Born and bred Memphians, Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman opened Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen in 2008 to feature innovative Italian cooking rooted in Southern tradition. The Chefs trained at Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina and the Italian Culinary Institute in Calabria, Italy. Their second restaurant, Hog & Hominy, is a wood burning, neighborhood eatery and was named one of the top new restaurants by GQ Magazine, Southern Living, and Bon Appetit as well as a semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant from the James Beard Foundation, which also named the chefs semi-finalists for the Best Chef: Southeast award for three consecutive years during 2012-2014, and a finalist for the award in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. In 2013, they were awarded Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs Award and named in Starchefs.com’s 2014 Kentucky-Tennessee Rising Star Chefs. On January 9, 2020, Hog & Hominy suffered a fire resulting in closure of the restaurant. After a thorough period of redesign and construction, Hog & Hominy reopened on November 3, 2021. 

Catherine & Mary’s, opened in September of 2016 in Downtown Memphis, brought together their blend of grandmother cooking, Italian philosophy of dining, and southern ingredients to the heart of the city. In January of 2018, the chefs opened their second downtown restaurant, TheGray Canary was located in the Old Dominick Distillery. This restaurant embraced a new and exciting restaurant concept, featuring an open kitchen, wood fire cooking and a raw bar, all overlooking the Mississippi River in the South Main Arts District of Downtown Memphis.