Author: paulryburn

Congratulations to the Memphis Tigers, who returned to the Top 25 this week. The Tigers are 22 in the AP poll and 25 in the coaches’ poll. Also, congrats to Geron Johnson on being named the Conference USA player of the week.

Pepsi will start producing a breakfast version of Mountain Dew. It will taste like Mountain Dew but will be made with 5 percent juice, and will have vitamins B and C.

The Church Health Center will have a Church Health Conference at the Marriott/Cook Convention Center April 4-7.  Anyone interested in addressing health or wellness issues in their church or community should consider attending. Ambassador Andrew Young will be the keynote speaker. There’s an Early Bird Special on the pricing going through February 17.

The Hard Rock Cafe has a new chef. Jay Hall has joined their team as chef and kitchen manager. He has 26 years of culinary experience and was most recently chef at Sole restaurant in the Westin.

The usual Monday night poker game happens at the Silly Goose at 8:30. Free to play. This week, they will be giving away Fireball stuff to everyone playing. I’ll be there for that after kicking it off at Pint Nite at the Saucer.

EverywhereElse.co The Startup Conference, the world’s largest conference on the topic of startup businesses, begins today at the Cook Convention Center. It was originally scheduled for the Peabody Hotel, but it grew so large that it had to be relocated. Attendees will be treated to three days of information about how to build and grow startup businesses “everywhere else” outside Silicon Valley. Presenters will include big names like Scott Case, whose startup Priceline became a billion-dollar business. I’m also very pleased to see that they’ve made room in the schedule for 11-year-old entrepreneur Moziah Bridges, founder of Mo’s Bows here in Memphis.

I had planned to attend but cannot make it. We have consultants in town at work the next three days and rescheduling them would mess up getting our projects done by their deadlines. So I’ll have to follow the conference virtually, which can be done on Twitter by following the account @_everywhereelse and the hashtag #ee2013.

Attendees are going to the Grizzlies game vs. the Timberwolves tonight at 5, courtesy of Ubiquiti Networks, itself a startup founded by Grizzlies controlling owner Robert Pera. Afterward they’re bar-hopping on Beale. Maybe I’ll hit Beale tonight and meet some of the entrepreneurs.

To those attending, welcome to Memphis! If you have any questions about Downtown, hit me up on my Twitter account @paulryburn and I’ll try to respond as quickly as possible.

More news that I missed in the earlier post this morning.

Ingram Hill plays Handy Park on Beale Street tonight at 7 PM. More info here. Think I may have seen a couple of the band members earlier this week. Can’t remember where though.

There’s a cooking class on cooking gourmet pizzas tomorrow at My Urban Workspace.

Project Homeless Connect is looking for volunteers for their third annual event at Cook Convention Center. Over 40 nonprofits come together to help the homeless connect with the services they need. There will be a barber shop, help getting benefits, medical and vision screenings, help getting IDs, housing resources, legal services, employment registrations, and more. There are many different areas in which they need volunteers. Learn how to volunteer here. The event will be Thursday, February 14, from 8 AM to 4 PM.

That’ll do it for now. Heading to Bardog for panda time.

We’ve got a couple of festive events happening Downtown tonight. First of all, tonight is Mardi Gras at the Woodruff-Fontaine House, one of the beautiful 19th-century mansions that line Adams Avenue. Gumbo, authentic Louisiana king cake, drinks, beads and doubloons. Masquerade/costumes are encouraged but not required. Your suggested $20 donation helps the historical preservation efforts of APTA Memphis. Party is from 7 to 11 PM.

Meanwhile, over at the Blind Bear, it’s the annual St. Valentine’s Day Massacre party. This year they’re doing it to support the Ronald McDonald House and FedEx Family House. $10 cover. Gangster and flapper attire encouraged but not required. Blackjack tournament, costume contest, dinner, dancing, silent auction. This party is also from 7 to 11 PM. If you don’t know what a “massacre” has to do with Valentine’s Day, read about it here. It was a Chicago gangland-style shooting involving “Scarface” Al Capone and his enemy Bugs Moran.

By the way… I’ve been reading about the mob on Wikipedia lately. The Chicago Outfit was more well-known, but the New York mobsters are actually much more interesting. There are characters like Lucky Luciano, the mastermind of the whole thing; the “Prime Minister of the Underworld,” Frank Costello; the ruthless and cunning Vito Genovese; the calm and collected Carlo Gambino. There have been characters in more recent times too, like “The Oddfather” Vincent “The Chin” Gigante and “The Dapper Don” John Gotti. Luciano was actually named one of the top 100 people of the 20th century by TIME Magazine, in the “business leaders” section. No kidding.

Juke Boogie Mixtape, a dance performance by SubCulture Dance Royalty, happens tonight at 7 PM on the Folklore Hall stage at the Center for Southern Folklore, 123 S. Main. Some of the most talented kids in the business will perform. Your $7 cover charge helps support the annual Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. The Center is practically next door to the Blind Bear so you could attend both this performance and the Massacre party easily.

There’s a new sushi menu at Bangkok Alley, according to one of the sushi chefs with whom I’m friends on Facebook. I need to get by there and try it soon. Bangkok Alley, being a Thai restaurant, isn’t as well known for its sushi as places like Bluefin or Sekisui, but it’s just as good.

If you’re looking to do something different for Black History Month, the Slave Haven Museum at 826 N. Second has two special exhibits starting today. The exhibits are “Tools of Slavery” and “Black Inventions.”

Thanks everyone for sticking with me this week. I was in a 5-day intensive training for some new software we’re using at work, and I was just too drained to try and do much on the blog at lunch or after work. As you can see in today’s post, I’m back.

Time for brunch with Panda Manda at Bardog at 11, then at 3 I’ll relocate to either Saucer or Bear to watch the Tigers-Southern Miss game.

After two weeks in class with a 30 minute lunch break, I felt the need to have something good for dinner. The Majestic Grille used to have a bar menu with tempura green beans. The bar menu went away, so I was pleased I could still get them at Bluefin.

Beans were good, although you might want to wait for them to cool down.  As for the main event, it was a carbonara flatbread. Shrimp, blue crab, mozzarella, spicy mayo, scallions, and spinach.

A meal that filled me up, It made me aware that there’s more to Bluefin than sushi and I’ll be back soon.

There’s some very good live music happening tonight at the Blind Bear. Justin Moore and Zach Kirk will perform this evening. They’ve performed with a nationally known band with origins in Memphis. I’ve been asked not to mention the band name, but it wouldn’t be hard to do a Wikipedia search and find out.

According to the DowntownMemphis.com events calendar, Moore and Kirk will play from 10 to 1 tonight.

There will be a beer and BBQ pairing dinner at Central BBQ on April 22 as part of Memphis Beer Week from the 21st-27th of that month. More details click here.

Best wishes to Mr. Jack Dyson, who is retiring as a server at Rendezvous after 48 years.

Three Downtown Memphis parks got renamed this week to disconnect from their Confederate roots. Details here.

Kris who owns The Warehouse is one of Downtown’s nicest people. See if you recognize the asshole who destroyed two concrete planters in front of his home Sunday between 1:30 and 2 AM.

Sorry for the abbreviated format but I’m still in software training during the work week. Enjoying a steak stick dinner from Huey’s Downtown, then bed.

Social photo-sharing service Instagram has made a stride this month. There was a time when you couldn’t view anything on Instagram anywhere but your smartphone. A few months ago, they made user profiles web-visible. Now you can actually view your feed on the web, and see all your friends’ photos there. More details here.

Got more info on the Fix the Beer Tax event. It will be from 5-7 PM Friday at the Young Avenue Deli. If you like good craft beer and would support changes in state laws that would make it easier for craft breweries to open here, why not show up?

Downtown firm Red Rover is hiring. They’re looking for a marketing strategist and sales trainer. More details here.

Quick shout-outs to some people. First of all, I heard Gary Parrish mentioned me on his radio show (afternoon drive-time, 92.9 FM) after I reviewed the Gary Parrish Roll at Bluefin. One of my co-workers told me about the mention today. Shout-out to Gary, and to Geoff Calkins, one of my favorite sports columnists, who’s on the show as well.

Also a shout-out to Dusty from the Silly Goose. They ran out of PBR cans last night, and he went out and borrowed some from another bar so I could have my favorite beer for poker night. They’re fully restocked today.

Headed there now for a PBR. Saucer after the Grizzlies crowd leaves at 7, TBD after that.

OK, so the blog is more or less going to suck this week. Last week, I was in software training with a 30 minute lunch. This week, I’m in software training with a 30 minute lunch, and I’m covering for another programmer who resigned last Friday. Just nonstop busy around here.

Want to learn how to better protect yourself? There will be a Common Sense Self-Defense workshop Saturday, February 16 from 11 to 2 at Envison, the gym and health club in the third floor of the Cadre Building, Second at Monroe. I know one of the instructors, Mark Akin, personally, and he is excellent. (If the name sounds familiar, he bartends at Majestic as well.) $50 gym members, $60 everyone else, $75 couples. More info: www.cssds.com / www.envisionmemphis.com

Speaking of the Majestic Grille, congratulations to owners Patrick and Deni Reilly on the birth of their baby boy Seamus! He was born at 3:05 PM on Saturday.

The Madison Hotel rooftop is being remodeled. It will become the Twilight Sky Terrace, open every day from 4 PM to midnight. It will have its own menu, with small plates and craft cocktails. More info and artist rendering here.

Follow @FixTheBeerTax on Twitter for more info about an event they will have Friday. This is the attempt to reform Tennessee tax law to make the state more friendly to craft breweries.

Going to the Grizzlies home game tonight? Show your ticket stub at the Silly Goose for $3 Fireball during happy hour.

So, back to my lunch. When one has a 30-minute lunch break, and spends half of it typing a blog post, what’s on the menu? This.

This is a “pizza stick” from the Exxon Tiger Mart at the corner of Interstate 51 and Nail Road in Horn Lake. With tax it was $1.28.  As my friend Pepe’ El Desatascador might write, “Zeeee pizza stick hwas not very flavorable weeeth aromas of imitation cheeeeese and pepperoni. She taste like she sit unnner zee heat lamp fo at least threeeeee days.”

Back to class. I’ll be out this evening at the usual places.

I normally don’t post Valentine’s Day menus because I’m not a fan of the holiday, but a friend asked so I’m making an exception. 10-course menu, $75 per person plus tax and grat at eighty3 restaurant in the Madison Hotel. More info here.

Assorted Artisan Breads with Herb and Chili Infused Dipping Oils

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Artisan Cheeses

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Warm Lobster Sald
haricot verts, tomato tartare with chive-sweet potato agnolotti, sage cream, brown butter, prosciutto

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White Bean Chowder
roasted garlic croutons and pomegranate crème fraiche
and
Chilled Strawberry Soup
white chocolate essence and sweet blackberry compote

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Sweet Tea-Glazed Prawns
citrus coulis and relish of avocado/mango/grilled pineapple
and
Cornmeal Encrusted Oysters
mango vinaigrette and red chili horseradish

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Herbed Chicken and Sweet Potato Tamale
roasted corn macque chou and pickled okra
and
Cider-Braised and Pan-Seared Chicken
apple-celeriac puree, cider mustarda, and apple-bacon bread pudding

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Mixed Grill
andouille sausage, creole crawfish, cajun ribeye, sweet potato gratin
and
Gallantine of Roasted Quail
with blue-corn/fried okra dressing, and blackberry-chipotle compote

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Sweet Potato Timbale
green chili buerre blanc, rustic potato gratin, roasted beet butter
and
Herbed Gnocchi
brown butter-sage sauce

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Char-Grilled Tenderloin of Dry Aged Beef
bone-marrow butter, chive-potato croquette, and mandarin demi glace
and
Pecan Encrusted Lamb
oven roasted, glazed with peppercorn-maple vinegar, herb roasted sweet potatoes, braised lacinato kale, maple demi glace
and
Sea Bass
braised with citrus infused chardonnay, fennel, fresh herbs, caramelized onion, green apple confit,
roasted and spiced pecan grits, citrus buerre blanc

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Godiva Chocolate Crème Brulee
and
Stuffed Chocolate-Strawberries