Paul Ryburn’s Journal

It’s well known that I hang out at the Flying Saucer nearly every day, and my beer of choice there is Dos Equis Lager with a few limes. For a while the managers have been telling me, “When you want something different you should try Brooklyn Brewery’s Local 1 and Local 2 beers. They’re a bit pricey but they’re really good.” This week I was in the mood to experiment.

“Which one should I try?” I asked, and got two different answers. Owen, who is one of the managers and who used to bartend the Cordova Saucer, thought Local 1 was better. Drew Barton, who is bartending part-time at the Saucer while he opens Memphis Made Brewery on South Cooper Street, prefers Local 2. “You don’t drink a lot of dark beers, though, so maybe you’d like 1 better,” he said after thinking for a minute. So I went to the UFO Club computer and printed off a ticket for Local 1.

I probably can’t do a better job describing it better than the description in the Saucer’s computer, so I just took a photo of my beer ticket for you to read. (If you’re wondering why it says “Paul Ryburn #8,” it’s because I’m working on my 8th plate on the wall.) This beer was delicious and I enjoyed every sip of it. It comes in a large 25 ounce bottle.

Yesterday I decided to try the other one. “I may not like it as much as Local 1, but it still seems to be highly acclaimed by everyone who has tried it,” I reasoned. “And at any rate, I’ll knock out another beer toward my next 200.” I printed out the Local 2 ticket.

The verdict: Local 2 was every bit as delicious as Local 1! It’s a much different taste, of course, but it tasted nothing like the porters and stouts I usually shy away from at the Saucer. As the ticket says, there are hints of chocolate and dark fruits. A thoroughly enjoyable beer!

If you prefer to try these at home, you’ll have to go to liquor stores to find them: Both are well over the 6.0% threshold that separates beer from liquor by state law. If you drink these while you fly the Saucer, keep in mind that large bottle + high alcohol means that you probably shouldn’t drive home right after drinking one of these.

After having both, I agree with the managers and Drew: When you’re in the mood to step up and try something a little bit nicer than your usual beers, Local 1 and Local 2 are good options.

Yesterday I got hungry mid-afternoon, and decided to take advantage of the 50 cent raw oyster deal that the Flying Fish runs on Sundays. I got a little creative with my oysters. Here’s what I did. I started, obviously, with a raw oyster:

I remember when I was a kid in school, and it was chili day in the lunchroom. Some of the kids crushed up saltine crackers inside their packets, and then dumped them in the chili and mixed them in. I’d never thought of doing it that way, but it seemed good. Yesterday I decided crushed crackers would make a good topping for oysters as well as chili.

Next it was time for a little hot sauce. The Fish has about five different bottles of hot sauce, in various flavors and heat levels, on each table. I selected Melinda’s Habanero Hot Sauce.

Since habanero is one of the spiciest of all peppers, only a few drops were necessary to do the trick.

I was by no means done adding peppers to my oyster, though. I had ordered a basket of fried jalapeno peppers for $2.99.

The peppers came with a cup of ranch dressing. I dipped a pepper slice in a generous portion of ranch, and then placed it atop the oyster.

Now the oyster was ready to eat. Pro tip if you do this: Make sure you get a good firm stab into the pepper as you pull the oyster out of its shell with your fork. If you don’t, the pepper will likely fall off the slimy oyster before it makes it to your mouth. I learned that on the very first one.

While at the Fish, I made note of a few other things on the menu that I want to come back and try.

• Gumbo and grits, $7.99
• Jambalaya, $8.99
• 18 oz. jumbo margarita. Didn’t notice the price. I guess the Fish will be my new go-to place for margaritas now that Rio Loco has closed.

That’ll do it for now. I may reverse my usual running order of Saucer then Goose because I may need to talk about BBQ with some people. I will have some team info to post tomorrow. I know people have been waiting on it.

Made it to heads-up at poker last night but didn’t win. Perhaps tonight will be my night.

So, I think I told you, we’re in software training at work for day 2 out of 12. In order to get every bit of instructor time we can, we have barely more than 30 minutes for lunch rather than the hour I’m accustomed to. I’ve fought desperately to do my normal 8-to-5 job while still bringing you a semblance of a blog during my halved lunch hour. Monday I had nothing to eat at all. Today I had half a bag of Mexican Doritos that were rolled up like taquitos.

Tonight I realized I couldn’t take it anymore. It was after 8 and I hadn’t eaten yet. I wanted to eat dinner, and I wanted enough food left over for lunch tomorrow. I remembered I had seen a couple split an antipasto platter at Bardog a week before. Perfect!

Ham, salami, cheeses, mushrooms, cherry peppers, banana peppers, black olives. All the tastes worked well together and easily enough food for two. Or, if not two people, two meals. I ate as much as I could and asked for a to-go container. One of the bartenders, realizing the remainder would likely be scattered all over the 38103 zip code if I boxed it myself, expertly loaded it into the container. It looked as pretty to-go as it did in the picture above. I’m not at all surprised. Bardog once again proved why it was my vote for Best Service in the 2012 Memphis Flyer poll.

I beat the rain home and am ready for a stormy evening in bed. I just have to remember to take the food to work tomorrow, since I’m not used to that. I hope everyone stays safe in tonight’s severe weather. Rain is pounding against my living room windows as I type this last paragraph. My talent for barely avoiding storms has held up once again.

This is not the first time I have reviewed the filet at the Majestic in my blog. Back in August I had the filet with gorgonzola crust.

But the thing is, at the Majestic you have options. You can get the filet with gorgonzola crust. Or you can get it with green peppercorn Jameson sauce. Or bearnaise sauce. Or you can add a side of six garlic shrimp. Or four scallops. I could compute the number of permutations in which you could get a filet at the Majestic. But this is a drunk post so I won’t take the time or the brain power.

I went with the green peppercorn Jameson sauce this time. It’s funny, I could almost hear someone going “hell yeah, Jameson, let’s take a shot and get fucked up” in my right ear as I ordered. I thought I imagined blond hair. But I can’t place where I heard that quote beyond that. Anyway, the sauce retains a little of the flavor of the Jameson Irish whisky but none of the alcohol.

The filet was delicious as always. Last time I took a photo of the inside, which I always order medium rare. This time I couldn’t line up a good shot but let me say it again: This is a damn fantastic steak and I dare anyone to show me a better steak Downtown.

PRO TIP: The green peppercorn Jameson sauce comes in a cup on the side. Although it’s listed as an addition to the filet, don’t dip the filet in it. (In fact, when I polled my Facebook friends, some said the steak was perfect as is and don’t add extras). Instead, dip the garlic mashed potatoes in the sauce. Oh my God. So good.

PRO TIP #2: Ask your server or bartender for some of the Majestic’s foccacia bread to accompany dinner. It comes with butter and will make any meal you have there better.

PRO TIP #3: Have the bartender or server recommend a wine with your filet. I told Brandon, the bartender, that I planned on ordering the filet, and he found a delicious Cabernet to make the meal complete.

Filet at Majestic is my absolute favorite meal Downtown. Do yourself a favor and try one soon.

I’ve written before how I came to love chicken livers at an early age. I grew up about a half a mile from a Kentucky Fried Chicken (they didn’t start calling it “KFC” until years later) and we got take-out all the time. I started with the Colonel’s Original Recipe, then Extra Crispy when they added that to the menu. I noticed that instead of chicken, my grandmother often got fried chicken livers, which were sold as a dinner at KFC back then. One day I asked if I could try one, and I really liked it. I realized chicken livers were sort of old people food but I didn’t care.

Yesterday, in one of those “random stuff that happens Downtown” kind of nights, I hung out with two pilots. We met up at the Blind Bear. One of the pilots told me that we needed to go to Dancin’ Jimmy’s on Beale Street because one of her friends was managing there. So, down to Beale we went. We found seats in the elegant upstairs bar.

We were handed menus, and I noticed chicken liver kabobs atop the appetizer list. “Rumaki marinade, chestnut puree, pickled fennel,” read the description. I’m not a foodie so I had absolutely no idea what any of that meant, but I ordered the kabobs anyway.

Totally different experience from eating fried chicken livers out of a box, but if you are a chicken liver fan, you will love it. The pickled fennel ‘n stuff (pictured above, sitting next to the livers on the stick) complemented the kabobs beautifully. They really enhanced the flavor of the livers in a way I had not experienced before. I was quite pleased with my appetizer, both in terms of taste and the value I got for my money. Also, this dish was not “old people food” in any sense.

Now, having said that, I will warn you that chicken livers are an acquired taste. Not everyone grew up with a grandmother like mine. One of my pilot friends tried a bite and an “ewww” reaction immediately came across her face. If you aren’t sure if you like chicken livers, you might want to order this to share among two or three people to give it a try.

I’m titling this post “@ Dancin’ Jimmy’s upstairs” because I am not sure this is the same menu they serve in Dancin’ Jimmy’s corner bar on the first floor. The corner bar is more of a neighborhood bar, whereas upstairs is swanky. One of my friends commented that the upstairs would be a good place to bring a first date. I agree, to an extent. If I already knew my date well, I’d bring her there, definitely. If I had only just met her and talked briefly, I’d take her someplace more casual for a first date, then to the upstairs at Dancin’ Jimmy’s if the first date went well.

The upstairs had a piano player, and the manager sang classic tunes along with the piano. Probably not in the job description, but an added bonus. After dinner, we got a tour of the venue’s VIP rooms. They took us through a storage area to get there and we saw a poker table! Not a modern poker table, mind you, like the Blind Bear has, but the kind of poker table you might have seen if you’d stowed away on a pirate ship in 1676. It was beautiful! Only thing was, the glass top was broken, so they’d have to get it repaired. The manager asked if we thought if they should do a poker night, and we recommended Thursday as a good day to do it. We’ll see if it happens but I would love to play on that table.

If you don’t like chicken livers, there are plenty of other things to try on the menu. Check this place out when you’re in the mood for something classy. You will not feel like you are on Beale Street, yet you can look out the windows (or, go out on the balconies, even) and take it all in. Dancin’ Jimmy’s is in the old Pat O’Brien’s building, on Beale between Third and Fourth.