Yesterday I was walking around Cooper-Young Fest with some friends, and we happened to see this sign in an artist’s booth:
Not the same John D as our friend who has a breakfast named after him at the Majestic, but we still thought it was funny.
Later in the day we ran into the man himself.
Hey, now!
This was the first Cooper-Young Fest in nearly 20 years that I’ve hung out with a group of friends the entire day, rather than wandering around from one group to another all afternoon. One of my friends commented, “Probably the most fun Cooper-Young Festival ever,” and I’d tend to agree. Perfect weather, fantastic art for sale, great food (I had to have my Athenian gyro or the festival wouldn’t be complete). Good to have my friends at the festival the entire day – that usually doesn’t happen.
I got to try two new bars yesterday: Sweet Grass Next Door and Slider Inn. I was really impressed with Sweet Grass Next Door. TVs all over the place with all the games on. I enjoyed a $2 PBR tallboy while watching Vandy kick Ole Miss’s ass. I didn’t get a chance to try the food but it looked outstanding.
As for Slider Inn, given that Aldo owns it, I knew it would be good. After the festival, we sat on a large bench on the patio and continued our drink-a-thon. I had the mushroom swiss silders which were delicious.
One of the others in our group got the Double Deuce, massive double-decker sliders.
Although we sat outside, I went inside to check out the interior. Small but comfortable. It reminded me of a bar that I went to last year on my trip to Savannah, a little bar called Pinkie Master’s which was described to me as “the ultimate dive bar.” I was told it was where the locals drink. Many celebrities and dignitaries including Jimmy Carter have been in the place. I went in there wearing one of my club shirts that I got from Shelton Clothiers, which was way too much. When I walked in, I could feel several of the regulars looking at me and thinking “who told this tourist douchebag to come here?” But I sat at the bar, watched TV, chatted with the bartender, and eventually the regulars must have figured out, “oh okay, this guy gets how to hang out in bars” and by the time I left I must have met half the people in the place, which meant I met about 15 people (small bar). Anyway, I see similar “ultimate dive bar” potential in Slider Inn.
Only downside was Brooke wasn’t working. She had the day off. I miss sitting at her bar.
As we were chatting, we commented, “We need to take a road trip to Midtown one Saturday to do some day drinking.” (Yes, Downtowners consider Midtown a road trip.) We could hit up Slider Inn, Sweet Grass Next Door, Celtic Crossing, the Deli and wherever else we feel like going. One of our group is a student and he takes the #2 bus from the Downtown core to Cooper-Young all the time. He said it’s on time and dependable, which is good to hear. If no one wants to be DD we could take it down there.
A fun fall Saturday. Congrats to the Hogs on beating Troy. Time for Sunday Fun Day!