Shane & I went on a culinary adventure in Memphis, TN and Oxford, MS. Our first meal was at Sweet Grass, a neighborhood bistro in Midtown Memphis offering Low Country cuisine. We started with jalapeno poppers filled with duck confit and wrapped in proscuitto...so good! Well, everything we had on this adventure was SO delicious!
Next we had Beef Carpaccio, Red Wine Vinaigrette, Dijonaise, Pecorino Romano, Pickled Okra, Sourdough. Carpaccio is essentially raw beef very thinly sliced. I was skeptical at first, tried it, and it really was tasty!
This photo is actually from the Sweet Grass Facebook page because mine didn't turn out! This is Low Country Shrimp and Grits, House Made Sausage, Benton’s Country Ham, Tomatoes, Parsley, Delta Grind Grits. I am a recent grits convert, and this is probably the best dish I've had to date. The ham in this entree was to die for and everything together made it unbelievably good!
Now onto more Low Country cuisine in Oxford, MS. This a view of the downtown Square from the Boure balcony. It was such a lovely summer day!
Shane recently met Chef John Currence at a Little Rock event called Share Our Strength to benefit hungry children in Arkansas. John is chef/owner of City Grocery Restaurant Group in Oxford. To list only a few of John's accolades, he was recipient of the 2009 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef, owns several restaurants in Oxford, and participated in the Top Chef Masters Season 3. Pictured above is Snackbar.
I could have spent our entire Oxford visit at Snackbar but there was so much more to see. It was a toss up between bellying up to the oyster bar or...
Going with the marinated crab claws...which I did. Crab always wins out with me!
This is a shot of the City Grocery dining room. It's hard to tell in this shot, but the frames on the right are filled with thank you notes and compliments written on the butcher paper covering the tables. There were hundreds of them all over the restaurant. To the right were several awards including John's James Beard Awards!
Dinner! I had the Guinea Hen "2 Ways" - Herb-seared breast and confit leg, grainy mustard pan jus, tomato jam, smoked potato/bacon salad, haricots vertes. Shane had Rosemary/Apple Braised Border Springs Farm Lamb Belly - with fresh herb summer squash gratin, asparagus “pasta,” steen’s apple butter
Here's one place the gluttonous part really comes into play...after that awesome, spectacular, wonderful dinner, we had dessert. Yes, dessert! Dark Chocolate Souffle with peanut butter sauce, banana ice cream
And finally, what everyone needs before a 4 hour drive home to pick up their 3 year old daughter - Big Bad Breakfast! This is the Cathead - Scratch made buttermilk biscuit with fried chicken, slice of cheddar, fried egg, and home fries. Ok, so this is the end of our gluttony, and our diet begins tomorrow!
