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Here Today, Here Tomorrow?You haven’t seen the last of John Wills.by Will Fisher
When Wills closed the doors of his restaurant on Sanderlin a little over a year ago, the barbecue man vowed, like General MacArthur in the Philippines, that he would return. In many ways, Wills’ nearly two decades in the business have been like a war. He’s known the glory of planting his flag in occupied land. He’s also experienced the deadliness of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“After two years of great luck, I just didn’t want to jinx it,” says Wills of his back-to-back titles. “After that, I decided to open up my own restaurant.” It was March of ’83 when he went public with the first John Wills Bar & Grill on Central Avenue in a former fast-food place at the entrance to the fairgrounds. When asked what happened to it, Wills simply says, “I have only three words: location, location, location.” According to Wills, crime was a major player in the life of the original restaurant. “One Saturday afternoon, for example,” he says, “a young lady and her child were leaving our establishment, and on the way to their car, a young man walked up behind her and held her up at gunpoint. Right in front of her child, and in broad daylight. That’s the kind of thing we had to deal with day in and day out. … We even had guys breaking in to steal the money out of our cigarette machine and phone booth.” As bad as that may be, hoodlums weren’t the only troubles Wills had to deal with. The leased building had major problems. “Our sewage system was old and terrible. When the music festival or ball games would come to the area, our entire restaurant would flood with backed-up sewage. The city kept telling us that we should fix the pipes, but we couldn’t do it. We also had bad electrical problems. It was awful.” It was about that time that Wills decided to open a second location on Sanderlin just west of the Racquet Club. “Lots of things were wrong with Sanderlin. … We should have closed it years before we did,” says Wills in hindsight. “Because of the heavy traffic at the Hilton right across the parking lot, our lot was always full. That left no room for our customers. I tried complaining several times, but nothing seemed to work. … We were also one of the first stores in the shopping center. If you didn’t go by the Racquet Club, you never really knew we were there.” Wills closed his Central restaurant in 1990; the Sanderlin location remained open until 1997. So what is Wills up to these days? “Well,” he explains, “a while ago the Memphis in May committee asked me to give a seminar on how to judge barbecue to the incoming judges. So, I start telling them how the shoulder should be tender and taste a bit smoky and so on, and then they jumped in and told me that I couldn’t say that – that I would be altering their opinions on how it should taste. ‘Well, isn’t that what you wanted me to do?’ I asked. But apparently not. After all, I used to be in the cotton business, the other of the two big Memphis industries, and I was taught to judge certain criteria. Isn’t that the way judging should go? You should have a standard to live up to, and I wasn’t even allowed to bring in samples of different kinds of ribs and barbecue for them to taste, so that they could really know what Memphis barbecue should taste like. After all, most of them were from New York and didn’t know a lick about Memphis barbecue.” But that is only one matter that Wills has dealt with. He is now actively searching for a new restaurant. He says he’s been looking in Collierville, Cordova, and downtown and getting as far as drawing up floor plans, though he hasn’t found the perfect place yet. He’s also mulling over various strategies. Should he concentrate on the more expensive ribs over pork sandwiches? How about a more intimate setting? Maybe something that’s cafeteria style? One thing Wills is certain of is that he’s willing to give it
another try. “It’s one of those things,” he says. “There’s a lot
of ups and downs. Maybe I’m crazy for wanting to do it, but I’m
pretty much a restaurant person now – I’m part of it.”
Dining NotesOver the Edge The Edge coffee shop closed suddenly July 7th, leaving only a mysterious note on the door asking people to not believe the rumor. The Edge owners couldn’t be reached for an answer about the mystery, and former Edge employee Eric Crites doesn’t have any idea what the rumor might be. Then again, Crites has other things to keep him occupied. Along with another former Edge employee, Eileen Adams, Crites opened the Hideaway Cafe at 551 S. Highland. The new cafe has nothing to do with the Edge, Crites says, except the two top dogs. Hideaway features the usual cafe fare as well as “designer” drinks, new espresso recipes, and milkshakes in any and all flavors. While you’re there, shoot a game of pool or take a shot at the video games. Live musicians will play a few times a month, but it will otherwise be quiet enough to enjoy a good book or to chat with friends. The Hideaway Cafe is open 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily. – Lauren Mutter What’s In a Name? A week ago Tuesday, a new cafe opened in the basement of the Cotton Exchange Building at the corner of Madison and Front. The name? Well, that’s for you to know, and the owner to find out. Kathy Katz, who also owns Cafe Palladio inside the antiques market Palladio Palladio Palladio, is calling her new place the Unknown Cafe for now. When she gets settled, she plans to hold a contest for a new name. Whoever comes up with the winning entry will get a week of free lunches. The Unknown Cafe is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The breakfast menu includes goods from City Bread and Great Harvest Breads as well as pastries and muffins. The lunch menu is similar to Palladio’s with what Katz calls healthy “clean foods” such as grilled eggplant sandwiches and low-fat turkey pitas. Sandwiches run from $4.95 to $6. The Unknown Cafe also features works from local artists. The art
will rotate every six weeks and is for sale. Currently on display
are the whimsical figures created by Daphne Hewitt. |
hatever happened to John Wills?
