A long-standing plan is coming to fruition

Partin said that he and co-owner Mahasti Vafaie had been thinking about opening a simple, narrow restaurant for the past three or four years.

Partin and Vafaie saw their opportunity when Bliss left the building at 24 Market Square and moved to a location on Gay Street. Partin said he and Wafaye have owned the building since the late 90s.

They worked on the place for more than a year and settled on the name Space Head. There is no particular meaning behind the name, except that the word “head” is kept in the name, Partin said.

Taste of the menu

Partin said they “won’t go too crazy” with the space theme. The kids’ menu has Moon Rocks, which are pieces of chicken, and Asteroids, which are beetroot burger balls.

There’s also a Space Head sandwich, but that’s all the space-themed food you’ll find on the menu. Other products include beet and quinoa burgers, as well as Asian sandwiches, barbecue, and Tunisian fried chicken sandwiches.

Tomato Head does not have fried food, and this is one of the main differences between the two businesses. Space Head also stays open until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays, as opposed to Tomato Head’s 10:30pm closing time.

A quick bite or a beer

The restaurant already has ordering kiosks, and Partin said Friday that customers will be able to order online within a few days. After ordering, guests choose their seat and wait for their name to be called.

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Thomas Boggs started working with Huey’s in 1976 in Midtown. He has always had a knack for the hospitality industry. At the age of 14, he started working at a Rexall drugstore as a soda salesman. Regarding this job, he said: “I was bitten by the restaurant industry bug.” He credited Davis Rexall with teaching him the basics of service and giving him a real start in the hospitality industry.

Boggs later married Charlotte Edge and had three daughters, Lauren, Ashley and Samantha. He eventually returned to get his degree from the University of Memphis and waiter at TGI Fridays. He went on to work in the corporate offices of Friday’s in Dallas, traveling to open their new outlets. After leaving Friday’s, he returned to Memphis and began working at Huey’s as a bartender in 1976. The experience he gained at Friday’s allowed him to move into management and quickly become a partner with Jay Sheffield. At the time, Huey’s was just a bar, but Boggs saw a new trend coming. He began to create a menu, transforming Huey’s from a bar to a regular restaurant.

In 1982, Thomas Boggs remarried to White Fulton, and they added two sons, Alex and Fulton, to his legacy. Thomas and Wyatt were active in the Memphis Restaurant Association, and Wyatt was the MRA’s executive director for more than a decade.

Boggs and Jay Sheffield decided to expand and open Huey’s East in 1991. Cordova, Downtown and Collierville quickly followed. Then Southaven, Southwind and Poplar opened in 2000-2002. Boggs’ three daughters helped open and operate Huey’s East, Cordova and Collierville.

Boggs eventually became CEO and co-owner of Huey’s. He was also a partner in other successful high-profile restaurants in Memphis, including Folk’s Folly, Tsunami, Molly’s La Casita, and Half Shell.

Mr. Boggs passed away in May 2008, but his children carry on Huey’s legacy and continue to honor the philosophy on which Boggs built his business. Lauren McHugh Robinson is president of Huey’s Restaurants, Ashley Boggs Robilio is vice president, and Samantha Boggs Dean is special project coordinator. Alex and Fulton Boggs plan to join the family business in the future, and Jay Sheffield is still booking groups for each location. In honor of Thomas Boggs, the stretch of Madison Avenue between Rambert and Barksdale was renamed “Thomas Boggs Boulevard” to dedicate it to him on his 64th birthday.

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The barbecue at this east Memphis eatery is cooked in the old-fashioned Southern tradition. The best meats are cooked in barbecue pits on hickory chips and charcoal and cooked slowly. Corky’s cooks pork shoulder for 22 hours and ribs for over 7 hours. Corky’s is also known for its excellent customer service and varied menu. Be sure to check out the barbecue nachos, onion bread, and fudge pie.

This barbecue is so popular that it can even be purchased in the freezers of local grocery stores and is definitely worth putting on your to-do list.

Jimmy Stovall says he started at Corky’s 27 years ago as a college student working at the drive-thru window and eventually worked his way up, becoming the public face of the company through frequent appearances on the QVC home shopping channel and recently becoming the company’s spokesperson and CEO. Now he and his investor partners are buying the company. Why take this step?

To complete the deal, Stovall and the investment partners created a company called BBQVC Food Group LLC. The company name comes from the initials Barbecue and QVC, he said. Stovall said he was joined in the new company by silent partners who wish to remain anonymous.

On Thursday, they completed the purchase of the company from its former owners, an investment group led by Dobbs Equity Partners LLC, which includes John Dobbs Jr, Barry Pelts, son of company founder Don Pelts, and Andy Woodman, Barry Pelts’ brother. -Law.

Corky’s has about 300 employees and several businesses, including four company-owned barbecue restaurants in the Memphis area and four franchised restaurants outside the area, according to a company press release.

It also sells frozen meals, sauces, and condiments to grocery stores nationwide, and operates a foodservice facility that prepares food for e-commerce grocery and QVC sales. According to the company, it also delivers food directly to the consumer.

Stovall said that he does not plan to make any significant changes and that the company will continue to focus on “heritage, quality and consistency.”

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The journey to Gus’ world-famous fried chicken began more than 60 years ago in Mason, Tennessee. Napoleon “Na” Vanderbilt and his wife Gertrude sold hand-battered fried chicken out the back door of a tavern – since then, they have grown to 36 restaurants across the country.

Gus’s is the reigning champion of the National Fried Chicken Festival in New Orleans, the 12th most delicious restaurant in America to eat according to the Travel Channel, and one of GQ Magazine’s top ten restaurants in the world to fly to for lunch. No wonder the fried chicken recipe is top secret – Gus once said: “It’s a dead man’s recipe, and I’m not telling.”

Although the recipe originated in Tennessee, Gus’s fried chicken is not your typical hot chicken with cayenne sauce in Nashville: it’s battered and fried in peanut oil, creating a perfectly crispy, browned shell with a touch of spice.

The restaurant’s history, which hangs near the counter, says the recipe was so popular that even in Jim Crow South, white people lined up at his back door for a bag of chicken and encouraged him to open a restaurant.

He is said to have been a carpenter, he built the restaurant himself and opened it in 1973. Ten years later, Na and his wife died, leaving the business to their son. Gus officially opened in 1984.

Fast forward three decades and you’ll see that Gus’s has become synonymous with delicious chicken. The restaurant was named after Vernon, a nickname given by community members.

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