Episode 3935

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- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads," we'll sample some good food that might surprise you in Fairview. We'll visit a shop that caters to collectors of tiny things, find great coffee and food on the square in Murfreesboro, and head to Memphis and a museum dedicated to rock and soul music. We're rocking into another great episode here. Howdy, everyone. I'm Ketch Secor, welcoming you back to "Tennessee Crossroads." Well, welcome, y'all. For our first story, we travel to Fairview, Tennessee, where we heard we could find a country cafe that serves up a pinch of the North and a dash of the South. Laura Faber and our crew found that the motto refers to the food and the music you hear when you visit.

- We're gonna sing.

- Let's all sing a "Happy Birthday," ready?

- One, two, three. ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

- [Laura] There are not many places in the South where you get a polka played on your birthday by a five-time Grammy nominee in polka music. LynnMarie Rodick moved to Tennessee years ago as a professional musician. Her husband Eddie came a little later, both from Cleveland, Ohio.

- We're from the North, but we're still nice. Yeah, me too. And as many of our stories go, they had no intention of opening a restaurant.

- [LynnMarie] Well, we own Uncle Lenny's Country Cafe in Fairview, Tennessee.

- [Laura] Though neither have any formal culinary training, food was always a part of their lives.

- [Eddie] LynnMarie is a great cook. Most of these recipes you're gonna see on the menu, whether it's our main dishes or our desserts, is her recipes.

- I mean, I'm the youngest of six kids. We just grew up in a house that the back door was always open. My dad owned a little bar about a mile from our house, and people would go there to feel welcome, and then they'd leave the bar and come to the house, and my mom would make them feel welcome. So there was always something on the stove. She was always cooking something, and we just grew up surrounded by the Slovenian ethnic culture. And from a young age, the house was filled with those great smells.

- [Laura] When Lynn's son James was born with Down syndrome, it threw her life for a loop. Her brother Lenny, Uncle Lenny to James, kept telling her, "You should open a restaurant."

- All right.

- And I said, "Okay," I said, "I'll make you a deal." I said, "If we ever open a restaurant, because James's favorite person in the world is you, we'll call it Uncle Lenny's."

- [Laura] Fast forward 18 years, and Lynn saw a "for sale" sign on this building off Highway 100 that used to be the old Fairview Country Cafe.

- We bought it, and with a little love and a lot of elbow grease and some funding, we turned this place, and we remodeled it and put all new equipment in and put almost everything in, and we started Uncle Lenny's Country Cafe here in Fairview.

- [Laura] As for Uncle Lenny, he was ready to retire. Instead, you'll find him doing a little bit of everything here.

- I had a desk job for 30 years. A desk job. Now, I'm on my feet for 10 hours a day. So it's a big switch, but I like it.

- [Laura] On the menu, Southern cuisine like chicken and waffles, chicken salad, chicken and dumplings, meatloaf, okra, and burgers.

- [Eddie] We have two burgers that are always on the menu. It's the James Burger, which is named after our son James.

- [Laura] Because his favorite food in the world is cheeseburgers.

- [Eddie] It's just a double semi-smash patty with cheese and toasted bun and a special secret sauce. And so that's our James Burger, that's our top seller. The other one is called the E3 Burger. They call me E3 because I'm Eddie III. So this burger is a spinoff of a burger that you can only get in Northeast Ohio, all right? This burger is two patties, but what we do is we put it on a sub bun. On the bottom is shredded lettuce and onions with a little bit of Italian dressing, sliced tomatoes, and then you put the two patties down with white American cheese and salami, and a little bit of mayonnaise on top, on a toasted sub bun.

- [LynnMarie] It's Italian sub meat burger.

- It is phenomenal.

- It's amazing.

- But it's the ethnic twists that customers line up out the door for, dishes like slow-roasted chicken paprikash served over homemade spaetzle German noodles, a Slovenian sausage platter, and sauerkraut. They say they serve a pinch of the North and a dash of the South. And one of the northern ethnic dishes that they serve here is the pierogi, a true Polish dish. Lenny married a Polish woman. I'm part Polish, and my grandma used to make these, so I'm gonna be the official taste tester today.

- [LynnMarie] It's basically heaven on a plate. It literally is. It is like, if you were to take a ravioli dough or wonton dough on the outside, stuff it with mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese, close it up, freeze it, drop it in boiling water, take it out, put it in a pan with butter, onions, and salt, crisp it up just enough, put it on a plate, serve it with a little bit of sour cream, that's a pierogi. We cannot keep them in stock. Fairview has embraced the pierogi.

- [Laura] Their desserts are all homemade, and their cinnamon roll tower dripping with cream cheese, frosting sells out so fast they only offer it on Sundays. The other twist is the music. On every second Monday every month, Uncle Lenny's house band performs, always to a sellout crowd. Only, this isn't any ordinary band.

- [Eddie] If you know Jeff Taylor, he plays with Riders in the Sky. He plays with the Time Jumpers. He plays with every country artist you could think of. He's one of our best friends. He joined the band. I got our best buddy Mike Zimmerman, who played with Kenny Rogers, he plays drums. We got Dennis Parker, who plays with Ricky Skaggs. So we have Andrew Carney, I'm not gonna leave anybody out, Andrew Carney, who is a jazz trumpeter who's played with Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, Brian Setzer, and then Simon Martinson, who's from Sweden.

- The restaurant itself has become our show. It's become our performance. We love meeting new people. We love entertaining.

- [Laura] The goal was to create a place where people could eat, gather, and be happy.

- [Eddie] When I'm walking through the dining room and I just see people laughing and smiling, or when someone walks in the door and looks over and goes, "Hey Joe, how you doing?" it's almost like cheers, right? Everybody knows your name. And I think that's when it really sinks in and goes, "Wow, look at what we have created here. Look at what we have done."

- Thanks, Laura. Not every day you get serenaded by an accordion. They say good things come in small packages, and that's certainly true at a very special shop right here in Nashville. Coming up in our next story, Miranda Cohen visits a quaint cottage in Berry Hill, where tiny objects are making a big impact.

- Well, you'll find a little bit of everything in here. This is one of my favorite boxes right here.

- [Miranda] This small shop in Berry Hill is a dream come true, small in scale and huge in imagination.

- You're at Miniature Cottage in the heart of Berry Hill. We've been here for 48 years, same address, same phone number. We're one of the oldest Nashville businesses still in business.

- [Miranda] The Miniature Cottage opened its doors in the 1970s and has been delighting generations of avid collectors ever since. The original owner was Jean Flippen, who owned the small shop for more than two decades. The current owner, Renee Marlowe, was once a customer, a trained artist with a passion for delicate miniatures.

- I was 65. Renee Marlowe then came to me and said, "I wanna buy your building and your business." And I said, "Thank you, Lord."

- [Renee] And so she thought about it, and we shook hands, and she gave me the keys. And we have been partners ever since. She never left me. She's still with me. And so that's how we come about.

- [Miranda] With Jean still minding the store, Renee focuses on creating beautiful dolls and small-scale furniture and decor.

- [Jean] Renee's free to paint and make dolls and be creative and clean and organized and display, so the shop is always pristine.

- [Miranda] This unique cottage contains more than 19,000 miniatures, with more being crafted every day. If you can dream it, it is probably here, with delicate details.

- If it's in real life, we probably have it in 1-12-inch scale or can have it made for you. We can paint your house, your children's portraits, anything that you wanna recreate. You could get lost in here for literally probably an entire day, looking at everything, and just all of the, it is just amazing. And the artisan work that goes into it, and just all of the intricate details and everything.

- This is my favorite little store. It just makes me happy to come in here and walk around. I've just always loved miniatures and small things, and I think it takes you back to childhood.

- [Jean] I think a lot of it is, of course, it satisfies so many different hobbies that you might have, sewing and knitting and building, but it also satisfies your decorating taste.

- [Miranda] The Miniature Cottage features nearly every aspect of life in 1-12 inch scale. Even smaller is called half scale, and then it can get even more minute from there. Renee says some clients want dolls to inhabit their exquisite spaces, while others simply want to replicate the beauty of a bygone era.

- Being a miniature shop like we are, we have to know all the periods, because you might have a Victorian house and you need Victorian furniture, or you might want modern. Like, for example, that's mid-century modern. Today, with the younger generation, there's so much minimalist. They don't want a big house cluttered full of stuff. They don't collect china, you know? But the miniatures have a whole new meaning for them. And what they like to do with them is make videos out of them.

- If you have an interest in miniatures but don't have room for an entire dollhouse, a great way to start is with a diorama, or as they call it here, a room box. And here at the Miniature Cottage, they offer classes, and they will help you design and style your very own. Depends on what your passion is, you might wanna just do a little room box and just do a little scene that's happening in it.

- [Renee] If you're like me and you wanted to try every kind of art form you know, from quilting to stained glass window to gardening, all of it, well, you can do it miniature, and it doesn't take up much space.

- [Miranda] The front of the cottage is filled with everything to adorn tiny rooms and small spaces. But in the back, it is a full-blown construction zone that you have to see to believe. The foreman is master woodworker Bill Hines, and with meticulous detail, he is bringing memories back to life and creating custom-made replicas.

- They are mostly heirlooms, and when they bring them in, a father or a grandfather has lovingly built these houses years ago. And being able to put them back in the shape that they originally were in, or even better, for the next generation, and in some cases, these houses have been around for two or three generations.

- [Miranda] But Hines and his team are adding modern touches your grandfather may have never imagined, like working lights, glass chandeliers, hand-painted art, and glowing embers.

- [Bill] We go into a lot of detail, and it's like doing a real house. They pick out the flooring, the wallpaper, the baseboard, crown molding. Most of these houses nowadays are wired for electricity, chandeliers, wall sconces, as much detail as the customer wants to get into.

- [Miranda] And if you would like to get a more hands-on experience, Renee offers classes in miniature making at the cottage, where you can create your own tiny treasures. The Miniature Cottage is one of only a handful of true miniature shops left in the country, drawing collectors from all over with big dreams and even bigger hopes for the next generation of collectors.

- Have a good one.

- You too.

- Thanks, Miranda, what fun. Hey, don't you love Tennessee town squares? Each has its own character and special features. Well, if you visit the one in Murfreesboro, you might consider a stop at Joanie's. It's comfy, it's a friendly spot for coffee and scratch-made food, plus an inspiring story behind the name.

- The town square in Murfreesboro is a delightful, walkable destination with several historic landmarks, such as the Rutherford County Courthouse built in 1859. The town square is not only historic and picturesque, it's populated by locally-owned businesses. In fact, our destination is a little dining spot called Joanie's.

- I wanted it to be an upbeat, happy place. I wanted people to leave the place happier than they were when they came in.

- [Joe] That's Jason Day, owner of Joanie's, a brand with two local locations, including this one on the town square. High ceilings with exposed old brick offer a nice ambiance of antiquity as you enjoy your meal. Jason's career journey to Middle Tennessee started in California, back when he was working in the business end of a healthcare facility.

- It was a great job. It was a comfortable job, but you're talking end of life. You're talking to people at their most stressed. You're talking death almost every day, and it mentally wears on you. And I just kind of had this epiphany, for the next 10 years, do I wanna do this? And I thought, no. I wanted to do something that makes people happy.

- [Joe] After a few trips to visit an old buddy who was living in the borough, Jason happily headed east.

- I'm so thrilled I did it because it's just been the best community ever to do this in. My biggest thing was I wanted it to be an upbeat, happy place. I wanted people to leave the place happier than they were when they came in. So coffee was gonna always be a component, 'cause I wanted it to be a social place. I wanted it to be a place where you can sit down with your friends and your neighbors and talk, and coffee's very conducive for that.

- [Joe] Nowadays, the menus include breakfast, lunch, and dinner with, as they say, a little something for everyone.

- We do obviously breakfast, 'cause our breakfast burrito's very popular. We have our French toasted waffle pancake, which is kind of our signature dish. It's a waffle that we put two pancakes on, and then we French toast it and cover that with strawberries and whipped cream. That's a very popular one, especially at this location here downtown. It's really turned into a lunch spot, so all of our sandwiches and quesadillas and tacos, gourmet burgers that we do here. My thing is, I always wanted to make sure that whoever comes in here, whatever their diet restrictions are or what their preferences are, we had something on the menu for everybody.

- [Joe] That means any item on the menu anytime of the day. Want a burger for breakfast? Hey, no problem.

- And because we make it all from scratch and we don't do microwaves, we make our whole menu from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. So if you want a burger at 7:00 a.m., we'll make it for you. And if you want French toast at 9:00 p.m., we'll make it for you.

- [Joe] These days, you hear a lot about restaurant owners struggling to attract and retain good employees. Jason considers himself one of the fortunate ones.

- There were two sides of this for me. It was A, the customer side of it, which was to make sure it's a great experience for the customer. But the other side was make sure it's a great experience for my workers too. I want them to enjoy being here. I want it to be, 'cause if they're enjoying it and they're having fun, the customers will enjoy it and the customers will have fun. So I'm fortunate enough to be able to pay well and pay competitively, but also hopefully, make it a fun environment for them.

- [Joe] By now, you might be wondering, who is Joanie? Well, she was Jason's mother, who passed away just before he opened this downtown location.

- And my mom was just kind of my rock growing up. I was the baby. I was attached to her hip as I was growing up, and everything I am, I owe to her. She worked really hard to give me a life that allowed me to put me in a position to save money and to ultimately do this. And I always say all the skills I have that are required to do this, I got from her.

- [Joe] Jason's restaurants were called Red Bicycle before Joanie's passing, then a name change was inevitable.

- It's one of the coolest things I've ever done. I get to think about her every day . I get to see her name on the coffee sleeves, and it's a pretty special thing.

- [Joe] Customers often ask Jason if he'll open a third location someday. He doesn't have an answer for that yet. Right now, he enjoys each day of pleasing guests, working with this friendly staff, and still savoring his decision to seek happiness and fortune in Middle Tennessee.

- [Jason] I'm so thrilled I did it because it's just been the best community ever to do this in. And they've made it so much fun for me to be here and supporting us. So I'm so blessed to have chosen Murfreesboro.

- Great people and some really great coffee. And thanks to the late great Joe Elmore. Well, next up, we're headed to the home of the blues. That's where you'll find the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum. Danielle Allen is our tour guide, and she'll show you how some musicians in the Bluff City have made an impact all around the world.

- [Danielle] These are the songs we know and love. performed by the artists we'll never forget, and their music lives on right here at the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum. Located on the legendary Beale Street, this museum takes you on a journey spanning decades, from sharecroppers singing their troubles away to the undeniable sounds of Stax Records. This place covers it all.

- Everybody knows Memphis because of music, and it's such a diverse city from a musical standpoint, blues, rock and roll, soul, R&B, gospel, opera. It's really part of the whole fabric of the city, of what we are and how we are and how the music came together and how it exploded here in Memphis.

- [Danielle] John Doyle is the executive director of the museum. For the past 20 years, his mission has been simple: make sure no one forgets the rich musical history of the Bluff City. And there are a lot of stories to tell, like the legend of Robert Johnson.

- This is one of the coolest things of the museum when you come in. This, you can see through the front window. But Robert Johnson, one of the greatest blues musicians of all time, started out as a poor blues musician. And so it created one of music's greatest legends of how he was here around Memphis, disappeared for a year, came back, and when he came back, he was truly one of the greatest blues musicians of all time. Eric Clapton has recorded an entire LP about him. Everybody knows Robert Johnson who admires the blues. And so it created the whole legend that he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads of Highway 61, which runs by the museum, and Highway 49 in the Mississippi Delta, because his talent just changed exponentially.

- [Danielle] After learning about Robert Johnson, the audio guide takes you through 300 minutes' worth of history with over 100 songs. And yes, people dance their way through the museum, especially when they reach this section.

- [John] We protect some famous things here. We've had the original console from Sun Studios here. We have the guitar that Elvis serenaded Priscilla with when he was in the armed forces in Germany. That's on display here. We actually have Ike Turner's piano that he recorded "Rocket 88" here. We've got the microphone from Carl Perkins where he recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" here. But more importantly, we have that storyline that the Smithsonian put together.

- [Danielle] That storyline from the Smithsonian started as a simple exhibition in the late 1900s. After extensive research, including interviews with legends like B.B. King, the Smithsonian turned their hard work into a museum, but they made sure it covered more than just music.

- [John] At the same time, Dr. King was leading the civil rights movement socially across our country and really throughout the whole world, influencing folks like Mandela, et cetera. Our Memphis musicians were carrying forth a civil rights movement in the studios like Hi Records and Stax Records, and even Sun and more contemporary studios like Ardent, where it was just what they did. It's how we create music.

- [Danielle] People travel from all over the world to visit the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum. In fact, 40% of their daily visitors are from overseas, including Australia, China, and Brazil, proving that music has the power to speak to people of all ages, whether they're walking in Memphis in their blue suede shoes or just a pair of sneakers.

- [Joe] This is a lifestyle museum. Whether you are 64 like me or whether you're 24, this museum and Memphis music is gonna touch you on some aspect. So you're coming through in your experience in life. Folks do not leave here disappointed. They don't leave here with bad comments on our comment sheets because my grandfather had a jukebox just like that, and when he ran a store in whatever city, or I remember growing up and my grandmother played Al Green in the kitchen when she was preparing Sunday dinner. It's lifestyle all the way through the museum.

- Thanks, Danielle, and thank you all for joining us this week. Be sure to go to our website, tennesseecrossroads.org, for more of your favorite stories, and check us out on the PBS app. But most of all, join us back here next time. See you then.

- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by:

- [Sponsor 1] Students across Tennessee have benefited from over $7.5 billion we've raised for education, providing more than two million scholarships and grants. The Tennessee Lottery, game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Sponsor 2] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways, where adventure, cuisine, and history come together. With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect. Trips can be planned at tnvacation.com.