked cheddar, Jack cheese, and cream cheese, and for dessert, chocolate pecan pie.
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The oxtails and three-cheese grits at Mahogany Memphis — Chef Christopher Hudson’s new hotspot in Chickasaw Oaks Village — is indeed a forever friend. The succulent meat is leaner than most and fragrant with global seasonings layered into the sear (cinnamon, fenugreek, paprika, hot African chiles) and the aromatics (shallot, ginger, whole garlic, and Poblano peppers, to name a few). There’s an essence of mesquite smoke, too. “We cook it off with some brown stock and braise it overnight for 10 or 12 hours,” Hudson explains. “In the morning, we put the oxtails in the smoker for two or three hours, and by 11, they are ready for lunch.”
"We want to appeal to the mall's regular clientele, to draw in a more urban side of things, and to add a fresh approach," says Chef Christopher Hudson about the Mahogany Memphis menu.
Served in an asymmetrical bowl, Hudson’s oxtails and grits capture the spirit of Mahogany’s menu and the many influences that direct the chef’s cooking. Certainly, Creole and Southern food play a part with dishes like Memphis fried chicken or collards with smoked turkey and a slice of hot water cornbread seared on the griddle. But along with traditional roots, Hudson’s food is contemporary with a cacophony of ethnic flavors from Asia, Ethiopia, West Africa, and the Middle East. Lighter options abound, as well: kale salad, daily soups, and a pan-seared fish of the day.
Consider, also, the menu’s salmon croquettes. Hudson — trained at the famed Johnson & Wales culinary school — veers French, poaching the salmon and binding the patties with mashed potatoes, mustard, and spices. For breading, Hudson uses panko instead of cornmeal: “I also use green onion mayo, so you get the taste of onions without the crunch.”
Customers who remember the restaurant’s predecessors (the Farmer, Just for Lunch, and Ruby Tuesday back in the day) will be surprised by Mahogany’s extensive renovation that includes a lovely upstairs space for special events. Hudson, who grew up nearby, calls the restaurant his “full circle.” He started cooking as a youngster, and his grandmother, Ruby Matthews, owned a restaurant in Binghampton near Scott Street and Broad. “I have memories of her mashing potatoes with the steam all around her face,” he says. “She was such a hard worker, and it all stuck with me.”
These days, Hudson’s parents, Pamela and Hayward Hudson, eat at the restaurant regularly, and his mother doesn’t hesitate to critique. On a recent Sunday, she tried Hudson’s peach cobbler, a luscious slice of dessert seasoned with nutmeg, ginger, and bourbon. “She said add a little more cinnamon,” Hudson recalls. “So we did.”
Mahogany Memphis serves lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch. 3092 Poplar Ave., Suite 11 (901-623-7977) $-$$
