Master Chef Takes Cooking to a Higher Level

 

Fried catfish plate served at The Grilled Asparagus. 

MEMPHIS, TN – The little quaint restaurant sizzles on the inside where succulent cuisine is artfully created by a master chef – like DaVinci painting the “Mona Lisa,” for example. 

The cuisine is just as much a work of art as it whets the appetite. The master chef is Christopher E. Beavers. The quaint little restaurant, which Beavers is the sole proprietor, is called The Grilled Asparagus.

“It goes back to the name culinary arts. It is the art of cooking,” Beavers explained.   

Located at one end of a strip of small businesses, The Grilled Asparagus is south of Crosstown Concourse at 431 North Cleveland Street and Autumn Avenue, where the small businesses thrive.

The building’s exterior is painted charcoal gray; its facade is nondescript. But the aroma of mouth-watering food wafts within the cozy and elegant space. A sign bearing the name of the restaurant hangs overhead.

The Grilled Asparagus serves an array of dishes between soul food and specialized entrées that one may find on the menu at four-star restaurants. Whatever your palate craves – vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian – Beavers makes it happen.

In addition to the succulent meals that he prepares at the restaurant, Beavers is a well-known chef who personally cooks for celebrities, judges, attorneys, doctors, and others. His clientele varies. 

He is a culinary artist per se whose kitchen skills were sought by the late Bud Davis of Bud Davis Cadillac of Memphis, the late Lorenzen Wright and Rudy Gay, former standouts for the Memphis Grizzlies.

“My longest tenure was when I was a personal chef for the Memphis Grizzlies,” he said.

Beavers served as the personal chef for the Grizzlies for four years and R&B singers Anita Baker and Ginuwine. He also cooked for other NBA players, coaches, community leaders, Memphis City Schools, and politicians.

The Reeves Law Firm in Memphis is currently a client. “We provide food for them daily,” he said.

Beavers has built a steady clientele of celebrities whose taste buds vary as much as the diverse dishes he serves. But then he would like to attract more blue-collar workers and young people to the restaurant.

Not too many young people, he said. Either way, he’s familiar with various dishes when cooking for both celebrities and blue-collar workers.

“It’s kind of hard to find that medium,” he said, “where you’re attracting the clientele that I’ve built up, but also attract this new crowd that has money to spend.” 

So, what is Beavers’ style of cooking? “It's kind of hard to peg a particular style or class of cooking,” he said, choosing instead to be versatile and consistent when cooking for his clients. 

“I used to say versatility and creativity. But [the] clientele doesn’t want creativity, they want consistency. They don’t want a new macaroni and cheese; they want the same one from last year.”

Beavers’ interest in cooking began when he was a child growing up on Seventh Street in North Memphis. He graduated from Manassas High School in 1994 and chose to pursue a career in cooking.

“I just wanted to learn how to cook. It always interested me,” he said. “When I graduated from high school, I got a chance to go to culinary school. That’s how I got my culinary chef certification.”

Beavers earned his culinary arts degree from Kittrell Culinary School in Henderson, North Carolina, where he learned to develop his own unique style and flair. Then he began serving as a sous chef in five-star kitchens throughout Memphis.

“I became an entrepreneur in 2010, but I didn’t get a brick and mortar until 2019,” he said, referring to his little quaint restaurant, The Grilled Asparagus.

Success is not guaranteed, he said, although he’s been quite success thus far. But not all chefs are rated the same.

“I would say that more people underestimate how challenging being a chef is,” said Beavers, “even people who go to a culinary school to become a chef. They underestimate the tenacity, the strength that you’re going to [need] to do it every day.” 

Beavers said if a chef is cooking for hundreds, or thousands, it’s got to be right.

“You have to have the gift of taste to get it right,” he said. “It takes some intangible gifts to do this on a high level.”

Chef Christopher E. Beavers can be reached at 901-406-8581.

Trailblazing Pharmacist’s ‘Incredible Life and Legacy’ Spanned 65 Years

 

The late Dr. Charles A. Champion had served the Memphis
community since 1981, the year he launched Champion's Pharmacy
and Herb Store. Here, in this 2014 photo, he's mixing a gel-based
ointment with a spatula. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

MEMPHIS, TN – He was a “Pill-er of the Community,” one of several slogans Dr. Charles A. Champion used to promote Champion’s Pharmacy & Herb Store in the Whitehaven community.

A longtime independent pharmacist, Dr. Champion was widely known for dispensing both traditional drugs and herbal remedies. He’d spent more than 40 years building a loyal customer base. 

On Jan. 21, Dr. Champion died, bringing an end to a total of 65 years in pharmacy. He was 92.

The family expressed the loss of Dr. Champion in a statement to the media that underscores his “incredible life and legacy.”

“Dr. Champion spent his career creating and providing remedies to treat many common illnesses,” the statement reads. “His dedication and love for people and his community were evident in his work. 

“The joy Dr. Champion found in serving others was immeasurable, and we are grateful to everyone who trusted him and Champion’s Pharmacy & Herb Store with their health and wellness needs.”

The statement concludes with an appeal for the community to continue to carry Dr. Champion “in your hearts and continue to ‘Live Like A Champion,’” a recent slogan heralded by the family.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland tweeted his condolences to Dr. Champion’s family. “I was saddened to hear about the death of Dr. Charles Champion. He was a true champion.” 

Strickland presented Dr. Champion with the key to the city in 2019.

Dr. Willie W. Herenton, the former mayor of Memphis, spoke highly of Dr. Champion, calling him a trailblazer in his profession of pharmacy in Tennessee and throughout the nation.

“We have loss a trailblazer…” he said. “He was loved and respected by many. He and I had a great friendship over the years. I had great admiration and respect for Dr. Champion.”

Herenton shared fond memories of meeting Dr. Champion for the first time after speaking with a neighbor in the early years. 

“I vividly remember my neighbor saying, ‘There’s a Black man that’s a doctor with a white coat on down in the shopping center,’” he recalls. “This was at Katz Drug Store (which first opened in Memphis in 1954).” 

Herenton said he walked down to the drugstore to see for himself. “I’d never seen a Black man behind a drugstore [sic] with a white coat on. That’s when I first met Champion,” he said.

Dr. Champion worked 12 years at Katz Drug Store. He was the first African-American pharmacist hired by the chain in the city. Before then, he’d worked 12 years in pharmacy at the former John Gaston Hospital in Memphis. 

Before his foray into pharmacy, Dr. Champion matriculated at Xavier University College of Pharmacy in New Orleans and graduated in 1955. He also spent two years in Germany in the United States Army as a pharmacist.

Dr. Champion and his wife, the former Carolyn Bailey, whom he married in 1958, first opened Champion’s Pharmacy & Herb Store in 1981 at 1925 Third Street and moved 10 years later to their current location at 2369 Elvis Presley Blvd.

Mrs. Champion served as the pharmacy’s business manager.

In 2021, when Dr. Champion was 90, he spoke candidly to The Tennessee Tribune about his life and legacy. He was semi-retired then. His daughters – Dr. Carol “Cookie” Champion and Dr. Charita Champion Brookins, both pharmacists – were running the day-to-day operation. 

“It's a godsend situation,” Dr. Champion told The Tribune. “After we lost our daughter Chandra (in 2014), who was a certified pharmacy technician, she’d produced two children who are able to help us from a financial standpoint and from a scientific standpoint.” 

Dr. Carol Champion had said she hopes to expand what her father had built. “I want to expand our territory and be able to grow the online sales,” she had said in 2021, “and possibly open a west Tennessee location within two to three years.”

Right now, the family is grieving the loss of the trailblazing founder of Champion’s Pharmacy & Herb Store, Dr. Charles A. Champion. 

Funeral arrangements: A wake for Dr. Charles A. Champion is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 29, from 2 p.m.-6 p.m. at Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church, 538 Dr. MLK Jr. Ave., Memphis, TN 38126. The funeral is Monday at noon, Jan. 30, also at the church.

Tracy Bethea Makes History as WDIA’s New Program Director

Tracy Bethea

MEMPHIS, TN – Tracy Bethea has a few ideas in mind to expand WDIA’s reach into the community, such as taking The Bev Johnson Show on the road or Stan Bell showing up in a neighborhood park and playing music.

“WDIA [1070 AM] is a community station. It always has been. That's why they were the goodwill and good times station,” said Bethea, referring to a slogan the radio station used decades ago to promote its community involvement. 

Bethea now has an opportunity to implement her own ideas, forge her own path, as WDIA’s newest program director, a position that had been vacant since the death of Bobby O’Jay in May of last year.

Since Bethea is the program director and on-air personality for 95.7 Hallelujah FM, WDIA’s sister station, she had been “helping out” at WDIA before Sue “Big Sue” Purnell, senior vice president of programing for iHeartMedia Memphis, offered her the position.

“I was already doing things that programmers do anyway,” said Bethea, adding that a job search for the program director’s position had already been initiated before she was tapped for the job.  

Feeling a sense of joy and pride, Bethea still had to think about the offer and talk it over with her husband. It meant extra work, she said. [But] then she prayed about it and decided to take the job. 

“I said, you know what? This is a full circle moment for me. And to continue the legacy [at WDIA], it's my honor,” said Bethea, also giving honor to O’Jay for his groundbreaking work at the station.

“I learned a lot from him,” said Bethea. “And so, when I became a program director at Hallelujah FM, he would tell me, ‘Tracy, I'm so proud of you.’” The compliment still warms her heart.

Bethea’s “full circle moment” began in 1987 when she interned in the newsroom at WDIA, the first radio station in the country to switch its format in 1947 to all-Black programing and all-Black on-air personalities.

“I worked there for 10 years overnight and on Sundays,” said Bethea, mulling over her ascension at WDIA. Over the years, she was dubbed “The Young One,” the female voice of gospel.

She continued to climb the proverbial ladder one rung at a time. Her passion for the job soon blossomed into opportunities. One of them was launching the 24-hour gospel station KWAM 990 The Light, where she served as chief operator.

In 2002, she played an integral part in Clear Channel Communication’s launch of Hallelujah FM, also a 24-hour gospel station, before Clear Channel was rebranded iHeartMedia, Inc. 

Bethea has been with Hallelujah FM since its inception and has been programing since 2016. “We just celebrated 20 years on the radio,” she said, then touted the station’s rank among the top five in Memphis.

“We also have Hallelujah radio stations throughout the Southern region, including St. Louis; Jackson, Miss.; New Orleans; Birmingham, Ala.; Mobile, Ala.; Montgomery Ala.; and Savannah, Ga.”

iHeartMedia, Inc. syndicates Bethea’s mid-day show throughout the Southern region. She wears several titles now: Hallelujah FM’s program and music director, music supervisor of gospel for the iHeart Media Custom Brand, and now WDIA’s program director.

“I'm passionate about the station,” said Bethea. “I grew up on WDIA… and I want to take it higher. My plans are to first and foremost continue to be the heart and soul of Memphis.”

“The Heart & Soul of Memphis” is WDIA’s current slogan.

“Overall, the community is my biggest thing,” she said. “I want us to show up more in the community. But the music won't change because people love the music.”

Bethea has more than 30 years in radio. She is a two-time Stellar Award-winning “Announcer of the Year” and was inducted by the Stellar Awards in 2002 and 2016. She also accepted the award for “Radio Station of The Year” three times.

In 2015, Bethea was inducted into the Emissaries of Memphis Music, which was presented by the City of Memphis. She also served on several boards. Now she’s the first Black woman to take the helm as WDIA’s program director.

It didn’t dawn on Bethea that she’d made history “until Bev Johnson reminded me of it.”

Three Documentaries to Kick Off Black History Month

Chuck O'Bannon and Rosalind Withers (left) produced the
film "SNAP: A Look at Injustice in America." Annie Robinson and
O'Bannon (right) produced "United Front: The People's
Convention 1991 Memphis." Courtesy photos)

Marie V. Pizano

MEMPHIS, TN – A documentary is a film or video about a person or event based on facts. A documentary should also educate and bridge cultural divides, added Maria V. Pizano, founder and CEO of MVP3 Entertainment Group, which focuses of film, music, and community.

“This is part of my plan,” said Pizano, who is presenting a Black History Month series via MVP3, featuring three Memphis-based films: “Shannon Street: Echoes Under a Blood Red Moon,” “United Front: The People’s Convention 1991 Memphis,” and “SNAP: A Look at Injustice in America.”

“United Front” is screening Wednesday, Jan. 18, and “SNAP” is showing Wednesday, Feb. 1. “Shannon Street” was shown Jan. 11. 

The films are showing at Malco Paradiso, 584 S. Mendenhall Rd., with a meet and greet at 5:30 p.m., showtime at 6:15 p.m., and a panel discussion from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The Black History Month series benefit the South Memphis Alliance, which serves youth in foster care and families in need through social services, mentoring and advocacy.

“Shannon Street” digs for answers to that fateful night of Jan. 11, 1983, when a tactical squad from the Memphis Police Department stormed the home of Lindberg Sanders and killed seven Black men, including Sanders, after their hostage, officer Robert S. Hester, was beaten and heard pleading for his life.

“This is the 40th anniversary of Shannon Street,” said Pizano, an author, director and producer of the 90-minute documentary. The film’s grueling details, with reflections from both sides of the police-involved shooting, stir the conscience of those who remember the carnage.

“United Front” commemorates the 30^th anniversary of the 1991 African-American People’s Convention at the Mid-South Coliseum and the “people’s” selection of a qualified Black consensus candidate to take on the white incumbent Memphis Mayor Richard “Dick” Hackett.

Using the Democratic Convention as a model, Dr. Willie W. Herenton, formerly the superintendent of Memphis City Schools, emerged the victor and went on to eclipse Hackett for the office of mayor by a mere 147 votes.

Anniece Robinson, one of the convention’s “architects and conveners,” is the “United Front’s” executive producer. Chuck O’Bannon is producer and director of the 67-minute film.

“SNAP” gives us a glimpse in the life and legacy of Dr. Ernest C. Withers Sr., one of this nation’s most celebrated civil rights photographers. The film underscores the historic significance of Dr. Withers’s photography and what they really show.

An iconic photojournalist, Dr. Withers’s vast collection of images include the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, in Sumner, Miss., who were acquitted of killing Emmett Till, the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968, the Montgomery bus boycott, Negro league baseball, and others.

“SNAP” is presented by The Withers Collection and produced and directed by Chuck O’Bannon. Rosalind Withers, Dr. Withers’s daughter, is the film’s executive producer.

Pizano believes there aren’t enough people in Memphis who know about The Withers Collection. “It’s been here,” she said, “but what about the students? They don’t understand all this; so I want them to learn.”

A connoisseur of history, Pizano says Memphis fascinates her – which makes it “a perfect fit for me to show Shannon Street and to show these other films [United Front and SNAP] to build up toward Black History Month.”

For their work, Pizano said MVP3, her entertainment group, is honoring Anniece Robinson for “United Front,” and both Rosalind Withers and Chuck O’Bannon for “SNAP.”  

“This is history,” she said. “This is the first annual [Black History Month series]. I’d like to kick this off each year in January and build up toward Black History Month.”

Maria V. Pizano can be reached at 901-634-1724. Tickets to the Black History Month series are available, with contributions to South Memphis Alliance, at https://smaweb.harnessapp.com/wv2/donate.