Happy Father’s Day! So happy that I am not getting any presents today.
About 4:15 I walked over to the High Cotton taproom for the grand opening. Not a bad walk from the Downtown core at all. It’s no farther from home than Max’s Sports Bar on the south side, and I walk to Max’s all the time. The taproom is a very nice space. It was already crowded so I didn’t take pictures. I will try to get back there this week and take some. They had the back of the brewery open, with two extra bars, so it never got uncomfortably packed at the opening. The two extra bars took cash so I didn’t have to whip out the debit card. I drank the saison all evening, which was delicious.
While I was there, I had pizza from the Rock’n’Dough food truck for the first time, and now I see why everyone raves about it. Living two blocks from Aldo’s place, I’m hard to impress when it comes to pizza, but Rock’n’Dough did it. I had a slice of pepperoni that was huge and cheesy. It was so good that I went back for a cheese slice, even though I totally didn’t need it.
While there, I caught up with my friend Craig David Meek who recently released his book Memphis Barbecue: A Succulent History of Smoke, Sauce & Soul. I’m only on chapter 3 but I have already learned a lot about Memphis that I didn’t know. Just to give a couple of hints: A building in which I spent a lot of time between 1997 and 2005 used to be a BBQ joint in the ’50s. Also, a food item that is very common in most Memphians’ diet these days might not have caught on in this city if BBQ hadn’t been involved.
I checked in on Facebook and Foursquare, and before long I was getting comments from my Downtown friends. “What are you doing in Midtown?” they asked. The taproom is ONE BLOCK EAST OF DANNY THOMAS. That’s not Midtown. The taproom is across the street from Kuzdu’s, which is considered a Downtown bar. If you walk out the taproom’s back door, you see Six-1-Six, very much considered to be a Downtown nightclub back in the day. I believe most Memphians consider Bellevue, a mile east of the taproom, to be Midtown’s western boundary. The Edge, in which the taproom is located, and Victorian Village are both Downtown neighborhoods despite being on the wrong side of Danny Thomas.
That’s the way we Downtowners think though… anything past Third is the wilderness. Overton Square might as well be Nashville to us. East Memphis is Knoxville. Cordova is somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Bermuda, maybe, although that’s kind of an insult to Bermuda.
Anyway, back to the taproom opening. There were some very nice tube tops and tube top dresses there, the Dead Soldiers were good, and overall it was a nice vibe. Glad I went.
The big event Downtown today is the Riverside Drive Open Streets party, celebrating the two lanes of Riverside that are now open to bike and pedestrian traffic. There will be music by the Mighty Souls Brass Band as well as bike art and exhibits. There will also be food trucks including Mark’s Grill, which tweeted its menu a few minutes ago. Things get started on Riverside at 4. Why not wear a tube top and get a tan on your shoulders?
If you want to take your dad to a baseball game, the Redbirds have a Father’s Day buffet today. Game time is 1:35. See memphisredbirds.com for information.
Leading off at Bloom’s bar at Bardog at 11 and then will figure out the rest of the day. Hopefully I will make it down to Riverside for a bit.