Author: paulryburn

David Scott Walker, the chef who is the pitmaster of our Moody Ques BBQ team, made a major announcement today. He and his family are opening a German restaurant in Overton Square, at 2110 Madison in the space formerly occupied by Paulette’s. The restaurant will be called Schweinehaus and will open in late summer. Read more about it here. Congrats Chef and I guess I will have to make some field trips to Midtown later this year.

Youth Villages has announced the Soup Sunday winners. Congratulations to Downtown restaurant eighty3 on taking the Best Bread award with its jalapeno cornbread.

WWE Monday night Raw will be at the FedExForum two weeks from today, Monday, March 10. The main event will be a six-man tag of John Cena, Daniel Bryan, and Batista vs. Kane, Alberto Del Rio, and Bray Wyatt. More info here.

That’ll do it for this Monday. Home from work, heading out to have a few PBRs at Bardog.

Happy to fulfill requests like this, especially when I wake up at 11:30 AM and am too hung over to find any other material to post. Taken at the Blind Bear about 1 this morning. In my hand is the reason why I slept until 11:30. Dammit Fireball.

Harbor Town is having a problem with ducks. Muscovy ducks have made themselves at home on Mud Island. Although ducks can be fun to watch, they are multiplying at a rapid rate. They are getting into people’s yards and eating their plants. If it continues, steps may have to be taken to remove the ducks.

I wasn’t familiar with Muscovy ducks so I looked up the species on Wikipedia. Man, those ducks are kind of ugly. Here’s a video of crocodile vs. Muscovy duck from the Florida Everglades. As you can guess, this didn’t go very well for the duck.

There’s a showing of At the River I Stand today Downtown. It will be at the Martin Luther King Labor Center at 485 Beale at 4 PM, and it is a benefit for the locked-out striking workers at Kellogg. The movie is a documentary of the 1968 sanitation strike that brought Dr. King to Memphis.

From ESPN’s YouTube channel: James Johnson dunks after an alley-oop to himself off the glass in last night’s victory over the L.A. Clippers.

Following the Johnson-inspired fake necktoo giveaway last night, the MBJ reports that the Grizzlies are getting back to more traditional giveaways for the rest of the season. Fans have basketballs, sunglasses, and Super Grizz capes and masks to look forward to between now and April. With the entire starting lineup back in place, I’m hoping to see a growl towel giveaway sometime around May 1.

The Flyer’s Hungry Memphis blog reports that Paulette’s has introduced a vegetarian menu.

There will be samplings of Reverb coffee and Memphis Made Reverberation beer at Cash Saver on Madison tomorrow from 10 AM to noon. Brewers from both businesses will be on hand to discuss their products. Reverberation beer is made with Reverb coffee. They’ll have snacks as well as beer samples. Free snacks? Wonder if the Nuh-Girl will show up.

Watching curling (not from the Olympics, on YouTube) this morning. It’s really an interesting game once you understand the rules, and is more of a mental game than it is physical. Also, I like it that ethics and sportsmanship are an integral part of the game, just as they are for the mind sport that has kept me employed for the past five years.

I’ll be at Bardog at 11 for some much-needed PBR and Fireball then will figure out the rest of the weekend from there.

I want to alert everyone to a fake parking attendant scammer who has been very active this week. His name is Joe and he is about 50, bald head, about 6’4″, thin. He’s been wearing a green jacket with a hood recently. Several locals caught him scamming a tourist yesterday and chased him down the Main Street Mall and got the tourist’s money back. Later in the evening a bartender told me he tried to scam her as well. If you park on a lot and an attendant asks you for money, ask the attendant for proof that he works on the lot. Any attendant who is legit will understand why you are asking.

Youth Villages’ Soup Sunday is this Sunday from 11 AM to 2 PM at the FedExForum. I’ll give my usual advice: If you’re going, get there at 11. Lines will get long by 11:20, so get a head start. Also, in the years I’ve been the most popular restaurants start to run out of soup around 12:30, so figure out what restaurants’ food you really want to try and go to their booths first.

If you’re thinking about going to the Lionel Richie concert at the FedExForum, today would be a good day to buy a ticket. There’s a Groupon for the concert going on right now, for a $61.69-value ticket for $30.

If you’re going to see the Grizzlies play the Clippers tonight, get to FedExForum early. First 5000 people get a free Grizzlies neck tattoo. As an added bonus, Tony Allen returns to the team tonight after a month being sidelined by injury.

Sunday night’s performance of The Tenors at the Orpheum has been cancelled. Refund information here.

That’ll wrap it up for now. The end of the work week is near and I am ready for some PBR.

If you’ve thought about volunteering in Memphis but are not sure where to get started, there’s an event for you next Tuesday. The annual Volunteer Expo will be held next Tuesday, February 25, at the Oak Court Mall. Many nonprofits will be on hand, all in one place, so can communiuty members can learn how to get involved. It’s organized and sponsored by Volunteer Mid-South. More info here. The event is free to the public.

Memphis International Airport is now on Twitter at @flymemphis. This is a very encouraging sign that airport management is more open to feedback from the public than they have been in the past.

The Blind Bear has tweaked its menu once again. The turkey burger, the BBQ baloney sandwich, and the fried egg bacon cheese sandwich from the original menu are back. The crawfish pepper jack mac & cheese and the poutine from the most recent menu were popular and are sticking around. “If there was anything from any of the old menus you’d like back on, let me know in the next couple of days,” Jeannette told me. “We’re finalizing the menu this week and not changing it again for 2 years.”

If you’re a fan of Bardog bartender Panda, she is back at work. Come see her during happy hour Tuesday through Friday.

Aldo’s Pizza Pies has announced that new small plates, brunch items, and cocktails will be coming to the menu soon.

I’ll close this post with a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to my friends Colin and Whitney who got married in Las Vegas this afternoon. They bought the webcast of the wedding, and I took a few minutes away from programming to watch. Beautiful service and I wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Outta here for now, home from work, time for beer.

Cafe Keough has announced its new Commerce Club. When you drink 60 different eligible beverages at the cafe (limit 2/day), you’ll be immortalized with a shadow box on the wall. You can put anything you want in the box, but keep it PG-13 because the cafe does allow kids. You also get a $25 tab the day of your box’s unveiling. There are other bonuses for the completion of more boxes, including a top hat when you complete your tenth box. If interested in signing up, go in the cafe and ask a manager for details.

Music lovers, keep your eyes on the news Thursday. That will be the day Memphis in May announces the lineup for Beale Street Music Fest.

The Tenors, as seen on PBS, will perform at the Orpheum on Sunday at 7:30. More info here.

Memphis Brewfest, the annual April beer festival in AutoZone Park, is looking for volunteers. Find out how to volunteer here.

Your input is needed. Help MATA find its next CEO by filling out this survey.

From the MBJ: Tennessee has the highest taxes on beer in the U.S. BOOOOOOOOOO

Home from work. I’m leading off at Bardog tonight because PANDA IS BACK! Couple of beers at her bar, one at the Saucer, then on to the Blind Bear for total domination at poker.

As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “Well, this day sure took a left turn in a hurry.” That would describe yesterday pretty well.

About 4:00 I found myself at the bar at the Silly Goose. I hadn’t even meant to be there; until a few minutes before I had been down the street at the Flying Saucer. However, three of us decided it was time for a venue change after an unwanted guest attempted to join our conversation. We told him we were going to the Beale Street Tap Room, then walked to the Goose.

I noticed that Dusty, the bartender, was lining up pint glasses along the bar. Then he lined up a shot glass next to each pint glass. “What’s going on?” I wondered.

I soon had my answer. We have friends getting married in Las Vegas this week, and the groom was in the house. It was his last full day in Memphis as a single man. In his honor, someone had purchased forty Irish car bombs – a round for the entire bar. Needless to say, the Goose turned into one giant shitshow not long after the car bombs. (It could be argued that it was a shitshow even before the shots were passed out.) There were high-fives being passed around, more shots, and that Giant Jenga game falling over again and again. It’s the kind of spontaneous fun that is known to break out in Downtown Memphis on a Sunday afternoon.

Somehow I managed to make it to the 6:30 poker game at the Blind Bear. While we were playing, I snapped this pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating.

As for news to report, well, there really isn’t a lot. Wicked ended its run at the Orpheum yesterday. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with some Downtown news to report. I’ll be out after work, leading off at happy hour with Melissa at Bardog.

You know, this month I have really rediscovered what at great place Bardog Tavern is to hang out. It’s not like I didn’t know this: I’ve been coming every Saturday for years, and for the first year and a half Bardog was open I hung out there most every day. In recent times, though, it seems like I haven’t paid as much attention to this great locals’ bar – also the closest bar to my front door – as maybe I should have.

There were several reasons why. For one, Bardog was the first of the new locals’ bars to open in the Downtown core. As places like the Silly Goose and Blind Bear opened later, my attention was divided.

Another reason was that the law school opened. When I went in Bardog 2011ish the place would be packed with law students. It became a situation where I’d walk in and not know anyone of the 100 people there, as opposed to the old days when I’d know half the people sitting at the bar.

A third reason was my addiction to Foursquare. If you check in at a venue more than anyone else over a two-month period, you become “mayor.” As “mayor” of both the Flying Saucer and Blind Bear (and for a while in 2013 the Silly Goose as well) I felt obligated to go to those places to defend my mayorship. That left little time to visit Bardog.

This month, though, I’ve been going back more and the place really feels like home. It’s no longer super crowded with law students. I know half the people at the bar like I did in the early days. I’m rediscovering great food like their sliders and their deluxe grilled cheese. Of course, the staff there is just awesome. Aldo knows how to hire good people.

Another plus is that Bardog rides the PBR train. I can go in there and get my favorite beer on draft for $3.

Yesterday was full of reasons why I enjoy being at Bardog. I got there at 11 and started the day with my “DAWG” John D. We’re the two constants on Saturday morning; you never know who else will show up. They had the Tigers-UConn game on ESPN and our friend Mike showed up to watch. Then our friend Buddha came in. A little later in came our friends Misty and the Nuh-Uh Girl, who had just finished the Move It Memphis 5K.

Mike ordered one of the brunch specials, a lump crabmeat omelet. The Nuh-Uh Girl tried a bite from his plate and said it was very good.

A bit later in the day, our friend Buddha ordered one of the best appetizers on Bardog’s menu, four meatballs which are Aldo’s grandmother’s recipe, along with a slice of bread for dipping in the marinara sauce. Here are a few pics of the Nuh-Uh Girl finishing Buddha’s balls off.

There was a lot of Fireball being consumed, which led me to take an early “halftime” nap. I got back out at 8:30 and went back to Bardog. I wasn’t there long though. I got a text from one of my BBQ teammates who told me to come to Bluefin for a “VIP surprise guest.” There were two surprise guests, actually, two of the crowd that hung out on the Number 10 Main rooftop in the summer of 2005. They have both gone on to very successful business careers, and both live in the Chicago area now and were back in town for a visit. That summer was a blast. There was a chef in the building who cooked for his family of 4 on the rooftop grills, and would always cook extra for the neighbors. We’d bring wine to share with the chef and his wife, and that always made conversation interesting. In one such conversation in late May, after much wine I decreed that June 2005 in my then 1-year-old blog would be a special month – “Tube Top Month,” a tradition which continues to this day.

About midnight I powered on my phone to check the time. “The streak may get broken today,” I thought. I had a streak of checking in at the Flying Saucer on Foursquare going for 293 days in a row. That included a couple of days when I was sick and had to call in to-go orders (too bad you can’t get beer to go) to maintain my streak. I was having a good time with my friends, though, and wasn’t going to leave. If the streak gets broken, so be it, I thought.

However, about 12:30 everyone paid their tabs. There was a lot of sushi left over. Too bad the Nuh-Uh Girl wasn’t there for leftovers. Those tempura rolls looked really good. I need to get by Bluefin and try them soon. The group decided Raiford’s was the next stop. I did not have enough gas left in the tank for dancing, so I said my goodbyes and made it to the Saucer for consecutive checkin 294.

I’m making a resolution that from now on, I will not let Foursquare dictate where I hang out. If I break consecutive-day streaks or lose mayorships, I will not worry about it. However, since I’m so close to 300 I will hold on to the Saucer streak until Friday.

I got another treat in the form of an out-of-town visitor at the Saucer: My friend Joe, who is a pilot, has been based out of Indonesia for the past 6 months. He’s back in town for a week and it was good to catch up. He and I both like spicy food so we had that to talk about. He showed me a pic of a sumptuous seafood meal and told me it cost him US $2.62.

I finished back where I started, at Bardog. What a great Saturday and a great reminder of how much I love my life Downtown.

Time to go get checkin 295 done and then figure out the rest of the day.

Turn on ESPN at 11 this morning to watch the Memphis Tigers take on UConn. This is a very important game for seeding in the American Athletic Conference tournament as well as the NCAA tournament. UConn beat us at home last month and the Tigers need to get their win back. A win would mean that we have beat 4 teams that were ranked in the top 25 at the time, which would look good to the selection committee. A loss could have us looking at a 9 or 10 seed in the NCAA tournament.

I’ll be watching the game from my usual Saturday morning seat at Bardog Tavern. Go Tigers!