Paul Ryburn’s Journal

The annual gift card sale is on. $25 for $50 gift cards. Starts at 9. Will probably run out by 1. If you want a deal on one of the best restaurants in Downtown Memphis you better take advantage. No online sales. You have to be there to [...]

I’ve received a security alert that counterfeit $20 bills have been passed in the Medical Center/Downtown area recently. If you are in a job where you take money from customers, be sure to hold 20s to light and make sure they are real [...]

Bad news for those of you who were looking forward to authentic Russian banya in Downtown Memphis: It ain’t gonna happen. A businessman from Russia named Yuri, who moved here after studying aeronautic engineering at Georgia Tech, had planned to open an authentic Russian bath house, or banya, at the southwest corner of Union and Main [...]

Still sick… made it to work today though. Remains to be seen if I’ll make it until 5… sorry again for the lack of blog output this weekend, but when I’m not out talking to people and taking photos, that happens.

James Taylor is coming to the Orpheum February 27. Tickets will be on sale Friday, December [...]

All season long I’ve watched LSU rise to an artificially inflated ranking due to fluke win after fluke win. They’re a good team for sure, worthy of Top 15 especially considering the division they play in, but Top 5? They were overrated. I wasn’t ever worried though. “Just wait until the last game of [...]

Tonight there is a benefit concert at the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street in honor of Chip Parkhurst. Chip had been battling cancer for 5 years, and two bone marrow transplants kept him alive far longer than anybody had thought was possible. He would have had his 30th birthday this week, and his wife, sister [...]

Last night, I met my friends Shawn, Joe and Spiros at the Saucer at 5 for what we figured would be a quiet evening of Thanksgiving beer drinking.

It didn’t stay quiet for long. This guy came in, and I’d seen him in there a few times before, and had seen enough of his behavior to know [...]

It opened at 5.

The guy to my left, by the way, is named Spiros and will probably be mentioned on my blog a lot the next two months. He is a character on the level of the Nuh-Uh Girl. Not obsessed with food though.

Thanks to my friends who [...]

Last week at my birthday/plate party, myself, my guests and the Saucer girls enjoyed 11 cupcakes from Muddy’s Bake Shop. One of my favorite bartenders, Brittney, asked me if I’d ever had anything from Gigi’s Cupcakes. “I think they’re even better than Muddy’s,” she told me. “I’ll bring you one as a late birthday present.” So [...]

Sorry I haven’t been blogging much this week. The past 7 days have been filled with drama and I just want to forget about it all and eat some turkey.

First there was the can of worms I opened when people e-mailed me complaining about Downtown Dining Week hours at some restaurants, which thankfully has been smoothed [...]