Mexican Restaurants Archives - Page 9 of 33

Raising Cane’s, In-N-Out Burger, more

Posted on09/12/202408/08/2023Author

As the old saying goes, persistence is the key to success.

It took years, but campaigns to bring Whataburger back to the Memphis area worked. Now the Memphis-area has three locations of the Texas-based burger chain, with one more on the way.

Since Whataburger is now here, we asked Memphians which other chains they would like to see come to town.

Raising Cane's says it is "absolutely planning to open in Memphis."

The responses to our polls included chains like Cava, Portillo’s, SweetGreen and Jack in the Box — but there were five restaurants that stood out above the rest, each receiving numerous mentions.

From chicken tenders to burgers to Tex-Mex, here are five restaurant chains that Memphians want to see expand to the Mid-South.

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Raising Cane’s

It’s all about the chicken fingers at Raising Cane’s. Hand-battered marinated chicken fingers are fried to order and served with crinkle-cut fries and Cane’s signature dipping sauce. Other than coleslaw and Texas toast, that’s about it on the menu of this restaurant that calls its loyal fans “Caniacs.”

This restaurant chain started as a campus restaurant by LSU in 1996 and has become one of the fastest-growing large restaurant brands in the US

Raising Cane's is seen, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, in Palm Springs, Calif.

There are currently two Raising Cane’s in Tennessee — but both are on the East side of the state. The closest to Memphis are Mississippi locations in Oxford and Tupelo.

Julia Doyle, Raising Cane’s director of public relations, said there may be good news in store for Memphis fans of the chicken finger chain.

“We are absolutely planning to open in Memphis and are currently in the early stages of planning,” he said, adding it is too early to share details.

In-N-Out Burger

California-based chain In-N-Out Burger is renowned for its burgers, fries and milkshakes, along with a “not-so-secret menu” for customizing burgers. Known for its freshness, each burger is cooked to order.

Orders like “The Double-Double” (two all-beef patties and two slices of American cheese) and a burger “Animal-style” (served with grilled onions) have become cult-like classics.

The chain currently only has restaurants in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon and Colorado.

In-N-Out Marketing Coordinator Patty Peña said the company currently does not have any plans to open locations in Memphis. “However, we’re delighted to hear that we have loyal customers there who’d like us to be close by,” she said.

Shake Shack

Did you know Shake Shack started as a hot dog cart in New York City’s Madison Square Park?

Founded by renowned New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer, the company now has more than 400 locations, including over 260 in the US across 32 states. It also has more than 140 international locations in cities such as London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Mexico City, Istanbul, Dubai, Tokyo and Seoul.

The popular burger chain touts itself as “a modern day roadside burger stand serving a classic American menu of premium burgers, hot dogs, crinkle-cut fries, shakes, frozen custard, beer and wine.”

The most popular order is the ShackBurger. Available in single or double, it features a 100% Angus beef patty topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato and Shack Sauce. We recommend ordering it with crinkle fries and a hand-spunshake.

Things to do in Memphis:Wine & Dine: Memphis food events that should be on your calendar in December

New in Germantown:JoJo’s Espresso goes from the food truck to the storefront with the new Germantown spot

Nashville has four Shake Shacks.

Shake Shack did not respond to requests about any future plans to come to Memphis. (Fingers are crossed they decide to open one here.)

Chuy’s

Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1982, Chuy’s owns and operates close to 100 full-service restaurants across 17 states.

Known for its flavorful and freshly prepared Tex-Mex fare served in a fun, eclectic and irreverent atmosphere, each location offers a unique, “unchained” look and feel, as expressed by the concept’s motto: “If you’ve seen one Chuy’s, you’ve seen one Chuy’s!”

The menu features recipes from across New Mexico, Mexican border towns, the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas and, of course, Austin. With an emphasis on freshness, the tortillas are made fresh in-house. There are 10 signature sauces ranging from the mild Tomatillo to the spicy Hatch Green Chile Sauce, and margaritas are made with freshly squeezed lime juice.

The first Chuy’s outside Texas opened in the Nashville suburb of Franklin in November 2009. Today there are six locations in the Nashville area. We think the next one needs to be in Memphis, don’t you?

Chuy’s did not respond to requests about any future plans to come to the area.

Culver’s

ButterBurgers, Fresh Frozen Custard and Wisconsin Cheese Curds have made Culver’s a

Church Hill restaurant Metzgar boots anti-abortion group

Posted on04/09/202408/08/2023Author

Illustration of a restaurant bill holder with the words "no thank you" on it.

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

For the second time this year, the abortion debate is colliding with the local restaurant scene.

What’s happening: Metzger, a German restaurant in Church Hill known for its schnitzel, abruptly canceled a reception planned by the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia last week.

The cancellation came an hour-and-a-half before the event was supposed to begin, according to the group, which opposes abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.

What they’re saying: The Family Foundation’s president, Victoria Cobb, accused Metzger of religious discrimination in a fundraising appeal distributed by the group.

The other side: Metzger, meanwhile, said in a statement they made the decision out of respect for their majority of women and LGBTQ+ staff.

“We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable or unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision,” the restaurant said in a statement.

Worth noting: While discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion or nationality is illegal, businesses in Virginia are allowed to refuse service based on political beliefs.

Flash back: In September, coffee shop owner Ajay Brewer said backlash to a social media post he made supporting abortion restrictions decimated his business, forcing him to close.

After trying to sell the business, he’s now trying to raise money online to reopen.

Pastificio d’Oro is your favorite pasta cook’s favorite pasta restaurant

Posted on12/08/202408/08/2023Author

Editor’s note: This week and next, we’re counting down our favorite new Portland restaurants of 2022, starting with our No. 10: Pastificio d’Oro, a pint-sized St Johns neighborhood pasta restaurant where almost everything is made from scratch.

Casting back to summer, some of my fondest memories involve sitting with friends on the wobbly picnic tables outside this St. John’s pasta spot, the sun’s last rays disappearing behind The Wishing Well’s neon palm tree just down the street.

At the time, Pastificio d’Oro was still a promising pop-up at Gracie’s Apizza. On Mondays and Tuesdays, former Jacqueline chef Chase Dopson would make the entire pasta by hand while painter Maggie Irwin took orders, poured wine and tossed farm-fresh salads with her signature honey-sweet dressing.

The restaurant, which took over the pizzeria space full time last month, remains a true Mom-and-Pop, the only one where, according to Dopson, everything but the bread, wine, Parm and charcuterie are made from scratch.

“Yeah, but I do slice that,” Irwin points out.

Along with Gracie’s, it’s also the newest restaurant bringing a little heat to St. Johns, a North Portland neighborhood where the dive bars might be better known than the restaurants.

But what makes Pastificio d’Oro unique is Dopson’s commitment to making his pasta entirely by hand. That means mixing up balls of golden dough by hand, then rolling each into a billowing sheet using a mattarello, or a long wooden rolling pin. It’s a time-intensive method more familiar to Italian nonnas than typical American restaurants, where even the fresh pasta is typically flattened by machine.

Dopson started making pasta after he was laid off at the start of the pandemic, reading cookbooks, watching videos and buying an imported mattarello from Evan Funke, the pasta evangelist whose new Los Angeles restaurant Mother Wolf is almost as hard to get into as Portland’s Kann . Like many chefs, he was drawn to the pastas of the Emilia-Romagna region.

“It’s so diverse for such a small region, but it’s also so luxurious,” Dopson says. “It’s rustic but rich, gluttonous but so fun to eat. Think of a lasagna Bolognese: It’s so over the top but just so delicious.”

After initially launching a meal kit service at Jacqueline, Dopson’s pasta caught the eye of Craig Melillo, the owner of Gracie’s Apizza, where Irwin had previously worked. In 2021, Melillo reached out to the couple about using the pizzeria on Monday nights, when he was typically closed. The first Pastificio d’Oro’s pop-up took place that September.

As The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported, Gracie’s Apizza is in the process of moving to a new location with room for a larger oven just a few blocks east. With construction underway, the two businesses have switched roles: Pastificio d’Oro now operates on weekend nights, Gracie’s Apizza pops up on some Mondays and Tuesdays.

Visit from Thursday to Sunday now, and you’ll find Dopson’s pastas — some squash-stuffed tortelli, perhaps, or a tagliatelle al ragu — bowls of that zippy salad and plates of aged prosciutto. A rustic tart or sugar-dusted cake rounds out a menu kept blessedly small.

Like Funke, Dopson sometimes cooks his pasta a few seconds short of al dente, a level of doneness some will prefer more than others. (The late Los Angeles Times critic Jonathan Gold found Funke’s style distracting enough to leave his blockbuster Santa Monica restaurant, Felix, off his last restaurant guide; I also like a more supple texture, but didn’t find it disqualifying here or at Felix. )

And the pleasures of Pastificio d’Oro go beyond pasta. There’s a small wine list, plus good Negronis and other cocktails courtesy of The Garrison, the bar next door. You might find platters of puffy Italian frybread served with a pear-plum mostarda. And though the sun dips below the horizon before Pastificio d’Oro opens these days, it remains a fantastic place to meet friends for dinner, perhaps followed by a movie at the St. Johns Twin across the street.

What to order: With a group of two or more, it would be borderline irresponsible not to order the whole menu.

Details: After launching as a Monday pop-up, Pastificio d’Oro switched to Thursday-Sunday dinner hours in November; 8737 N. Lombard St.; doropdx.com

Read more: Follow along with our guide to Portland’s best new restaurants of 2022

—Michael Russell; [email protected]; @tdmrussell

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