Madison Tavern will open May 10th at the site of the old Local on the Square at 2126 Madison Avenue.
Tim Quinn, who owns the bar/restaurant with his wife, Tarrah, hoped to open last November, but it took longer because of technicalities involved with starting a new place.
They chose the name “Madison Tavern” because of “the feel of the building. It’s got two fireplaces upstairs. It’s just a cozy, comfortable place.
“When I think of ‘tavern’ I think of some movie where people are walking down the road in the Middle Ages. They stop in and get a beer and something to eat. It’s nice and quiet. Candlelight. The owner who works there all the time serves them the daily special. And then back on the road they go.”
Why a new name? “Just a fresh beginning with a new family,” says Tim, 42, adding, “It’s been around 12, 15 years. Sometimes it’s just time to have something new.”
The Quinns, who bought Local on Main Street about four years ago, says they’ll “start working on a rebrand for Downtown as well.” They plan to change the name to “Quinn’s.”
Tim wanted to buy Local on the Square as soon as he began working there as general manager in 2017, when Jeff Johnson was the owner of both locations. “When I first worked in this building I was there one week and I asked Jeff how much to buy the place. He kind of laughed.”
Johnson gave him “a large number” as the selling price. Tim told him, “Woah. That’s a big number. Let me work on that.
“Within three years he sold me the Downtown location. And here, three more years later, I’m moving into the old spot.”
The Quinns gave the old Local on the Square a facelift, but they’re not changing the personality. They painted over the purple walls. They’re now blue with red accents, and they redid the floors. “Not a whole lot as far as the footprint of the place goes is changing. We cleaned it up to make it look fresh. Some new light fixtures, new tables, new equipment behind the bar.”
And, he says, “We took out the old games — the old Skee-Ball. We’ve got new dart boards coming in. Bubble Hockey. It’s like foosball, but it’s hockey. I’ve never played that before.”
The walls will feature “all consignment artwork by local artists.”
As for the food, Jose Reyes, who was kitchen manager when Tim worked at Local on the Square, will be back. “He took a leave of absence and went back to take care of his mother in Mexico. He’s from Mexico City. While he was there he purchased an avocado farm and opened another restaurant with his brother.
“He loves being in Memphis. Once his mom was up and good and everything was taken care of — one of his sons is running the avocado farm — he came back to Memphis.”
Tim plans to keep some of the old Local on the Square food items, including the sausage cheese board, which he will upgrade, and pretzel sticks. But he will now feature “an American menu” with “Southern-influenced” fare.
Most of the new items come “from conversations with the staff, with Jose, and some other managers, other food vendors.”
Tim is gathering his staff’s favorite family recipes, which he’ll “tweak a little bit.”
And, he says, “We’ll be, hopefully, doing a daily special: a paella. My brother’s wife’s family is from Zaragoza, Spain. Whenever we get together to eat, his wife makes her family’s paella. She’ll come in and show us how to make that.”
Tim plans to offer paella “a couple of times a week. It’s not really something you can cook on the fly. It’s something that gets better after it sits in the pot a bit.”
He also plans to serve grilled cheese sandwiches, which are popular at the Downtown location.
Tim began making grilled cheese sandwiches with Adam Hall and friends when they had a team at Memphis Grilled Cheese Festival, where they have been “fan favorites every year so far.”
The sandwich, which Hall came up with, is made of grilled chicken, buffalo sauce, white cheddar cheese, and regular white bread. “You put a mixture of butter and Miracle Whip on the bread and toast it.”
It was a hit from the beginning at Local on Main Street, Tim says. “Originally, we put that on the menu just as a special. It evolved into having grilled cheese on the menu all the time.”
The Downtown menu now includes various grilled cheese sandwiches, including ones made with duck and lobster — “different meats with different sauces.”
“We’ll do grilled cheese here as well. For the late-night menu we’ll slap a couple of grilled cheeses on there and a couple of egg rolls. And everybody’s going to be happy.”
