A few weeks ago, I commented that the building at 64 S. Main, just north of City Market, appeared to be getting a cleaning-out in preparation for an upcoming renovation. The Memphis Flyer has details on what will be going in there: A one-stop shop for people contributing to Memphis’ growth, as the proprietors put it. It will contain a restaurant serving healthy food and a boutique health and wellness center including a nutritionist, physiologist, certified dietitian, gym, classes and other services. A restaurant in the penthouse of the building serving contemporary Southern food will open within a year. There will be art shows and pop-up dinners as well. The first “Gallery” art show and dinner will happen Saturday, April 28.
The trolleys are finally coming back, just in time for Music Fest. The Main Street line will resume passenger operations on Monday, April 30, immediately following a ribbon-cutting/grand re-opening type of ceremony at 11 AM. The other two routes, Riverside and Madison, are expected back (in that order) in 2019 or early 2020. There will be free trolley rides the first two weeks they are back in service on the Main Street line.
I don’t know if I have any readers who are big fans of mac & cheese, but if I do, you’ll want to buy a special ticket to the Thursday, April 26 Redbirds game. The ticket includes an all-you-can-eat mac & cheese bar as well as all-you-can-eat hot dogs from 6 to 8 PM. Bacon bits, diced chicken and ham will be available to add protein to your mac & cheese. For those of you who love mac & cheese and who are vegetarians, the bar will also have broccoli, green onions, mushrooms, pico de gallo, jalapenos, blue cheese, shredded cheese, and various sauces. $2 beers at select locations throughout the park, and on Thursdays the Redbirds don their throwback Memphis Chicks uniforms.
I’ve been trying to keep up with the Michael Cohen, Donald Trump, Stormy Daniels, Sean Hannity, etc. situation as best I can, but a lot of good stories are from newspaper websites behind paywalls. Thanks to a web developer trick I’ve figured out how to get around them, and thought I’d share. You have to use the Google Chrome web browser to do this. When you see a link that is behind a paywall, right-click it and select “Open in incognito window.” This is a feature built into Chrome for those who want to browse with privacy, but it has a couple of nice side effects as well. For web developers, it’s useful for emulating a new user, who does not have any kind of browsing history, cookies, or user sessions. This leads to another useful side effect – websites with paywalls can’t tell you’ve been there before.
In a previous post, I mentioned that Meddlesome Brewing Co. is rolling out Jerry “The King” Lager. However, you don’t have to go to their taproom far out east to get this new beer. Not surprisingly, Jerry “The King” Lawler’s bar and grill on Beale carries his namesake lager. In a new Rassle Me post by Kevin Cerrito of the Memphis Flyer, Lawler discusses how he never touches alcohol, even if it is named after him. Brings to mind the tacky 1996 angle when Jake “The Snake” Roberts tried to pour booze down Lawler’s throat.
Africa in April is back this weekend. The event is held on Beale Street and Robert Church Park (just east of Fourth on Beale) with African food, exhibitors’ booths, health and wellness stations, performing arts, fashions, culture and history. Things kick off on Wednesday with an International Entrepreneur’s Day, followed by Children’s and Seniors’ Day on Friday, Family Heath Wellness & Community Day on Saturday, and International African-American Music Day on Sunday. $5 admission.
Michael from one901 writes about his experience judging the gumbo contest at Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest this past Sunday.
Terri Lee Freeman, president of the National Civil Rights Museum, will reflect on MLK50 at the Tuesday, April 24 Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting at the museum. 6 PM social, 6:30 program. This event is free for members and $10 for guests.
Yesterday I tried another new place for lunch, One & Only BBQ across Kirby Parkway from where I work. The smoked wings had been recommended to me by a friend, but I decided to save that for next visit and ordered the kielbasa dinner instead.
Generous-size helping of kielbasa, smoked and dusted in their dry rub, along with two sides and Texas toast. I got BBQ baked beans and deviled eggs for my sides, although I have heard good things about the twice-baked potato salad and want to try that next time. Service was quick and the people there were very nice. I look forward to trying the wings soon. As close as we’re getting to BBQ Fest, I will hold off on ordering pulled pork for a while. There’s plenty of that in my future already.
That’ll do it for now. Back tomorrow with more.