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Restaurants opening, restaurants closing, restaurants changing. 

It’s a constant cycle.

The biggest local news of the past week on this front is probably that Pantà, the Spanish-style small plates restaurant from chef-restaurateur Kelly English’s group, has closed as a full-service public space after only two years. 

Pantà was a big swing, and I lament its premature demise primarily on those grounds. It was an attempt to do something interesting and mostly unfamiliar on the Memphis dining scene. 

The space isn’t going dark but rather converting to a private events and pop-up space, and here’s hoping we still get the latter. One of the best Memphis meals I’ve had in the past year was at Pantà’s Portuguese pop-up, adding more novel and more unfamiliarity to a space already rooted in such. 

As Pantà leaves, a new, novel bar prepares to open only a few blocks away on Cooper Street: Mary’s B.O.T.E., a “tropical”-themed space from the people behind the successful Midtown bar Cameo.

The restaurant business is a treacherous one. Here’s wishing good luck to Mary’s B.O.T.E. and to three notable new spots off to great starts, all of which I popped into for the first time this past week.

At Elwood's Shack's second location, 4040 Park Ave., the menu includes sandwiches, tacos, pizzas and barbecue platters. (Chris Herrington/The Daily Memphian)

Elwood’s Shack’s second location, recently opened on Park Avenue, is predictably an instant hit. My wife and I snagged one of only two open tables for a late Monday lunch this week. A friend who went for lunch on Wednesday reported a line out the door. 

The memorial to Jennifer Biggs at Elwood's Shack on Park Avenue. (Chris Herrington/The Daily Memphian)

Still, it’s a much bigger space than the original Elwood’s off Summer Avenue, with the same kind of menu heavy on smoked and grilled meats: On sandwiches, tacos, pizzas and barbecue platters. 

The atmosphere is festive but relaxing (unless, I guess, you’re waiting for a table), and you probably already know the food is good. We had the Elwood’s Melt (a sort of grilled, spicy variation on a club sandwich) and the debris po-boy. I really liked the Moxie Bar, a separate drink bar in the back, with coffee drinks, “refreshers” and milkshakes all in the repertoire. I look forward to sampling the breakfast menu soon. In all, a great new addition to the wider University District.

Especially approved in this space: A salute to our late friend Jennifer Biggs on the restaurant’s outside mural.

Speaking of Jennifer, when Elwood’s announced its new location earlier this year, she reminded us that this same building was home to a Leonard’s Pit Barbecue half a century ago.

The rib plate at Leonard's, which can come with spaghetti on the side. (Chris Herrington/The Daily Memphian)

And speaking of Leonard’s, the more-than-a-century-old Memphis barbecue institution closed recently and also opened. 

What had been Leonard’s last location, on Fox Plaza Drive, closed this month but to make room for a new Leonard’s at 1100 N. Germantown Parkway in Cordova. 

The latter, still in its “soft opening” phase, is the first new Leonard’s since the restaurant and brand was purchased in the summer of 2021 by the Memphis group that owns Gus’s Fried Chicken. The new owners have stated intentions to further expand the Leonard’s brand, which could become a barbecue companion to the Gus’s Fried Chicken success. 

This first new Leonard’s is in a building that previously housed a location of the Abner’s chicken tender chain. 

While the buffet that was a popular fixture of the Fox Plaza Leonard’s is no more, the menu is otherwise similar, and from what I could tell on a recent visit, so is the food. This is perhaps the original Memphis chopped pork sandwich and still a good one. The sauce is thick, sweet and mild, which is not really my preference, but might be yours. By contrast, the dry rub ribs have great flavor without relying on sweetness. 

The battered onion rings remain a staple, and Leonard’s is one of the few barbecue restaurants (Corky’s is another) to feature an old-school Memphis staple: Not barbecue spaghetti, but barbecue and spaghetti. Combo platters of barbecue and Italian-American spaghetti with meat sauce. They also have catfish, and as I ate the spaghetti as a substitute side on a rib plate, it occurred to me that you can substitute your way to another staple, even if it’s not presented on the menu: Catfish and spaghetti. 

The atmosphere in the former Abner’s doesn’t match the Fox Plaza location, but the effort is there, with plenty of vintage decorations brought over, with both Elvis Presley (a former Leonard’s customer) and the restaurant’s own considerable history prominently featured. 

With this initial foray under their belt, it will be interesting to see where the Gus’s group takes Leonard’s.

Also recently opened Downtown is Hive Bagel & Deli, where six varieties of bagel can be paired with eight varieties of cream cheese, among other spreads, as well as be turned into breakfast and lunch sandwiches. 

The hazelnut cube at Hive Bagel & Deli, which recently opened in Downtown Memphis. (Chris Herrington/The Daily Memphian)

But that’s not the extent of what’s being turned out in a glass-enclosed but fully visible baking space alongside the shop’s small ordering counter. I had a great honey butter croissant and gawked at a Kubrickian (if you know you know) hazelnut cube, something I very much plan to get soon, when I come with reinforcements. The bagels and pastries are top notch, the bright space (white subway tile, black accents, lots of wood and natural light) is inviting and there’s bar seating inside and sidewalk seating out front. It’s also a short walk from the new Tom Lee Park, which feels symbiotic. A great idea that seems to have been well-executed. 

In other food news this week: The organic-oriented Vibe Foods will open a second Memphis location inside Crosstown Concourse and the Sweet Aroma dessert “studio” has opened in the Broad Avenue Arts District. 

Keely Brewer takes a look at Mia’s Orchard, a North Memphis food resource conceived in tribute to former Memphis Tilth director Mia Madison, who died last year in a car crash.

And Christin Yates looks at the barista exchange program started by the Memphians who launched the “Cxffeeblack” movement, which will take four baristas, including one fellow Memphian, to Africa. 

On deck this coming week: The Taste of the District event at Health Sciences Park, and a broader Southeast Black Restaurant Week initiative with some participating Memphis restaurants. (Separate from the annual Memphis Black Restaurant Week, which happened in March.)

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