Restaurants

Food Friday's: new and upcoming eateries in the mid-south

Submitted by Ashli Blow, New Media Content Producer

Friday, March 2nd, 2012, 12:23pm

Food Friday's: new and upcoming eateries in the mid-south

Action News 5 giving you hints on some of the new and upcoming mid-south eateries each week.

Hunny’s Buns:

View Comments | Post a Comment

When a restaurant's "score" is not the score

Submitted by Andy Wise, Chief Consumer Investigator/Andy's Restaurant Scorecard

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012, 12:31pm

A Tennessee restaurant should never score below a 90. Period. Any conscientious restaurant manager or fastidious health department inspector (they like to be called "environmentalists") will tell you that.

However, the fact is sometimes a restaurant's critical violation is really an environmentalist's judgment call.

Sometimes, they get it wrong.

Like the time a health department environmentalist slapped a Mexican restaurant with a critical violation for "improperly labeled" containers sitting on the pantry shelf with food items.

The containers' labels read "ajo" and "cebolla," respectively.

"Garlic." "Onion."

The restaurant's kitchen staff had labeled them in Spanish because, surprise, the staff speaks Spanish. You know, being a Mexican place and all.

But the environmentalist docked the establishment for not labeling the containers in English.

View Comments | Post a Comment

What's behind that restaurant's health score

Submitted by Andy Wise, Chief Consumer Investigator/Andy's Restaurant Scorecard

Monday, January 23rd, 2012, 3:59pm

Despite reporting Mid-South restaurants' health inspection scores every Thursday on Andy's Restaurant Scorecard, I continue to meet viewers who don't know restaurants are required to post those scores, whether it's Tennessee, Mississippi or Arkansas.

Establishments must post those scores someplace where customers can see them: the entrance, cash register, bar, etc.

If they don't, it's a health code violation.

Mississippi's health department uses a letter-grade system: A, B, C. No failures. They are white reports with large, green grades. Restaurants typically frame them for public inspection.

The restaurant inspectors of the Arkansas Department of Health don't employ a grading system at all. They just list the violations.

View Comments | Post a Comment

Project Green Fork to be featured monthly on Restaurant Scorecard

Submitted by Andy Wise, Chief Consumer Investigator/Andy's Restaurant Scorecard

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012, 11:12am

Talented chefs, tasty entrees -- all going easy on the environment.

Sounds ripe for a regular hit on Andy's Restaurant Scorecard. Starting in February, it will be!

Next month, Action News 5 and Project Green Fork (http://projectgreenfork.org/) will team up to showcase the PGF Restaurant of the Month as a regular feature on Andy's Restaurant Scorecard.

Project Green Fork is a Midtown Memphis-based non-profit, dedicated to supporting Mid-South restaurateurs who go the extra mile in reducing their environmental impact and who promote local farms, foods and communities.

View Comments | Post a Comment

National Pancake Day Returns to IHOP

Submitted by Chris Payne on Sunday, January 8th, 3:53 pm

IHOP’s seventh annual National Pancake Day will be back on Tuesday, February 28, 2012. All day long, IHOP restaurants will give each guest a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes in the hope that they will donate what they would have paid, or more, to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other local charities. This year, the restaurant chain aims to raise $2.7 million for charity, the most ambitious goal to-date.

View Comments | Post a Comment

Eco Expo!

Submitted by Kym Clark on Friday, January 6th, 12:50 pm

The hugely successful Eco Expo is back with even more exhibitors showing us how to treat our earth more gently with green products, materials, services, and organizations.

Exhibitors will be offering ideas and information, and some will be selling their products and services.

The Expo is Sunday February 5th, 2012 from 11am until 3pm at Temple Israel--1376 East Massey Road...Memphis, TN.

For kids and adults of all ages, there’s something for everyone!

Learn, eat, explore, or just visit with some really nice people.

Remember the proverb, “Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children.”

We are working together with our fellow community leaders and congregations of all faiths to help save the planet.

E-mail TIMemphisEcoExpo@msn.com or call Linda Kaplan 482-6473 for more information.

View Comments | Post a Comment

"Free Food Friday"

Submitted by Tammy Phillips on Friday, November 18th, 2:25 pm

It's "Free Food Friday" at Action News 5. We teamed up with the Midtown Lennys and Curbside Casseroles in east Memphis to raise money for the Mid-South Food Bank.

What will your office do to raise money for the Mid-South Food Bank?

On "Free Food Friday", we ask our staff to join us for a FREE lunch in exhange for a donation to the Mid-South Food Bank. It's the second year for the fundraiser at Action News 5. Staffers were treated to turkey, ham, dressing, green breans, pyramid potatoes, salad, pecan pie, apple pie and much more from Curbside Casseroles. Lennys provided turkey, ham, tuna and even chicken salad sandwiches with all the fixin's, chips, cookies and drinks. The food was delicious!