Episode 4012

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- This week on "Tennessee Crossroads," Cindy Carter finds a very unpretentious craft brewery. Miranda Cohen visits a barbecue success story in Martin. Vicki Yates goes to Smyrna for homemade ice cream, and Joe Elmore takes us back to the early days of The Loveless Cafe. If you're hungry, this is the show for you. Howdy, folks. I'm Ketch Secor welcoming you back to "Tennessee Crossroads." Well, craft breweries have been all the rage for a while now with new ones popping up all of the time. And for a lot of them, the goal seems to be to see how far they can take their recipe with wild ingredients and flavors. Well, as Cindy Carter found in our first story, there is a brewery in Manchester whose goal is to keep it simple. You might even say common.

- [Cindy] When it comes to beer, LeBron Haggard's philosophy is don't overthink it. Just give the people what they want, all people.

- We didn't want to be pretentious. You know, not to knock some breweries, but I mean, sometimes craft beer can be pretentious. It's not approachable to people. So being in a small town, you know, we knew that we had to have beer that everybody could drink.

- [Cindy] LeBron, his wife Angela, and pretty much their entire family.

- Don't be back behind the bar, okay?

- Okay.

- [Cindy] Are the driving force behind the Common John Brewing Company in Manchester, Tennessee. LeBron grew up here, and in 2020, decided to apply his mechanical engineering background to a different life path.

- Yeah, I don't know if it is or not.

- [Cindy] And opened Manchester's first craft brewery.

- [LeBron] Having been born and raised here, our town was kind of like a pass-through town, like an interstate town, and we were always going somewhere else to do, to do things. So we would, you know, once we started brewing, then the home brewing and stuff, we would go visit, you know, other breweries as kind of like a weekend getaway or vacation. And there were a lot of places we went to were much smaller towns than what Manchester even is. So, you know, we're like, "Hey, this is, we really think this would work here."

- [Cindy] And boy, has it worked. LeBron says people come here for the IPAs, lagers, and light beers and stay for the food, the conversations, and camaraderie.

- [LeBron] Our light beers in general, we make several light beers that people really like. Our Straight and Narrow is kind of our golden blonde ale. Our number two seller is our Vienna lager. It's an amber lager. It's called Heathen Child. It's a, you know, funny name. Usually all of our beers have some sort of background behind the name, you know, when we come up with them. But we make an American lager called South of the Red Light. We have a kolsch that's called Vore. Those are all really light beers. We have a Mexican style lager that's called Lawdy Lawdy.

- Cheers.

- [Cindy] And not to get too into the weeds, but LeBron's engineering background comes in handy when the team is tirelessly working to ensure every sip is as it should be.

- I tell people all the time the difference, the biggest thing to me, the difference between good beer and bad beer is quality, you know, and how you take care of it. And even down to little finite things like the water, the type of water. Every beer that we make has a different water profile. Different beers have different yeast profiles, and we ferment at different temperatures.

- [Cindy] From the beers and beverages to the pizzas, sandwiches, wings, many items on Common John's menu are inspired by songs and artists who've been a part of that little music festival down the street known as Bonnaroo. Every year, LeBron and his team create a special Bonnaroo brew for the festival faithful.

- So when people come into town now, they'll swing by and grab a four pack or two four packs and hang out at the brewery before they go into Bonnaroo. So it's been great for us.

- Even the name Common John has a Bonnaroo connection. LeBron says he spent a lot of time and money trying to come up with the perfect fit, no luck. But then he heard a song by the local band Creature Comfort, which has played Bonnaroo, and everything clicked.

- And the first line in the lyrics said it was decided by the priest and just a common John digging holes in the dirt. And I was like, "That's our brewery name." You know, me and the wife were sitting there and I'm not going to lie, it was like tears started coming down my face because I'm like, I'm searching and I can't find where anybody's used this name. And I'm like, "This is perfect. It's got a perfect tie in with everything, you know?"

- [Cindy] Like LeBron says, "This brewery doesn't have an ounce of pretension, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a distinctive vibe, from tractor hood high tops to the oh so photogenic bathrooms, which LeBron's wife Angela worked very hard on to ensure they were social media ready.

- We used a lot of elements of like my husband's go-karts, and when he used to race for like 20 years, and it's just fun, and people really do take pictures a lot in here.

- [Cindy] Instagram reels aside, folks are drawn to this small town brewery for the chance to connect over a cold beer, all folks. You see, LeBron says people often ask him "Who is common John?" Well, the short answer is, "You are."

- Our tagline is, "Blue collar, white collar, no collar." You know, we, it's everybody. It doesn't matter if you're a doctor or a lawyer, you, you know, work in a factory or you work on a farm or construction. It's like everybody meets here. It's the place for everybody.

- Blue collar, white collar, no collar, that's a great tagline. Thanks, Cindy. Well, here in Music City, most people will tell you that behind every overnight success story is actually years and years of hard work and dedication. That's true in the competitive world of barbecue as well. And in our next story, Miranda Cohen introduces us to a young man in Martin who spent most of his life mastering this craft.

- [Blake] We're in Martin, Tennessee at Blake's at Southern Milling.

- [Miranda] Blake Westbrook Stoker has been cooking, grilling, and smoking meats for as long as he can remember. In college, he started out with the basics like chicken wings and pork, and that is when his real education started.

- [Blake] Then, I sort of graduated myself to pork ribs and then pork butts and just kind of started digging deeper and deeper and found a love for grilling and smoking meat.

- [Miranda] The Tennessee native became curious about barbecue from the Lone Star State, Texas techniques of smoking low and slow over wood, keeping the spices simple, and focusing on beef and turkey, as well as pork.

- [Blake] Prior to this point, I didn't know food like that existed. And it really, it only existed in that very small sector of the world, there in and around Austin, Texas.

- [Miranda] Blake came back home with a new passion, a long list of pit master friends, and a pocket full of recipes.

- [Blake] Yeah, it was a culture shock and took a lot of convincing, but people learned pretty quickly.

- [Miranda] He started selling Texas barbecue from a trailer right here in Martin, Tennessee, and then he turned this 100-year-old grain mill into a spacious, beautiful, 160-seat brick and mortar. It's called Blake's at Southern Milling and the lines, well, they're wrapped around the building.

- We're obviously based in Texas barbecue, sliced brisket with salt and pepper, sliced turkey breasts, pork ribs, which like I said, we deal with a bit of a Tennessee twist with the baby backs, sausage and pulled pork. Our pulled pork is as simple as you can get. It's honestly just salt and pepper, but we just try to really take care of it, you know, and make it special.

- [Miranda] Meats will go on these custom-made smokers in the wee hours of the morning. All are hand cut. The melt in your mouth brisket has the perfect bark, and of course, that signature smoke ring.

- Now, and this is no secret, I've taught this class and told a million people, but the only thing that goes on our brisket is kosher salt, coarse white pepper, two different grinds, and Maxwell House coffee grinds, just straight out of the tub.

- It's really one of a kind that, you know, you've got that fusion of Tennessee barbecue and Texas barbecue, and with someone who's, you know, a homegrown young man that is such a wonderful guy.

- [Blake] We have your baked beans, potato salad, vinegar coleslaw, but we also have like deviled eggs.

- [Customer] The deviled eggs are amazing. They ought to be called angelic eggs because they're so wonderful. He puts so much care. You can tell that he really is concerned about the quality of every plate that comes out, and it shows.

- [Miranda] Blake is serving up the perfect combination of bold Texas flavors and the Tennessee favorites, but he just can't run low on one particular southern classic.

- [Blake] One of our biggest sellers is pimento cheese and crackers. It's as simple as can be. You're talking about fighting words is we're sold out of pimento cheese. Can't do it. People will have a fit. So pimento cheese is a mainstay, a side dish, an appetizer, and honestly a great sandwich topper.

- [Miranda] Another Texas twist he learned is to keep those mile high desserts right up front by the register where they can't be missed. And one of the most popular items on the menu is a big Texas concoction called the Bubba Cole.

- [Blake] Brioche bun, sliced turkey breast, brisket, pimento cheese, and then topped, you know, with a brioche. And it's just a lot of, you got the sweet and the creaminess of the pimento cheese, the richness in the salt and pepper factor that the brisket brings, the completely different texture of the turkey, and then the butter and brioche, and it just works all in one bite.

- I had the brisket with the grilled cheese. I love his brisket. It's my favorite thing here. It's delicious. Blake is a great guy, and he is just a local boy that's done well, and mainly because he has worked so hard for so long.

- Like many great success stories, Blake is quick to credit everyone else for his success. When you walk in the door, you see this beautiful wall of portraits. These are the barbecue legends and pit masters who helped Blake along the way.

- [Blake] But I truly feel that I owe any success I do to great people around me. Of course, I had to put in work and I did, but all that's for nothing without good people. And that's just the truth, and that's a good lesson to learn. A lot of times when I walk out here, no matter what day, you know, time of day or day of the week, it's hard for me to not know 90% of the tables, whether it's my middle school principal or my first grade teacher or two or three of my original employees. So the local community support really means more to me than I could ever tell them. And like I said, I enjoy everybody's support. It means the world, but the locals are where it really, really counts and really matters.

- Well, it looks like the locals are really onto something there. Thanks, Miranda. Well next, I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Vicki Yates visited the winner of an award for Music City's best ice cream in 2024, and here's the sweet story.

- 10.72, please. Thank you. They'll ask you a few questions. Receipt if you'd like one. You having a good day?

- [Customer 2] Oh, yeah.

- Good.

- [Vicki] Even if you weren't having a good day before, you will once you make your way into Janarty's.

- [Janelle] How are you guys?

- [Vicki] To be more precise, it's Janarty's homemade ice cream shop in Smyrna.

- [Janelle] Hello, welcome in.

- [Vicki] And the locals don't mind waiting in line.

- I'll be right with you guys.

- [Vicki] For the chance at a cold ice cream cone.

- All right, there you go. Enjoy.

- Or a hot, unique flavored coffee. Janarty's has been in business since 2018, and as you can see, it's very popular, and the reason for that is great ice cream. Mm.

- I would say this is a really good place for ice cream because they like make it here. It's like a small business, so it's like a really good place to come. You can gather, there's lots of places to eat, and they have really good flavors.

- [Vicki] The benefactors of all of this creamy goodness are Janelle and Marty Schiff. That's where the name Janarty's comes from.

- Well, we wanted to do something different than any other ice cream shop. Most ice cream shops will do, a lot of them do the same thing, and we just looked at Smyrna, and Smyrna doesn't have a homemade ice cream shop. And especially the way we do it, we make everything from scratch and we wanted to be different, kind of set ourselves apart from other places, and so that's what we did.

- [Vicki] Marty and Janelle were inspired by an impressive group of investors, better known as "Shark Tank."

- [Marty] Well, we watched "Shark Tank" and Food Network. We watched like "Chopped" and different things like that and kind of got ideas from "Chopped" about our ice cream, different flavoring pairings, and that kind of thing. But as far as "Shark Tank," we watched how businesses, how they run, how the money side of it runs, and business concepts.

- [Janelle] We just quit careers. I was in nursing school. He had gone from musician to grocery and was working really, really hard and trying for management and just the grind was really hard on him. And so he said, "Do you think this idea's crazy?" I said, "Yes, let's do it."

- [Vicki] And do it, they did. Marty, former guitarist for Martina McBride, is a lover of ice cream, but has celiac disease. So he makes sure that everything in Janarty's is gluten-free, from the coffee to the sweets. And of course, that includes all of the ice cream.

- And there's a lot of bad gluten-free things out there, but ours, I just, I cook. I'm kind of more of a cook than I'm an ice cream maker, but I've learned how to make things taste that like they're not gluten-free.

- [Vicki] And while you can often find that you have to wait in line, no one seems to mind.

- We were hoping for families, of course. What I didn't expect, sad note but beautiful, is people coming on their high notes, coming on their days where it's celebratory. What catches me off guard is when people come and it may be their worst day, but you're the best thing that's happening in that day. We have a regular, he's been coming since the beginning, and he's sadly on hospice now, but his beautiful bright spot in his day is his daughter coming to our shop, getting his favorite ice cream, and bringing it to him.

- [Vicki] Speaking of daughters, Marty and Janelle have three of their own, a five-year-old, a seven-year-old, and their eldest daughter, KJ. KJ is also a Janarty's employee, specifically the manager, and she's responsible for much of the artwork, including that in coffee.

- It's more fun for me. It's actually a big reason why I feel motivated to come in every day, not just because they're my parents and stuff, but just it motivates me a lot to do things like this to help them out.

- [Vicki] And now that Janarty's has become a popular downtown destination, Janelle says that reputation brought an unexpected guest.

- [Janelle] And we've been blessed to have someone from the Food Network come in and say that it's some of the best she's had. And I said, "Don't lie to me. Maneet, don't lie to me." But she said, she said, "No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't, this is amazing." We're boutique, and we know we are. In Smyrna, they've welcomed that. And people, you know, they come in and they just got their paycheck and they worked an hour to buy our scoop of ice cream, and we don't take that lightly and don't take it for granted.

- Yum, keep those frozen treats coming. Thanks, Vicki. Well, now it's time for our retro crossroads segment this week, and we head back to 1999 in our 12th season on the air. Joe Elmore samples the biscuits and more at the world-famous Loveless Cafe.

- When he bought this, my friends asked me, "Are you going to be working out there?" I said, "Of course not. I'm not going to be working out there." Well, next week, I was working out here, and I've been working here ever since.

- Welcome to The Loveless, a landmark along Highway 100 in middle Tennessee, a roadside restaurant whose very name whets the appetite of country cooking lovers worldwide. There's a famous sign outside this place that's a little misleading. You see, there haven't been motel rooms for rent in many years, and well, nobody's running the place named Loveless. Donna McCabe's late husband, Charlie, bought The Loveless in 1974, and while the motel was soon closed, the restaurant business boomed, and through the years, with the help of twin sister Mamie and a loyal staff of employees, The Loveless reached legendary status. Why, the walls are filled with photos of music stars and media stars, and even political leaders who've come to check out the chicken fried to perfection, along with the breakfast attractions that attract diners from far and wide. Well, Donna, how did this place gain such a local and national reputation for its food?

- [Donna] Well, you serve good food, you serve the kind of food your grandmother used to cook, and you get good service, and you know, people, word of mouth, just word of mouth. One person will eat here and they, "Oh, that's the best food," and they'll tell somebody else about it, and through the years, it's just grown and grown and grown.

- [Joe] It's grown so much that The Loveless now has a flourishing mail order business to satisfy the nationwide demand for everything from hams to jams. Donna credits her talented, dedicated staff for making each jar of Loveless Jam a culinary work of art.

- [Donna] They know exactly how long to cook it, how often to stir it, when to take it up, and if you take it up too soon, it's not right. If you leave it on too long, it's not right. They know how.

- Thank y'all very much.

- [Donna] Thank you.

- [Joe] After years of country cooking experience, Donna and Mamie finally yielded to the coaxing of friends, family, and fans, and they co-authored a cookbook called, appropriately enough, "Meet Me at the Loveless." By the looks of this crowd at Davis Kid Booksellers, the book will be a hit, just like their restaurant food.

- Donna just came in one night and she said, "Guess what we're going to do? We're going to write a cookbook." And I said, "Oh?" So we did, and we had a lot of fun doing it.

- Got some good old family recipes in it. It's got, some of our friends gave us some of their favorites and got some easy ones, got some that are pretty hard, but it's something that, you know, the youngest bride can fix, which is, that's a challenge sometime.

- The Loveless has won acclaim for everything from its fried chicken to country ham, but the ultimate favorite food of all has to be these scratch biscuits. One customer recently ate 30 at a sitting. Got to warn you now, you won't find the secret recipe for these babies in any cookbook. Mm.

- Because we're not going to give anybody the biscuit recipe. That's our secret. People have sought that out for years and years, but that's our claim to fame, our homemade biscuits and our homemade jams that we make here. So we're not going to give that away. I've had people come in, you know, asking all sorts of questions about the biscuits and the jam and how do you do it, and where do you buy this and that? And maybe in a month or so, you see a new little restaurant pop up, and they think they have the biscuits and the jam, and they don't last very long though. Y'all want to sit up here or you'd rather go to the back room? It doesn't matter.

- [Customer 3] We'll go to the back room.

- Come on back. Hello.

- [Joe] The Loveless Cafe tradition has lasted so long for many reasons, not the least of which is consistently great food, the kind that would make anybody's grandma envious, but it's also the people who make it that rare, warm, cozy kind of place that can't be designed or planned in a boardroom. For over a quarter century, The Loveless has been synonymous with fine food, a long journey that Donna wouldn't change for the world.

- Fun ride and a hard ride.

- And while the owners have changed and updates have been made over the years, they're still serving those original biscuits today. Thanks, Joe, and thank you for joining us. I hope you got your fill of great stories this week. If you're hungry for more, just check out our website at tennesseecrossroads.org and you'll find an endless buffet of your favorites. So be sure and join us right here next time. We'll see y'all then.

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- [Narrator 3] Discover Tennessee Trails and 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.