Got a question for any of my readers who can answer: Can you buy vegan cheeses at the Memphis Farmers Market? Email paul@paulryburn.com if you know the answer. I ask because I was talking to a vegan friend last night at Bardog, and she asked about the market. She has never been there. She asked if they have fresh produce at reasonable prices, which of course they do. “There’s so much more than fresh produce,” I told her. “I go most every week. There’s cheeses and breads and hot sauces and food trucks and live music and chef demos. And locally-grown meat, although you probably wouldn’t be interested in that.” I know the market pretty well but the vegan cheese question has me stumped. I suspect they may not have it, since vegan cheese wouldn’t be grown on a farm.
Then my friend told me she had a half-off Papa John’s coupon. I’m trying to figure out what exactly a vegan orders from Papa John’s,
From there I bounced over to the Blind Bear, where my friend Roger from Texas was at the bar. He had read that I have been entrusted with my BBQ team vice-president’s first chicken fried steak experience. “I’ve been to all but one of the places you’re considering. Of the places you mentioned, I have to think Double J would be the best bet. But if you want a real chicken fried steak, you need to go to Texas.” He told me about a restaurant chain called Cotton Patch Cafe that has a Monday night 3-to-close chicken fried steak special for $7.99. He pulled up a photo on his phone. “Now that is a fine-looking chicken fried steak,” he said, and I had to agree.I joked that maybe I should get a bunch of guys together and rent a bus and go on a chicken fried steak tour of Texas. “If you go, let me know,” he replied. “I’m in.”
In other food news, last night I learned that there is a diner in Corinth, Mississippi that serves pork brains and eggs.
Come down to the Farmers Market pavilion tonight and thank a police office for putting his or her life on the line every day to protect all of us (a fact that was sadly demonstrated over the weekend – rest in peace, Office Bolton). National Night Out is from 6 to 8 tonight, and you can learn how you can work with police to make their job of keeping us safe easier, and in return help the police do a better job of protecting you. There will be yummy food and live music.
I will be at National Night Out, then the spelling bee at Bardog at 9, and if time permits perhaps a visit to Max’s Sports Bar in between. I’m not participating in the spelling bee but I have seen the cast of characters that have entered, and I can tell you it is going to be quite a night. Time to go to work. Possibly back at lunch or after work with another post.