Beginning and End
For the last installment in my unintentional series of "birthday dinner" reviews, I'm going to where these dinners and lunches started, Char. In writing this, I was going to use "A Tale of Two Cities" for my initial tagline because this will be a review of two of Char's locations. It's rare when I can appeal to both my Memphis and Nashville readers in one review, but this is unique. Because of a rescheduling of a Kacey Musgraves "concert" that wasn't, I went to Nashville to treat myself to a performance that ended up being a sort of "TED Talk" about medicinal mushrooms (it seems that I should've read the fine print before buying a ticket to the "concert"). Despite not getting a musical performance, I still enjoyed my brief stay in the Music City, for it finally gave me an opportunity to get some Prince's Hot Chicken as well as dinner at Nashville's Char. After reading the previous sentence, one could assume that my food journey started at Prince's, but it actually started with lunch at the Memphis Char restaurant just prior to travelling to Nashville. I'm not trying to make this review confusing or convoluted, but there are a lot of parts to this story so I will start with talking about the experience in Nashville before moving on to my visits at the Memphis restaurant.
NOTE: Char also has restaurants in Jackson, Mississippi and Huntsville, Alabama (with another location coming to Franklin, Tennessee in 2026). Maybe someday, I'll pull a "hat trick" by going to a Char in one of those cities.
To Nashville!
As I said, I went to Nashville to see a Kacey Musgraves performance that wasn't (a backstory that I will probably write about someday on my "mini-blog" on Tumblr). With it being close to my birthday, I wanted to treat myself to something special. With a penchant for beef, I went to the closest steakhouse to my hotel, which happened to be Char. Going on a Friday night, the restaurant was quite busy with people waiting to be seated. Fortunately, I had a reservation so I didn't wait long for a table. As I sat at the bar, I noticed that, other than myself, there were only two other black people in the restaurant. Normally, stating a fact like this wouldn't be appropriate for a restaurant review, but I'm putting it out here in order to set the comparison to the Memphis restaurant that I'll talk about later. The vibe in the restaurant was definitely more "country" than "urban," which I expected given the steakhouse's location in Nashville's Green Hills neighborhood (Memphians, visualize Germantown (the Memphis suburb, not the Nashville neighborhood) with more hills). Definitely a relaxing environment made even more so with a bottle of Stella Artois beer that cost under six dollars (huge difference in price when compared to a typical Honky Tonk in Downtown Nashville).
After a few minutes of waiting, I was able to get to my table in a dining room that wasn't huge. I knew what I wanted, Char's Prime Rib that I had on a previous trip to Nashville. That was one of the best that I ever had, so good that it didn't need au jus sauce or horseradish. I got it with a salad and an appetizer that I will talk about later. In all, everything I had was excellent.
The prime rib was roasted to a perfect "medium rare" and so tender that it was easy to cut and chew. Like the last time, the meat was tasty, seasoned with a "rub" that likely consisted of a blend of black pepper, Kosher salt, garlic and other seasonings that yields an appealing flavor that's irresistible. And like the last time, I didn't need au jus sauce or horseradish to eat with the nearly perfect prime rib. It gets a big "thumbs up" from me and I will definitely get it again whenever I'm in Nashville, unless Char's Memphis restaurant puts the prime rib on its menu.
To go along with my prime rib, I got a baked potato, the house salad and for the appetizer, the fried green tomatoes. When I first saw the appetizer on the menu, I thought of the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" with Jessica Tandy. That was a "feel good" movie with Morgan Freeman playing her charming chauffer in the Old South. After ordering, I realized that I got my movies confused for the "feel good" that I was really thinking about was "Driving Miss Daisy." Still, I felt good about ordering the fried green tomatoes that were quite tasty. The cornmeal breading, topped with a tomato basil relish and parsley, was crunchy and firm enough to keep the appetizer intact. I was afraid that the appetizer would be a mushy mess, but instead it was a delight to eat and complemented the prime rib well. Fortunately, unlike the prime rib, the fried green tomatoes are on the Memphis Char menu so I'm definitely ordering it again soon.
Overall, my dinning experience at the Nashville Char was great. In the smallish restaurant on the bottom floor of an office building, the environment was vibrant but not loud. The service was great, for I wasn't lacking in anything that I needed. For a "pre-birthday dinner", I would have been hard pressed to find a better restaurant than Char. It's a great restaurant that I look forward to visiting again.
Back To Memphis
As nice as my visit to Nashville was, my hope for Char's Memphis restaurant was that it would be great as well. Because my Dad was treating me to dinner as his "present" to me, I had to classify this as a "birthday dinner." Initially, I wanted to go the one restaurant that both my Dad and I like. Unfortunately, the Majestic Grille doesn't offer convenient "accessible" (as in handicap) parking for elderly people like my Dad. And because my driving privileges are suspended (you should never "drink and drive"), I couldn't get my Dad close enough to the restaurant even with the staff's assistance. So with the "Majestic" ruled out, I had to find another restaurant that could accommodate my Dad and meet my standard for a "birthday dinner." After thinking it over, it seemed the logical solution was a restaurant like Memphis' Char. Located on the bottom floor of a condominium near the Highland Strip, I knew it had ample "accessible" parking that could put my Dad right at the restaurant's doors. Despite being a good choice from my perspective, my Dad isn't one for fancy dining, at least when he's with me. He is more of a "Cracker Barrel" guy than someone who is into fine dining. However, at least once a year, he will put up with my tastes in cuisine. That said, I try to strike a balance that we both can live with but I rarely ever succeed in that. I had hoped that Char would buck the trend, for I wanted the both of us to have a good time.
For an appetizer, I got pork rinds for the both of us to share. Unlike what's sold at a convenience store, the pork rinds were tasteful without the overbearing presence of salt. Whether or not that's a good or bad thing depends on personal taste, but they were okay to me. Ultimately, I'm probably on the side of salt because while the rinds were good, I'm not sure if I can eat a bag of them by themselves. Fortunately, the pork rinds come with Comeback and Gruyère sauces for dipping. Of the two, the Comeback sauce tasted better with the pork rinds than the Gruyère (makes sense, given both Comeback Sauce and pork rinds originated in the American South).
Not long after getting the appetizer, our main courses arrived. I got the Maple Leaf Farm Duck Breast with sweet potatoes and broccoli and my dad got the Pan-Seared Atlantic Salmon. In ordering the duck, my server asked me how I wanted it cooked. Before responding, I thought "why is he asking this?" In my experience, poultry is always cooked thoroughly as in "well done." Not doing so would cause food poisoning in the form of Salmonella, according to what I knew about it. Apparently that isn't always true, for Char must have a special technique for cooking duck. So to satisfy my curiosity, I ordered it like a steak by getting it "medium rare." 
From what I could ascertain, the duck breast looked really raw. So with fingers crossed, I attempted to eat the entrée with the hope of not regretting it later. As I expected, the duck was very chewy and tough, tasting similar to steak tartare despite not being minced. Fortunately, the maple sauce that coated the duck breast provided enough sweet flavor (along with the sweet potatoes and sweet butter from the complimentary bread) to offset the bland taste of the meat. Overall the duck breast was good but if I order it again, I'm getting it "well done."
SIDE NOTE: Given that my Dad didn't like the Pan-Seared Atlantic Salmon, I decided to get it myself. Contrary to my Dad's opinion, the salmon was fantastic! Topped with a tomato caper vinaigrette, it was a combination of buttery and vinegar flavors that makes the salmon so good. Combined with zucchini, squash and broccoli (or broccolini as described in the menu), the pan-seared salmon is phenomenal. Compared to the other restaurants where I had my "birthday dinners" (McEwen's and Magnolia Bend Grille), Char's salmon entrée was the best fish dinner (or in this case, lunch) among them. Really impressive for a steakhouse, but it this shows the restaurant's capacity to appeal to a wide community, my Dad notwithstanding.
For dessert, the restaurant comped me with a small bowl of ice cream with sprinkles and a candle on top. It was sweet end to a nice dinner that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm not sure my Dad would agree but he is a hard man to please. Maybe next, I hope one of my sisters accompany us to dinner at a place that one of them chooses. For whatever reason, he always like their choices in restaurants. But this dinner was about me and as far as I'm concerned, Char left a good impression and I'm likely to return.
SIDE NOTE: Thinking about it, maybe the reason why my Dad aligns with my sisters more is not so much about humoring them (or dissing me) but rather they have similar tastes. I know this is a "Captain Obvious" observation, but when I think about the time that my family went to brunch at Rizzo's Diner (owned by my friend and Chef Michael Patrick who currently runs Magnolia Bend Grille where I had another "birthday dinner" a week after Char), all of them hated the experience. Given the acclaim that Chef Mike has received as one of Memphis' best chefs, my family's taste aren't with the majority.
Because Char's Memphis location isn't far from where I work, I'm definitely returning again for the occasional lunch (whenever I get my driving privileges back). One reason for that is the lunch specials that Char offers during the week. Instead of getting something like a run-of-the-mill burger, you can get something like Country Fried Steak that's only offered on Thursdays. I had it before I embarked on my trip to Nashville and really liked it. Maybe because it's an upscale restaurant, but the "steak" didn't have as much seasoning as one might find at a "greasy spoon" diner or Soul Food restaurant. Most of the flavor comes from the gravy (garnished with parsley, I assume) that was creamy and vey savory. The breading on the steak, while not having much seasoning, was fried to a nearly perfect golden brown and lightly layered on the steak. In other words, the breading didn't overwhelm the steak but rather complemented it nicely. In all, Char's version of this Southern staple was classy and well worth the time to indulge in. If the other daily specials are as good as the country fried steak, I might become a "lunch regular" at Char.
SIDE NOTE: Char's other daily specials (11am - 2pm) are fried chicken (Monday), ground beef meatloaf (Tuesday), short ribs (Wednesday) and fried catfish (Friday). This applies only to the Memphis restaurant. In Nashville, daily lunch specials are Country Fried Pork Chop (Monday), roast beef (Tuesday), fried chicken (Wednesday), grilled shrimp (Thursday) and fried catfish (Friday).
Just like the Nashville location, Char's Memphis restaurant is quite nice. Compared to Nashville, the Memphis restaurant is much bigger. To give my Memphis readers a reference, the Nashville location is close in size to Itta Bena (without the hassle of overbooking) while the Memphis restaurant is slightly smaller than the Majestic Grille. In comparing the bars of the two Char restaurants, the Nashville restaurant bar is in a small room consisting of an approximately 20-foot bar and a few tables while the Memphis location's bar room is literally a restaurant within a restaurant, for its size is almost as big as the entirety of one of my favorite Italian-American restaurants, Cocozza (owned by the same people who run the Majestic Grille) in addition to its main dining room. Also, I didn't notice it at the Nashville location, but the Memphis restaurant also has spaces for private parties and special events along with special booths for those looking for discreet dining (unlike the now defunct Blind Bear Speakeasy, those curtain booths aren't hidden, but rather in a hallway connecting the main dining room to the restaurant's entrance). Now, one could argue if bigger means better, for there were a few open tables on the Saturday night when my Dad and I went, while the smaller Nashville location was at full capacity during my visits there. In terms of vibe, the Memphis restaurant has a more "urban" feel to it. While I could count the number of black people on one hand (including myself) at Nashville's Green Hills restaurant, I would've needed to be an octopus to count the number of African-Americans at the Memphis location (and yes, I know that octopi don't have hands but I'm sure you get the point). This is not to say that this is a "black" restaurant (although it wouldn't be a bad thing if it were) but Memphis' Char has a much more diverse group of people dining there than the Nashville restaurant. With its location on Highland Street, it is at an "intersection" (sort to speak) of the Chickasaw Gardens neighborhood that is similar to Green Hills as far as demographics, the University of Memphis (my alma mater) and Buntyn, a middle class neighborhood that includes the Highland Strip. There are also retirement communities that are in walking distance of the restaurant, many of whom apparently chill by drinking wine at Char's bar in the afternoon. Needless to say, I could never feel out of place at the Memphis restaurant, although I'm envious of the retirees that I see chilling while I'm rushing through my lunch break (some are close to my age). Nothing against Nashville's Char that I'm sure to visit again, but I feel more at home at its sister restaurant in the Bluff City.
The Steak
Finally, I'm going to review the most obvious thing that one would look for in a blog post about a steakhouse: a steak. A couple of months later, I returned to Char in Memphis to get its best ribeye steak. I figured my review of Char wouldn't be complete without it. Although a prime rib could be considered a "steak" given that it is cut from the same part of the cow that ribeye steaks come from, the texture of it is different given the way it's cooked. And unlike the duck that I had earlier, the chefs got it right with the ribeye.
Before I ate the steak, I got the Spinach Bacon Crisp for an appetizer. It is a crispy flour tortilla topped with spinach and bacon along with mozzarella cheese, a tomato basil relish and bits of lettuce. In appearance, the unsophisticated would assume that this is a pizza but I would describe it as a giant nacho that was sliced into pieces. Actually, the flour tortilla is more flaky than corn nachos and somewhat similar to a puff pastry. The tortilla was very savory along the combination of toppings that were very good. The bacon, spinach and mozzarella really stood out with the basil providing a subtle boost to the appetizer. In hindsight, I wished that I had gotten this on my "birthday dinner" that my Dad treated me to. I believe he would have been more receptive to it than the pork rinds, probably saying "damn, we're getting a pizza too!?" Anyway, the Spinach Bacon Crisp is a great appetizer that is palatable to just about anyone.
The steak that I got was one of best that I've had in awhile. The Prime Cowboy Ribeye is a 20 oz. bone-in chili-rubbed ribeye that is Char's most expensive steak. If you want to know if it was worth it, I will respond with a resounding "YES!" The ribeye, cooked to a perfect "medium rare", had flavor with a bit of a kick. The chili rub gave the steak a mildly spicy flavor, heightening the senses without taking away from the essence of the steak. With its charred exterior (can't have a steak from "Char" without that), the ribeye had a unique flavor that was very satisfying. Along with a baked potato and very tasty green beans (seasoned with bacon and almonds), the ribeye dinner was excellent.
NOTE: The Prime Cowboy Ribeye is available at all Char locations.
In all, Char is a great steakhouse that serves excellent food. Regardless of whatever location you visit, you will find a restaurant that is charming and suitable for any occasion. The service is excellent for they met all my needs, including getting my check in a prompt manner when I needed to return to my job. By the way, Char also serves brunch on Sundays which I'm confident is delicious (will probably update this review whenever I get around to having brunch there). In all, Char is great, so give it a try.
Website: CharRestaurant.com
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