Paul Ryburn’s Journal

A month or two ago, the Daily Memphian did a battle of the sliders: The Dirty Crow Inn vs. Bardog Tavern. I commented at the time that it was somewhat ironic that those two businesses went head to head, but I could say no more at that time. Now the secret is out: Aldo, owner of Bardog as well as the two Aldo’s Pizza Pies and the (soon to be) two Slider Inns, has bought the Crow.

The food court at 910 Madison in the Medical Center is almost ready to go. It will be open to the public 10 AM to 2 PM and restaurants will include Soi Number 9, Coletta’s Italian Restaurant, and Southern Hands restaurant.

Cruisin’ Heavy will be the headliner at the Peabody rooftop party tomorrow night, Thursday, April 18. There will be a guest performance by Fletcher as well. $15 cover charge or you can buy a VIP pass that gets you in for the entire party season that runs through August. Admission includes a buffet of pizza rolls and mini corn dogs with mustard. If you’re in VIP you get a second buffet of assorted gourmet pizzas, hamburger sliders, and onion dip with crostini.

Memphis Made Brewing Co. will be at Cordelia’s Market tonight with some special packs of beer as the brewery gears up for its birthday celebration, Hopped.

The Cousins Maine Lobster food truck will be at Ghost River Brewing Co. at Main and Crump tonight from 4 to 8.

Comedian Aziz Ansari will be at the Cannon Center tonight with his Road to Nowhere tour and the most ridiculous cell phone policy I have ever seen.

The annual Africa in April cultural awareness festival is in Church Park on Beale Street this weekend. This year the honored country is Nigeria.

Bike Night on Beale returns tonight. Every Wednesday, you can park your motorcycle on Beale Street and check out everyone else’s rides.

It’s Woof Wednesday with the Redbirds tonight. There will be a special ticket that gets you and your dog into AutoZone Park for tonight’s game. Dog owners must sign a waiver and enter through the Fourth Street gate. First pitch is 6:35.

Wiseacre is having a beer pairing class at their taproom this Saturday: Beer and tacos! There will be 2 PM and 4 PM seatings that include a tour of the brewery, a breakdown of beer styles and flavors, four tacos from Maciel’s, and all the Pancho’s cheese dip you can eat.

All right, that’s it for this post. Everyone get out and enjoy today, because tomorrow looks like it’s going to be a very wet one. Back tomorrow with more news.

What a sad day yesterday as the iconic Notre Dame cathedral of Paris burned, and how terrible it is that it happened so close to Easter.

Complete results of Beale Street Wine Race have been posted. Lafayette’s and Gold Strike tied for best in the parade. Sherito Thomas of Gold Strike was crowned Queen of the Vine. Tin Roof won the grape stomp, and Huey’s added to their list of wine relay wins.

Downtown steakhouse 117 Prime is having an Easter brunch this Sunday from 10 to 3.

Over on the island, River Hall at River Inn will have an Easter brunch buffet on Sunday.

Union Row developers have acquired the corner of Union and Fourth, where the Powerhouse Motors building currently stands. Powerhouse Motors will be moving to 500 N. Hollywood in the Broad Avenue Arts District.

New Memphis is hosting a launch session on Tuesday, April 30 from 4 to 6 PM where you can get to know more about internships and careers with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Camy’s, which delivers food to Downtown and Midtown, is hiring a delivery driver.

That’s all the news I’ve got for today. Back tomorrow.

As you might have guessed from the forecast yesterday, Beale Street Wine Race was not much fun. I got down there about 12:40 as I usually do. Most years the street starts to get packed around that time. Yesterday there was practically NO ONE out. I can understand why. Not only was it not even 50 degrees with the wind kicking up, but to add the ultimate insult to injury there was a very light fog/mist in the air to make it feel that much colder.

I marched in the opening parade with Team Blind Bear. There was a tie for best entrance/float but we weren’t one of the teams that tied. We got seats in the Handy Park pavilion and watched Queen of the Vine. Someone commented, “I’ve never seen so many clothes on the QOTV contestants,” and I had been thinking the same thing. One of the casinos won that event, Gold Strike I think.

There’s about a 20 minute break between Queen of the Vine and the grape stomp. Normally everyone goes right over to the grape stomp area. Not this year! The street practically cleared as everyone went indoors to the various Beale bars. At that point I decided I’d had enough. I hated to skip the last two events, but I couldn’t take that cold, wet wind battering my face anymore. I walked back to the Blind Bear, where I spent the rest of the afternoon.

This was a rare year in which I didn’t take any Wine Race photos. The main reason why was that I didn’t want to take my hands out of my pockets! It was just too damn cold. Also, I knew that one of the QOTV contestants likes to keep her life private, so I didn’t take any photos out of respect for that.

At least Wine Race is a free event that is not a fundraiser. The event I really feel bad for is Southern Hot Wing Fest. That festival is ticketed entry, with cover charge and donations at the booths going to raise money for Ronald McDonald House. The feels-like temperature of about 43, 30 degrees below normal, surely cost them thousands of dollars.

While I was freezing at Wine Race, a friend showed me a notification on his phone that Tiger Woods had won the Masters. Over the years I’ve never really been into golf, but I enjoyed watching the Masters and I am so happy Tiger got his redemption. America needed a feel-good story right about now.

Congratulations to my friends on the New Wing Order food truck, who came in second out of 60 teams at the hot wing festival. Follow the truck on Facebook and Twitter to find out where it will be.

If you like fun and games on Beale Street, mark a date on your calendars… Downtown’s annual Big Wheel Race is set for November 30. You don’t have to provide your own Big Wheel like you do in some other events. Space is limited, so sign up soon.

Next Sunday a helicopter will drop Easter candy into AutoZone Park. Kids who attend the 2:05 Redbirds game that day can stick around after it’s over for the candy drop. There will also be a specialty Easter brunch ticket.

I’ve got a request for my readers, especially those who come to this blog not only to read the news, but who care about me as a person. June 1 is World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day. I didn’t even know what narcissistic abuse was until the beginning of 2019, but as soon as I read about it, I realized, wow, that happened to me, and events that made no sense for the longest time began to make total sense. If you don’t know what narcissistic abuse is, please spend 5 or 10 minutes reading through the WNAAD website. Not only will you get a better understanding of what life has been like for me, but you’ll also gain powerful information to protect yourself against this form of abuse.

There’s a biography of Doors frontman Jim Morrison that is divided into three sections: The Bow Is Drawn, The Arrow Flies, and The Arrow Falls. Some days I feel like the day I met my abuser at a bar in five summers ago was the beginning of “The Arrow Falls” chapter of my life.

But, on a better note about me… I didn’t drink a Call-a-Cab yesterday! Over the years at Wine Race I’ve had a history of drinking the fruit punch daiquiris from Wet Willie’s, often leading to a stumble home and a 4 PM bedtime. The cold wasn’t the reason I didn’t drink one. I just felt like I didn’t need it. In fact, I didn’t even drink a beer the entire time I was at Wine Race. I felt better, I saved money, and since I wasn’t taking in any liquids I didn’t have to worry about any trips to the restroom. I can’t remember the last time I made it to 11 PM the day of Wine Race.

Oh… one more thing… look who showed up at the Blind Bear last night, making me wonder if someone hung a FREE FOOD sign on the door.

That’s right, folks, for the next several weeks you’ll be able to hear the call of the Nuh-Uh Girl in the wild, which sounds like this: “Can I have a biiiiite?” or “Leftovers?”

Thanks for reading, especially the personal part. It’s sunny and starting to warm up, so I’ll be back in shorts and sandals today. Back tomorrow with more news.

The Moody Ques got together for a team “Meat” & Greet yesterday. It was a rainy day but we still had a good turnout, and there was plenty of delicious food.

Our pitmaster, Kris, gave a presentation. He talked about the cooking techniques our cook team used, as well as the sauce. He showed us how to pull apart pork and find “the money piece” that is the one you want to present to the judges.

Senior Deputy Director of Public Relations Perjorie T. Roll enjoyed a plate of pulled pork, beans, a jalapeno popper, avocado bacon slaw, pasta salad, potato salad, and a pepperoni roll.

We had yummy desserts too. This get-together was a preview of the goodies members can expect to find in the Moody Ques booth.

After dinner was gathered around and discussed team business: T-shirt design, liquor sponsorships, things like that. It was a very productive meeting and we’re all looking forward to this year.

View the complete photo gallery on the Moody Ques website.

It was a rainy day but a good one. I led off at the Farmers Market, and I have to say the staff and the volunteers there are so wonderful, always make me feel right at home. After that I walked over to Max’s Sports Bar for a few PBRs. Then I headed south to Loflin Yard, where I got to hang out at my friend Stacey’s bar. Then the Meat & Greet, conveniently right down the street from Loflin, then got a Lyft to Blind Bear for their ’90s party.

The party won’t stop today either, as debauchery is the name of the game on Beale Street. Today is Beale Street Wine Race, when employees of local bars and restaurants compete in four events:

• An opening parade, where all the teams line up and march into Handy Park. Best entrance/float wins the prize.
• Queen of the Vine, a beauty pageant. Girls from the participating bars and restaurants shake their stuff and answer questions asked by an emcee. Over the years it has been proved that keeping it classy is the way to win. Although, now and then there is a wardrobe malfunction. Weatherbug is calling for a temperature of 49 with a northwest wind at 1 PM, the usual starting time for QOTV where many of the competitors will have bikinis on. Yikes.
• A grape stomp. Each contestant gets a tub of grapes, and whoever produces the most juice in the allotted time wins.
• A four-person wine relay. The first person opens a bottle of wine, puts it on a tray, and runs to the other end. There a second person opens a second bottle of wine, adds it to the tray, and runs back. Same for the third and fourth person and the third and fourth bottle of wine. Both speed and how much wine was spilled are accounted for in the final scoring.

Despite the cold weather, this event is always a lot of fun to watch. Pro tip: On the race route, there is a bar called Wet Willie’s that serves a daiquiri called a Call-a-Cab. You should get one, with two caveats: Absolutely do not drive after drinking this drink, and drinking more than one can lead to all kinds of bad behavior and possibly a trip to 201.

Time to get this day started and get ready to cheer for Team Blind Bear! Back tomorrow with more news.

Yesterday I got my Blind Bear T-shirt for Wine Race this Sunday. They always theme their shirts on whatever the honored place is for Memphis in May. This year the theme is Memphis, so they went with a take on the Memphis city seal:

LOVE IT. If there were a “Best T-shirt” competition at Wine Race I bet this shirt would win.

Yesterday around 6 I was starting to get hungry, and my own blog helped me out. I remembered that I had posted that a new Mexican restaurant had opened up in the 409 South Main food hall, and I decided to walk down there and check it out. It’s called Venga and it’s in the upstairs part of the food hall, next to City Block Salumeria which operates the pop-up restaurant.

I looked at the specials:

Those molotes sounded interesting, so I got an order of them. I got a carne asada tostada too.

The molotes are available all weekend, I believe, and if you don’t have dinner plans yet for today, I would recommend getting down to Venga and trying these. The spiciness of the chorizo worked perfectly with the masa, and the cheese offset the spice just the perfect amount. It’s a treat to go to a Mexican restaurant and try a dish I hadn’t before.

As for the carne asada tostada, it was delicious too. It came loaded with beef and beans and toppings for a symphony of flavor.

There are some neat businesses in South Main Market, the place I often refer to on here as the 409 S. Main food hall. In addition to Mexican food at Venga and fresh butcher-cut meats at City Block Salumeria, there is Chinese-American restaurant Wok’n in Memphis and the Downtown location of coffee shop Java Cabana. Downstairs is Bar 409, the larger successor to previous bar The Civil Pour. There is plenty of space for two or three more restaurant concepts to open.

It wasn’t busy when I went in there during the dinner hour Friday, and it made me wonder if Memphians have yet to fully appreciate what an asset they have in a food hall. In other cities I’ve visited or lived, the food halls tend to be right in the heart of their downtown district, whereas South Main Market is tucked away slightly off the beaten path. Now that the movie theater is open, I suspect there will be more foot traffic between the core and South Main, and the food hall will be more easily discovered.

The food hall is a place where food entrepreneurs can begin living their dream without the full commitment of maintaining a stand-alone brick-and-mortar location. It has given existing restaurant operators a satellite space to operate, as it allowed Michael Patrick a place to feed his customers and pay his employees for a month when Rizzo’s had to go under construction. It’s a fantastic event space too.

Walking back from South Main Market, I discovered that another Mexican restaurant is getting close to opening too. Swanky’s now has its sign up on the Chisca location.

Kale, Yeah! is the theme at the Memphis Farmers Market this morning. In addition to the produce vendors, the Fuel, Grub, and Mama D’s Oasis food trucks will be on site, and don’t forget about that Maryland seafood vendor selling the yummy crab cake sandwiches. There will be a Farm Fun crafts area for the kids, and live music by Katrina Burgoyne, K. Johns, and Anna Benson. The Market runs every Saturday under the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson, 8 AM to 1 PM.

Did you know there’s a cafe in River Garden, the park at 51 N. Riverside next to the Tennessee Welcome Center? It’s open seven days a week from 9 AM to 5 PM.

You just can’t make this stuff up: A coyote got stuck in a wall in the Cook Convention Center this week. Workers freed the coyote and released it into the wild.

If you’re looking for an outdoor event Downtown tomorrow more tame and less debaucherous than Beale Street Wine Race, there will be sunset jazz in Court Square 6-8.

A drawing yesterday put the Grizzlies in 8th place yesterday in terms of their odds for the NBA draft lottery.

I have a BBQ team Meat & Greet on the south end of Downtown at 3, and I’m going to head to the south side early and make a day of it. The Farmers Market, Max’s Sports Bar, possibly Earnestine & Hazel’s, and Loflin Yard will be by pre-party plan. Back tomorrow with more news and possibly some pictures.

Wow.

Chris Wallace and J.B. Bickerstaff have been removed from power. In Wallace’s case, the Grizzlies reassigned him, and Bickerstaff was fired. I’m with The Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins on this one: I don’t disagree with the decision (especially in the case of Wallace), but the manner in which the two men were notified was very troubling to players and fans.

There will be a coin flip today to determine which teams are 7th, 8th, and 9th worst for NBA draft lottery purposes. New Orleans, Dallas, and Memphis are all tied with 33-49 records. I wonder how you do a coin flip when there are 3 possible outcomes?

Yesterday I had some tourists ask about Blues City Cafe, and whether there are any hidden gems on the menu besides the obvious ribs and steaks. “Yes,” I said, “the gumbo fries.” This is a heaping helping of steak fries topped with Blues City’s legendary gumbo. I hadn’t had them for a while and decided to stop by Blues City last night for dinner.

Because I need to eat more green vegetables, and because my troll likes foods the same color as her hair, I got a side of greens.

It’s easy for locals to overlook Beale Street when considering dining-out options, but there’s some good stuff on the street. My food was out super fast and the PBR was cold in a 16 ounce can.

Ballet Memphis presents Giselle at the Orpheum this weekend.

The last Drink-N-Draw game show ever happens at Ghost River tonight.

The Adler apartment building at 267 S. Main is being renamed The W.L. for COGIC bishop W.L. Porter.

Katrina Burgoyne, Matt Coppens, Robert Humphreys and Tim Lynch perform at Songwriter Night at South Main Sounds, 550 S. Main, tonight at 7 PM.

Jennifer Biggs of The Daily Memphian became a chicken and waffles fan when she went to review Sage, the new soul food/fusion restaurant in the former Oshi space on Main.

There will be a watercolor class with wine in Cordelia’s Market on Tuesday, May 14.

Bar 409, the successor to The Civil Pour in the 409 S. Main food hall, is the subject of Jennifer Biggs’ Bar Talk this week, as bartender Keagan demonstrates how to make the Ancho & Lefty.

Yesterday I was at the bar at the Blind Bear for a bit, where Feeny asked, “where’s your friend?” and I pulled my troll out of my pocket. Feeny made her a castle.

That’s it for now. Back tomorrow with more news.

I had a classic Downtown Memphis meal for dinner last night: A double-double with fries at Dyer’s on Beale Street.

There’s lots of debate about who in Memphis has the best burger. My vote is for Dyer’s. The flavor is just second to none. It’s a pretty basic burger with two meat patties, two slices of American, pickle, mustard, and mayo, but Dyer’s has been brilliant at the basics for over 100 years and that’s good enough for me.

Dyer’s needs to adjust its Facebook page, though. Its schedule lists it as being open 11 AM to 12 PM on Tuesdays. Um, that means it would be open a total of 1 hour. 12 PM is noon. As a result, they show “closed now” when they are actually open. For a business that relies heavily on tourists discovering them online, that’s not very good.

Big game, big night for Memphis. Memphis 901 FC hosts Atlanta United 2 tonight at AutoZone Park at 7. This will be a nationally televised game on ESPNews and a chance for Memphis to show the world how much we have taken to our new pro soccer team.

Catherine and Mary’s, in addition to their dinner menu, offers something called Maw Maw’s Table. This is a place that encourages sharing food family style as you would at your grandmother’s. Entrees currently served at Maw Maw’s Table include Bistecca Florentina and Soft Shell Crab.

The Grizzlies’ chances to CONVEY THAT PICK are not looking good following last night’s loss to Detroit. It will take a Grizzlies win, a Dallas loss, and luck in a coin flip situation to finish ninth from the bottom. The Grizzlies could land as “high” as sixth from the bottom.

Almost Famous headlines the first Peabody rooftop party of the season tomorrow night. $15 cover (most weeks the cover will be $10). You can buy $150 VIP pass that gets you in the parties all season, and which comes with a lot of perks attached, including VIP Lounge, special food and drink offerings in the VIP Lounge, valet parking, a Peabody gift bag, and a 20% discount in Chez Philippe, Capriccio Grill, and Peabody Deli & Desserts throughout the 2019 Rooftop Party season.

As your #1 source of news and information about The Edge District, I wanted to link to this article about Blue Leaf Hemp, a new store in the Shab Chic Marketplace at 607 Monroe. Every item sold in the stores – from clothing to bath bombs to dog collars and much more – has something to do with hemp.

911 via text has launched in Memphis, the Memphis Flyer reports.

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra will perform two Music of Star Wars concerts on May the 4th (Be With You).

As part of Taste of Science Week, Ghost River will host Bluff City Comedy of Science Thursday, April 25 at 7 PM.

I found a good weekend trip guide to Memphis restaurants and bars that I thought I’d share with my readers.

YOGA! Downtown Yoga will offer a Druminyasa class, combining Vinyasa with drumming, 5:30 PM May 1st.

All fans at the Grizzlies game tonight at FedExForum will receive a Grizzlies poster courtesy of American Home Shield.

That’s the news for now! Back tomorrow.

Some of the bars of the south end of Downtown are having a 4/20 pub crawl on Saturday, April 20. It’s free to participate. The Ghost River tap room, The Dirty Crow Inn, Loflin Yard, and Carolina Watershed are the venues.

Taste of Science Memphis and Belle Tavern will host Science is Sweet and Sour Thursday, April 23 from 7 to 9 PM. Hear from a nutrition expert from UTHSC about how our bodies respond to what we put into them.

Memphis in May has posted details about its Celebrate Memphis event happening Saturday, May 25 in Tom Lee Park.

The City of Memphis and Shelby County turn 200 this year, and in celebration of the bicentennial, Memphis in May International Festival has broken with its tradition of saluting the history and culture of a country and will instead celebrate the rich culture and colorful history of Memphis at a unique event on Saturday, May 25, appropriately titled “Celebrate Memphis.” Produced in conjunction with the City of Memphis, Shelby County, and Memphis Brand Initiative, Memphis in May invites all citizens of Memphis and the surrounding communities to join the FREE city-wide celebration in Tom Lee Park.

Some of you may have noticed that prices of the world’s greatest beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, have ticked up slightly in recent weeks, especially on draft. I’m told that is because A.S. Barboro, which distributes PBR locally, was bought, bringing on the price increase.

Check out catering company The Kitchen Guru and keep them in mind next time you need to plan food for an event.

Actor, comedian, and writer Tom Segura will make a stop at the Orpheum Tuesday, September 10 on his Take It Down Tour.

Backline Memphis, a showcase of original Memphis music, happens tonight at Tin Roof at 8. It’s organized by Mark Parsell, the same person who organizes the songwriter nights at South Main Sounds and the music at the Memphis Farmers Market.

If you missed the debut episode of Championship Wrestling presented by Pro Shingle on CW30 last Saturday at noon, it’s on YouTube for your watching pleasure.

There’s a new pop-up restaurant called Venga in the 409 South Main food hall making tacos and tamales. It’s a City Block Salumeria project.

The I Love the ’90s pub crawl happens this Saturday. Participating bars include Tin Roof (registration 3 PM), Alfred’s, Blind Bear, Coyote Ugly, Silly Goose, and Wet Willie’s.

Cristina of the City Tasting Tours reports that Curry N Jerk next door to McEwen’s will reopen soon. She notes that they have space to accommodate large groups.

That’ll do it for now. Back tomorrow with more news.

Yesterday I walked down to the Memphis Farmers Market. Good news… for the first time since 2016, you can enter from G.E. Patterson! No more walking around to Front Street and having to walk in traffic next to the fence.

As I walked in, Amy from Downtown Yoga was leading a class on the concrete in front of the Farmers Market. They used to do those classes on the grass, but the Malco Powerhouse construction took away their grassy area.

The Farmers Market is seriously one of the neatest things in Memphis. Kids’ activities, food trucks, live music, getting to mingle with your neighbors in the spring air… there’s nothing like it. Definitely worth a visit even if shopping for produce isn’t your thing.

It was busy yesterday morning! I wanted to visit one of the food trucks, but it looked like it would take me 15 minutes to get to the front of the line. That turned out to be a good thing. I found food elsewhere later in the day.

By the way, one of the food trucks that was there yesterday is hiring. El Mero Taco is hiring for front of house and back of house. Email elmero.inc@gmail.com to apply.

The three food trucks in the back were not the only places you could get something to eat right there, though. Down the side corridor was a vendor selling crab cake sandwiches.

The entrance to the new movie theater faces the entrance to the Market.

I don’t drive there, of course, but the parking situation at the Market is vastly improved from last year and in fact there’s more parking than there’s ever been. If traffic and parking dissuaded you from coming there last year, please come back!

Although construction on the Farmers Market side is complete, there’s still fencing along G.E. Patterson and Main for the Central Station project.

“Amtrack.” They misspelled the name of their main tenant. That sign has probably been up for months and nobody employed by the Central Station project has noticed it or bothered to fix it.

At 11 I walked over to my home away from home on the south side, Max’s Sports Bar, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not crazy in there. I planned to do Tour de South Main, staying at Max’s until noon when Earnestine & Hazel’s opened, then hitting E&H and after that making the around to Loflin Yard and Carolina Watershed, then back north to Pontotoc Lounge.

It was my first visit to Earnestine & Hazel’s under the new ownership, and I had heard various things about the famous dive bar. I wondered how different it would be. I got my answer… not different at all. They were making the Soul Burgers properly, the jukebox was playing, and the place still felt like the brothel where ladies of the night took their customers upstairs 35 years ago. The only difference was, they’ve added liquor and some local craft beer, but it adds to the place rather than detracting from it.

While at E&H I learned from social media that there was a private Rotary Club function going on at Loflin Yard, so I pulled that stop off my agenda. Part of the reason I wanted to go down there was for their crawfish boil. However, Max’s Sports Bar does crawfish on Saturdays too, so I went back over there and ordered a pound.

They get their crawfish from Crawfish Haven in Horn Lake. One pound is $12 and two pounds is $20, and as you can see, taters, corn, and sausage are part of the package.

A good day although I never made it to my stops in the far south end. After Max’s I stopped at Pontotoc Lounge for a couple of PBRs, then on to Blind Bear for their ’80s party. I hate it that I missed Kris’s birthday party at The Warehouse, but the rain had moved in and a walk back to South Main seemed too dicey for me to attempt.

The Grizzlies host the Dallas Mavericks at FedExForum at 5 PM. They have a special promotion today where if you buy one Terrace level ticket, you get an accompanying ticket for a kid 12 or under for free.

Volunteer Odyssey is having Volunteer Week starting tomorrow where you can donate your time to 7 deserving organizations in 7 days.

The AAF disaster continues with stories of unpaid bills. Players in Memphis were said to have come back to their hotel to find their belongings waiting in the lobby. They’d been kicked out of their rooms.

The Grizzlies’ recent success has caused them to improve to the ninth worst record in the NBA, putting them in position to CONVEY THAT PICK.

Death Cab for Cutie plays the Orpheum tonight at 8:00.

That’s it for now. Back tomorrow with more news.

The Office Depot on Union in the Medical Center District is closing. A source on Twitter said that as of yesterday morning, the shelves were still well stocked and there are many good deals to be had.

Last night I met the guy who is opening the Swanky’s Taco Shop that is going in the Chisca in the former LYFE Kitchen location. He told me he is hiring servers, although the restaurant is still a few weeks from opening. I got his contact info and will pass it along if you’re interested in a job there. Email me at paul@paulryburn.com or hit me up on Facebook.

Tonight is the first fireworks night of the season at the Redbirds. Prior to the first pitch (6:35, gates open at 5:00) fans can enjoy $2 beers at the Left Field Bar. First 500 fans receive a schedule poster featuring Adolis Garcia. After the game ends, stay in your seat for a fireworks show.

Justin Timberlake posted his own local’s guide to Memphis, and he is a fan of Downtown. JT recommended The Arcade, Sun Studio, Gus’s, STAX Museum, Rendezvous, and Earnestine & Hazel’s.

Memphis lost a Downtowner yesterday, but for a good reason. Jerry Stackhouse, formerly an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies, has been hired as Vanderbilt’s head coach. That’s going to be a tough gig, competing with other SEC coaches and Penny Hardaway for recruits in the region. I wish him luck, though; I would love to see him build Vandy’s program to the point where he thumps Kentucky and Tennessee on a regular basis.

Play wrestling trivia for House Money in the Bank at Cerrito Trivia at Memphis Made Brewing Co. happens on Thursday, May 9. Normally I wouldn’t post about that so far in advance, but the wrestling trivia nights are extremely popular and you need to make a reservation. Open spots will fill up quickly.

Rep. Steve Cohen proves once again he’s one of the good guys:

Victory for kittens & taxpayers! I’m proud to have worked with my colleagues to put an end to the @USDA‘s wasteful, cruel and unnecessary taxpayer-funded kitten testing. No more #kittens or #cats will be harmed by the USDA! #Petshttps://t.co/QyMwWizIip

— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) April 5, 2019

Edible Memphis posted a reminder that the Craft Food & Wine Festival is not far away, on Sunday, June 23 at The Columns in One Commerce Square. Tickets are $60-115 and get you a two hour tasting session at either 4:00 or 6:30. The festival has started to list the vendors and they are top-notch, including not only some of Memphis’ best food, but craft beer, cider, and wine. Money raised benefits the Church Health Center.

Hmmm… the Craft Food & Wine Festival is the same day as The Bar Olympics happening out at the Hi-Tone. That’ll put some people to a difficult choice as to what to do that afternoon, and no, I am not kidding. Someone was asking me what the entry fee for The Bar Olympics is… I looked at the signup form and it’s $150 to enter a team of 6 to 8. Sign up the max of 8, and you’re talking less than $20 a person for an afternoon of drinking and competition. Quite a reasonable entry fee compared to similar events, and the money goes to Alive! Rescue Memphis.

The Cousins Maine Lobster food truck will pay a visit to Cordelia’s Market this coming Wednesday, April 10, from 5 to 8.

Wine lovers might want to make plans to take off work early this coming Monday, April 8. The Majestic Grille is having a cellar sale, selling some of the wines they currently have in stock at great prices to make room for new ones. The sale begins at 4 PM and goes on until 10, but you know the best bottles will get picked over fast! Tell your boss you have a dentist appointment and leave work at 3:30.

Speaking of the Majestic, I was in there for lunch yesterday. Can’t go wrong with a classic, fish & chips.

This was a special yesterday, but they tend to have fish & chips, along with other fish and seafood specials, every Friday, even outside of the Lenten season. Pro tip: Put some malt vinegar not only on the fish, but the steak fries as well. If you’re addicted to the Majestic’s famous thin Parmesan fries, you can get those instead of the steak fries.

For my friends who like to smoke up, this article is for you: There sure is a lot of poop in weed

Farmers Market, Farmers Market, time to go to the Farmers Market! I’ll try to take a few pics. Back tomorrow with more news.