This Friday August 23, Puck Food Hall will host a special tasting dinner in honor of the I Love Memphis Blog's 10th Birthday! If you go, you can try delicious food from all the food stations and the bar. From handmade pasta to street tacos to cocktails, this weekend's Puck Food Hall Tasting is a big bang for your buck, but tickets are limited, so snag those ASAP.

How It Works

Your $50 ticket gets you ten tokens. Redeem those tokens at any of the vendors. It's basically like they do at the Farmer's Market. Kids' tickets are $25 and include five tokens. Buy tickets here. To help manage lines, there are two sessions. Choose either 5:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. when you buy your ticket, and then arrive at that time. Local musician Tiffany Harmon will perform during dinner, too! Learn more about Puck Food Hall here, and follow them on Instagram for up-to-date info on hours, specials, and more. That's it! I have answered more FAQs at the bottom of this post. But now, let's talk about the food.

What's On The Menu?

Below is a sneak peek of what you can eat at the Puck Food Hall Tasting Dinner this Friday August 23rd at 409 S. Main. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS MENU IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Each of these items is worth one token. Your ten tokens are yours to "spend" as you wish. You can double up on items or skip others if they're not to your taste. However, this is your chance to try everything, so keep that in mind, too! - Pasta 409: cacio e pepe

Jared Summers says this grown-up take on mac 'n' cheese reminds him of birthday parties and treating yourself.

- Venga 901: BBQ pork taco

Venga went straight for the Memphis barbecue angle with a smoked pork taco with BBQ adobo, cotija cheese, and pickled red onion.

- City Block Salumeria: mortadella BBQ sandwich

At City Block, get a section of a BBQ mortadella sandwich with mustard slaw.

Lindsay Chaisson, chef de cuisine for Venga, City Block, and DoughJo, committed to the BBQ tie-in to Memphis, but with a different take for each dish.

- Pizza Doughjo: BBQ chicken pizza 

You'll get a slice of BBQ chicken pizza with a red sauce, cheddar, mozzarella, shaved red onion, and pepperoncini.

- Radical: kale quinoa salad with chicken or tofu

Don't you dare turn away at mention of the word "kale". This salad, sourced almost entirely from local farms, gets a punch of flavor from pistachios, pickled beets, dressing, and your optional choice of chicken or tofu. Diane Terrell and Heather Jamerson are the co-founders and Yolanda Manning is the General Manager for Radical's delicious food stand at Puck. This salad was one of my favorite items at the media tasting.

- Dee Lightful Bliss: Birthday gooey butter cookies

I don't know how bakery owner Da'livya Gordon makes these desserts so delightful, but this is the second time I've had one of her cookies and proclaimed it the best I've ever had.

She went for the blog birthday inspiration for this colorful take on ooey gooey butter cookie.

- Sweet Magnolia: gelato and sorbet scoops

Sweet Magnolia will have multiple flavors available for tasting-sized scoops, because why limit that during a celebration?

- Wok'n N Memphis: tbd

 

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A post shared by Wok'n in Memphis (@wokn_in_memphis) on Jul 28, 2019 at 10:11am PDT

Wok'n N Memphis specializes in creative Chinese-American food like dumplings, sticky rice, banh mi, and more. Their menu is TBD. - Dr. Beans: tbd

 

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A post shared by Dr. Bean's Coffee Roasters (@drbeanscoffeeandtea) on Jun 25, 2019 at 6:37am PDT

Dr. Beans is a longtime local roaster working on their first brick-and-mortar spot, which will open at the Puck Food Hall later this year. They hope to be at August 23rd's event with coffee samples. - Bar 409: full bar One of your tokens can be used at Bar 409 for your choice of three specialty cocktails for the evening.

More Questions

Where do you sit? There are tables and chairs set up throughout the space. Is Puck Food Hall open all the time? Yes! Check out their hours here. Why is this tasting dinner special/worth going to? Normally, each vendor offers full sized versions of dishes, so you're most likely going to only choose one or two places to try unless you just want to pay for a huge feast. This tasting dinner is a chance to try a little (but not too little!) from each vendor. Get your ticket now, though, because as soon as they're sold out, they're sold out! Is this benefitting anything?/Why is the blog involved? Ticket fees go to the food vendors as usual. I attended a media-only event a while back at Puck Food Hall, which was meant to let bloggers and food writers taste something from each of the vendors. It was only for a handful of people and one night only. I thought the general public would also enjoy the setup of a tasting dinner and wanted to make it a reality. So, I Love Memphis is helping promote this tasting night and Puck Food Hall was kind enough to choose a "Memphis" or birthday theme to the menu. What is a Food Hall? A food hall is when multiple food vendors set up in one place. Like a food court in the mall, but instead of chain fast food, it's local gourmet restaurants. Food halls have been the cool thing in dining for a while now, and I'm so glad the one downtown has reopened. Wasn't there another food hall at 409 S. Main? Yes. It closed and then the space was renovated and reopened and now it's Puck Food Hall. New vendors and more regular hours. Will there be other events like this? Maybe! Do y'all like the idea? If you have other questions, let me know in the comments. Go There: Puck Food Hall Tasting Dinner 409 S. Main Memphis, Tenn. 38103 Friday, August 23, 2019 5:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. all ages $50 adults; $25 kids Get tickets here.