Author: paulryburn

The music lineup for April for Tennessee Brewery Revival has been announced.

• Saturday, April 11: Mark Edgar Stuart 3-4:30, Deering & Down 4:45-7
• Sunday, April 12: Grace Askew 4-6:30
• Saturday, April 18: Loveland Duren 4-7
• Sunday, April 19: Mason Jar Fireflies 3-7
• Saturday, April 25: Blind Mississippi Morris 3-7
• Sunday, April 26: Alexis Grace 3-7

The City Council started the legislative process that would permit drinking on party bikes like River City Pedalers, the 14-seat party bike that has been operating Downtown since December. The River City bike made two different stops at Bardog, with different groups on board, while I was in there Saturday.

Blues legend B.B. King has been hospitalized.

The Orpheum is hiring a marketing/group sales assistant.

MLGW’s Plus-1 Telethon is today. You can sign up to pay extra on your bill to help pay to keep the power on for people who don’t have the money to pay their bills.

Random fact I learned today from FiveThirtyEight: Your fingernails grow 3-4 times faster than your toenails. Also from FiveThirtyEight: The Rock consumes about 821 pounds of cod per year and eats seven meals a day.

It’s National Beer Day and of course I intend to celebrate after work. I am going to switch up my Tuesday routine a bit and revert to Flying Saucer as my lead-off location. That will allow me to get to the Silly Goose right about the time their local beer night ($2 local drafts) starts at 7:30, with live music at 8:30. Yes I will drink local beer and not PBR.

We have a new restaurant that has opened on Madison, in the block between Second and Third that also contains the Brass Door and Havana’s Pilon. Parkway Grill has opened in the space that was formerly Thai Bistro. This is the second location of the original Parkway Grill on East Parkway. Its menu (photo from the East Parkway location) is pretty basic, with burgers, dogs, gyros and pitas, and wings. There’s nothing wrong with a basic menu if it’s good stuff, though. I like my wings the way I like my women – extra hot – so I hope to give those a try soon. They have garden and turkey versions of the burger available, for those who choose not to chow on cow.

Memphis Made Brewing Co. is throwing a party on Saturday, April 25. The party will be called “Hopped,” and will feature a line of hoppy pale ales, IPAs, and more. It will be in the brewery’s parking lot, near the I Love Memphis sign, and there will be music by the Mighty Souls Brass Band and Goner Records. There will be food from the Fresh Gulf Shrimp food truck, the Food Geek truck, and Aldo’s Pizza Pies. It will be a free, all-ages event from 12 to 6 with the taproom remaining open until 9. First 100 customers will receive a free Hopped pint glass.

Also on hand at the party will be Bikesmith, the mobile bike shop. Attendees who ride their bike to the party will be entered into a raffle to win great prizes including a growler of Memphis Made beer every month for a year.

After the party, the Memphis Made taproom will be open Saturdays as well as Fridays.

From Skillet, Lifehacker’s food blog: Use cornbread instead of sliced bread for your next sandwich. That is absolute genius right there.

Max’s Sports Bar is open early today for MLB Opening Day.

Dog owners: Sunday, April 26 is Bark at the Ballpark, with free admission for dogs when accompanied by a paying owner, with seating in a special section. Tickets are $12 for a field box seat, and first pitch is at 1:35. There will be dog adoptions by Streetdog Foundation. They always seem to do this the day of Beale Street Wine Race, and it puts some of my dog owner friends to a difficult decision.

I need to do a post on Wine Race for newcomers to Memphis. Trust me, you need to see it at least once. Teams from several of my favorite bars are among the ones that compete, but I’m pretty partisan to the Blind Bear when cheering. Dammit, we’re not going to have Kaylea in a super-low-cut booby V-neck this year.

If you haven’t been by the tall brown building at Union and Main recently, look up the next time you pass by. The “Memphis Business Journal” sign has been replaced by a “Lokion” sign.

That’s it for now. After work I need to make a brief trip by Cafe Keough to talk to Jai, then on to Melissa Monday at Bardog and then Pint Nite at Flying Saucer.

Dream Kasestatad, an actor and producer in Los Angeles, lost everything not long after turning 30 – his job, his girlfriend, everything. To survive, he turned back to his roots. He still knew how to cook. He began to cook his family recipe Pad Thai on the streets of L.A., selling boxes of the dish for about what one would pay for fast food out there. His pop-up business, known as Pranom, became wildly popular, receiving coverage in publications such as L.A. Weekly.

Nowadays, Kasestatad has taken his show on the road, catering festivals and high-end private events, and he has embarked on a food tour of cities across the U.S. This Friday Pranom Pop-Up will pop up in Memphis, at the Silly Goose from 4 to 9. He will prepare Khao Soi – yellow curry with egg noodles, chicken, pickled mustard greens, red onions, fried garlic and onions and lime citrus. Come on down and find out why Pranom Pop-Up is drawing such big crowds out on the West Coast.

Hippity hoppity happy Easter day everyone! I don’t really observe Easter for religious reasons, but I’m happy that kids get candy and I get PBR. Lent comes to an end for a lot of people today. Could be an interesting day at the bar as people make up for the last 40 days.

Okay. Now that I have more time, I’ll write a few paragraphs on Kudzu’s closing. You know, I talked to several people yesterday who had been there, and the general consensus was that the real Kudzu’s died in 2011 when the bar was sold. Still, I’m sad to see it go, because it was one of the last bars standing from the early ’90s when there weren’t many choices other than Beale Street. I remember hearing about Kudzu’s back when the choices were the South End, the North End, Barrister’s, Sleep Out Louie’s, the Map Room, Earnestine & Hazel’s, and the original Raiford’s.

It’s odd, that place was sold and started going downhill at almost exactly the time The Edge became a neighborhood. That building has held bars and nightclubs since the 1920s. I hope someone does something with the building to carry on its tradition as a neighborhood locals’ bar with a ton of character. People who live in the area need a place within walking distance where they can go to unwind, kind of like Bardog is for me.

Hmmm… wouldn’t it be interesting if Aldo put a Bardog/Slider Inn type of place in there? I never once made it out to Kudzu’s, but if there were an Aldo bar at 603 Monroe, I guarantee you my feets would be doing some walkin’.

Also, now that I think about it, every person I know who lives in The Edge is known to hang out at Max’s Sports Bar. Only occasionally in some cases, nearly every day in others. Maybe a concept similar to Max’s is what would work there. Once again, if something resembling Max’s opened in that spot, I would have to step out of my comfort zone of the Downtown core now and then.

KENTUCKY LOST!!!!!!! Wisconsin took them down 71-64 last night. Congratulations and THANK YOU to the Badgers. I het my boy Habes is a happy, happy man right now. Congrats also to Cal, who one day will become the first head coach in history to vacate two 38-win seasons.

Grizzlies playoff gear is now on sale.

Waiting for City Market to open so I can feed my newest addiction, Mountain Dew Kickstart. Juice, Dew, electrolytes. I thought I was addicted to regular Dew, but I crave this stuff badly since trying my first can last week. Kickstart will get me fired up for what will hopefully be an epic Sunday Fun Day. The only definite plan I have is to visit Christina at the Saucer sometime after opening at 4. Rest of the day is TBD at this point. I don’t feel like having to hear a shrill, high-pitched cougar voice, so I’m skipping Blind Bear poker this evening. Time to do some cleaning. My laundry basket is looking an awful lot like a couch, so I guess I better get to work on that.

(Quick note before I get started: Today is the last day for Kudzu’s at 603 Monroe. If you want to see the place one last time, get by there today. Java Trio will perform tonight. I will say more about this in a future post, just wanted to get this info up quick since it is very time-sensitive.)

This morning I woke up about 5, and after twisting and turning for 30 minutes I realized that I was not going back to sleep. Normally I don’t get up on Saturday until 8:30 or so. “Now what do I do?” I thought. “I have five and a half hours to kill.”

Then I remembered, “Today is the first day of the Memphis Farmers Market season!” The Farmers Market happens every Saturday April-October from 7 AM to 1 PM at the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson. “I have plenty of time to shower and get dressed, and get down there earlier in the day than I have ever been before,” I thought. When I have gone to the market in the past, I have gone after 10 AM, so I have never seen an early morning there. It was 45 outside, but this is April and I’m Paul and I’m wearing shorts. I triple layered a T-shirt, windbreaker shirt, and my PBR hoodie and walked to South Main and was completely comfortable.

I got down there at 7:45 and made a beeline to the back, where the food trucks are parked. There were four options: A mobile juice bar, the Fuel food truck, the Rock’n’Dough pizza truck (serving breakfast slices), and a tandoori cuisine truck serving items like kabobs, curried chick peas, and naan. If it had been a few hours later in the day, I would have been all about some Indian food, but that early in the morning I couldn’t stomach it. I went over to the juice truck and ordered the Paradise, a smoothie made with mango, pineapple, strawberry, kiwi, nonfat frozen yogurt, and apple juice.

I walked around the market and the surrounding area sipping on my smoothie. The Easter Bunny was there handing out treats and posing for pictures with kids. There were crafts for kids as well, Easter headbands with bunny ears.

One of the cool things about the market is that you can bring your dog(s) with you. They’re not allowed under the pavilion, but there’s a pet-sitting area just north of the market where volunteers will watch your dog for you, for up to 30 minutes. They have to be on a leash. The pet-sitting area is nice and grassy and the dogs seem to enjoy running in it. Dogs from huge to small were there, although there were no Chloe-sized ones for those of you familiar with that particular canine. Last summer I came up with a game, based on the fact that everyone posts pet pictures to Facebook and Instagram. The game is, you look at the dogs being sitted and try to figure out which of your friends are at the market. Usually I get 1 or 2 right but not today; I guess none of my friends are morning people either because I didn’t recognize any of the dogs.

I have walked around the market and taken notes on my phone before, but this time I went a step farther: I brought a pen and a journalist’s pocket notepad and tried to make notes on every vendor there. Following are the notes I took, giving myself about 5 seconds to jot a line down about each vendor. Where I saw a website URL, I copied it down. As you will see, not even 20% of the market vendors sell produce, and you can more or less stock your entire refrigerator there.

• Gardens Oy Vey – plants
• Jams, stewed tomatoes, apple butter
• Leafy green vegetable that I’m guessing was kale?
• Pepper sauce
• Pet food/dog treats
• Cookies
• Porch decorations
• The Apothecary Fairy – beauty products
• Breads
• Tomato plants
• More kale/chives/pussy willow
• Mushrooms
• Flower and veggie seeds
• Fabric goods, soaps, alpaca dryer balls
• Steaks, ground beef, roast
• Kettle corn
• Chips and dips
• Farmhouse Bakery Treats (for dogs)
• Seafood
• Pork, chicken, dairy
• Meat
• Produce and eggs
• Boys and Girls Club bake sale
• Bacon, Pancetta, carnitas, sea salt flakes
• Flowers and plants
• St. Bethany fresh produce
• Coffee
• Gluten-free goods, breads mostly
• Eggs, goat cheese
• Vinegars, pestos, herbs
• Raise garden beds
• Carrington’s Catering – artisan sweets, tarts, and savories
• Salsas/hot sauces/Bloody Mary mix (were offering nonalcoholic samples)
• Baby herbs, veggies, edible flowers, grow kits. Vendor was a Downtown poker player, though he hasn’t played recently.
• Nourishe cake and muffin mix
• Jellies and pies
• Farm-raised catfish
• Jellies
• Plants
• Garden art
• Pottery by my friend Boo Gardo
• Spinach and even more kale. What is up with kale?
• Coffee
• Breads
• Pottery by Erica Bone, whose sign said you can find her on social media
• More produce
• Cooper Street 20/20 – prepared meals
• Bird houses
• Fresh flowers
• Mama D’s all-natural frozen treats
• Meats by Claybrook Farms
• Memphis Farmers Market T-shirts and totes

Whew! I think I got every booth in the park there. I could probably write two paragraphs about each vendor, but there just isn’t time today. If any of the vendors read this and would like me to do a longer blurb about you in particular at some point in the future, shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com.

I am going to try to do better about making it down to the farmers market this year. I doubt I will make it every week, but twice a month is a reasonable goal to shoot for. This 7:45 to 9 appearance was an anomaly; usually I will get there more like 10 and stay until 10:40 when I have to walk north to make it to Bardog for Panda Time at 11.

Speaking of which, it’s Saturday, and this will be the last normal Saturday for a while. Panda Time at 11, librarian glasses at the Bear between 1 and 2. The next three Saturdays will be crazy with festivals and parties, then it will be Music Fest weekend, then it will be time for the Moody Ques workhorse to step up big-time for BBQ Fest load-in, then it will be BBQ Fest. I better make this one count.

One thing I’ve learned while getting my eight plates on the wall at the Flying Saucer is that beer pairs with food even better than wine does. This month they have come up with a pairing that is just genius: Beer tasters paired with Girl Scout Cookies. This beer flight is so decadent that it will make you want to wear a giant stick of butter as a hat.

Nate the manager told me that he bought enough cookies to do 60 flights. The special is advertised as going on the entire month of April, but I predict the 60th flight will be poured before Tax Day.

Moody Ques news: We want to have one more get-together for team members, especially new team members, to get to know one another before BBQ Fest gets here. However, we don’t want to interrupt festival season. So we’ve found the best of both worlds: Two of our team members have invited us to the rooftop of Barton Flats on April 19, the day of Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest. The rooftop overlooks the festival and we will have BBQ and you can bring crawfish up if you want. It’s BYOB and if you attend, we’re asking you to do two things: Email moodyques@gmail.com to RSVP, because space is limited; and bring $10 to help with the cost of the BBQ. Also email the team if we don’t have your T-shirt size yet. We need to get the order in soon.

Speaking of the Moody Ques: I hear someone has been bugging the team leaders, trying to make a $100 bet on which team finishes higher in shoulder, ours or his. Dude, if I were you, I would be a lot more concerned about your restaurant’s 63% rating on Urbanspoon (as of this morning when I checked) than about whether you can out-cook another BBQ team.

Did you know there was supposed to be a pedestrian bridge connecting Bass Pro Pyramid to the Pinch?

The Daily News reported that yesterday in environmental court, Allan Long, owner of 107 S. Main, agreed to have his boarded-up building inspected by engineers. The city argued that the building may pose a danger to two adjoining buildings and possibly passersby as well. The two sides will re-convene before Judge Potter on April 23.

In the news: Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton tells gays to get some perspective, that at least they don’t hang you here like they do in Iraq. So ashamed that this heaping pile of shit represents the state in which I was born.

Big sports night tonight: Redbirds vs. Cardinals at 6:05, AutoZone Park. Grizzlies vs. Thunder, 7:05, FedExForum, first 3000 get a Super Grizz cape.

There will be an April 4th commemoration tomorrow at the National Civil Rights Museum. April 4 is the day on which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated 47 years ago at the site.

Almost time for the weekend. I will be out at the usual spots tonight.

The American Atheists National Convention kicks off today at the Peabody. This week’s Flyer has a cover story about the convention.

And of course there’s a religious group who has pulled a permit to close one lane of Second, on the northeast side from Union to Monroe, so they can have a “Pray-Test” for the atheists. Can’t you people live and let live?

I’m not an atheist by the way. I’m non-religious but have strong spiritual views. That means I’m not agnostic either. I don’t know what to label myself, and I hate labels anyway, so I’ll just say this: I don’t go to church. I don’t go to atheist conventions. I go to bars. I fully expect the bunny to bring me a PBR on Sunday.

In case you missed it, there was a minor earthquake in the Mid-South last night just before 11. The MemphisWeather.net blog has a report.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band plays the Orpheum tonight at 8 with tickets $45-79. The band is described as producing roots-rich music with “an electrifying blend of blues, soul, jazz, and rock.”

The Pinch District has held on to its historic designation. Consideration had been given to taking it away. By the way, there’s a planning meeting for April 11’s MemFIX Pinch at the Crowne Plaza today at 3:30.

Holly has info on Tennessee Brewery: Revival that starts next week. Grizzlies screening room… nice!

Hungry Memphis has a post about the duck confit enchiladas at McEwen’s.

There’s a Groupon for the Metal Museum for admission for two, four, or six.

Like the Memphis Farmers Market and want to support the organization? Eat at South of Beale. The market is SOB’s charity of the month, and you can add a donation when you sign your check.

I had a couple of people ask me what I thought the speed limit should be on Riverside when it goes back to four lanes in June. Forty. Four zero. Ten times four.

Last week I was showing everyone an Instagram video of my BBQ team’s flamethrower. This week I am showing everyone photos where I posed with a giant stick of butter on my head. Ah, life Downtown, never a dull moment.

(I mentioned the flamethrower )

Out at the usual spots after work. Goose, Bear, and Saucer will all receive visits tonight. Time to go buy a Circle K breakfast sausage covered in mustard, salsa, and jalapenos for lunch. Truly livin’ the high life.

Enough news, and big news, today to warrant a second post. Yes, all of this is real news, not April Fool’s jokes.

Mayor Wharton has announced that Riverside Drive will go back to four lanes in June, pending further study. EXCELLENT. Us crusty old white men in cars, as our detractors like to refer to us, are happy. (And, by the way, there are more than 6 of us, as I have seen implied this afternoon.) Note that when I wrote about the Riverside controversy, I never once insulted or name-called people who disagreed with me on the issue, and I even said I admired them and respected them for their efforts to make Memphis more livable.

Oh, and one of the people who was pro-bike lanes called for a traffic light at Riverside and Georgia. I agree on that point. It is nearly impossible for cars to turn left from Georgia onto Riverside. There’s just never a break in traffic, unless you’re turning at 4 AM.

Bass Pro has moved its grand opening for the Pyramid back from May 1 to April 29. At 6 PM on the 29th, there will be a special Evening for Conservation event, with celebrities from fields related to Bass Pro on hand. There will be discounts and prizes, and experts in Bass Pro-related fields will be on hand to answer questions. The first full day open to the public will be Thursday, April 30.

It’s official now: The Susan G. Komen Memphis-Midsouth Race for the Cure will be coming Downtown this fall, headquartered at AutoZone Park. 9 AM October 31 is the start time.

Live Nation, the world’s largest producer of live music events, has signed a strategic partnership with Beale Street and will book events for the New Daisy at 330 Beale and the Palace at 380 Beale. East Beale will now be a prominent stop for national live touring acts. MBJ reporters tweeted that the New Daisy will be renovated and although it won’t be rebranded a House of Blues, it will likely be on the same touring circuit.

You know it’s a big news day when the East Beale story is the #4 story in my news post. I am SO HAPPY to hear that Live Nation, and not anyone local, will be booking 380 Beale. Finally the former site of the Plush Club will no longer be a ghetto embarrassment to Downtown Memphis.

Allan Long, owner of dilapidated 107 South Main, will have to appear in environmental court tomorrow. The city has filed a second lawsuit against Long, this one asking the court to declare the building a public nuisance. The lack of maintenance on 107 Main has caused increasing moisture levels in adjoining buildings, and may have even made it a danger to passersby on the street.

Time to go out for a PBR, for there is much good news to celebrate today.

The Orpheum has announced its 2015-16 season lineup of Broadway musicals. Here’s the list:

• Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella
• Pippin
• Disney’s Newsies
• Matilda the Musical
• A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
• Bullets Over Broadway
• Season ticket holder option: Return engagement of The Book of Mormon

Go to orpheum-memphis.com to purchase season tickets.

Bass Pro has released a video showing updated Pyramid construction. The 28-story elevator is now complete. We are one month away from the store’s scheduled opening.

Also, Choose901 has a rendering of the store’s bowling alley with an underwater theme. Looks beautiful. The balls come out of the mouths of sharks and alligators.

Holly has written an awesome guide to Memphis crawfish festivals. The largest and in my opinion the best is the Downtown one: Rajun Cajun on April 19. It’s held on Wagner and Riverside between Union and Beale. There will be spicy boiled crawfish for sale, of course, and there will be food trucks and other food vendors too. Live music, kids’ crawfish races, cornhole, a bobbing for live crawfish contest that can get pretty gory, and a gumbo-cooking contest. It benefits Porter-Leath, one of Memphis’ best charities.

I just hope Robo doesn’t bring his karaoke machine to the gumbo contest this year. The organizers of the contest need to make a rule about noise pollution. Imagine the sound a cat makes when you accidentally step on its tail, but as a Neil Diamond song.

Oh, one other thing about Rajun Cajun: In previous years I saw the organizers give several kids a live crawfish in a cup to take home as a pet. I bet their parents were thrilled with the new addition to the family.

Here’s the schedule for Friday’s Memphis Redbirds vs. St. Louis Cardinals game at AutoZone Park: Plaza opens at 8 AM, merchandise kiosk at 11 (Redbirds and Cardinals merchandise), gates at 3:30, Cards batting practice at 4:15. Pre-game ceremonies at 5:40 will include introduction of both teams, a moment of silence for Oscar Tavares and Rodny Jimenez, national anthem by Reagan Strange, ceremonial first pitches, and an umpire meeting. First pitch of the game at 6:05.

Absolutely sickening: Graphic video shows Ole Miss student biting the head off a hamster. I have to agree with animal-rights activists, the kid should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, even that will not solve the true problem here. We live in a society in which some people think it’s cool to try to impress others by bringing harm to themselves or other living beings. That societal belief needs to be completely eliminated the way we wiped smallpox off the face of the Earth in the 20th century. It’s just as much of a disease, just in a different form.

Pick up a living, breathing being and take its life away just for kicks? Dude! That’ll make an awesome video on YouTube! Just think how many “Likes” it will get!

Do a “quick six” (chug six pint cups of beer in under 30 seconds), then drive to the grocery store to get more beer? Sweet! The bros will totally think I’m a stand-up guy if I replenish the stash! Just hope I don’t kill myself or anyone else on the way there and back!

Get a sorority pledge so drunk she doesn’t know where she is, then when she passes out take her clothes off and take advantage of her? Why not? I mean yeah, she’ll carry an emotional scar from that night for the rest of her life, but I will like totally have the best slampiece story to tell at the meeting Monday night!

Let me make it clear, I’m not trying to bash fraternities here. A very small percentage of fraternities would tolerate this kind of behavior. Also, this attitude is found in MANY other groups all over the world as well (the “point ’em out and knock ’em out” incident at Kroger last year comes to mind). This attitude is one of the things that is holding us back as a species from further evolving. I don’t know how to wipe it out but I hold hope that a way can be found.

By the way, before the incident the hamster was in its cage, being force-fed vodka and hot-boxed (smoke blown into an enclosed space). Not one person at the party saw that the hamster was in imminent danger and took steps to get it the hell away from there. Not one decent human being in the entire bunch. Everyone who was there should be ashamed of themselves and should go get counseling.

Okay. Rant over. This probably wasn’t what you were expecting on April Fool’s Day, was it? I tried to come up with a joke to play on my readers, but I’ve conditioned you over the years to expect them, and I just couldn’t come up with anything funny and believable enough.

The 7th annual South Main Ninja Parade happens tonight on South Main beginning at 6 PM.

A problem Downtown has, the best kind of problem to have, is that there are too many interesting people to talk to down here. As a result, I have had a 12:30 bedtime each of the past two nights. Not really ideal when I have to be at work at 8. Maybe I will try to catch up a bit tonight. Or maybe I’ll stay out until 12:30 again and catch up on sleep after I’m dead. Who knows. Out at the usual spots around 5:45.

The Commercial Appeal broke some huge news yesterday: Race for the Cure, for many years a staple out in the ‘burbs, may be moving Downtown this year and there are plans for the race to double in size. That would be a huge get for Downtown if it happens, and would certainly stimulate the economy, with people coming from out of town staying in hotels and people eating in nearby restaurants after the race. I’d link to the story but they’ve moved it behind the paywall.

I polled local restaurants and bars on Facebook yesterday as to whether they would be opening later than usual on Sunday, which is Easter. Results I have so far:

• Bardog opening usual time (11)
• Blind Bear opening usual time (11)
• Silly Goose opening usual time (noon)
• Flying Saucer open at 4

Last night was an old-school night for me: I went to Pint Nite at the Flying Saucer at 5:45 and stayed until a few minutes after midnight. While watching the Grizzlies and talking BBQ with a Squeal Street member, I overheard one of the bartenders say something about new menu items. Later in the evening I grabbed a food menu and noticed many new additions:

• Shepherd’s Pie, making the full menu after years on the St. Pat’s menu
• Green Chili Pork Stew
• IPA Mac & Cheese
• Grilled Cheese & Tomato Bisque
• Kale Salad, which is vegetarian, unless you add chicken for $2
• Loaded Rocket Tots, the Saucer’s jalapeno cheese tater tots, topped with cheddar, jack, goat cheese, bacon, green onions, and a fried egg
• Pork bahn mi sandwich

I decided to give one of the new items a try, deciding on the IPA Mac & Cheese.

The bartender told me it is made with local Wiseacre Ananda IPA. There isn’t a hoppy taste at all, as you might expect since it’s cooked with IPA, and that’s a good thing. However, it does have a bit of a kick to it. You know, growing up I was not a fan of mac & cheese at all, and never ordered it, and I still don’t order the garden-variety version of it. It was only a few years ago when chefs started getting creative with the dish that I got into mac & cheese. I enjoyed the Saucer’s take on it, with the mac not only in a cheese sauce, but with cheese baked on top. Definitely something I would consider getting again.

One of the bartenders had the grilled cheese & tomato bisque and said it was really good (I handed her a napkin, because it looked like she got some butter on her face). Jim told me that the green chili pork stew is good if you like spicy food. I do, so that may be what I try next.

SUPER COOL: If you go to Google Maps and get to an overhead view, a Pac-Man button will appear. Click it and you can play Pac-Man on Google Maps, on the streets of your own neighborhood or any neighborhood you choose. (I almost led off with this item, but then realized hardly anyone would stick around to read the rest of the post)

Tin Roof on Beale is staffing up for a probable opening soon. They are also putting out a call for live bands.

Really having a good time following the Facebook posts of my friends who are at the bar and nightclub convention out in Vegas. Panda got to see Jon Taffer and the entire Bar Rescue staff. Now those are some people I would love to meet. Wilbur had “Club 152, Louisville KY” printed on his badge. “They moved the club to Louisville and no one told me.”

From Newsweek: Is poker a game of luck or skill? Statistical analysis revealed that over about 1500 hands, skilled players will do better than unskilled players three-fourths of the time.

Two Grizzlies giveaways this weekend. Friday at 7 it’s Grizzlies vs. OKC with the first 3000 fans getting a Super Grizz cape. Saturday the game is Grizzlies vs. Wizards at 7 with the first 5000 fans getting Z-Bow ties.

The Tigers baseball team hosts Ole Miss tonight at 6:30 at AutoZone Park. Ugh. I was going to lead off at Flying Saucer again tonight, but it will likely be full of douchebags in red and blue doing that Godawful “Hotty Toddy” chant. I will lead off elsewhere and move my Saucer stop to after the start of the game. Most likely not playing Blind Bear’s Tuesday poker game tonight, although I may stop by for a bit.

This Saturday is opening day for Memphis Farmers Market. Here is an interactive map of the vendors. For those not familiar with the market, it runs from April to October under the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson. It is so much more than a place to buy produce. There’s live music and pet adoptions every week, and there are often chef demos and activities for kids. Besides fruits and vegetables, you can buy locally grown meat, seafood, jellies and preserves, pottery, coffee, and much, much more. There are usually a few food trucks there serving breakfast and lunch items. Most definitely worth checking out if you never have. The market runs from 7 AM to 1 PM every Saturday. You will find many of the city’s best chefs there right at 7, which in an indication of the high esteem in which food lovers hold the market.

LYFE Kitchen is about to open its first restaurant in Memphis. The first will be in East Memphis, but a second one is coming Downtown in the Chisca not long from now.

Some of your favorite bartenders and servers may not be around this week. There’s a big bar and nightclub expo in Las Vegas. Bardog sent Melissa, Panda, Bloom and James out there. That sounds like trouble with a capital T right there. Club 152 is also sending people to Vegas.

From Gizmodo: A simple design tweak may help prevent drunk people from falling on train tracks. For some reason I’m tempted to mention one of my BBQ teammates here.

The Flyer’s Frank Murtaugh has a preview of Friday’s Redbirds vs. Cardinals game.

NPR has an article about compression clothing including tube tops. We are less than two months away from the beginning of Tube Top Month.

What an awesome weekend of college basketball. I hate it that I missed the Kentucky-Notre Dame game. It’s looking more and more like John Calipari will become the first head coach in men’s basketball history to vacate 40 wins in a single season.

Wow. Eric Clapton turns 70 today.

I’ve had the same weird dream two nights in a row. I had to travel to Nashville for work – odd because in real life my job almost never requires travel, and the few times it has Nashville would’ve been an unlikely destination. I decided to check out two bars in East Nashville, Red Door East and 3 Crow Bar, that my friends have told me are really cool and fun and awesome. So I pulled up the Maps app on my iPhone to try to find them. Unfortunately the app was completely unreliable, and I found myself driving down roads east of the city, confused, frustrated, no idea where I was going, wasting my time. Both times I woke up before I either ran out of gas or found one of the bars. Most strange that I’m dreaming about being in a city to which I have very little connection.

Epic, awesome Sunday Fun Day yesterday. I told B-RAD I wasn’t doing any Fireball shots, and he bet one of his regulars a beer he could get me to take one. He enlisted the help of the Saucer girls, who were there for brunch after their monthly meeting. One of them came over and said, “Paul, do a shot with me” and I had to say no 15 or 20 times before they realized I was serious.

It’s hard to leave the Bear on Sundays because Brad has such a great group of regulars. I started the day up there with members of my BBQ team. Later I got to hang out with Rahul and Tony (amazingly, Rahul didn’t hit on me) and then got into a tickle fight with one of Brad’s regulars (female, although I’m sure Rahul dreams of having a tickle fight with me). I left the Bear at 5, and after a little grocery shopping at City Market (needed dairy products), I went over to the Flying Saucer to drink some Modelo and look at the girls’ beautiful faces. I had the pleasure of meeting new manager Adrienne, and I can already tell that I am going to be one of her favorite customers. I watched WrestleMania on my phone, for a while at the Saucer and then back at the Bear. Seth Rollins cashed in and won! Absolutely the right move. Hoping Brock Lesnar turns face now. Weird seeing John Cena and Daniel Bryan holding second-tier titles.

Since Melissa is out of town, my regular Melissa Monday stop is off the calendar and I’m free to lead off wherever I want for happy hour. Since you can’t go wrong with the classics, I am going to start with a classic tonight: Pint Nite at the Saucer. Almost all drafts on the wall $3. I’ll be there around 5:45.