Author: paulryburn

I got a good Aldo’s Pizza Pies tip last night: You know the vodka cream sauce that is one of the sauce options for their pizza? You can get a cup of that on the side. “Get some garlic knots and a side of the vodka cream sauce for dipping,” I was told. Yum! Then I got a second tip from the same person: You can get a cup of the poblano cream sauce on the side too.

The Grizzlies now know their playoff destiny. #4 seed Portland plays #5 seed Memphis in the opening round. However, in a strange twist, Memphis has home court advantage in the best-of-seven series despite being the lower seed. Portland won its division and therefore can be seeded no lower than fourth. However, Memphis has a better record than Portland and therefore gets home court. First game is at FedExForum, Sunday at 7 on TNT.

That’s the Spirit, a wine tasting benefiting the Hospitality HUB, is today at 5:30 at Jack Robinson Gallery.

Cultural awareness festival Africa in April kicks off today at the park on Beale just east of Fourth. Honored country this year is Gabon. The festival runs through Sunday.

Fashion news from LOOK magazine: Shop Kylie Jenner’s Stripy Tube Top and Skirt

Grace Askew plays the Blind Bear tonight at 9.

The Downtown Neighborhood Association is having its monthly happy hour tonight at 6 at The Arcade. Casual, no agenda, just friendly conversation.

Gotta get back to work. Doing a fair amount of bar-hopping tonight, so you might see me out.

Tomorrow is the season premiere of the Peabody Thursday night rooftop parties. There will be entertainment by Hollywood with special guest Shaggy along with DJ Mark Anderson. The doors open at 6, and the cover is normally $10 but for this special event the cover is $15 this week. Ladies get in free until 7, and the party lasts until 11. Admission price includes a buffet of jerk wings, sweet potato fritters with jerk dip, and pineapple with spiced rum dip. Drink specials for this week include a guava margarita, a Malibu peach sparkler, and Jamaican breeze.

You have the option of buying a season-long pass to the rooftop parties for $150. This gets you into all 18 parties and you get a private area on the rooftop with chef tastings and beer tastings. VIP chef tasting this week includes jerk chicken, pork tostones, Caribbean coconut shrimp, spicy crab balls, pineapple with spiced rum dip, and crudite with jerk dip. The beer tasting this week in VIP is Goose Island IPA.

VIP card holders get other benefits too, including a rooftop party T-shirt, 20% off in several of the Peabody’s restaurants, and 10% off at Sammy Hagar’s bar across the bridge at Southland.

When I listed this weekend’s upcoming Downtown festivals, I totally forgot one: The Harbortown Crawfish Festival happening on Mud Island Saturday afternoon. It’s a fundraiser to benefit the Memphis Food Bank and admission is $5 or two canned goods. One of the most talented musicians I have ever heard, Charvey McLemore, will be performing. Holly has more info about the festival (and Sunday’s Rajun Cajun) here.

Damn. DTO, Harbortown Crawfish, and Memphis Brewfest. That is a STACKED festival day. Not going to Brewfest this year but am going to have to figure out what to do about the other two. Charvey will likely be playing on the Island right when synchronized drinking, the best of the five DTO events in my opinion, is happening on South Main, three miles apart. Going to have to figure that one out. I hope the green buses running the trolley line are efficient. May need them.

Argh… and it’s Goldcrest 51 revival week at the brewery too. There is no way I will be able to do all the things I want Saturday.

And to top it all off, there’s yet another festival happening over in Midtown Saturday: Food Truck Fest. Not gonna make it to that one. Too much to do, not enough time.

AutoZone Park is making national news and unfortunately it’s not good: The park changed its BBQ nachos, going with an in-house vendor rather than The Rendezvous which has done the nachos in years past, and baseball fans are protesting.

Last Saturday night I was at South of Beale for a birthday party. I didn’t eat but people who were at the party had the duck patty melt and had high praise for it, so I wanted to pass that tip on.

Arkansas’ Bobby Portis has declared for the NBA draft, giving up his remaining two years of college eligibility. Not surprised, but the Hogs will certainly miss his contributions next season.

And now it’s being announced that Michael Qualls is turning pro too.

Beer recommendation: Blue Pants Peanut Butter Pinstripe Stout. I had this beer last night at the Saucer after seeing it on the “Just Landed” board. 8%, 15 ounce glass, $6. I did the math and realized this beer had a Value Drinking Index (percent * ounces / price) of 20, an excellent score. I went to the UFO computer (remember when they called it the Beer-Tron-a-Ton? Glad they gave up on that), printed a ticket, and ordered it. It was delicious! Tasted just like peanut butter. I’m not normally a fan of stouts but this one was really, really good.

Speaking of the Saucer, here’s a pic of the 420 glass that will go on sale in less than two hours.

That’s the news. Hope you enjoyed Nikki’s guest post at lunchtime. Outta here for now, time to grab a PBR.

I’ve blogged several times that the Memphis Farmers Market is more than just produce, and Saturday I tried one of the market’s hidden secrets, tucked away in the back. There’s a tandoori cuisine food truck. I love Indian food and gave it a try.

I wasn’t hungry enough for a full entree, so I got the curried chickpeas with veggies and yogurt sauce. Really good, although next time I will probably add a little hot sauce to make it even spicier. The truck has an entire menu of Indian dishes, so I will be back. This is one of the few places serving Indian food that has a beef curry on the menu.

You know, I don’t buy a lot from the vendors, but I really like hanging out at MFM. There are a lot of Downtowners I really enjoy talking to who aren’t bar people like I am, but who go to the market.

I finally made it to Brewery Revival on Sunday. They do indeed have PBR, although it costs $5 just like all the other beers. I didn’t care; I happily paid it. They have the Memphis sign where you can get a crayon and write what you love about Memphis. I wrote “TUBE TOPS.” They had crawfish for sale and I was told that is going to be a regular Sunday thing.

Grizzlies flip-flop voucher redemption starts today. Details here.

There are three big Downtown festivals coming up this weekend:

Downtown Olympics – 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday in the area around Max’s Sports Bar and Double J. 16 teams will compete in a bar relay race, beer pong, cornhole, tricycle races, and synchronized drinking. Teams will be dressed up in homemade uniforms. If you want to see Downtowners at their silliest finest, there is no better day to do it. There will be a guest post about DTO on my blog tomorrow. I plan to be there for the entire thing and I guess bringing the camera wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Memphis Brewfest – 4 to 7:30 PM Saturday in AutoZone Park. I’m not going this year due to the conflict with DTO, but I consider it one of the best beer festivals in Memphis. Walk around the ballpark’s concourse and sample many different beers, including some that are not generally available in the Memphis area.

Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest – 11:30 AM to 6 PM Sunday on the river, on Wagner and Riverside between Union and Beale. Buckets of crawfish will be for sale, but there is a lot more to do than just eat crawfish. Live zydeco music, food trucks, gumbo contest, crawfish races for kids, bobbing for crawfish contest, and of course beer. This is one of my very favorite festivals of the year. The lines for crawfish, beer, and bathrooms get super long mid-afternoon, so best advice is to go early. I will do a very shortened edition of D-RANKS with B-RAD at the Bear on Sunday at 11 then hit the festival about 12:30.

Speaking of the Bear, they’ve scheduled their 16-week poker final table the night of Rajun Cajun. Oh my. I didn’t make the final table this time so it doesn’t affect me, but those who go to Rajun Cajun and party and get wild during the day are going to be at a definite disadvantage at poker.

A note from my friends Dennis and Mary Pat who live in Huntsville, Alabama: Last night they saw a band called The Boxmasters, with Billy Bob Thornton on vocals, They said he was very personable and stayed after the show and did autographs and photos. They noticed that the band will be at Lafayette’s Music Room in Midtown tonight and wanted to recommend them.

Congratulations to Peabody groundskeeper Willie Parker, who won the AHLA Outstanding Lodging Employee of the Year award.

Late getting out tonight because I have a date with TurboTax, but I will be out eventually at the usual spots.

There are about 250 BBQ Fest teams, but only one has their own theme song for load-in, which is only three weeks and six days away.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Equipment’s unloading
And the scaffolding
And Natty Light beer
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

The carpet we’re laying
For ice we are paying
For warm kegs we fear
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Porta-potties are green
Staple guns and Visqueen
Put the fridge in the rear
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

There are forklifts and trucks
It may rain, and that sucks
But we have to be here…
It’s the most wonderful time…
It’s the most wonderful time…
It’s the most wonderful time….
OF THE YEAR!!!!!

So I didn’t make it to Brewery Revival yesterday, and judging from my news feed on Facebook I am the only one in town who didn’t. So I guess this really isn’t news to anyone, but I will report it anyway.

THERE’S PBR AT BREWERY REVIVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A source confirmed it yesterday morning while I was at Bardog. I did such a happy dance in my chair that Panda thought I was having a seizure.

For those who just found this blog and don’t know what I am talking about, Brewery Revival is an open-air revival of an 1890s brewery with live music, great beer, and food trucks Thursday-Sunday through the end of May. It’s at the Tennessee Brewery on Tennessee Street a half block north of G.E. Patterson Avenue.

Usually I end posts with my plans for the day, but today’s plans are so awesome that I will go ahead and lead off with them.

Memphis Farmers Market
Panda Time at Bardog
MEMFix Pinch
Tennessee Brewery Revival
D-RANKS with B-RAD, special birthday edition, South of Beale/Blind Bear

This is the tentative, minimally possible awesome schedule. Stuff could get added to make it even more awesome. I love Saturdays in April.

Next Saturday is the rebirth of Downtown Olympics. I have never participated in the event or seen it all the way through, but it’s an interesting concept and they’ve gotten rid of the parts of it that I considered liability issues. Last night I was at Max’s and lined up a local writer to do a guest post about DTO. Look for that soon.

It’s opening day for Mud Island River Park and there’s a Rock ‘n’ Romp going on over there today.

Rain, a tribute to the Beatles, happens tonight at the Orpheum at 8:00.

A new gallery called Nappi Head Art has its grand opening in The Edge today. Address is 664 Marshall.

There will be fireworks after the Redbirds game tonight. First pitch is at 6:05. Iowa Cubs are the opponent.

Sing for your supper: On Tax Day, if you get up on stage and sing a song at Hard Rock Cafe, you’ll get a free Local Legendary Burger. All ages are welcome.

I found a good resource for anyone looking for a green career, one that benefits the environment.

Four weeks until the big day: Load-in Saturday for BBQ Fest! Moody Ques workhorse “Mr. Load-in” is ready. I’m working on a slightly updated version of the BBQ Fest Load-in Theme Song that I hope to post later this weekend.  Right now, I’m going to slam a Mountain Dew Kickstart and see if I can get the f***ing dryer to stop squeaking. Today is going to be a looooonnnnnggggg day but I am ready.

We’re having a cookout today at work, so I may not have time to squeeze in a lunchtime post. I’m up unusually early and there’s already plenty of news, so let’s do this.

If you enjoy exercising at RiverFit at Tom Lee Park, better take advantage of it while you can. The temporary fitness park will close on April 17 to prepare for Memphis in May. The park will re-open in June with some new surprises.

I will enjoy looking at those new surprises as I drive down one of Riverside’s four lanes.

First 2000 fans at the Redbirds game tonight get a free Redbirds T-shirt, courtesy of CBU. First pitch is at 7:05. From 5 to 7 there will be a block party in the plaza, with live music by Party Planet and $2 draft beer specials.

This Saturday’s theme at the Memphis Farmers Market is Kids in the Kitchen, featuring ways to get your kids interested in their food. From 9 to 12 Junior League of Memphis members will show kids how to prepare a healthy snack, talk to them about fun ways to exercise, and share ways to live a healthy, happy life. Music by Paul Waits 8:30-10 and Adam Levin 11-12:30. Don’t carry cash? Bring your credit, debit, or SNAP card to the MFM table to purchase tokens that can be spent with market vendors. Pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson, 7 AM to 1 PM.

There will be free document shredding Saturday, April 18 from 9 to noon at the Commercial Appeal, 495 Union.

I’ve already covered these two topics, but High Ground News has long and excellent stories about them that are worth links: the redevelopment of Central Station and Saturday’s MEMFix Pinch event.

That’ll do it for this morning’s post. My plan is to make tonight relatively low-key to conserve energy for tomorrow. With things like MEMFix Pinch and Brewery Revival going on, tomorrow could turn out to be a very long and fun day. I’ve sketched out a tentative Saturday plan on paper, then wrote next to it, “Plans subject to change, but this is the minimally awesome possible schedule.” As for now, I’m off to work. So far this week has been Monday, Monday II, Monday III, and Monday IV, but I fully expect this to be a Friday.

I have some Memphis Redbirds/AutoZone Park food news to kick off this Thursday post. The Redbirds have partnered with King Cotton to offer $1 hot dogs at all Tuesday games this year. There are 10 Tuesday games in total. They have also added a new dessert, fried apple pie on a stick. Redbirds GM Craig Unger tweeted this Loaded Chili Chipper pic that looks yummy. Season opener is tonight vs. Iowa with 7:05 first pitch. The Queen of Beale Street, Ruby Wilson, will sing the National Anthem, and the first 5000 fans get a 2015 schedule magnet.

The Grizzlies are having a playoff ticket pre-sale event on the FedExForum plaza tomorrow beginning at 9 AM. There will be an all-day live remote on 92.9 ESPN, a first look at Grizzlies playoff gear, and from 11 to 1 food trucks will be there. Inflatable slide, dunk tank. At 4 you will have your first opportunity to purchase tickets to Round 1 playoff games number 1 and 2. Limit 4 tickets per customer. From 3:45 to 7 Levy’s Grill, Rendezvous, Sleddogs, and Pepsi products will be available.

Holly from the I Love Memphis Blog has a great interview with chef Felicia Willett of Felicia Suzanne’s.

There was a fire on the 12th floor of the Renaissance Apartments at 99 N. Main this morning. One unit was damaged. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

If you go to the opening of Tennessee Brewery Revival tonight, check out Luke McLuke, a new APA brewed exclusively for Revival by Memphis Made.

Here’s a party for a wonderful cause, but one which scares me to no end: Wedding Dress Ball to raise money for St. Mary’s soup kitchen.

Interesting fact: In the 1960s there was a Downtown Memphis airport on Mud Island which was reachable by pontoon ferry.

MOODY QUES: If you have not already sent your T-shirt sizes to moodyques@gmail.com, please do so immediately. We are days away from placing the order. If we do not have your size when we order, you will get a shirt but it may not be one that fits, and we do not plan to have many extras.

Last night the team vice-president, head cook/treasurer, and workhorse “Mr. Load-in” met for drinks, and I learned that the team has sailed way past its cap of 35 members – so far past the cap that I was asked, “Paul, can you get the PayPal widget off the team website as soon as possible?” (Thanks to Otto for getting that down because I wasn’t near a computer and wouldn’t be for hours.) The good news is, vice-president Clay who has the list said “the people who joined late are a lot of really awesome people.” For those few of you who haven’t paid yet, get a check to Clay or Frank.

Heavy storms moving through Memphis this evening. Latest projections show the heaviest ones coming through between 10 and 11. That’s usually about what time I walk home from the bars… hey, it’s an excuse to stay out and drink later!

Not really enough news to warrant a second post today, except that one of the items is time-sensitive. Tennessee Brewery Revival opens tomorrow at 11 AM, and the Stickem food truck, Mr., Frazier’s Fish Fry, and the Farm2Cart food truck will be on hand to serve lunch.

More Tennessee Brewery Revival news: A week from tomorrow, Thursday, April 16, the beer that made the brewery famous, Goldcrest 51, will make its return. It will be tapped at the brewery around the noon hour. At 1:30 that afternoon, proprietor and beer historian Kenn Flemmons will give a talk about the brewery and the history of Goldcrest beer.

Earlier this afternoon I reported that street buses will start running what is essentially the Main Street Mall trolley route beginning Sunday, April 12. The CA reports that the buses will make vintage trolley sounds.

Bike Nights on Beale kicks off next Wednesday.

Home from work. Time for an ice cold PBR. Back tomorrow.

Earlier this week I blogged about Pranom Pop-Up which will bring authentic Los Angeles Thai street food to Downtown Memphis, at the Silly Goose Friday from 4 to 9. Well, I have now learned that Friday will be the second of two Downtown Memphis appearances. Thursday Pranom Pop-Up will make an appearance at the High Cotton taproom at 598 Monroe. I’ll probably wait until Friday to try it at the Goose because I’m lazy about walking, but if you live in The Edge, or if you want great craft beer with your Pad Thai, or you just can’t wait until Friday, there you go. By the way, if you’re a student (and 21 or over), Thursday is the taproom’s $3.50 pint night for you.

Main Street shuttle buses will replace the trolleys and start running Sunday, April 12. Here is the route. @LaurenSquires reported that new trolleys cost $1.5 million apiece and MATA just doesn’t have the money for that right now. Regular trolleys are expected to be back by fall.

Administrative note: I still consider this a personal blog, and therefore Bardog, Blind Bear, Flying Saucer, Silly Goose, and Max’s Sports Bar have an advantage getting things mentioned on this blog because those are the main places I hang out. However, other Downtown restaurants, bars, and businesses: Do not be shy about letting me know about events you would like me to write about. My email address is paul@paulryburn.com and you’re welcome to send me anything you want. I can’t promise it will get in (especially the week of BBQ Fest, when I blog mainly about my team) but if I think it’s something my readers should know about, I will try my best.

Concert announcement: Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters will play Mud Island on Friday, June 12. Tickets go on sale Friday. I don’t go to a lot of concerts, but that is one I would not mind attending.

If you missed the weekly Grind City Craft show on 600 WREC, here’s a replay. The topic is the upcoming Memphis Beer Week. A good listen if you appreciate local and regional craft beer.

Thanks to the Grizzlies, patients at St. Jude have a new basketball court. The court is Grizzlies-themed and has adjustable goals so kids of all ages can play. Team members came out and played on the court with the kids yesterday.

Do you have a recipe for a craft beer cocktail? Take it to the Flying Saucer and enter it before April 20. On April 24, the top ten finalists will present their cocktails. The top three will go on the menu for the month of May. The creator of the best-selling cocktail during May will get a spot in the Ring of Honor and a UFO party. As far as I can remember, this is the first time they have ever offered a way to get a plate on the wall without having to drink 200 beers.

From the MBJ: The first Southwest plane departs Memphis for Dallas Love Field today.

From Thrillist: The 11 best places to get fried chicken in Memphis. Several are walkable from Downtown.

Bass Pro Pyramid has some open service industry positions in its Mile-High Catfish Bar.

With highs pushing into the mid-80s today, I plan to get out and do some people watching and tube top watching this afternoon after work. Great patio weather. Perhaps I will see you out.