There’s a new Restaurant.com coupon code good for 80% off restaurant gift certificates. (Edit: I forgot to post the code! It’s HOLIDAY.) Heck if I know why they didn’t just continue last week’s coupon code, since it was also 80% off… maybe they wanted to separate the two weeks for reporting purposes. Anyway, if you haven’t bought them yet, you still can at 80% off through Christmas Day.
I’ve been giving my friend and fellow blogger Buck Daddy some tutoring on how to build online stores, and he’s recently finished and launched his first two. I wanted to give them a plug on my blog because he’s done a good job. They are
- Tacky Christmas Sweater Store. I must have heard of four or five tacky sweater parties this holiday season – it’s definitely a popular Christmas fad right now. Buck identified this fad and built a store around it. Great job, and I’m mad at myself for not thinking of that one.
- Everything Barack Obama Store. We’re in the middle of Obama-mania. People have high hopes for our new President – he’s young, he’s extremely intelligent and well-spoken, and he’s the first African-American President. It makes sense that Obama merchandise would be flying off the shelves right now. Another timely store idea.
The brunch crew visited Automatic Slim’s for the first time yesterday, to try Chef Michael Patrick’s new brunch menu. There was a lot of excitement about this one – we had 14 people, filling the entire bar and a 5-top table. I believe that’s the most people we’ve had at a brunch since the Sleep Out Louie’s days. Great food. I had the Automatic Omelet with jerk tenderloin, mushrooms, and cheese – delicious. Others in the group tried the Creole Eggs Benedict (with fried green tomatoes instead of muffins), the Crawfish Eggs Benedict, and the Eggs Sardou, and were quite pleased with them. Air Traffic Mike: “That’s the first time I’ve had Eggs Sardou prepared correctly outside of New Orleans.” The Nuh-Uh Girl ran around and sampled everyone’s food. “I think you should get a crepe for dessert,” she told me, “so I can try it.” Great food. I’m sure I’ll be back there soon.
A reminder to everyone Downtown: PLEASE DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS DOWN ALLEYS. A bartender walked a patron to her car this weekend, and he cut through an alley on the way back and was pistol-whipped and robbed. It is not worth the extra 30-60 seconds you’ll save by taking the alley. As long as you stay where it is well-lit and well-traveled, Downtown is perfectly safe. I’ve been down here 7 years without incident. There are too many alleys for the police and Downtown Safety Patrol to be able to patrol all of them. Also, if you have a video camera that looks down an alley, please register it with MPD. It may help them solve robberies as well as car break-ins.
This is my only full day in town this week. Tomorrow I leave town for Little Rock and will be gone until Friday. Back Friday night to catch The Dempseys at the Saucer.
Time to build some websites and return some e-mails. I’ll be at Pint Nite tonight about 5. Someone just stuck some money in my Buy-Paul-a-Beer.net account and instructed me to share the holiday cheer with a couple of friends who frequent the Saucer, so I’ll be looking for them tonight.