Today I walked over to the Thursday food truck rodeo in Court Square to find some lunch. I wanted to try a new food truck, and I walked over to the Stanley’s Sweet Street Treats truck to check out their menu.
Soft shell crab BLT? That sounded like something I had to try. I went to the window and placed my order. The lady at the window said, “Would you like a side of smok’d Gouda mac & cheese to go with that?” That brought back memories of smok’d mac & cheese in the Moody Ques BBQ team booth a couple of years ago. I wasn’t about to turn that down!
Just look at that thing! That’s an entire crab, covered in aioli, on a bun with bacon, lettuce, and tomato. Fantastic! The Gouda mac was every bit as good as I anticipated. My compliments to the folks at Stanley’s truck!
For those of you thinking, “Wait, Paul… you posted a food photo without the troll in it?”, there was a reason. I told the lady at the counter I write a blog, and she left the container open when she presented it to me so I could take a photo without messing up the aioli. I didn’t bring the troll with me to Court Square. Don’t worry, though, she will appear later in this post.
The food truck rodeo happens every Thursday 11 AM to 1:30 PM in Court Square. About 15 food trucks show up (sometimes not as many if rain is expected during the lunch hour). Trucks vary from week to week, but today I saw BBQ, burgers, fried Cornish hens, Mexican food, hibachi, fried rice, Asian noodles, and a lot more.
The Blind Bear has its Christmas party this Friday at 8. Jeannette couldn’t decide upon a theme, so she’s doing a little bit of everything: Naughty Santa, funny hats, funny pants, ugly sweater, whatever you want to do. Spiked eggnog, $3 moonshine, $3 cinnamon whiskey. The band A.M. Whiskey plays at 10 PM.
The Daily Memphian is selling gift subscriptions. I am a subscriber and I can personally attest, this is worth the money. It’s people who live in Memphis and love Memphis writing for people who love Memphis. It’s not like turning on the local news and hearing, there was a shooting over here, there was a carjacking over there. The DM has stories about things going on that matter in Memphis. It’s a nonprofit business model, placing an emphasis on quality writing, rather than circulation numbers or ad revenue.
Speaking of which, here’s a Daily Memphian story. Mighty Lights, the project that lights the I-40 bridge over the Mississippi, is seeking dedications for individual lights.
Here’s a great piecce of journalism from the Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins: Is it possible to be a fan of both Memphis and Tennessee? NO! “You cannot be a fan of Memphis and Tennessee. If you are, you are not really a fan.” EXACTLY! In all the years I’ve been reading Calkins, this may be his finest work ever.
Dillon Brooks, doing commentary in the booth while out on injury reserve for the Grizzlies, had a sport jacket and a hoodie on last night. I think I may have to try that look. My PBR hoodie would look great with a blazer! Then again, what doesn’t look good with a PBR hoodie?
Check out this mini sampler from The Peanut Shoppe on Main Street just north of Monroe Avenue. They can take care of your chocolate, nut, and candy needs for the holidays, and they have decorative tins that look so pretty that there’s no need to gift wrap. This is a wonderful local business and one I stopped in many times on the way to go see my mom for Christmas.
The Vault on G.E. Patterson will become The Vault Gastropub with a new menu and new branding for 2019. Some of the old favorites like the Smashburger will be retained, but there will be a lot of new dishes and new hours as well.
MakeUseOf compiled a list of the best online sites to shop for ugly Christmas sweaters. Hmmm… the other day I saw a photo of my friends Rahul and Tony at the Electric Cowboy in matching Western wear. If I could get that image on a sweater, I’d win every ugly sweater contest in town.
Our team name wasn’t good enough to win Best Team Name in trivia last night, but we came in second on the questions.
Always nice to place well in trivia and get a few beers knocked off my tab.Having Perjorie T. Roll on the bar seems to make my teammates and me smarter.
That’ll do it for this post. Back tomorrow with more news.