Memphis Makes Me... Feel Comforted
Different Worlds: March 13th and March 14th
March 13th was the last Friday that seemed normal. There was tension in the air, of course. Schools were closing and the White House had just declared a national emergency. But on March 13th, when you got off of work, you could still celebrate the end of a work week by dinner out. And if you’re from Memphis, you know it’s hard to narrow down all the options to just one good place to eat a meal.
On March 13th, there were people in restaurants. People crammed onto barstools with cocktails and cozied up in dimly lit dining rooms for late dinners. Servers had tables to wait and chefs had dishes to prepare. March 14th brought a new era. The rules changed. Gatherings of more than 100 were discouraged. Then 50. And then 10. Most local restaurants locked their doors without having any idea when or if they’d open them again.
Food That Will Give You A Hug
Chef Kelly English began to see the warning signs a few weeks earlier. English owns and operates three of the cities’ favorite restaurants...Restaurant Iris, The Second Line, and Fino’s. His passion for food is only exceeded by his passion for the people who eat it. A native of Louisiana who saw the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, English knew what could happen to the restaurant industry when tragedy strikes. This time, he was committed to not only keeping his restaurants open for the good of the community but keeping as many of his staff employed as possible and serving the city with comfort in the form of good food.
“This is not the time to serve foie gras.” English said, bagging up vacuum sealed portions of hamburger steak that he and his staff are personally preparing and delivering to front porches all across the Mid-South. “People want food that gives them a hug.” And it’s true. In the two and a half weeks since the pandemic was declared, English and a skeleton crew of servers and cooks have prepared hundreds of meals for online orders. But the work in the kitchen has been about far more than the restaurant industry. English has been delivering dozens of meals to nurses and first responders. He and his staff pack up the carefully prepared and packed food and deliver them to clinics and hospitals around town, personally thanking those on the front line of the pandemic.
Memphis Makes Me... Feel Comforted
You’re not alone in Memphis. In a city known for it’s working class, grit and grind mentality, nobody assumes that you’ll just be ‘okay’ when the unthinkable happens. Neighbors check in on each other. One church starts a COVID-19 Response Group to help those in need, and another sends members of its choir to sing hymns of comfort to the widow of a pastor whose life was claimed by COVID-19. Over 400 volunteers unite to sew elastic bands onto a stockpile of nearly 30,000 N95 masks that were found in the basement of Baptist Hospital – and even National News Outlets are taking notice of these good-hearted Memphians. Out of work wait staff at a local restaurant show up to mow the grass of the restaurant where they’re certain they’ll be employed again soon, because “they want it to look good when they come back.” And a chef helps feed the most overworked, exhausted, and most essential workers among us. Because when comfort can’t come in the form of a hug, it can come in the form of a beautifully prepared meal. We’re all in this together and there’s a comfort in that.
The ‘Hope Will Lead Us There’ mural featured in this article was created by Erin Williams and is located in downtown Memphis at E Pontotoc Ave and Turley St.