Five Memphis chefs and their favorite after-dinner delights
When I was a kid, my mom made Sunday dinner. Whether it was spaghetti, catfish and cabbage, or roast with potatoes, carrots, macaroni, and collard greens, the one thing my sisters and I always knew would finish our meal was the ice cream and cake combo we often had for dessert. My mom was a boxed-cake girlie, and she liked her cakes tall with lots of frosting.
Now that I’m an adult, it’s still the promise of dessert that makes me swing my legs in the chair and motivates me to finish my veggies. And the Memphis dining scene has no shortage of options. I visited with five chefs around town whose desserts are just the right combination of childhood nostalgia and grown-up sophistication.
Waffle Mousse Cake at JEM Dining
644 Madison Avenue, Suite 102
jemdining.com
Joshua Mutchnick, chef and co-owner of JEM (Just Enjoy the Moment) Dining, has three desserts on the menu—Bread Pudding with bourbon sauce, yuzu curd, and strawberries; Chocolate Cake with chocolate buttercream, served with a glass of ice-cold milk; and Waffle Mousse Cake.
The Waffle Mousse Cake was inspired by Joshua’s childhood in Mobile, Alabama, where he and his family sometimes ate breakfast at Waffle House. “Their pecan waffle is one of the best things in the world,” he says.
Joshua tends to cook the things that excite him the most—and Waffle House-inspired Waffle Mousse Cake is definitely one of those things! “When I talk to guests about this dessert, I say, ‘This is good and I’m excited about it, but it’s still not as good as the pecan waffle at the Waffle House,’” says Joshua.
The Waffle Mousse Cake takes two to three days to make. It consists of layers of waffle mouse embedded with maple-syrup gel and a candied pecan financier. A pecan sable made with pecan flour adds some crisp.
For the waffle mousse, Joshua and team make waffles in-house and puree them with maple syrup, milk, cream, and butter. They pipe the mousse into a mold. Then they make gel from Vermont maple syrup and pack it in the middle of the mold.
“Each ingredient has multiple steps in it, and everything is me taking a raw ingredient, manipulating it, and manipulating it again,” says Joshua. “And those steps don’t include the garnishing process, which involves a decaf coffee aspic, candied pecan, and praline powder.”
Though there’s a lot of technique on the plate, in the end it’s just good food. “We’re not hiding behind artistic plating. We’re showcasing our passion for cooking, and it happens to be beautiful,” he says.
“The Waffle Mousse Cake is a love letter from the kitchen to Waffle House.”
Famous Banana Cream Pie at McEwen’s
120 Monroe Avenue
mcewensmemphis.com
McEwen’s has been making their Famous Banana Cream Pie since around the year 2000. They started with an Emeril Lagasse recipe that they’ve refined over the years.
Gayane Tumanyan—who wears many hats at McEwen’s—has made the pies for the last 22 years. “It is a process!” says Bert Smythe, co-owner of McEwen’s.Gayane typically makes about four pies a day, and she buys the bananas for the pies every other day. She likes to pick the bananas out herself because, from the crust to the pudding, each layer of the pie includes bananas of a different ripeness.
Her attention to detail keeps people coming back for her banana cream pie.
Bert says the famous pie, which can take anywhere from eight hours to an entire day to make, has been written up in Bon Appétit magazine, featured on NPR, published in local papers, and was served at the James Beard House.
Even after the recipe was published, Bert never worried about people not buying it. “It is such a pain in the butt to make, we figured people would only make it once,” he says.
And there’s still one secret to the recipe that only Gayane knows: the ripeness of the layered bananas.
As McEwen’s’ most popular dessert, the Famous Banana Cream Pie is available year-round for lunch and dinner until it sells out. Bert says it stands well on its own, but suggests pairing it with a cup of French Truck coffee, which they serve in house.
Basque Cheesecake at Tonica
1545 Overton Park Avenue
tonicamemphis.com
When Chef Armando Gagliano—along with his mother and two brothers—were opening Tonica, their research and discovery took them from Chicago to Spain, and along the way they discovered the Basque (a region of northern Spain) style of cheesecake. Their other two restaurants—Ecco and Libro—already had their own American-style cheesecakes, so a Basque-style cheesecake was a perfect fit for Tonica.
“When we opened the restaurant, we wanted it to be Spanish themed, and I started researching some iconic Spanish desserts.” says Armando. “[Basque cheesecake] was one of the main things that popped up. I found a recipe and tinkered.”
Basque-style cheesecake stands out for two reasons. One, it has no crust. Two, it is denser than the typically soft American-style cheesecake. “It has no crust and almost a burnt or crème brûlée-style top to it,” Armando says. “When I made it the first time, I thought I burned it. The fats began to caramelize, and I thought I messed it up. Once we let it cool and set and cut into it, it worked.”
With a little crunch on the top and a smooth, buttery inside, it’s now a staple on the Tonica menu.
Since the Basque Cheesecake is unique to Spain, Gagliano said he didn’t want to mess with the recipe too much. “We have some customers that are from Spain, and they say this is how it’s done over there. I didn’t want to put too much of my own spin on it,” he says. “Some things you add a spin, and other things you want to be as authentic and original as possible. We want to pay homage to that country’s style.”
The cheesecake’s prep includes baking, setting overnight at room temperature, and then some time in the fridge.
“Baking isn’t like cooking a steak or making a sauce recipe, where you throw some stuff together,” says Armando. “Add too much of something and the whole thing goes to hell. It’s a constant work in progress.”
Peanut Butter Pie at Hog & Hominy
707 West Brookhaven Circle
hogandhominy.com
When Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman opened Hog & Hominy, adding it to their portfolio of restaurants, they knew they wanted it to have its own unique vibe.
“We wanted to make Hog and Hominy a statement that we’re committing to the community, to Memphis,” says Andy. “We wanted to build our restaurant group, but at the same time, we wanted it to be casual and fun and whimsical.”
As they developed their menu, the duo reflected on their childhood. “We started thinking of peanut butter, bananas, Elvis, and ties to Memphis, and came up with a play on banana pudding,” says Andy.
The resulting Peanut Butter Pie has a vanilla wafer crust, sweetened peanut butter, bananas, pudding, and peanut brittle. It’s a customer favorite, and they sell “tons” of slices and whole pies around the holidays. “Banana and peanut butter are really good together,” says Andy. “When you eat it, you’re reminded of how good of a combo it is, and you want to taste it again.”
Another menu favorite is Magic Shell, one of several toppings that can be added to their soft serve ice cream and scoops of sorbet.
“That was us again being very immature,” says Andy. “We cook serious food all the time, and we try to run restaurants and make them have all the hospitality and standards of service our customers have been accustomed to, but we also like to have fun with food.”
When Andy was a child, his mom made Magic Shell, and he recreated her recipe with a simple base of coconut oil and melted chocolate.
“Sometimes the most important things are very simple,” says Andy.
“Life is at times fun and at times very hard. We try to remind ourselves that we just want to make good food for people.”
Matilda Cake at Sun of a Vegan
6075 Winchester Road (inside Hickory Ridge Mall)
sunofavegan.com
The Matilda Cake at Sun of a Vegan is inspired by owner Ayesha Collier’s childhood in Chicago. “Portillo’s is one of the many restaurants my family and I frequented whenever we ate out. I enjoyed the trips there because we got to indulge in delectably rich comfort foods like the chocolate cake shake and other menu items such as cheese fries and the Chicagoland famous Italian beef,” Ayesha says.
“My best experiences of growing up have always been directly connected to food in some way. I have always enjoyed spending time with family and friends over a particularly delicious meal, whether home-cooked or dining out. To me, being able to recreate those cuisines is keeping those memories and moments of laughter and closeness going on forever. It’s like my culinary vault.”
Ayesha set out to make the chocolate cake that Portillo’s uses in their shakes. Her version features vegan chocolate cake topped by a vegan chocolate frosting.
“After tooling around in the kitchen to make the perfect chocolate cake, the end product is what we currently have,” she says.
The two-layer cake is available daily until sold out.
“The Matilda Cake is special because I make it from scratch and it is inspired by my own childhood,” she says.
“So I am sharing a piece of my memories and my culture in the food that I serve.”
Erica Horton is a freelance journalist who loves to learn and write about almost anything. @chewsipfly
Elly Hazelrig, of Haze Photography & Media, is a Memphis-based photographer from Chicago. She aspires to inspire. @haze.photog