Yesterday was an eventful day.
My plan was to lead off at Bardog, where our beloved bartender Dani would be celebrating her birthday behind the bar. But yesterday morning I got a text saying that the city was working on water main issues in the alley (AGAIN) and Bardog wouldn’t be able to open until 3 PM.
So I led off at Blind Bear.
Then I got a text saying Bardog would be open at 12. So I tabbed out at the Bear and walked up there at 12:05.
From the looks of Monroe Avenue, it was obvious the repair work on the water main was far from done. Bardog’s door was still locked, the “opening at 3” sign was still on the door, and there were several would-be customers standing outside looking like “WTF do we do now?”
I ran into my friend Randy and we returned to the Blind Bear.
Then Randy got a text that Bardog’s opening time had been moved back to 8 PM. So the employees, including birthday girl Dani, now had the day off. Not surprisingly, Blind Bear filled up with an assortment of Bardog regulars and staff over the next hour. Much merriment was had, as well as many shots.
Then we decided to go to Longshot.
But all the bar seats at Longshot were already full, so after 1 drink we decided a venue change was in order. We walked north to Slider Inn Downtown.
There was a table big enough to fit all of us at Slider, but it wasn’t ideal. It had bad views of the TVs and the Alabama-Arkansas game was on. The Hogs had pulled within five of Bama and at that point looked like they still had a chance.
So we left and went to Green Beetle, where we got a table with excellent TV views. I got the Gravy Baby, essentially a big version of one of KFC’s bowls with mashed potatoes, melted cheese, chicken breast, and plenty of gravy. I forgot to take a pic.
Then we got in Randy’s car and drove out to Molly’s La Casita in Midtown. I don’t think I’ve been there in 20 years. I wished I was hungry again because I love Mexican food, but I was too full to try anything on the menu. My troll ordered a frozen margarita.
Whew. I can’t remember the last time I made or attempted so many venue changes in one day. I was dead tired by 8 PM.
Randy’ll have to wait until next Saturday to play some Billy Joel on Bardog’s new jukebox.
I do have one piece of Blind Bear news: They’re experimenting with putting sound on during Saturday daytime football games. I was the first one there yesterday and the GM asked my preference of game to turn on the sound. Knowing that Memphis vs. Temple and Kentucky vs. Ole Miss were both 11 AM games, I had a tough choice. I tend to believe that our own city’s team should get preference for sound whenever they’re playing. However, I knew I’d potentially piss a lot of people off by not choosing a top-15 SEC matchup. I let someone else make the call on that one.
Don’t forget that Blind Bear has a 2-for $20 value menu for Saturday and Sunday brunch from 11 AM to 3 PM. They have some good stuff on there like breakfast bowls and biscuits & gravy.
I’m headed back to the Bear in a bit, where NFL games are on today. Ugh… time for a list.
Sports, ranked in order of my most-liked to least-liked to watch:
- College football
- Basketball (both college and NBA)
- Curling
- Gymnastics, but only if Romanian women are competing
- Hockey
- Baseball
- Soccer
- NFL football
- Tennis
- Golf
That’s it. I’ll try to have more actual news tomorrow.