This week I got to try several of the new wood-fired pizzas coming out of the oven that the Silly Goose recently finished installing. First of all, let’s take a look at the menu (click image to view in a larger size):
They put a pizza with “Aldo” in the name on the menu. HAHAHAHAHA! That is trolling at its finest.
Now let’s have a look at the four pizzas I sampled this week. I’ll start off with my favorite:
This is The Big Cheese: roasted garlic cream sauce, feta, mozzarella, parmesan, and bacon. OMG that garlic cream sauce is SO good alongside all those cheeses. This immediately became one of my favorite pizzas ever. Vegetarians can request the bacon be left off.
This is The Katie: mozzarella, Calabrian chili, prosciutto, charred kale, parmesan, and olive oil. I was a bit skeptical about ordering a pizza with kale on it, but they assured me it was delicious and it was. Most likely this pizza is named for owner Daniel’s wife, although a lot of people think it is named for regular customer Katie Mac.
Here we have The Silly Goose: pulled pork, pineapple, tomato, mozzarella, cilantro, lemon, olive oil. This is a slice of a friend’s pizza that I was given, and as soon as I took the photo with Perjorie T. Roll I pulled the pineapple off. “What are you doing? The pineapple is the best part. It’s what makes the pizza,” said my friend, grabbing my discarded pineapple and putting it on his own pizza.
One note: If this pizza sounds like something you want to try, you better get down there soon. The pizza chef was talking to us last night, and he indicated he may replace it with something else soon; he’s a bit dissatisfied with it as the cocktail lounge’s namesake pizza. If you have tried this pizza and love it, as my friend did yesterday, you might want to get by the Goose and encourage Daniel to keep it around.
The chef brought out another pizza for us to try:
The City Block: Mortadella, brie spread, asiago, black pepper, Calabrian chili, and arugula. This pizza is named for City Block Salumeria in the Puck Food Hall at 409 S. Main, from which the Goose sources many of its pizza ingredients. This is quite tasty and one I would order again, although honestly I’m so in love with The Big Cheese that I may never order anything else.
The chef said the pizzas come out 10 to 12 inches in size, but he is shooting for a consistent 12 inches as he gets more experience with the oven. Daniel wants to add dipping sauces for the crust sometime soon.
The last few days, the pizzas have been coming out in to-go boxes even when the order is dine-in. I gotta tell you, I disagree with that. For one thing, it encourages people to leave when they’re done with their pizza rather than stick around for another drink or two. I also don’t think people eating out of cardboard boxes fits the cocktail lounge vibe very well.
That’s a minor gripe though. Go try these pizzas!
Well, here’s something totally different. That Golden Girls Show! comes to the Halloran Centre March 28. This show parodies some of the most memorable Golden Girls moments with puppets. Hmmm OK.
I’ve always said that Edible Memphis, an excellent source of food and restaurant news here in Memphis, should have “edibles” at one of its events. Well, they’re doing it. On Saturday, September 28, they are hosting a CBDinner at Comeback Coffee. This is a CBD-paired wine and food event, with food by Justin Hughes of Cafe 1912, and cocktails by Paul Gilliam of Lucky Cat Ramen. The courses will come with approximately 70 MG of CBD, curated by local store Ounce of Hope, whose experts will guide diners through the experience and talk about the products used. Each diner will take home an Ounce of Hope goodie bag with CBD products.
There’s going to be a specialty ticket at the Cooper-Young Beerfest this year. The 10th Anniversary High-Gravity Package, sponsored by Orion FCU, gets you a Beerfest T-shirt, a steel carabiner mug, and a koozie in addition to all-you-can-drink craft beer.
A friend of mine who works for Downtown agriculture tech firm Indigo AG has put the word out the they are looking for Strategic Partner Managers. The candidate needs to be Memphis-based with 3 to 7 years of business-to-business experience. A college degree is required, and Salesforce experience is preferred. This job is 30 to 50 percent travel. I’ve been told Indigo AG is a great place to work, with a lot of perks like free healthy lunches. If you’re interested email me at paul@paulryburn.com and I will get you in touch with my friend so you have an “in” to the job rather than just sending a resume to HR.
Chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman are opening a third Downtown restaurant. This will be in the new Central Station hotel. It will be called Bishop and will be a French brasserie in the northeast corner of the hotel. They are also opening Eight & Sand, “a bar that will be all things Memphis,” near the main entrance. Eight & Sand will be open when the hotel opens in early October, with Bishop opening the following month. Ticer & Hudman currently operate Downtown restaurants Catherine & Mary’s and The Gray Canary.
The MBJ reports that a mixed-use development is planned for three long-vacant buildings at 82, 86, and 88 South Main. There will be 38 apartments upstairs and ground-floor retail. This is great news and will go a long way to the further revitalization of the block of Main between Union and Gayoso.
There’s a bit of controversy in the world of professional wrestling right now, and it’s real, not a scripted angle. When someone is the very best at what they do, people often say he’s “the man.” Well, the best overall performer in the WWE right now is not a man – it’s RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, who beat both UFC legend Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania. Having beat the other top two women in the company, Lynch acknowledged her status as the very best by nicknaming herself “The Man.” The name has been very successful. She uses it all the time in promos, and it has sold a ton of merchandise.
However, about a week ago wrestling legend “Nature Boy” Ric Flair filed for a trademark on “The Man,” claiming he has been saying, “To be the man, you have to beat the man” as far back as 1976. Needless to say, this has not made WWE officials (including his longtime friend Triple H) and Becky Lynch too happy. It also puts his daughter Charlotte in a terribly awkward position, since she frequently feuds with Lynch and “The Man” is used in promos. Charlotte is said to be not too happy with her father these days.
As for Ric’s take on all this, he says he likes Lynch personally and is a big fan of her work. He plans to let her keep using the nickname, whether he wins the trademark or not. He just wants WWE to fairly compensate him for the use of the name.
We’ll see how this all works out. The ironic thing is, Ric Flair stole the “Nature Boy” nickname from former NWA/WWWF champion Buddy Rogers.
That’s all for now. I’ll try to be back tomorrow with more news.