Being the Food & Dining reporter for The Commercial Appeal is an interesting gig because one morning you’re talking with a legendary pitmaster about their new pork shoulder.
Another day you could be sampling assorted cheesecakes at a Southaven bakery.
And then one night, not long ago — Tuesday night, Sept. 8, to be exact — you find yourself at the top of the Memphis Pyramid interviewing Oscar-nominated movie star Mark Wahlberg.
The man has had a lot of careers. This is the first thing you remember when confronted face-to-face with this master of reinvention. Wahlberg is in town for the revamp of his Memphis business, Wahlburgers Wild, which is located on the main floor of Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid.
When we first meet and shake hands, I confess
to him that I’ve done some major internet sleuthing trying to associate Wahlberg with Memphis — and I sadly came up empty handed.
There seems to be no connection, other than his Wahlburgers Wild business. Unlike his acting peers like Tom Cruise or Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, he’s never filmed here.
He smiled, then responded, “Oh, I've been to Memphis many times, yeah. It's been a while. But yeah, yeah, concerts. I’ve been here for concerts, OK. Things of that nature.”
He’s joking and laughing when he says this in a winky, knowing way, like he didn’t really want to get into it.
I’m instantly reminded of how we initially got to know Mark Wahlberg.
In the very early '90s, as the younger brother of Donnie Wahlberg, lead singer of New Kids On The Block, Mark struck out on his own as a popular — yet short-lived — hip hop act called Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Their No. 1 smash, “Good Vibrations” can still be heard at Grizzlies games and tailgate parties.
Since this interview, I’ve scoured news archives to see if Mark Wahlberg's '90s era alter ego ever played the Mid-South Coliseum or even the Mid-South Fair but unfortunately, nothing came up.
New Kids On The Block, however, are confirmed to have performed several times in Memphis at the Mid-South Coliseum, including on Valentines Day in 1990.
Marky Mark opened for the boy band a few years later. This was also when Wahlberg famously became a Calvin Klein model, starring in the brand's most iconic ad campaigns.
Wahlberg eventually began a stellar film career in the mid '90s, starting with his film debut in the Danny DeVito comedy “Renaissance Man” in 1994. Huge blockbusters followed, including “The Perfect Storm” with George Clooney and “The Italian Job” with Charlize Theron.
Wahlberg parlayed his film success into television producing, most notably with the hit HBO series “Entourage,” which drew heavily from his own life, family and circle of friends. But rather than simply turning those real-life experiences into entertainment, Wahlberg would eventually turn his family story into a business of its own.
That’s what leads us back to Memphis.
Wahlburgers: From Massachusetts to Memphis
In 2011, Mark teamed up with his brothers Donnie and Paul to open Wahlburgers, with chef Paul leading the culinary side of the venture. Paul also happened to be in Memphis for the Wahlburgers Wild relaunch, introducing a new menu featuring items “with a side of adventure” like Wild Turkey Burgers and Wild Boar Bratwurst.
Both Mark and Paul appeared at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Brother Donnie, though, was on the East Coast shooting his CBS procedural series “Boston Blue.”
What began as a family restaurant in Hingham, Massachusetts, became a successful brand built around the same themes of family, personality and the Wahlbergs’ Boston roots. It eventually spawned an offshoot, Wahlburgers Wild in 2021, created through a partnership between the Walhbergs' restaurant chain and Bass Pro Shops CEO Johnny Morris.
It remains the only Wahlburgers Wild in the world, which led Mark to explain, while seated next to Wahlburgers CEO Randy Sharpe, why they chose Memphis of all places.
“You know, we had spent a lot of time in Missouri and talked a lot about it. Randy asked me if I ever had a bison burger. Uh, right. OK, nice. I couldn't remember that I had, and he said, well, you know, I think it will go over well. So we definitely want to cater to the locals. We want to make sure that we're giving people exactly what they want.”
Go-to Wahlburgers order and cheat-day meals
This leads to another of Wahlberg’s well-known multitasking talents: fitness. Anyone who’s watched him work out and cold plunge at 4 a.m. on Instagram is well aware of this. Because of his strict diet, I asked what his go-to order is at his own restaurant.
“Right now would be the burger, you know? I'm, you know, creating a burger, whatever, around Wahlburgers. It's always been, like, kind of, like, my once-a-week type of cheat meal.”
And what about a cheat day at home?
"I like to have a breakfast cheat meal with pancakes and syrup on everything. OK, and bacon and eggs. The whole deal. And then, of course, for dinner: lasagna and pasta. I mean, I fluctuate a lot for work. So I've done two movies now in the last year and a half where I had to put on about 30 pounds, and I'm just kind of trimming down now. But I still find myself craving quite a bit.”
Mark Wahlberg's return to trip to Memphis
Home for Wahlberg right now is Las Vegas, which rivals Memphis for late-summer heat at the moment. He mentions the triple-digit temperatures a few times during our talk.
And last question. What does Wahlberg plan on doing in Memphis now that he’s here? Any trips to Graceland or Beale Street?
“No. That'll be next year. I’ve never had enough time to explore Memphis,” he said. “But now that I've been here, we're definitely planning another trip back. It's an incredible time in this city, to go out and explore, and hopefully it won't be so warm outside. Right? It's hot. It's hot here!”
Brian Strickland is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. Contact him at brian.strickland@commercialappeal.com.
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This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Mark Wahlberg talks food, fitness and next trip to Memphis | Exclusive
