The Silly Goose recently rearranged its menu, adding some new items and deleting some old ones. One of the new menu additions, Goose Eggs, are actually not eggs at all.
They bake sausage and cream cheese inside a flaky pastry to make the Goose Eggs. You get 3 per order. Here’s a look at what’s inside a Goose Egg:
The picture really doesn’t do this Goose Egg justice. The taste is rich, creamy, sausage-y. The pastry crust is flaky yet strong enough to hold together when you bite into it. I recommend cutting the Goose Eggs in half to eat them, as I did in the pic above. This is one of the best new appetizers I’ve put in my mouth Downtown in quite some time. At under $7, they’re affordable and enough to fill up a person of average-sized appetite. In fact, they were so rich that I couldn’t finish my last half an egg. After staring at it for a few minutes I told bartender Dusty I was giving up and he threw it away. About 10 minutes later, the Nuh-Uh Girl arrived, just barely too late to help out with leftovers.
This is seriously a dish I would make a special trip to the Goose for – and, in fact, I did yesterday. I sampled half a Goose Egg off someone’s plate Saturday night. It was so good that when I got hungry yesterday afternoon, I tabbed out down the street and walked over.
Meanwhile, the recently-returned Woody A. Long was making himself comfortable on the couch – perhaps a little too comfortable.
No poker game tonight, but if I get hungry while I’m out it’s entirely possible I’ll wander over for another order of Goose Eggs.
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.
Last night after work I stopped by the Brass Door for their new Tuesday curry night. Every Tuesday they have bowls of curry for $8 after 5 PM, homemade by Diamond Dave.
They offer two options every week, one with meat and a vegetarian curry. I got the rogan josh, a red curry with Diamond Dave made with chicken over rice. Spicy enough to make my nose run, just the way I like it.
Dave gave me a sample of the vegetarian curry, a Bombay aloo which was a yellow curry made with potatoes. It was good too, although being a meat eater I preferred the rogan josh.
Afterward I walked down to the Flying Saucer, where I discovered that live music will make its return Saturday night. FreeWorld will take the stage at 9:30 and there will be no cover.
If you like food blogs, I discovered a good one last weekend. The Monday Lunch Club is written by some Downtowners who live down on the south end. Every Monday they meet for lunch. It’s a fairly new blog but they’ve already hit Uncle Lou’s, Gus’s, and some places in New Orleans. Fun and well written.
The Majestic Grille will show Miracle on 34th Street on the big screen Sunday night at 7 PM. Reservations are highly recommended; call 901-522-8555 for reservations.
Couple of Lifehacker articles I saw today that seemed worth sharing:
Office closes at 3 today, so I’ll be at the Saucer at 4 for happy hour. It’s their Turkey of the Year glass night at 7. Not sure if I’ll be playing trivia at Blind Bear tonight (or if they’re even having it) but regardless, I’ll be in there at some point later in the evening.
Ever since I was a little kid, chili has been one of my favorite dishes. It’s considered a winter-warmer type of food, but I can eat it when it is 105 outside as well. Good chili should be rich, thick, meaty, and spicy. Chili may technically be considered a soup, but if done right I should not think “this is a soup” while I’m eating it.
Wendy’s makes mediocre chili. It’s very watery and has the consistency of a soup. In addition, I have to ask for a few hot sauce packets to doctor the chili and make it spicy enough for my tastes. Because it’s inexpensive and easily accessible during my lunch hour, I overlook Wendy’s chili’s shortcomings. However, if I’m going to go out to a restaurant or bar and spend $5-8 on chili, it needs to be better than what I could get out of a can at Kroger.
Up until now, there have been two chilis that I have long considered the gold standard of Downtown. One is at Bardog Tavern. I ate it many times on top of the Dog of the Day there, but it wasn’t until Andy Wise of Action News 5 and Seth of Best Memphis Burger judged it to be the best in the city that I ordered Bardog’s chili on its own. Rich and satisfying, the way chili should be.
The other “gold standard” chili for me was the Majestic’s chili. Equally rich and satisfying. However, the Majestic’s chili is available only as the soup of the day on Wednesdays in cold-weather months.
When the Blind Bear first opened, they offered a turkey chili. It was not terrible but it was not up there with Bardog and the Majestic. It was plenty meaty, but the texture was watery. There was plenty of spice, but it seemed to fight against the flavor of the turkey rather than enhance it. Given the number of other tasty offerings on the menu, the turkey chili was never one of my go-to menu items.
A couple of weeks ago, I came in for some late-night food and asked for a menu. I noticed that the turkey chili was gone, and two new chilis – Hibernation Chili and Polar Bear Chili – appeared in its place. I remembered that a couple of months prior, co-owner Colin and kitchen manager Michael Bean had won third place in a charity chili cook-off, and I wondered if their recipes had made it onto the menu. The Hibernation Chili is the traditional beef-and-bean, I was told, while the Polar Bear was a white-bean chicken chili. I ordered a bowl of the Hibernation Chili.
This is not the greatest photo I’ve ever posted, but it was taken in a dark speakeasy, and chili is not exactly the most photogenic food.
Now this was everything chili should be. Thick and meaty. Not one bite of it made me think “I’m eating a soup.” The spice was not overpowering, but it was definitely there. I enjoyed every bite, and was very happy with my decision to order a bowl rather than the smaller cup.
Since discovering it, I’ve been ordering the Hibernation Chili nearly every time I go to the Blind Bear hungry, often with a side of their excellent pepper jack mac ‘n’ cheese. One day I placed my order, and Jamie told me, “It will be a little while until we can have the Hibernation Chili out, because we have to heat up a new pot. Would you like to try the Polar Bear Chili instead?” I did, and it was excellent too. Loaded with chicken and white beans, thick consistency, spice on par with the Hibernation Chili, and the spice complemented the taste of the chicken and beans well. I would recommend either one, and hold both of them on par with the chilis I’d previously definited as the gold standard Downtown.
Insider tip: If you order a bowl of either chili to go, they don’t have a to-go container the size of the bowls for those who dine in. So they will give you two to-go cups of it. Eat one as a late-night snack, then heat the other up in the microwave the next day for lunch.
One thing I did not do last night at the Blind Bear, which I usually do on Wednesdays, was play trivia. At the time it started around 8:30, I was the only member of my team there. A quick check of Foursquare revealed that my teammates had an excellent reason for not showing up: They were taking advantage of Downtown Dining Week at McEwen’s and Itta Bena. With DDW values only available 7 of the 366 days of the year, I certainly can’t blame them! And besides, with chili, PBR, a bar stool, and the Grizzlies, I was perfectly content. By the way, the Blind Bear itself is offering a Downtown Dining Week deal: One appetizer, two entrees, and two banana puddings for $20.12.
Slow news day, but if I hear of anything this afternoon, I’ll do a “Thursday update” post after work.
When Aldo’s Pizza Pies first opened, I was all about the pizza. I was determined to try every pizza on their menu, especially ones I had never seen before, like the ones with vodka or roasted poblano cream base. However, I kept hearing how good the non-pizza menu items were too. Sunday I stopped in for lunch, and decided it was time to try one of their salads. My choice: An Italian classic, the chopped antipasto salad.
Years ago, I attended a seminar held by one of Memphis’ top chefs at the time. Chefs like being complimented on the taste of their food, said the presenter. But then he shared an inside tip: If you really want to make a chef beam with pride, compliment the presentation of the food. They take a lot of time making it look perfect before it goes through the kitchen doors. The kitchen staff at Aldo’s certainly deserve high praise for the presentation of this salad. Look at it! Could it be any more beautiful?
It tasted as good as it looked. It was like an Italian sub sandwich in a bowl, without the bread and a whole lot healthier. In the salad are salami, pepperoni, ham, provolone, mozzarella, black olive, roasted red pepper, pepperoncini, mushroom, and your choice of dressing. I sprinkled a little parmesan and roasted red pepper on top. Delicious, enough to satisfy even the heartiest appetite, and reasonably priced at $10 considering the amount of food you get.
Most of the time, I’ll be sticking to the pies at Aldo’s. When in the mood for something different, though, this salad is a welcome, healthy change.
Last night I made my first stop at Central BBQ’s new Downtown location. It’s a huge space at the corner of Butler and St. Martin, cat-a-corner from the National Civil Rights Museum.
I walked in, and immediately noticed how upbeat everyone was. The kitchen staff was joking around. “We have 13 orders for sausage and cheese plates! We have 16 orders for sausage and cheese plates! We have 22 orders for sausage and cheese plates!” Clearly they were having a good time. At the front counter, the cashier was talking to people who were visiting a Central location for the first time. “We are all about the pig,” the cashier said. “That’s why we put it on our logo.”
Central may be all about the pig (much as I am all about the tube tops), but I wanted to try something else. I’ve had Central’s BBQ pork sandwich at their Midtown location and at festivals. Now that Central is my neighborhood restaurant, I was determined to branch out. I ordered the hand-made chips and blue cheese for a starter.
Easily enough for three people to share, this app is a large plate of Central’s potato chips, made in house. The chips are tasty enough on their own that they really don’t need dip; but the blue cheese, sprinkled with Central’s dry rub, is irresistible…. so much so that I forgot to take a pic of my plate before I’d already dipped a couple of chips.
Some of my south Main friends have been eating at Central nearly every day since it opened. “The pork and ribs are good, obviously,” they told me. “But what you really need to try are the beef brisket plate or the smoked turkey plate.” I’ve never had turkey prepared by a Memphis BBQ joint, so I decided to give it a shot. The plate comes with a roll and two sides. I could have picked the standard BBQ sides of slaw and BBQ beans, but since I don’t get enough green vegetables in my diet I decided to order greens and green beans instead.
WOW they were quick. By the time I’d filled my drink cup (with MOUNTAIN DEW!!!!!) and made a trip to the restroom, a server was calling “TWENTY-FOUR!” and holding my chip & dip plate. Less than two minutes later, my main entree arrived. Central has quick service down to a science.
The turkey is rubbed in Central’s dry rub, marinated, and smoked. I was given my choice of mild or hot BBQ sauce to top my turkey, and I requested hot. It was AMAZING. If I had to list the top 10 meals I’ve had in my almost 11 years Downtown, this turkey plate would be among them for sure. It was that good. My sides of green beans and greens were a nice complement to the turkey, as was the chips & blue cheese plate that I had just started working on. It was more food than I needed, and a higher tab ($16.63 after tax) than I generally plan on having at Central. For a first-time visit, though, I didn’t mind.
If you want to try Central’s different BBQ sauces, they have a self-serve station at the back by the drink machine. Although I drank Mountain Dew because I wanted to wake up a bit for my poker game, Central has 10 beers on draft as well as beer in bottles.
The only problem with my meal was self-inflicted. As I ate my turkey, I surfed Facebook on my phone to kill time until my 8:30 poker game at the Double J down the street. I happened upon a post about the game… and the start time had been moved to 8:00! I looked at the clock on my phone. 7:58. Uh oh! I hated to do it but I had to leave the last third of my turkey. The good thing about Central is that you pay when you get there, so you don’t have to spend extra minutes finding your waitress, getting your check, and paying at the end. Again, I really appreciate the effort Central makes to get customers in and out quickly.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it may be a while before I try anything at Central that comes from a pig. I cannot wait to have this turkey again. I also cannot wait to try the brisket plate, and see if holds up to the high praise my South Main friends gave it (the turkey sure did). Then I want to try the chicken wings. I had them at the Midtown location a couple of years ago and they were great. I got them with Central’s hot dry rub and my friends had a good laugh as more of the rub ended up on my shirt and pants than on the wings.
If you’ve never considered ordering turkey from a BBQ restaurant, give Central’s plate a try. You will not be disappointed.
I just got home from Bardog with the Dog of the Day. It’s the “Model T,” available however you want it, as long as you want it with black beans, black olives, rice, pico, and hot sauce. I got mine with potato salad instead of fries. I don’t know what Henry Ford would have thought about the side dish option.
Ladies: Cooking dishes with black olives in them is a key to my heart.
For today’s post, I want to catch you up on some of the yummy things I’ve had to eat and drink Downtown over the past five days.
Last night I had the Goat Cheese Stuffed Pepper appetizer at Aldo’s Pizza Pies. Two poblano peppers, stuffed with goat cheese and covered in marinara. One thing I’ve learned about peppers is that you never can tell how spicy an individual pepper will be until you bite into it. The one on the right was SUPER HOT!!! The flavor of the goat cheese really worked well with it, though. The bread that came with the appetizer helped take the edge off the heat. The pepper on the left was about average in heat. I really enjoyed this dish and would order it again. Some appetizers are big enough to be meals in themselves, but this is not one of them. However, splitting the pepper appetizer and a 12″ pizza with a friend or a date would be just about right.
Friday night I was in City Market to see what was in their refrigerated case. Afterward I started digging through their selection of international snacks. Owner Hamida saw me and came over and handed me a bag of masala peanuts. “These are on me,” she said. “I think you’ll like them.” She was right. I grab a bag of hot peanuts at the convenience store on the way to work all the time, and these are even better. They’re spicy hot but not salty. A good snack to munch on throughout the day.
Since I had the day off Friday, I got to the Flying Saucer about 3 PM. I decided to work on some beers for my next plate, and I decided to knock out a Green Flash beer or two while they had 8 of them on tap. I went to the computer to print out tickets and discovered there was a Green Flash flight. A flight is a way to try a number of different beers for an affordable price, with five 5 oz. servings. The beers on the Green Flash flight were the Trippel, the Double Stout, the Imperial IPA, the IPA, and the Hop Head Red. If you like hoppy beers, you will enjoy this flight. It was $10, which was a good value considering the rather high alcohol content of the beers.
Earlier in the day Friday, I stopped in the Majestic Grille for lunch. Most every Friday they have a seafood flatbread as their flatbread special. Shrimp, scallops, salmon, red onions, spinach, garlic olive oil, and mozzarella topped this delicious flatbread. This masterpiece of cheesy goodness was exactly the base I needed before going over to the Saucer to drink Green Flash beers. If you’re Downtown on a Friday, this would be one of my top lunch recommendations. Follow the restaurant at @MajesticGrille on Twitter to keep up with their other specials.
I’m not the only one who thinks a lot of this flatbread. I posted a pic of my lunch to Facebook and my food panhandler commented, “that one is my fav.” A few hours later, she texted me and said I didn’t pick up on the hint that she wanted me to buy her a seafood flatbread. Geez.
So, today the Peabody had a job fair, to fill 30 vacant housekeeping positions. They tweeted this photo about 10 AM of approximately 1000 (!!!!!) people in line to apply! Wow it is tough to find full-time work in this economy. I’m grateful I have a stable job, even if I do have to drive to Horn Lake every day.
The long-vacant building at 387 S. Main will not be vacant much longer. A $200K loan has been approved to turn the building into the Downtown Athletic Club and Atmosphere Eurocafe. The MBJ has more details about these new businesses, which could open as soon as January.
Tonight is Elvis glass night tonight at the Flying Saucer. Their glass designs are hit-or-miss (the Col. Parker design last year was a real miss), but this appears to be a pretty good one. These glasses go on sale at 7 and will run out pretty fast. Best advice is to be there before 7, and tell your bartender or server you want to order one as soon as it’s time.
It’s also candlelight vigil night out at Graceland. Most definitely worth seeing at least one time in your life. If you go out there, be respectful – these people take their Elvis seriously.
I hate reporting bad news about Downtown, but there was a stabbing at the Renaissance Apartments last night. This is not a reason to be alarmed about Downtown being unsafe. I have been in that building, I know several people who live there, and it is a very safe place to live and to visit. There’s security on duty, and card access is required to enter the building. This seems to be a random case of domestic violence, which can happen anywhere in the city. The Renaissance is one of the more affordable apartment buildings in the Downtown core, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to move here.
Time for a nasty but quick Taco Bell lunch, then back to work for a fun-filled afternoon of clip art. I’ll be out about 6 tonight.
Last night I walked over to Aldo’s Pizza Pies and joined some friends on the patio. It was opening night and the mist fans were keeping things cool outdoors. As you can see, a LOT of people showed up to try Downtown’s new pizzeria!
The server came by to take our order, and of course my request was a 16 ounce can of PBR. I didn’t order any pizza, but my friends Danielle and Mallory were nice enough to give me a slice of theirs.
I didn’t get a chance to ask the name of the pizza, but looking at the menu, this appears to be the Gina Bellina. Tomato sauce, goat cheese, mozzarella, spinach, sundried tomato, and black olive. Absolutely delicious. Too often I tend to stick with what I know (supreme, meat lovers) at pizzerias, so it was good to try something different.
Manager Findlay told me that while their long-term plan is to open for lunch and dinner every day, for the first couple of weeks they’re just going to be open for dinner, starting at 5 PM. I don’t blame them for needing a little while to work things out. It seemed like the entire town came there last night!
Very satisfied with my first visit to Aldo’s, and as a bonus, I got to meet Aldo’s mom, who reads this blog all the time. “Sometimes it’s easier to find out what my son is doing by reading your blog, than it is calling him,” she told me. I’ll be back soon, possibly as soon as tonight.
