Josh Mutchnick is used to serving his cuisine on an 1870s 20-foot mahogany dining room table in a Victorian mansion.
In early November, he’ll be serving food on several contemporary wooden tables at a pop-up off South Main.
Mutchnick is chef/owner of JEM (Just Enjoy the Moment) Dining Supper Club. Since he and his wife Emily moved to Memphis, Mutchnick has cooked monthly dinners at the circa 1848 James Lee House bed-and-breakfast in Victorian Village.
Mutchnick will cook JEM Dining pop-up three-course dinners November 3rd through 5th at By the Brewery at 496 Tennessee Street, Suite 101.
And a restaurant owned by the Mutchnicks is on the horizon.
Mutchnick, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, says, “I was born and raised Jewish, so food was such a critical part of events. I remember baking cakes with my mom and making breakfast with my dad. My grandfather used to do these shrimp boils on the beach. I have very fond memories of that stuff.”
Mutchnick knew he wanted to be a chef when he was in the sixth grade. He got his first restaurant job when he was 15. And he loved it. “It’s a great way to focus your energy into creating something that is a super personal experience. I create something with my hands and give it to you and you put it inside your body and you use it for life. That’s the most intimate, humbling experience I can imagine.”
A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America outside New York, Mutchnick worked at several prestigious restaurants in Washington before becoming chef de cuisine at Michelin-starred EL Ideas restaurant in Chicago. But he and his wife decided to relocate. “We wanted to move somewhere to slow down a little bit, to open up a restaurant.”
They visited Memphis. “Growing up, my older sister went to Rhodes, so I remember Memphis from visiting her.”
And they fell in love with the city. Memphis is “a little bit gritty and has some character to it,” he says.
Mutchnick was in Chicago when he came up with the idea of doing monthly supper clubs at the James Lee House. “I’ll use the grand ornate table and I’ll cook food and get my name out. No one knows who I am. If I open a restaurant, nobody will bat an eye at someone they don’t know. It’s a great way for me to cook and network a little bit.”
He began doing the dinners last January. “We want to make it like a dinner party where people can mingle and make friends. Come as strangers and leave as friends.”
The emphasis is on Southern cuisine. And “I try to stay as seasonal as possible.”
JEM Dining Supper Club was included in “14 Restaurants Designed to Feel Like Dinner Parties” on the Food Network website.
Mutchnick’s By the Brewery pop-up will be “more casual” and “more approachable.” The menu will include homemade gnocchi, seared New York strip steak, and “decadent chocolate cake.”
As for owning a restaurant, Mutchnick says, “I am very close to zeroing in and finalizing a restaurant space.” It is “definitely going to be in Midtown or closer to the center of the city, and the food will be seasonal. I want to work with local purveyors.”
He also wants to feature a Sunday Supper Club each week. “Four nights a week you come in and it’s a normal restaurant.” On Sunday, everyone will sit down together and eat.
“Food-wise, I love the idea of a multi-course tasting menu,” Mutchnick says, adding, “I want it to be approachable with a price point that’s not intimidating.”
Even if it’s something they’ve never eaten, Mutchnick wants his customers to say, “Oh, this isn’t scary. This is food.”
“All the food I make is an expression of me and who I am. So I want to show that food can still be executed at a high level without being intimidating and still be delicious.”
To reserve seats for the JEM Dining By the Brewery dinner, call (901) 286-1635 or go to jemdining.com and @jemdining.
