Cocktails at Bar Limina in The Edge District are crafted. Some take up to 10 minutes to prepare, but they are worth the wait. And after eight months of serving Memphians from 631 Madison Ave., Bar Limina owner Josh Conley is taking the proverbial show on the road — well, around the corner — for the next six months.

For one night a month, Bar Limina will be serving craft cocktails at Sheet Cake Gallery, 405 Monroe Ave., inspired by the art on the walls.

The two entities aren’t the first game in town to pair art inspo with food and drink, but theirs is a collaboration partly born of proximity. The two businesses are just a short walk and an even quicker drive away from each other. 

Conley describes the cocktails as a kind of dialogue, “a conversation with (the art) through a cocktail,” he said. 

The goal is, of course, to draw more people into Sheet Cake’s exhibitions from now through July.

The collaboration begins Thursday, March 19, with Keiko Gonzalez’s “Indoor Games.” Born in Texas, raised in Bolivia and now working in Memphis, Gonzalez creates abstract, expressive pieces that have been exhibited internationally. To pair with Gonzalez’s work, Conley created handmade compound butters designed to echo the exhibition’s tone, served alongside artisan bread.

“I play a lot with sensory memories,” Conley said, explaining he likes using nostalgia as an almost sixth sense he can tap into.

Bar Limina will remain open for regular business during the collaborations at Sheet Cake.

“I’ve got a really great team. … That’s on purpose so that I can pop out and do stuff like this,” Conley said about the bartenders who will man Bar Limina in his absence. “The gallery pop-up is one experience, and we definitely want folks to come back around the corner and see the fully curated version of it at Bar Limina.”

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, and tickets cost $50. The ticket price includes entry, three craft cocktails and art-inspired bites. Though the gallery event is scheduled to end at 8:30 p.m., Bar Limina will remain open until 10 p.m.

Cheers!

After eight months of serving Memphians from 631 Madison Ave., Bar Limina owner Josh Conley is taking the proverbial show on the road — well, around the corner — for the next six months. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)

This week on the Memphis food scene

The Lenten season is upon us and, with it, the season of church fish fries. I learned more about the meaning of dietary sacrifices from a priest and where you can get your fill of fish, shrimp, spaghetti and more from now until Good Friday.

Jennifer Chandler shared the sweet story of a Memphis family that can trace their cookie recipe back through five generations of Tennessee women.

Diana Kokernot Britton makes a plate of sugar cookies in her home Feb. 12. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

Chandler also brought us another great recipe in our weekly Recipe Exchange feature. This one, baked-shrimp oreganata, is from Patrick Reilly of Cocozza and the Majestic Grille.

Tsunami will permanently close its doors Saturday, Feb. 21, after serving Memphis for the past 28 years. Read about Chef Ben Smith and what led him to create one of the ultimate dining destinations in Cooper-Young.

Speaking of Cooper-Young, in a sidebar to my story, Jody Callahan wrote about Tsunami’s impact on the neighborhood.

As Midtown mourns the loss of Tsunami, Downtown diners are losing By the Brewery. Owner Robin Joyce explained the reason for the sudden closure and the issues that led to her decision to make it permanent.

In Food Files, Sophia Surrett details the sale of two local fast-food buildings and the build-out of a popular food truck franchise’s first brick-and-mortar location — plus the return of a beloved Jamaican restaurant under a new name.

And in her latest $15 Deal, Erica Horton took readers back to her college hangout — RP Tracks — and embraced adulthood with a very “grown-up” quesadilla.

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