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Catrina, Jessica, me and Bee. I promised this would be the title photo for this post even though it has nothing to do with burgers.

For one day only, I joined Squeal Street BBQ as they competed in Best Memphis Burger Festival at Minglewood Hall in Midtown. I have always admired the way these guys operated and wanted to be a part of them, if only for a day. Today I got my wish. Here are some photos.

Squeal Street promised they’d take good care of me, and they did.

One of many good Talley pics I would take today.

Our next door neighbors’ Extreme Burger entry

With the Nuh-Uh Girl in San Francisco, Rockey Redbird filled in as the official food panhandler of Burger Fest.

Championship entries, under construction

Bob “Miracle Whip” running an entry to the judges’ tent

Burger sample

Group photo at Minglewood Hall

Bee promised me a tube top and she delivered. THIS IS HOW IT’S DONE, PEOPLE. TUBE TOP.

I didn’t realize Flying Saucer’s managers had volunteered to help with the chalk art.

No idea what was happening here.

Or here.

Danko wearing his Canadian pants

No occifer none of us were drinking at brugger fest today.

Cat lady in training Stephanie Bennett, executive director of Mid-South Spay & Neuter. It’s not often you find a cat lady still in her 20s. Follow her on Twitter at @StephMEM.

Our ride back Downtown

Stevie G raising the roof

Post-festival: Ciara at Double J

The Wagon Wheel at the Double J, probably the best appetizer sampler in Memphis.

Full album (171 photos) here. This is the first time I’ve ever posted an album to a group, so if it’s not publicly visible let me know and I will correct this week. Thanks Squeal Street for an awesome time today.

Before I start this post, I have a question for my readers. Which patios in the Downtown core are dog-friendly? New Downtown core residents Monkey Head Maddy and Maya want to be able to day-drink with their parents Robo and Shobo. Send me an email at paul@paulryburn.com if you know of a dog-friendly patio, or hit me up on whichever social network you prefer.

The Best Memphis Burger Festival is the place to be today. It will be in the parking lot next to Minglewood Hall on Madison Avenue in Midtown. There will be judging of burgers in four categories: Veggie, Anything But Cow, Extreme, and Best Memphis Burger. There will also be live bands, a pickle-eating competition for kids, a Kooky Canuck Team Kookamonga eating team challenge, and more. You can’t buy the teams’ burgers, but many of the teams will give out samples in exchange for a donation to Mid-South Spay & Neuter Services. Gates open at 10:30 AM and the festival goes all day until 6. $5 donation to Mid-South Spay & Neuter to get in. Downtowners, this is worth a cab ride, especially on a beautiful day like today.

It’s an exciting day for me because I get to do something I’ve wanted to do for years: Hang out with the Squeal Street BBQ team as they prepare their competition entry. In the past I’ve never been able to do it because I’m on a different BBQ team, the Moody Ques. However, my team isn’t entered in Burger Fest, freeing me up to join Squeal Street for a day. They’re going to give me a T-shirt and everything and I’m going to make a detailed photo album, the way I do for my own team during BBQ Fest.

Random pro wrestling video of the day: Triple H’s debut in WCW as Terror Risin’ (later Terra Ryzing). Thanks to Chef Brian Michael Patrick of Rizzo’s Diner for finding this and posting to Facebook. This would have been 1993ish I believe, and his opponent may possibly win the award for worst hairdo ever. Trips will be in Memphis less than a month from now when Monday Night Raw comes to the FedExForum.

The Midtown Kroger Twitter account is worth a follow if you appreciate accounts like the Burlington Coat Factory one. Good stuff.

In the news: Coke cancels a bottle cap campaign after people found it offensive. It was a Canadian campaign for Vitaminwater. People were supposed to find random words on the bottle caps’ undersides and string them together to make funny sentences. Since the campaign was happening in bi-lingual Canada, two words appeared on each bottle cap: one in English and one in French. Unfortunately the people organizing the campaign didn’t stop to think that relatively innocuous French words have different meanings in English, leading to one person finding “You Retard” on their Vitaminwater cap. “Douche” was also on some caps.

Friday night I was walking down the Main Street Mall, home from work and on my way to the Flying Saucer. I saw a southbound trolley blatantly run a red light at Main and Gayoso. It was traveling at what looked to be close to top speed for a trolley (20-25 MPH maybe?) and it sailed through the light a good 2 seconds after it turned red. Luckily there were no cars heading eastbound on Gayoso. If there had been, there’s a good chance there would have been a wreck. Given that it was raining outside, that trolley was running way too fast for conditions.

I upgraded my iPhone to iOS7 yesterday, after doing the iPad Thursday. Some people don’t like iOS7 but I love it. So clean and fresh. I was worried I’d experience battery problems after upgrading. I did, but not because of the OS; rather, because I couldn’t stop playing with my phone! Thank goodness I have an external charger. If you have the same model I do (16GB iPhone 4s) I see no reason to be afraid of upgrading, although you should allow a couple of hours to get it done. After you upgrade the OS, you’ll want to upgrade your apps because many will have new versions designed for iOS7.

If you have an 8GB iPhone, though, you’re going to have problems. One of the bartenders at the Saucer was asking me why she kept getting “not enough memory” messages during the upgrade, and it’s because the new OS will take nearly half the available space on an 8GB model. It can be done, but if you use your phone as a camera or iPod to much of an extent at all, you’re going to run out of memory. Therefore, if you have an 8GB model I recommend you just go ahead and buy a new phone.

One way you can free up space on your phone is to sync your photos with a Dropbox account. They will automatically be pushed to Dropbox’s Camera Uploads folder when you have the app open and Wi-Fi is present. You will then be free to delete photos from your phone because they’re backed up. Sign up for Dropbox using this link and you get 500 MB extra space and so do I.

I’ve already had one person tell me she is wearing a tube top to Burger Fest today. Hopefully others will too. I will have the camera, and although I’ll be hanging out with Squeal Street I won’t be exclusively in their booth all day. So if you have a tube top on, come find me and take a pic for the blog. Hope to see you down there at what is quickly becoming one of Memphis’ best festivals.

All right, let’s bang out a quick news update this Saturday morning. I have to be at Panda’s bar at Bardog at 11 and I want to try and get a Paul’s PBR Review online in addition to this post.

More details have been added about Memphis Oktoberfest, to be held next Saturday from 5 to 10 on Peabody Place, which will be blocked off at Second. Radio host Gary Parrish will be on hand to tap the celebratory keg. Krombacher Brewery will host a beer hoisting competition. The Flying Fish, Crazy Good specialty foods, and Grawemeyer’s will provide the festival food. Tickets are $15 and you can get ’em here.

By the way, here’s a fact that I learned as I drove home Thursday afternoon: Gary Parrish enjoys peeing in his yard.

Miss Cordelia’s, the grocery store on Mud Island, has announced an Open House on Thursday, November 7 from 6 to 8 PM. At least 8 vendors (and they’re adding more) will be on hand to give away samples and to discuss their products with customers. Some of the vendors already signed up include Tom’s Tiny Kitchen, Eggcellence deviled eggs, Guilt Free Pastries, and Pistache. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Last night I had a beer with Chef David Scott Walker at the Saucer. DSW, of course, is my BBQ team’s pitmaster and the new executive chef at the Blind Bear. He wanted to show me the new menu but he couldn’t get it to pull up on his phone. “They have a copy behind the bar,” he told me, and with the Eric Hughes Trio playing at 10 it was a foregone conclusion that the Bear was in my plans. When I got there, Jeannette showed me the menu. I won’t spill the beans just yet but I will mention one thing. For years I have been saying kim chee is an underappreciated food in Memphis. It’s spicy cabbage that Koreans make, burying it in pots in the ground. I first learned about it on M*A*S*H when the kim chee pots would sometimes be confused with land mines. Finally, someone has had the vision to make kim chee a topping on a sandwich, and you’ll be able to get it at the Bear. Overall, the menu is a significant upgrade, taking the Bear from basic bar food to upscale cuisine on the level of what you would find down the street at Local or Bardog. The menu will begin late next week or early the week after.

Don’t forget that today is Downtown Museum Day, with museums offering free, half-off, or 2-for-1 admissions. I’ll be visiting the PBR Museum known as Bardog in a couple of hours to celebrate. Time to upgrade iTunes, figure out if I’m ready to go to iOS7 on my phone, and get this PBR Review done.

We now have an opening date for Dejavu’s Main Street location, and it’s soon. The Creole restaurant will open its doors Tuesday, September 24.

There’s a new timeline for Bass Pro’s construction on the Pyramid. Construction will be done by August 31, 2014, and the new Bass Pro location will open to the public in December 2014. There will be more than just retail space inside. There will also be an aquarium, bowling alley, hotel, restaurant, shooting range, and outdoor sky ride.

Comedian and CollegeHumor writer Steve Hofstetter will do standup at the Hard Rock Cafe on Thursday, October 3. Tickets are $21.50 but there’s a Groupon going on right now where you can get tickets for $10. Limit 8 per person, and there are 9:00 and 11:00 shows.

Yahoo! Sports has video of a ridiculous Marc Gasol full-court pass as Spain beat Serbia, 90-60.

There are Disney on Ice shows at FedExForum all weekend. The shows feature moments from BRAVE, The Little Mermaid, Tangled, and Beauty and the Beast. Even though I won’t be attending, I am very happy to see there are two shows on Sunday, at 1 and 5 PM.

Where I will be on Sunday is Best Memphis Burger Fest, and I have a pro tip for you if you plan to attend: Start stockpiling one-dollar bills. The contestants can’t sell their burgers, but they can give out samples and encourage you to put money in their donation boxes. All donations go to Mid-South Spay & Neuter. So start gathering ones like you’re planning a visit to the strip club. Except, not a strip club, but a burger festival.

Gotta run for now… I need to go to Target and buy a “thank you for all you do” greeting card to send to the Pabst brewery in Milwaukee. I’ll be out at the usual spots around 5:30.

I’ve been mentioned in Bruce V’s weekly column in the Memphis Flyer. He discusses targeted incentives to get guns off the streets. This is what he had to say about Downtown.

Downtown residents would get to choose from a free cornhole game set, a week’s worth of “no questions asked” pooping privileges for your dog, being the Peabody Duckmaster for a day, 14 Arcade breakfasts, or an “I drank every beer” wall plate at Flying Saucer and five mentions in Paul Ryburn’s blog.

Sounds about right! His column discusses targeted incentives for Midtown and Germantown as well.

The The Mid-South Pyrate Faire, which had been scheduled for this weekend, has been canceled due to a lack of funds. Today, by the way, is “smack people upside the head who talk like a pirate” day.

Tamp & Tap has announced that they will begin serving Saturday and Sunday brunch this weekend.

There’s a Groupon for admission to the Cotton Museum at 65 Union. There are three different deals, for admission for 2, 4, or 10.

Chef Felicia of Felicia Suzanne’s was back on Live at 9 this week with another recipe. This week, she taught how to make butternut squash and chorizo sausage.

Stock Up for Winter is the theme at this Saturday’s Memphis Farmers Market, at the Central Station Pavilion (Front at G.E. Patterson) from 7 AM to 1 PM. The market shuts down for the winter at the end of October, so now is the time to get extra local produce to freeze or can. Live music by Andrew Cabigiao 8-9:30; Misti Rae 9:30-11; Midtown Violets 11-12:30.

There will be a Farm to Fork dinner benefitting the Memphis Farmers Market next Friday, September 27 at Bleu. It will be a 3-course dinner with two choices for each course. Seatings will be available from 4 to 9 PM. Cost is $45. Call 901-334-5950 to make reservations.

Plans for tonight are yet to be determined. I could go play poker at Max’s Sports Bar. I could go get some of that $1 PBR Bardog is having all day today. I could just go with one of my regular stops of Saucer or Goose or Blind Bear. I guess it’s better that I don’t know what my plan is, because if I posted where I’ll be my “shadow” would show up just to prove that he’s going to be around wherever I am whether I like it or not. Ugh. Anyway, I’ll be out somewhere around 5:30.

Bardog Tavern had its birthday party last month, but tomorrow, Thursday, September 19 is the bar’s actual birthday. To celebrate, they will serve $1 PBR all day long. They’ll also have $2 sliders and $3 draft beers, although I can’t imagine anyone paying $3 for any other beer when they can enjoy a delicious PBR for $1.

Walking down the Main Street Mall yesterday after work, I noticed that Dejavu’s sign is up for the new Main Street location. Here’s a pic:

The Creole restaurant appears very close to opening. If you’ve been to the restaurant’s Florida location and had its food, you know this is a very very good thing for the Downtown core.

(By the way: What is the official spelling? Dejavu? DejaVu? DeJaVu? I’ve seen all three.)

The Eric Hughes Band will have a CD release party Saturday, September 28 at 8 PM at The Warehouse. After the band’s set there will be a Memphis Bluesplayers jam.

MGMT, featuring Memphis’ own Andrew VanWyngarden, has announced a November 23 show at the Orpheum.

Double J announced yesterday that it is now carrying homemade desserts from The Cake Madam.

Voting to name the new patio at Felicia Suzanne’s is now happening on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

I’ve learned of another Downtown location that has NFL Sunday Ticket: Local Gastropub. They also just installed two 50″ TVs on the patio. The Overton Square location has the game package as well with two 55″ patio TVs.

So here’s the complete list of bars Downtown that have Sunday Ticket, as far as I know:

Pinch
TJ Mulligan’s

Core
Mad Earl
Local
George Paul’s Last Call

South Main
Green Beetle
Max’s Sports Bar
Double J

Here’s a pic of the very first recorded computer bug from September 9, 1945. If you’ve wondered where the term “bug” came from, now you know.

The Flyer’s Hungry Memphis blog has a good post on Eggcellence, a company selling “deviled eggs with flair” whose products are carried by Miss Cordelia’s in Harbor Town. The photo shows company owner Sascha Parker at a sampling in Miss Cordelia’s. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl showed up.

Fun night at Blind Bear poker last night. I met Matt who does the River Rat Rounders games around town. I am going to try and make his 8:30 game Monday at the Mad Earl. I told him, don’t expect me to be a regular at that game, because I have a long-standing Monday engagement (Pint Nite at the Saucer). I’m certainly willing to give it a try and blog about it though. Anyway, odd night at the Bear. I got the best starting hand in Hold’em twice (A-A) and the worst three times (7-2). I wasn’t able to cash in on Jamie’s infamous Seven-Deuce prop bet though. I wanted to win and pick up a $50 gift card to spend on food when Chef David Scott Walker starts next week. Unfortunately I came in fifth, but I have three gift cards from previous wins, so I think I’ll be okay.

Sitting here trying to download iOS 7 on my iPad. “About 6 hours remaining.” Ugh. I don’t dare update my iPhone until I know the release is stable. Signing off for now. I’ll be out at the usual hangouts after work, probably leading off at Silly Goose.

In case you missed the announcement I made yesterday afternoon, Chef David Scott Walker will start as executive chef at the Blind Bear next week. However, that is not the only new-chef announcement in the news. Flight has announced that Nick Scott is its new executive chef. Having won awards for his creations at Bluefin, Scott will work with chef-partner and culinary director Joshua Laban Perkins. Congratulations to both chefs on their new gigs.

I’ve learned of one more venue Downtown that has NFL Sunday Ticket, for those of you who live in the northern part of the area: TJ Mulligan’s in the Punch. They also host the Steelers Fan Club, and the bar has over 10 TVs. Never a cover and free parking.

I blogged about the Big Scoop Ice Cream Festival Saturday, September 28 at AutoZone Park, but I neglected to provide a link for ticket sales. Blog reader MILF2B inquired what the link was (I guess she’s never heard of Google) and I thought I’d share it for the benefit of other readers. Buy tickets here.

A new, high-energy dance team made up of kids ages 7-12, the Blue Bunch, will perform at Grizzlies games this year. Auditions will happen at SubRoy Studios on Whitten Road at 9 AM Sunday. This link has info about a pre-audition class happening Friday so your kids can learn the dance routine in advance and be ahead of the game for auditions.

ESPN Magazine has named the best franchise in sports. Find out who it is here.

The @JobsMemphis Twitter account is putting out some good stuff today if you’re looking. I’ve seen several Walgreens assistant manager trainee jobs, and a FedEx Ground package handler position.

Yesterday I mentioned that Squeal Street BBQ invited me to hang out in their booth for Best Memphis Burger Fest Sunday (for which they will temporarily rename themselves Squeal Street Burger). Last night I was hanging out with a couple of the team captains at the Saucer, and they asked, “Do you want a T-shirt too?” Awesome! I’m going to try to get there as close to opening as possible (10:30 AM) and take a complete photo spread, the way I do for my own BBQ team The Moody Ques at BBQ Fest. I’ve been told that the fest’s organizers pushed the awards ceremony back to 5 PM this year, so I’ll be sticking around all day. Of course, with a forecast of sunshine and temps around 80, the crowd should be much larger than last year (58 and misty). Should be plenty to see. Maybe I’ll snap a few late-season tube top photos.

I’ll be at poker tonight at the Blind Bear, 8 PM, with a likely Saucer stop before that. I need a good showing at poker this evening to accumulate points, because the burger fest will most likely cause me to miss Sunday’s game.

This weekend I learned some exciting news about one of my favorite bars, and I have now been given permission to make it public. Starting next week, Chef David Scott Walker will be the new executive chef at the Blind Bear. He was previously the chef at Jim’s Place and before that was sous chef at Rhodes College.

If that name sounds familiar to readers of my blog, there’s a reason why. Chef DSW was the pitmaster this year for the BBQ Fest team I am on, the Moody Ques. We were well-feed all week long and the food was excellent. I can’t wait to see what he is going to do with the menu at the Blind Bear, which by the way is one of the Moody Ques’ main sponsors.

Great move for all involved. Congratulations Chef!

This first item makes me really sad. A lot of people are very upset that an Indian-American woman won the Miss USA pageant. As soon as she was crowned, Twitter was flooded with racist tweets, including some calling her an Arab. Really people? Whatever happened to the idea of America being a melting pot of cultures? I guess that’s the great thing about Twitter, though; it gives everyone an equal opportunity to prove how stupid and closed-minded they are. Congratulations to the new Miss USA.

Festival season is in full gear for the fall. Let’s look ahead to the coming weekend. This isn’t a festival but worth mentioning anyway: Downtown Museum Day is Saturday. Many museums in the Downtown area will offer free or half-off admission. In addition, Memphis Hop, the bus that shuttles riders to popular tourist attractions, will have half-off fares Saturday, and historian Jimmy Ogle will give two free walking tours of Downtown.

Sunday is the second annual Best Memphis Burger Fest at Minglewood Hall. This event is the creation of Seth of the Best Memphis Burger blog. It kicks off with a Best Bloody Mary contest at 9 AM. After that there will be several burger competitions, including veggie, anything but beef, extreme burger, and Best Memphis Burger. There will also be a Team Kookamonga Challenge where teams of two try to eat as much of Kooky Canuck’s giant burger in the allotted time. Four bands will perform throughout the day.

Last year I experienced the burger fest as a judge; this year I’m going to pass up the opportunity to judge to experience the festival from a competition team point of view. My friends at Squeal Street BBQ have entered, and have invited me to hang out in their booth. They’ve always been one of the most well-organized teams at BBQ Fest and it will be a pleasure to watch them operate.

There’s a South Main Logo Design contest that you can enter. Download a logo in .jpg or vector format, and put in what South Main means to you. Selected logos will be put on display at Trolley Night in September. Trolley Night attendees will vote for their favorite logo, with the designer of the top vote-getter winning $500.

People wonder why I wear my BBQ team rubber bracelet months after the festival ended. It’s a conversation starter. Yesterday it led to two people inquiring about the team who would be awesome additions. I’ll mention them next time I see one of the board members. Later in the day yesterday I crashed and burned at Blind Bear poker. There are some nights where I just show up to get my point for being there and my point for checking in on Foursquare, and I don’t really play to win. If I keep getting the points for showing up and playing well on the nights when I feel like it, I should be headed toward the league final table.

I’ll be at Pint Nite at the Flying Saucer after work, enjoying some $3 draft beers. Dos Equis Lager and maybe a few beers toward my next plate.