by Sarah Hall
arely slipping
a notch after losing Taco Rock, the Tex-Mex spot one step away from a Taco
Bell, Overton Square is climbing up two with a combination cigar/cocktail
bar and steak restaurant.
Side Street Grill will open April 3rd in the building most recently occupied by Jack Russell's Byte Bar on Florence. Politically incorrect all the way, owner Harlan Betlesky says that red meat is just the thing to go with the cigars, martinis, manhattans, and old-fashioneds they'll also serve. What's more, Betlesky promises to keep the steak prices reasonable, so patrons can afford to drink and smoke after dinner.
Hoping publicized puffings of trendy supermodels and celebrities will influence Memphians, Side Street contains a walk-in humidor with personal lockers. Betlesky says he realized the market for a cigar bar while catering parties at the Magnolia Room next door. "The anti-tobacco groups are not affecting our industry," Harlan says, "because people who have never smoked a cigarette are now smoking cigars."
* The hirings and firings that lingered longer than cigar smoke at Maxwell's and In Limbo finally seem over. It all started when owner Angie Kirkpatrick hired Jason Bryson as her star chef for both restaurants in early February. Bryson replaced John Pearson, In Limbo's original chef, who had been lured back when Kirkpatrick bought the restaurants in 1996.
Bryson quickly became the talk of the town. Everyone seemed impressed that Bryson came to Memphis from the five-star Sailor's Lodge restaurant in Seattle-area's Salish Lodge (where, according to a spokesperson, he only worked a little over three months), but no one found it odd that he moved straight from apprentice at the Racquet Club to only a week at Cena to head chef at not one but two of Midtown's most successful restaurants.
Bryson resigned as chef on March 2nd, less than a month after being hired.
Pearson, who is still miffed by the whole situation, is now working at Mantia's International Food, which opened two weeks ago at 4856 Poplar. Owned by Alice Mantia, the largely carry-out Mediterranean deli and market is, according to Pearson, "like Fino's with a Greek twist." Eventually, Pearson says he wants to open a place of his own. "We covered some ground at In Limbo," Pearson says. "Angie didn't do anything but buy a successful restaurant."
* While dodging the trolley-line work crews on South Main, you may have noticed a pickup truck decorated with pizza-bearing angels parked in front of The Arcade. You may have also seen the sign posted on the restaurant's door that reads, "Reopening soon. Please come back."
The truck and now the restaurant belong to Colin and Phil Perel. And "soon" might be the best answer as to when The Arcade will reopen. Last week, the two were shooting for late March.
When it does open, The Arcade will initially offer a slightly tapered version of the old menu of three veggies and a meat, sandwiches, and soups. But once things get going, Colin has big plans for the place. By late April, The Arcade will have expanded hours -- from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. on weekends -- as well as an expanded menu that has required Colin to add two pizza ovens and a preparation area to the front of the restaurant.
Colin was most recently the owner of New Orleans' Pie in the Sky on Magazine Street, named best pizza in the Zagat Survey of New Orleans Restaurants four years in a row. He was days away from opening a second location in the Tulane/Loyola area when his father, a partner in Overton Square's Trader Dick's in the early '70s, convinced him to bring the concept to Memphis.
The revised menu will include pizzas, focaccia sandwiches, and Greek salads. Two of the thick-whole-wheat crust pizzas, the Sky Pie and the Son o' Sky, are meatless and sauceless topped with olive oil, garlic, ricotta and mozzarella cheese, eggplant, spinach, tomatoes, or pesto, artichoke hearts, red onions, and black olives. The focaccia sandwiches are also primarily vegetarian with a Virginia ham with brie, sliced pear, and mustard or smoked turkey with fontina cheese, red onion, red pepper, and mustard option for meat eaters.
This time around, the Arcade's owners are banking on delivery. With his Pie in the Sky truck and an old scooter transformed into the Arcade-mobile, Colin plans to target workers and residents downtown. "We want people to get in the habit of having us deliver food, whether it's traditional Arcade items or focaccia sandwiches," Colin says.
* Dust off the beer-making kits! The Bluff City Brewers and Connoisseurs will accept entries from April 7th through 16th for the 9th Annual Homebrewers' Extravaganza, to be held April 19th at Boscos. Open to all homebrewers, the competition will award prizes for Best of Show, Best of Ales, Best of Lagers, Best of Tennessee, and Memphis Metro Area Brewer of the Year categories. For more information or to receive an application, call Pat Rohrbacher at 458-3090 or e-mail him at FTMK71B@Prodigy.com.