Memphis restaurants: Here's a look at what opened (and closed) in July

Everything from upscale bars and restaurants to fast-food joints and a juice bar debuted in July in the Memphis area, while a couple of popular eateries closed their doors.

Here's at look at what opened and closed.

Openings

Saltwater Crab

Saltwater Crab is a seafood restaurant with a “coastal influence and a Southern draw.” It opened July 1 at 2059 Madison, the space that was most recently Indian Pass Raw Bar.

The menu features an eclectic mix of seafood dishes and dining options. Chef Andy Knight pointed out that while the menu is seafood-focused, they will offer “land” dishes for those who don’t like fish.

Starters include dishes like Crab Bruschetta, BBQ Beer Shrimp and Fried Chicken Wings.

Raw oysters are also available. They feature three to five varieties from around the United States daily. A sushi bar, serving specialty and traditional rolls plus sashimi, is also offered.

Entrees feature a selection of market price seafood dishes. Knight said the offerings change weekly, if not more often, based on what is fresh and seasonal. The menu also features seafood boils that allow customers to pick and choose which shellfish they’d like to include.

Sandwiches and salads are also available for those wanting more casual fare. 

The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner.

2059 Madison; 901-922-5202; saltwatercrab.com

Wimpy’s Burgers and Fries

Wimpy’s Burgers and Fries opened a third location in Germantown on July 1. The local chain also has locations in Southaven and Memphis.

CEO Jacob Crafton, who attended Riverdale Elementary and Germantown High School, said his restaurant fits with Germantown’s “small-town, close-knit community vibe.”

The new location, inside the Shops of Forest Hill on Poplar Avenue, serves the eatery's signature burgers, chicken sandwiches and shakes.

Crafton said if he can’t pronounce an ingredient, it doesn’t go into the food served at his restaurants. Wimpy’s uses grass-fed beef, and the restaurant staff makes sauces from scratch in the kitchen.

“How it was way back when and how it should be,” he said in describing a Wimpy’s burger. “It’s a good old-fashioned hamburger.”

For people who haven’t been to a Wimpy’s, Crafton says it's not fast food and the stores never have a drive-thru. All food is cooked to order, so if there’s a long line, you’ll have to wait for your meal.

“We offer a great meal served by great people,” he said. “Something they’d go tell their friends and family about.”

9245 Poplar Ave., Suite 11, Germantown; 901-707-8251; wimpysburgers.com

Bar Ware and JuiceBrothers

Bar Ware is the newest addition to the Downtown dining scene. It is a cozy lounge featuring craft cocktails and elevated bar snacks with a JuiceBrothers juice and smoothie bar adjacent. Both Bar Ware and JuiceBrothers opened July 12 in the 266 Lofts development at 276 S. Front St.

When you walk in the door, you step into a cozy lounge that is perfectly appointed and inviting at the same time. Leather sofas and banquettes invite guests to sit a spell and enjoy a drink and a bite to eat.

“I wanted to keep it simple,” owner Libby Ware Wunderlich said. “I wanted a space that is casual and comfortable and where people can stop by for a cocktail on their way to an event or hang out all evening.”

Expect to find creative craft cocktails and a well-curated wine selection at the bar. Bar Ware is also offering a few “firsts” for Tennessee, including FRO-BEER, which keeps craft beers cold from pour to final sip.

The focus of the menu is on small plates and shareable dishes, including a selection of “Knoxville Late Night” steamed sandwiches.

JuiceBrothers serves fresh juices and smoothies for breakfast and lunch daily.

276 S. Front St.; 901-443-5807; barwarememphis.com

El Mero Taco

El Mero Taco food truck fans now have a new sit-down spot to dine, instead of chasing tacos and quesadillas throughout the city. Owners Jacob and Clarissa Dries opened El Mero Taco at 8100 Macon Station Drive in Cordova on July 16.

This duo serves some of the best tacos in town. “My wife was raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, while I was raised in Memphis. We feel that our food is a representation of our two cultures colliding,” Jacob Dries said of their award-winning taco offerings.

The menu includes their popular truck staples such as Southern fried chicken taco and brisket quesadilla.

The new menu also includes items that truck lovers have not seen before, such as smoked sweet potato flautas and The Chi-cha Taco, which contains in-house made Chorizo verde, thinly sliced steak, and chicharron tossed in a morita pepper sauce. Vegetarians and vegans will also be pleased to see the same delicious choices at the restaurant and a few new plant-friendly options.

The food truck will continue to serve tacos across Memphis.

8100 Macon Station Drive, Suite 102, Cordova; 901-308-1661; elmerotaco.com

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Cafe Europe

Chef Michele D’Oto, the chef and restaurateur behind The Pasta Maker in Germantown, opened a new restaurant in Collierville on July 18. Cafe Europe is in the Carriage Crossing Shopping Mall.

D’Oto described the menu as “a fusion of French and Italian cuisine with a few Spanish dishes like ceviche and paellas.” He also has included several of his favorite dishes from The Pasta Maker on the menu, including the popular “Rosette al Forno” (fresh pasta stuffed with prosciutto di Parma, fontina cheese and mascarpone that is baked in a béchamel cream sauce).

The restaurant is near Dillard’s and Bed Bath & Beyond. It offers seating for 70 indoors and for 20 outdoors on a patio.

Cafe Europe is open daily for lunch and dinner, as well as for Saturday and Sunday brunch.

4610 Merchants Park Circle, Collierville; 901-286-4199; cafeeuroperestaurant.com

Which Wich

On July 22, Which Wich opened its first Memphis-area store in Collierville at 975 W. Poplar Ave.

Which Wich is a Dallas-based sandwich chain known for build-your-own sandwiches. To order, customers pick a sandwich protein and then customize their order by check-marking the bread, toppings and condiments they prefer on a brown paper sack.

“Anything is possible,” Memphis-franchisee owner Rhett Douglas said. “If we have it, we will make it for a customer.”

Which Wich slices its meats fresh daily and makes sandwiches to order. Customers can choose from three sizes of sandwich bread (a 7-inch regular, a 10-inch large or a 14-inch super) in white or wheat. All “wiches” can also be ordered in a spinach tortilla wrap, a lettuce wrap or as a salad.

This new Collierville restaurant is the first co-branded drive-thru Which Wich and Paciugo Gelato Caffe in the country. The addition allows the sandwich restaurant to also offer gelato by the scoop and in pre-packed pints as well as espresso drinks.

975 W. Poplar Ave., Collierville; whichwich.com

Heaven

Heaven is a coffee shop and networking lounge that opened July 23. Owner Richard Baldwin III hopes his new business, located at 333 Adams, will become a networking venue for professionals in the Medical District.

The menu serves a full coffee bar as well as lunch and snack items like panini sandwiches, salads and smoothies.

Heaven is in a three-story building. The coffee shop is on the ground floor. The upper floors are for special events such as engagement and holiday parties.

The coffee shop is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed on weekends, the building is available for special event rentals on Saturday and Sunday.

333 Adams; 901-443-5270; heavenmemphis.com

Atomic Rose

Atomic Rose, the newest restaurant and bar in the Beale Street Entertainment District, opened July 24. It took over the space that was once Purple Haze at 140 Lt. George W. Lee Ave.

"As the area’s newest LGBTQ+-friendly nightclub, Atomic Rose will provide high-energy, fun programming five nights a week with well-known area DJs, karaoke on Wednesdays and a drag show every Sunday," said Valerie Morris of Atomic Rose Communications.

The club opened with just dinner service, but plans to include lunch service in the near future.

The menu includes appetizers such as jalapeno poppers, chili cheese fries and seasoned fried catfish strips. Entrees include rib-eye steak, a spaghetti dinner, shrimp alfredo and 12-inch thin-crust pizza pies. Burgers and salads are also on the menu.

140 Lt. George W. Lee Ave.; 901-922-5645; atomicrosememphis.com

Slim Chickens

Slim Chickens, a fast-casual restaurant, opened July 24 in Silo Square in Southaven. This location is the first of five restaurants it has planned for the Memphis area.

The Arkansas-based restaurant serves cooked-to-order chicken tenders and wings with 17 house sauces, including Korean BBQ, Inferno and its signature Slim sauce.

Part of Slim Chickens' (self-described) "life-changing" restaurant is philanthropy, and local charities can request for fundraisers or donations to certain causes, like food banks. The Southaven Slim Chickens will partner with Make-A-Wish to help a child in the area. 

The first business to open in Silo Square, a mixed-use development near Goodman Road and Getwell, Slim Chickens is planning its next Memphis-area restaurant in Collierville.

6505 Getwell Road, Southaven; slimchickens.com

Soul Fish Cafe

On July 31, Soul Fish Cafe opened a Cordova location. The new restaurant is at 8413 U.S. 64.

“We saw a great need in Cordova,” Soul Fish co-owner Raymond Williams said. “There are a lot of people in Cordova, and mainly just chain restaurants. We wanted to give people a local restaurant option.”

The menu features the fried catfish and Southern sides that have made this Memphis-based restaurant chain a local’s favorite.

This is the sixth restaurant for Soul Fish Cafe. The restaurant chain currently has three restaurants in the Memphis area, located in Midtown, East Memphis and Germantown. It also has locations in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Oxford, Mississippi.

8413 U.S. 64; soulfishcafe.com

Closings

Sushi Jimmi

On July 12, Sushi Jimmi officially closed its doors for good.

Chef Jimmi Sinh gained notice quickly after the launch of his successful food truck in 2015. He was likely the first to bring Memphians sushi burritos and sushi-grade tuna nachos, served on a bed of Nacho Cheese Doritos.

In 2017, Sinh opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant at Poplar and Tillman. The restaurant was known for thick, fried rolls weighed down by multiple sauces and garnishments.

The restaurant had previously closed on May 23. Two days later, Sinh announced that the restaurant would be reopening. On June 15, it did reopen, with his brother David Sinh as the new owner and Jimmi Sinh remaining the chef.

A Facebook post by Jimmi Sinh said he hopes to open another restaurant. “I will do another restaurant but sad it won't be here,” he wrote.

Mama D’s Italian Ice

After 11 years, Mama D’s Italian Ice has closed. 

Dee Moore started her business in 2008 in her garage, selling her handcrafted Italian ice and frozen pops at farmers markets across the Memphis area. As her business grew, she opened a retail shop that most recently was at 128 U.S. 72 in Collierville.

The Mama D’s Collierville retail shop closed July 31.

Moore will continue to sell her frozen treats at the Germantown Farmers' Market on Thursdays through the end August and at the Agricenter Farmer's Market on Saturdays until the stock runs out.

Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercialappeal.com, and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.