Saturday recap and Sunday news

Got a question for my readers. The past couple of weeks I have been walking around the Memphis Farmers Market, I have noticed that there seem to be a disproportionate number of Chinese people who shop there. Are farmers markets a big thing in China? Do I have any Chinese readers who can shed some light on this? Just wondering.

I stuck to my plan of getting pakoras from the tandoori truck yesterday.

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Pakoras are spinach and onion dipped in batter. If you haven’t tried these at the Market, you are missing out!

Right as I picked up my order, a lady asked me what they were and I showed them to her. She ordered pakoras as well, and later we crossed paths again and she told me I have been missing out by not putting any of the sauces they have next to the napkins and forks. There is a chimichurri sauce, a chutney, and a pickle sauce I believe. I will try at least one of those next time I get the pakoras.

By the way, the food truck is run by David’s Catering. Here’s their Yelp page. From the page I learned that they are a Pakistani business, rather than Indian as I had thought. They are at St. Jude on Mondays and the Memphis Botanic Garden on Wednesdays.

PBR koozie etiquette

Too often in this digital age, good manners are all but forgotten. Sometimes I think it is nice to step back in time to the era of our grandmothers and study proper manners. Consider the following two photos:

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As my readers know, back in August my friend Zack gave me a PBR logo koozie that looks like a brown paper bag. In the top photo I illustrate proper use of the koozie, using it to keep a bottle of PBR nice and cool.

In the bottom photo, however, the koozie is folded and lying flat on the bar. It would be disrespectful to the bar, the PBR brand, and the universe in general to put an inferior quality beer in a PBR koozie.

If you’re ever lucky enough to receive the gift of a PBR koozie, I will hope you will have good manners and keep what I wrote here in mind. Your grandmother would be proud.

(By the way, if you’re wondering what in the world I was doing ordering a Bud, Earnestine & Hazel’s ran out of PBR after my second one.)

When I got the koozie, which is very thin, I predicted it would last about a month. However, today is day 50 with the koozie and it will be in use at D-RANKS with B-RAD here in a bit.

Mr. Mister

About 12:30 I left E&H and walked over to my “home away from home on the south side,” Max’s Sports Bar, to watch football. The Arkansas game started at 11, but the Hogs had their final cupcake opponent of the year in Alcorn State. As a result, I didn’t feel the need to be there right at the beginning of the game, and in fact by the time I sat down at Earnestine & Hazel’s a few minutes after 11 the Hogs were already up 10-0.

While the game was on halftime break, I went out to the back deck and checked out the new misting system they have installed to keep customers cool.

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It works great. Max has really gone above and beyond to make all his customers, smokers and nonsmokers, happy. By the way the inside bar area is a thousand percent better without all that nasty cigarette smoke. If you tried Max’s in years past, and liked it but couldn’t stand the smoke, give it another chance. I think you will like it.

I was going to stay at Max’s all afternoon, but around 2 the bar started to fill up with horrendous UT orange. After Arkansas won 52-10, I decided it was time to make my exit.

Two of Max’s regulars were notably absent – my favorite West Virginia fans, Emmy and Kenneth. They traveled to Morgantown to watch their Mountaineers pull off a 17-16 win over Kansas State. West Virginia is going to be knocking on the door of the Top 25 this week, I bet!

I walked to the Blind Bear, where they had the Tennessee-Georgia game on. My favorite pair of librarian glasses, a Georgia fan, was bartending, and my buddy Chad, a Tennessee fan, was sitting at the bar. Most everybody but Chad was pulling for Georgia – not because they’re Georgia fans, but because they hate Tennessee. You know, I saw a meme on Facebook yesterday – “Some people hate Hillary, some people hate Donald… but everyone hates Tennessee.”

Dinner gets an upgrade

Late in the afternoon I walked back to Max’s, but after one beer I started to get hungry. I decided to walk over to Spaghetti Warehouse and get dinner. I walked up Main, thinking “Hmmm, hardly anyone is in Rizzo’s today” as I passed Butler. I turned left on Huling, crossed Front, and this is what I saw:

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The parking lot was absolutely packed. Spaghetti Warehouse is one of those restaurants I have never quite figured out. Usually if restaurants are not on the well-traveled paths like Main, Second, Monroe, Union, Beale, or G.E. Patterson, they have a lot of trouble attracting customers. That is not the case for Spaghetti Warehouse, tucked away at Huling and Wagner. They have been doing gangbusters ever since I was in college. “Why is this place so busy, and Rizzo’s not, when the food at Rizzo’s is so much better?” I wondered.

Then I thought, “Wait a minute, why am I not at Rizzo’s?” So I walked back.

I got a seat at the bar. The restaurant, in fact, filled up within 20 minutes of my arrival. It’s just that I got there before 5:30. People who want a McDinner are ready to eat at that hour, but most people who want a nice dinner tend to eat it a bit later.

The bartender, Phillip (not sure if one “l” or two, sorry if I misspelled the name there) poured me a Wiseacre beer and handed me a menu. “You also have the the option of just requesting Chef to do whatever he wants for your dinner,” Phillip told me. “For 40 or 50 bucks he can whip you up something nice that is four courses.” That was awfully tempting, and sometime I am definitely going to go that direction. However, I’d already had the pakoras, and I’d been drinking PBR all day. A dinner that memorable should not be done until I’m fully able to appreciate it. So I ordered off the menu. I chose the seafood pasta.

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This was a meaty bowl of pasta, with plenty of big chunks of tuna, salmon and other seafood along with tomatoes and mushroom in linguini topped with parmesan. Phillip made an excellent point: The sauce on the dish is light, complementing it without overpowering the taste of the seafood. Very true. My dinner was delicious, as I would expect with Michael Patrick in the kitchen.

As an added bonus, when I checked in on Foursquare/Swarm, I became “mayor” of Rizzo’s! This prompted my friend Katie (not Mac) to comment, “How are you the mayor when I am there more than you?”

Absolutely fabulous day yesterday. I had to grade it, it would get an A+. Perfect weather, perfect neighborhood, perfect entertainment.

Actually, no I will downgrade it to a regular A. Tennessee would have to lose for it to be an A+ day. By the way the owner of the FireButch.com domain was at the Bear at the same time I was. Well, at least there’s one Tennessee fan I respect.

News and random stuff

This morning I was thinking about how WWE sometimes has Fatal Four-Way matches. Maybe soccer should try that. You know, instead of a rectangular field (or pitch or whatever they want to call it), have a square field, with a goal on each side and four teams playing at the same time.

Paul Taylor plays Loflin Yard tonight at 7.

There really isn’t a lot of “special” stuff going on today, but for people who want to get out tonight, I will make three recommendations for events that happen weekly.

The Memphis Jazz Orchestra has its weekly rehearsal at Alfred’s at 6 PM on Sundays. This is a relaxing way to wind down a weekend. People get out on the dance floor and swing dance to the music. My neighbor Kitty Wompas who did the head-shaving at St. Jude is a big fan of this event.

Over at the Hard Rock Cafe, Sundays are Blues Jam nights with the Memphis Blues Society. That starts at 7.

There is no better place to catch FreeWorld than the Band Box at Blues City Cafe. That is the place where they feel the most freedom to be themselves and just totally jam out. Dr. Herman Green is a living legend and the band can play most any tune you can name. They take the stage at 9:30.

All right. Long post is over, my Sunday School shirt is fresh out of the dryer, and it’s time for D-RANKS with B-RAD, also known as the Sunday edition of Hung Over Like a Bear brunch at the Blind Bear. Brunch runs from 11 AM all the way to 6 PM, so if you get up late today, you still have time. Now that I think about it, D-RANKS with B-RAD is to me what Sunday night at Blues City is to FreeWorld – the place where I have the most freedom to be myself and I know no one can mess with it. Time to put that PBR koozie to work!

Saturday update

Wine on the River benefiting Youth Villages will happen tonight at Mud Island River Park from 5 to 9 PM. You will be able to sample over 90 wines from national and international vineyards. $59 general admission ticket gets you a souvenir glass and all beverage samples. Live music by Young Petty Thieves, Chinese Connection Dub Embassy, and J.R. Moore. Food by The HoneyBaked Ham Compay, Newby’s, Runway Grille, City East Bagel and Grille, Cordova Catfish, Pronto Pups, Central BBQ, Cafe Society, and SideStreet Burgers will be available for purchase. Needless to say, you must be 21 or over to get in.

A Halloween Cocktail Tour of Downtown Memphis will happen Saturday, October 29 from 4:30 to 7 PM. Stops include Belle Tavern, Cafe Pontotoc, and Rizzo’s Diner. In addition to cocktails, plenty of food will be served. Be prepared to walk about 1.5 miles. You’ll get to go behind the scenes with chefs and bartenders. Tickets are $55.

387 Pantry and City & State will be transformed into Luke’s Diner for a day to celebrate the anniversary of the premiere of The Gilmore Girls on October 5.

The AutoZone National Sales Meeting this week is said to be pushing the renovations to Cook Convention Center. With AutoZone adding 150 stores a year, the meetings get bigger and bigger. On Tuesday they rented out FedExForum for a PBR event for their sales staff (Professional Bull Riders, not my kind of PBR).

Tonight is Blues Night at Loflin Yard with the Daddy Mack Blues Band playing from 7 to 10.

Real2Reel, the photography studio on South Main, is being kicked out of its home at the end of October. They are not sure where they will relocate. I will miss seeing David and Moo Moo on Saturdays as I walk to the Farmers Market.

PANTYRAID comes to the New Daisy tonight at 10.

Paulette’s has published the menu for its October wine dinner with executive chef Jeremy Jaggers Tuesday, October 4.

Last night as I walked to Trolley Tour, I thought about how excited I am going to be having Slider Inn occupying the space that is currently the bocce ball court and the building behind it on Mulberry. With Slider Inn having such a huge outdoor component, that will be a lot more eyes on South Main into the wee hours… which will make that block of main considerably safer. With Slider Inn on that block and the Chisca occupied a couple blocks to the north, there really won’t be an easy point of entry from the east for the bad guys anymore.

Downtown Memphis is losing two good people this week. Longtime Downtown Memphis Commission marketing and communications director Leslie Gower is off to Chattanooga to accept a position there. Also, Mandy Marie, bartender/server at Blind Bear and Agave Maria and instructor at Painting with a Twist, is off to St. Louis today. I wish both of you luck in whatever the future brings.

It’s time for me to go shopping for fresh produce at the Memphis Farmers Market on a beautiful Saturday morning! Plans for the rest of the day TBD. Back tomorrow with more news.