Tuesday update: Bardog is back

Bardog Tavern had reduced its business to take-out and delivery only the past month due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. However, Bardog is a full-service restaurant and the decision to reduce service was a choice, not an order from an outside agency. With enhanced employment benefits running out, and with COVID-19 new cases and positivity numbers finally trending in the right direction if only for a couple of days, the decision has been made to re-open for dine-in. They’re open for breakfast at 8 on weekdays and for brunch at 11 on weekends.

Keep in mind, though, Bardog still has to play by the (adjective deleted) rules that other full-service restaurants do under Health Directive No. 9. They still have to close at 10 PM. They can’t allow seating at the bar. You have to order food to be allowed to drink alcohol on site. Food service is limited to two hours. If you go there, please understand these new rules were not the choice of Bardog’s management, so don’t make a fuss and please tip well. And, of course, don’t forget to wear a mask anytime you are not seated.

Are we going to have to call the place Fullservicedog Tavern until this all blows over? Oh by the way… you remember how I left it as an exercise to the reader to figure out why I might not lead off at Slider Inn Downtown this coming Saturday? Well, there’s your answer. By the way, a couple of pieces of inside info I gleaned from the kitchen… the fried chicken sliders will make their way onto the full menu, and a pork chop may be added as well.

I will try to watch the COVID-19 joint task force press conference at noon and do a recap this afternoon, or tomorrow morning at the latest. Wonder if we’re going to hear about those “tripwires” today? Also, if there will be automatic triggers introducing more restrictions when the numbers get bad, will there be automatic triggers rolling back restrictions when numbers get better, triggers that could save local small businesses?

I learned something about shopping at Walgreens recently. If you have a Walgreens card, and find lots of stuff on sale in the weekly ad that you want to buy, don’t rush right in and buy it all. Instead make a small purchase, and see if the register prints out a “$6 in future rewards when you make a $25 or larger purchase” coupon along with your receipt. Then come back, buy the sale items you want, go over $25 and redeem your new coupon. Note the coupon is good for future savings – you don’t get it off the $25 or more purchase, but a subsequent time you shop there. I got lunch yesterday, lunch today, and a pint of ice cream for $1.12 having applied this strategy.

Zion Williamson looked like exactly the beast he is advertised as in a Pelicans 109-99 win over the Memphis Grizzlies last night. With 5 seeding games remaining, the Grizzlies hold a 2-game lead for the 8th spot in the West over the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs, 2.5 over New Orleans, and 3.0 over the Sacramento Kings. Even the Phoenix Suns at 3.5 back could enter the playoff conversation. Notable games today:

  • Dallas at Sacramento, 1:30, no national TV (we want Dallas to win)
  • Phoenix at L.A. Clippers, 3:00, NBATV (we want the Clips to win)

13 members of the St. Louis Cardinals organization have now tested positive for COVID-19. If the late, great Gorilla Monsoon were alive, he’d have this to say about the 2020 MLB season: “Stick a fork in it, it’s done.”

If living within a short walking distance of Gus’s Fried Chicken is your Downtown Memphis dream, you will want to keep your eye on this new apartment development. Under a proposal, buildings at 316 and 324 S. Front, at the corner of Vance, would be renovated into 165 new apartments with attached parking of about 100 spaces.

Elmwood Cemetery is hosting an online Fare from Beyond tour tonight at 6 PM. They’ll have a look at those who fed Memphis over the years, exploring restaurant concepts of the past ranging from street vendors to fine dining. $10 registration fee gets you a Zoom link so you can follow along for the hour tour.

A photo of teenagers standing in long lines outside Incredible Pizza on Germantown Parkway Saturday night has Jeannette Comans, owner of the Blind Bear Speakeasy, questioning why that business is allowed to be open while her limited service restaurant is not. Many in the line were not wearing masks and the line was not appropriately social distanced. The executive vice president of marketing at Incredible commented they were very busy this past weekend. “Why can’t I provide food in very isolated, six-feet-apart tables?” said Comans. “People stay at their own tables, and everyone wears masks to come in.” If any news reporters read this, how about asking at the COVID-19 press conference today if there will be a path for limited-service restaurants to submit custom plans for reopening, the way large entertainment venues were allowed to in Phase 1.

Also from WREG: Nearly a decade’s worth of Downtown parking tickets may be invalid. The tickets were written by employees of the Downtown Memphis Commission, who may not have had the authority to issue citations. Cheers to my fellow Bardog regulars for standing up for what’s right! A class action lawsuit is being considered to compensate other people who paid parking tickets.

Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston are under a tropical storm warning as T.S. Isaias blows through today. Donald Trump better stay indoors. Just think what Isaias could do to his comb-over!

Meanwhile, in Memphis…

That’s it for now. Check back this afternoon for possibly another post.