People have all sorts of dreams. It’s the reason many go to college, but it isn’t enough to simply go through the motions. The dream is the plan. The work is the act.
Southward: Fare & Libations was one of Memphis’ latest promising restaurants until an ironically beautiful, cosmic accident of a tree kept its sign out of view of its well thought of locale on Poplar, one of the busiest streets in Memphis. There was a time when one could visit the Shops of Regalia, walk through the doors of Southward, pass its lovely hostess going the same direction as the ducks in the painting on the wall behind her flew, and walk through the double doors of the kitchen and see its’ 22-year-old sous chef, Jacob Behnke.
It’s almost hard to believe that the second in command in such an extravagant establishment was 22, and has neither gone to college, nor even culinary school. Behnke has been with Trimm since the start. In 2010 he worked part-time for the restaurateur as a chef at Sweetgrass while still working at Interim, another of Memphis’ finer locations, for whom he’d been cooking since 2006. Since he was a child Behnke has known that he wanted to cook, and the young man hit the ground running.
The texture of the walls, the compass in the bar window, and the cool bluesy sounds coming from above were all premeditated. “We wanted something that reeked of southern culture,” said Trimm. “The architecture is deconstructed antebellum. The exposed wood has a class of its’ own, and so does the marble bar.”
The company specialized in wines. Trimm, who also owns Cooper-Young’s Sweetgrass, said, “I wanted people to try new wines at Sweetgrass, but I wanted this [Southward] to be a wine bar.” With a selection of literally dozens of wines just on tap, that particular feat had been accomplished, but that isn’t all.
When Owner Ryan Trimm was asked to talk about Behnke, he said, “What can I say? His work speaks for himself.” If Behnke’s work reflected the beauty of the building, it said a lot.
The food he cooked at Southward was “a breath of the south” as Trimm put it. Southward took southern staples and put its own twist to them. Behnke’s favorite item was the Country Pâté: forcemeat and ground pork with livers, pistachios, and prunes, wrapped in bacon, baked in a tureen, and pressed overnight, forcing the moisture and fat out of the meat.
Life in the kitchen is demanding, it’s dangerous, and it’s seemingly never ending. At Southward, Behnke worked 10-12 hour days six days a week usually, and the man definitely has his share of kitchen horror stories (like burning most of the flesh off of his forearm once at Sweetgrass). When asked how it felt to be so young and in such a prominent position, he replied, “I feel honored, but at the same time I feel a great deal of responsibility. It’s stressful to have to know what’s going on around me at all times, but it’s an honor nonetheless.”
Dreams are not stagnant things. They are amoebas thT, once grasped, shift like a clown’s balloon, billowing out at the top. They are shapeless things given form by the will of man. When asked about the next form his amoeba would assume, Behnke answered, “I’d like to own my own business. I want to try what Ryan’s been doing with local, organic foods, but really the goal is just to be 100 percent sustainable.”
Behnke left Southward on good terms with Trimm near the end of its stint, and settled into Flight working day hours for the first time in about five years. Though he could’ve gone back to Sweetgrass full time again he said, “I’d been working under Ryan for just so long. I just felt I needed something different.”
Currently, Behnke is the sous chef at the recently opened Maui’s Pizza a pizzeria with a gluten-free menu at Poplar and Exeter. Caesar salads, passionfruit vinaigrette dressings and Kahlua pig pizza to boot (that’s braised pork butt, with a house-made barbecue pizza sauce and caramelized red onions.)
His favorite dish: the sauce-like B-Bim-Bap, an alliteratively alchemical name and recipe concocted after several long meetings and restless nights, consisting of basmati rice, fried egg and pickled kim chee made with a ginger-dashi broth. He couldn’t choose just one item however, and said both the pollo bowl, and the margherita pizza-- featuring buffalo mozzarella balls-- are noteworthy.
“He’s very high speed, he moves at a very fast pace and sometimes it’s hard to keep up with him, but he has his way of helping you along when you’re working on a new project and keeping you up to speed,” Stephen Ibosh the 34 year old cook who has worked alongside Behnke at Sweetgrass, and beneath him at Southward and now Maui’s,. “He’s a good boss. He’s level headed, he knows what needs to get done and he has no problem delegating the right people to the right job. He has extensive food knowledge, and I don’t know that his confidence matches it sometimes, but he’s getting there with his confidence, and he’s doing a damned good job.”
Behnke doesn’t own the place, but he’s certainly learning the trade. Not every path will be the same, and not every road will be smooth, but rest assured if you hit the ground running, whether by plane, train, or automobile, or just the soles of your feet, you’ll reach your destination. The destination he’s brewing up in his head smells a little like bacon, and he says he can’t wait to hear the rooster crow for that morning.
Southward: Fare & Libations was one of Memphis’ latest promising restaurants until an ironically beautiful, cosmic accident of a tree kept its sign out of view of its well thought of locale on Poplar, one of the busiest streets in Memphis. There was a time when one could visit the Shops of Regalia, walk through the doors of Southward, pass its lovely hostess going the same direction as the ducks in the painting on the wall behind her flew, and walk through the double doors of the kitchen and see its’ 22-year-old sous chef, Jacob Behnke.
It’s almost hard to believe that the second in command in such an extravagant establishment was 22, and has neither gone to college, nor even culinary school. Behnke has been with Trimm since the start. In 2010 he worked part-time for the restaurateur as a chef at Sweetgrass while still working at Interim, another of Memphis’ finer locations, for whom he’d been cooking since 2006. Since he was a child Behnke has known that he wanted to cook, and the young man hit the ground running.
The texture of the walls, the compass in the bar window, and the cool bluesy sounds coming from above were all premeditated. “We wanted something that reeked of southern culture,” said Trimm. “The architecture is deconstructed antebellum. The exposed wood has a class of its’ own, and so does the marble bar.”
The company specialized in wines. Trimm, who also owns Cooper-Young’s Sweetgrass, said, “I wanted people to try new wines at Sweetgrass, but I wanted this [Southward] to be a wine bar.” With a selection of literally dozens of wines just on tap, that particular feat had been accomplished, but that isn’t all.
When Owner Ryan Trimm was asked to talk about Behnke, he said, “What can I say? His work speaks for himself.” If Behnke’s work reflected the beauty of the building, it said a lot.
The food he cooked at Southward was “a breath of the south” as Trimm put it. Southward took southern staples and put its own twist to them. Behnke’s favorite item was the Country Pâté: forcemeat and ground pork with livers, pistachios, and prunes, wrapped in bacon, baked in a tureen, and pressed overnight, forcing the moisture and fat out of the meat.
Life in the kitchen is demanding, it’s dangerous, and it’s seemingly never ending. At Southward, Behnke worked 10-12 hour days six days a week usually, and the man definitely has his share of kitchen horror stories (like burning most of the flesh off of his forearm once at Sweetgrass). When asked how it felt to be so young and in such a prominent position, he replied, “I feel honored, but at the same time I feel a great deal of responsibility. It’s stressful to have to know what’s going on around me at all times, but it’s an honor nonetheless.”
Dreams are not stagnant things. They are amoebas thT, once grasped, shift like a clown’s balloon, billowing out at the top. They are shapeless things given form by the will of man. When asked about the next form his amoeba would assume, Behnke answered, “I’d like to own my own business. I want to try what Ryan’s been doing with local, organic foods, but really the goal is just to be 100 percent sustainable.”
Behnke left Southward on good terms with Trimm near the end of its stint, and settled into Flight working day hours for the first time in about five years. Though he could’ve gone back to Sweetgrass full time again he said, “I’d been working under Ryan for just so long. I just felt I needed something different.”
Currently, Behnke is the sous chef at the recently opened Maui’s Pizza a pizzeria with a gluten-free menu at Poplar and Exeter. Caesar salads, passionfruit vinaigrette dressings and Kahlua pig pizza to boot (that’s braised pork butt, with a house-made barbecue pizza sauce and caramelized red onions.)
His favorite dish: the sauce-like B-Bim-Bap, an alliteratively alchemical name and recipe concocted after several long meetings and restless nights, consisting of basmati rice, fried egg and pickled kim chee made with a ginger-dashi broth. He couldn’t choose just one item however, and said both the pollo bowl, and the margherita pizza-- featuring buffalo mozzarella balls-- are noteworthy.
“He’s very high speed, he moves at a very fast pace and sometimes it’s hard to keep up with him, but he has his way of helping you along when you’re working on a new project and keeping you up to speed,” Stephen Ibosh the 34 year old cook who has worked alongside Behnke at Sweetgrass, and beneath him at Southward and now Maui’s,. “He’s a good boss. He’s level headed, he knows what needs to get done and he has no problem delegating the right people to the right job. He has extensive food knowledge, and I don’t know that his confidence matches it sometimes, but he’s getting there with his confidence, and he’s doing a damned good job.”
Behnke doesn’t own the place, but he’s certainly learning the trade. Not every path will be the same, and not every road will be smooth, but rest assured if you hit the ground running, whether by plane, train, or automobile, or just the soles of your feet, you’ll reach your destination. The destination he’s brewing up in his head smells a little like bacon, and he says he can’t wait to hear the rooster crow for that morning.