Chicken fried steak has been a running meme on my blog for most of the past month. The reason why is that several weeks ago, the cooks at the Blind Bear gave my BBQ team vice-president Clay a sample of biscuits and gravy, with the white cream gravy. Clay commented that it was really good, that he had never had white gravy before. “You’ve never had white gravy on a chicken fried steak?” he was asked, and he said no, he’d never had a chicken fried steak in his life. We were all stunned that someone who had lived in the South all of his life, and even lived in Texas for a while, had never had a chicken fried steak.
So yesterday, we were at D-RANKS with B-RAD at Blind Bear, and Clay told me he had made a decision: “Pauly, when I have my first chicken fried steak, I am going to have it with you. You just tell me when and where.” All of the sudden, tremendous responsibility has been placed on my shoulders. I am responsible for another person’s first chicken fried steak experience. I put “who has a good chicken fried steak?” on Facebook, noting that I would be willing to travel outside of Downtown if needed. Here are the responses I got:
- Bon Ton Cafe
- Miss Polly’s
- Blue Monkey
- Double J (I don’t see it on the menu but Jeff himself told me they had it)
- Dixie Cafe in East Memphis
- Road trip to Lambert’s in Sikeston, MO
Where to go? Bon Ton is open for breakfast and lunch only, so if that is the chosen location I will likely have to take a vacation day. If it’s Lambert’s Clay and I will need to borrow a car; my little Saturn will roll over to 200,000 miles this week and I try not to take it on road trips without a very good reason. If you have a suggestion for any of the places above, or if I left an option out, shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com. Also, if any of the places above do not use fried chicken batter, do not use white gravy, or do not serve mashed potatoes, let me know and I will strike them from the list.
Alert for Midtowners: Jumper Cable Guy has been seen in the vicinity of Slider Inn the past week. Jumper Cable Guy is a scammer who claims that his truck won’t start, and he needs to borrow your jumper cables. When you show them to him, he will say that your jumper cables are not industrial-strength enough to start his truck, and he will ask you for money so he can go buy the jumper cables he needs. He scammed people in the Downtown core and South Main by the Civil Rights Museum for years.
The Memphis Farmers Market was packed yesterday. After two weeks of disgustingly hot weather, it was pleasant outside and lots of people came by to shop. It was so crowded that I waited 20 minutes for a smoothie from the So Fresh juice truck! They were not slacking either; it’s just that a LOT of people were ordering smoothies. I got my usual Berry 4 Ever. While waiting on my order I read the menu, which includes juices as well as smoothies. There’s a juice called “The Green One” which is a blend of cucumber, Granny Smith apple, spinach, and kale. YUCK! Who in their right mind would drink that shit?
Listening to John Lennon’s greatest hits album as I type this. “Working Class Hero” was omitted. WTF?
So, as I said earlier in this post, I went to Blind Bear yesterday for a special Saturday edition of D-RANKS with B-RAD. I didn’t call the bar and ask B-RAD who all was up there; I just came up. (Calling the bar and asking who all is there is known as “pulling a Woodson” at another local establishment.) Fellow regulars Nate, Rahul, and Tony, along with B-RAD, played the “fuck, marry, kill” game. In one of the games I was put in the unfortunate position of having to kill my favorite pair of librarian glasses! I felt horrible about that.
That’s the news for now (it’s debatable whether there was any actual news in this post). I will be at the regular Sunday edition of D-RANKS with B-RAD at Blind Bear at 11. B-RAD, your bar can be a scary place – a blogger might wave at me and say hi, or even worse, attempt to start a conversation with me. I better bring backup.
