Back in Memphis for the holidays? If it’s been a while since your last visit, you’ve missed out on some great new restaurant openings.
While many longtime favorites and recent upstarts have closed their doors this year, a variety of new restaurants have opened with fresh ideas and fresh food to try.
Between fine dining, bars, authentic gelato and casual neighborhood eateries, there is bound to be something that opened this year that will catch your eye.
Here are six spots that opened in 2024 that we recommend checking out during your visit.
JEM
644 Madison Ave.
Short for Just Enjoy the Moment, JEM is a top-tier restaurant co-owned and operated by Josh Mutchnick, a Mobile, Alabama, native who has worked in four Michelin-starred restaurants. Mutchnick has tailored his menu to create an “approachable fine dining” experience — for example, items with odd or fancy names are explained in the menu’s “food dictionary.”
You don’t need to understand fancy French words to enjoy dinner at JEM, though. The menu is “American with foreign influences,” according to Mutchnick. It’s a small menu, but one that changes often as he experiments. For example, a current main course is the Pan Seared Red Fish, served with brown butter, sweet potato, mushrooms, collard greens and a harissa-coconut cream sauce. One item that has remained throughout the year is JEM’s excellent Gnocchi, potato dumplings served with Vidalia onion soubise, Calabrian chiles and pickled garlic.