Top o’ the mornin’ to you, everyone! I have lots of interesting Downtown news to share with you, but first, we have a very important birthday to celebrate.
My little green-haired sidekick Perjorie T. Roll turns two years old today. Trying to figure out what to do for her birthday… don’t two-year-olds like going to Chuck E. Cheese? I guess I should invite some other trolls too, although I’m not exactly sure where to find other trolls on such short notice.
All right, let’s get on to the news. Yesterday I was chatting with some friends about different meats, and one of them opined that bison is the best meat of all. Then he mentioned a reason to go to Flight, the restaurant at Main and Monroe that recently made TripAdvisor’s top fine dining restaurants: They have bison on the menu. As a matter of fact, their current dinner menu includes a flight consisting of boursin stuffed filet, elk tenderloin, and bison ribeye. Pair it with a Big Bad Cab wine flight and you’ve got a meat lover’s dream.
VIPit passes for BBQ Fest 2019 are now on sale on the Memphis in May website. These give you a backstage look (and taste) of what it’s like to be on some of the best BBQ teams in Tom Lee Park. Question for my readers: Has anyone purchased one of these in past years, and how did you like it? Email me at paul@paulryburn.com if you have feedback.
It looks like the One Beale project will finally be getting under way. New permits and renderings have been filed. The MBJ has a photo gallery.
If you want to shop local for the holidays, go by the Center for Southern Folklore this Saturday or the next between 11 and 5. My neighbor and BBQ teammate Mary Ann and a few others will have pop-up shops at the Center, selling jewelry, journals, hand painted ornaments, hand painted angels, and funky bird paintings. The Center also has unique Memphis music, art, and gifts. It’s on the Main Street Mall just north of the Majestic and Bluefin.
Another excellent place to get some holiday shopping done is the Memphis Farmers Market’s holiday market, which will happen under the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson tomorrow from 9 AM to 1 PM. The vendors will be there to stuff your stocking with lots of goodies and crafts.
Yesterday I saw the worst parking job ever outside of 100 Peabody Place:
Maybe – MAYBE – 2% of the SUV is in the space. I have to wonder if the driver just didn’t understand parking on Peabody Place, or perhaps they just didn’t care.
If you don’t feel like cooking for the holidays, Cordelia’s Market can do it for you. Scroll down a bit on the home page to see their menu. They’ve got turkey, ham, pork tenderloin, brisket, sides, and desserts. Orders need to be in by December 17.
Get a look at plans for the future Wiseacre Downtown brewery in this Memphis Business Journal photo gallery.
This is very, very cool: A Memphis teacher created a website, Positive Physics, to make learning physics more accessible to his students, especially students who were not reading at grade level. Now the website is being used by teachers and students around the world.
The SEC commissioner had the nerve to say UCF should look inward and fix its strength of schedule issues if it wants to be considered for a playoff spot in future years. I’m sure the folks in UCF athletics would love to do just that, but how can they? The top three schools in Florida (including the University of Florida, an SEC school) won’t schedule them. Not that the problem is unique to Florida… I love my Arkansas Razorbacks but I think it is ridiculous that they won’t schedule an intra-state rivalry game with the Arkansas State Red Wolves. Power 5 schools care more about holding on to their power than they do about fairness and equity.
The Woodruff-Fontaine House will have a Victorian Yuletide Open House tonight from 5 to 8. Come get a taste of Southern holiday traditions during the Victorian era.
That’s the news for now. Time for me to start rapidly refreshing Twitter in hopes of breaking news about the Mueller investigation. Happy Friday and I’ll be back tomorrow with more.