Thursday update

We have a new place to eat in the Downtown core! STIX, an Asian, sushi, and hibachi restaurant, is now open in the Peabody Place/ServiceMaster complex with an entrance on Second. It opened Tuesday and people who have been told me you enter your order on a touch screen. It is takeout only noon to 8 Monday-Saturday. Yummm they have sushi burritos! Expect a picture of Perjorie T. Roll standing next to a Grizz Burrito soon.

I tried a good beer yesterday:

Dog Days is a light, refreshing pink lemonade shandy by Crosstown Brewing Co. If you’re lucky enough to have a pool that is open, this would be a great beer to take to it.

Jennifer Biggs of the DM posted a list of bars limited service restaurants that have to close due to the health department’s new directive. This is such an arbitrary way of deciding who can stay open and who can’t. It punishes small business owners, it puts people out of work for a second time, and it doesn’t address the real issue, which is not the bars themselves but idiots who refuse to follow rules.

I don’t believe either Blue Monkey location is open right now, but under the rules the Downtown Monkey would be allowed to stay open but the Midtown Monkey would not. That is absurd.

Hey, Randy, Theresa, Bardog on Saturday? Because apparently we’re still legally allowed to do that. We’ve just got to make sure Bloom records our phone numbers and where we sat, which should be easy enough to remember since we sit in the same spot every week.

Man… forcing the restaurants to record names and phone numbers of all who come in could be bad news for dudes sneaking around with their side piece.

Nick Scott, owner of Alchemy, says he won’t close down as ordered. Despite how it is licensed, he says Alchemy is a full-service restaurant, and liquor only accounts for such a large part of total sales volume because they use top-shelf liquors in their cocktails. Nick, I support you, and I may well grab a Lyft out to your restaurant to enjoy one of your delicious concoctions in the next couple of weeks. I’ll have some food too of course.

Why are health departments going after bars so hard right now? Well, part of it may be community spread happening at the bars, but I suspect there may be another reason. We are down to one month before what would traditionally be the beginning of the school year, and schools are in no way ready to open. People are pissed that bars are open and schools are not.

Okay. I’m going to make a radical proposal here. Schools have always been about teaching children to

  1. Obey
  2. Memorize

when they should be teaching children

  1. To think for themselves
  2. That we are all in this together as a human race, and what you do for another, you do for yourself; so if you cause your neighbor to become better, stronger, wiser, you cause yourself to become those things as well

Why not do without school for a year and re-think the school system to instill those values in our children? Think of the amazing leadership our country and our world would have in thirty years’ time. Think of how things that divide us, like racism, would wither away.

The coronavirus is our opportunity to re-imagine all of our institutions. Look how creative we have gotten with working from home. Let’s apply that creativity to schools as well.

Sad news: Asian-American restaurant Wok’n in Memphis, located in Puck Food Hall, has fallen victim to the economic impact of COVID-19. They will close their location in the food hall, but will retain their online presence as gourmet provisions provider @wokn_in_pickle_co.

You can play the virtual game show Matching in Memphis, where you try to match answers to fill-in-the-blank questions provided by local celebrities, tonight from 7:00 to 8:30. It’s presented by Cerrito Trivia and Riverset Rye. If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, this video will help: (bonus: Betty White!)

I want to give another shout-out to local meal preparation company Eat Amplified. A friend of mine has been ordering their healthy, nutritious meals for about 8 months now. He has lost 50 pounds and is able to do things he hasn’t done in years. They have a menu of their offerings on their site, but my friend tells me you can talk to them, explain what you’re hoping to accomplish, and they will come up with a customized plan for you.

The DM’s Geoff Calkins has thoughts on Dr. Jon McCullers’ prediction two months ago that Neyland Stadium would be empty this fall. It’ll be the best the stadium has ever looked.

Vanity Fair has a look at Ghislane Maxwell’s life on the lam. She was Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged partner in crime, who helped recruit underage girls for sexcapades. She was arrested last week. If I were Bill Clinton I would be very afraid right now.

Remember, everyone… if you want football this fall, if you want to attend a Memphis 901 FC game this season, if you want your bars limited service restaurants back, mask up whenever you are out in public. Back tomorrow with more news.