Lunchtime update: The debate is on, happy hour, brunch

Looks like the debate is back on for tonight… that means I’ll be at the Mpact Memphis watch party at the Red Rooster.  I need to renew my membership while there… I let it lapse this year.  The debate itself does not start until 8, so I’ll probably hit Trolley Tour from 6:00 to 7:20ish, then head to the Rooster in plenty of time to get a good seat.

Bardog Tavern is doing happy hour from 5 to 7 with $1 off all bottles and drafts.  That means PBR costs only $1.50 during happy hour.

Calhoun’s is doing their brunch again tomorrow.  Price is $8 a plate this week – at $5 last week, it was clear that they underpriced it.  Last week’s brunch was OUT-FREAKIN-STANDING, so come on down if you’re hungry tomorrow morning.  Not sure if the menu will be the same or if they’ll change it up, but I’m sure it will be good.

September 26

September 26, 2008… my grandmother who helped raise me as I grew up would’ve turned 100 today.

It’s Friday morning and I don’t know what my plans are for the evening. If there’s a debate, I’ll be at the Red Rooster to watch it. If it’s called off, I’ll be at the South Main Trolley Tour. Weather looks to be perfect this month. In either case, I’ll be in the South Main area later in the evening for a private party.

Hmmm… the Red Rooster… the Blue Monkey… the Flying Fish… Bardog Tavern… the soon-to-be-open Silly Goose… the Pig on Beale… Spindini, the best Cougar Bar as voted by Memphis Flyer readers… quite a nice little Downtown zoo we’ve got going on.

The election is barely more than a month away… I’m addicted to RealClearPolitics. I check it throughout the day to see if any states have flipped from red to blue or vice versa. The last day to register to vote in time to vote in the November elections is October 6. Early voting is October 15-30.

I’ve been asked to let everyone know to check out the empty lot next to Earnestine & Hazel’s tonight for Trolley Tour. There’s an art park initiative going on for the new Downtown promenade, and they’ll have an exhibit in the lot tonight. Come see Architecture Inc.’s plans for the park, watch 7 artists perform live to the tunes of a funky jazz band, and most importantly, drink some Ghost River beer!

I’ve also been told that personal trainer Shannon Lazek has opened a space in the old Durden art gallery at 408 S. Front #107, and she will have an open house tonight during Trolley Tour. I’ve never met Shannon but she comes highly recommended from a client to tell me how awesome she is. Check her out if you’re into fitness, or want to be.

The South Main Association will have free food and beer for members tonight from 6 to 8. Non-members can get a beer for a $2 donation (although, note two paragraphs above that the art park people will be serving beer too).

Since I hung out with Michelle and Jenny this week, in the interest of equal time, I guess I’ll have to stop by Calhoun’s either Saturday or Sunday day and see Lauren. The October BFF race is dead even. Michelle and Jenny had pulled out to a slight lead, then undid it with that “barmaid” comment. That comment was as bad a foul as Lauren’s horrible Tennessee shirt. So I’d say the race is as even as Obama-McCain, except I don’t want to insult any of my potential BFFs by likening them to John McCain.

All right, outta here for now.  I had an IT guy ask me for job-hunting tips last weekend, and it occurred to me that the tips might be useful to others, so I’m working on a post about them.  Don’t know if it’ll be done today, but soon.  See you at either the debate or Trolley Tour tonight, if you’re out.

Not a late-night person? Tonight’s your change to party at the Disco

If you’ve heard about all the fun that happens at Hollywood Disco (formerly Raiford’s) at 2 or 3 AM, but you just can’t stay up that late, tonight is your chance to experience it at a much earlier hour.  The Travel Channel will be there to film tonight, and they need a packed house at 6 PM.  There’s no cover until 9, so put on your boogie shoes and come on down.

I’m pleading with everyone who loves the Disco to come out and support the new owners and make the place look like a million dollars.  A little over a year ago, we thought the Disco was gone forever when Raiford retired and closed the club.  The new owners gave it back to us.  This is our chance to say “thank you” by making the place look great on TV.

I’ll be there in my “Disco Paul” persona by 6 PM.  Come on down and join me!

Kudos to the Memphis Flyer on an outstanding Best of Memphis party, held last night on the grounds of the Metal Museum.  Great food from the BOM restaurant winners, talented band, fun party space.  Since it’s not really accessible from the rest of Downtown I drove the car, and the engine got an extra workout when I took the wrong exit on the way back and had to go 4 miles into Arkansas and turn around.  Last time I bought gas was the last week of August.  Total miles on the car since then, counting last night: 14.

After the party I hit the Saucer for a beer, then remembered that the St. Jude scientists/October BFF candidates Jenny and Michelle had said they’d be at Blues City watching the Dempseys.  So I headed down there.  Many pictures were taken – although none with my camera, so I don’t have any to post.  “Come on Paul, pose with your new BFFs,” they said, and I reminded them they are BFF candidates for October and have not won.  English Jenny denigrated the competition.  “Really, Paul,” she said.  “Don’t you think you should stop choosing barmaids as your BFFs?”  “Barmaids.”  You gotta love the British.  Not really a strong argument, though, considering I spend more time in bars than I do sleeping or at work.  Seems like a “barmaid” would be a natural pick.  What they should have done was to try to draw comparisons between BFF candidate Lauren and former BFF Meghan, who was a total disaster.

So, Rick Springfield was in the audience, and trying to keep a low profile, but the Dempseys coaxed him up on stage to play a song on Brad’s guitar, and he totally rocked the place.  After that the Dempseys said, “We’re taking a break, there’s no way we can follow that,” and the Blues City people put “Jesse’s Girl” on the PA.

After that I stopped by Bardog Tavern to join John Bragg and his employees for a drink to celebrate their “Best Restaurant” win.  The place is coming together.  They’ll be open for lunch next week, and since it’s a block from work I’ll probably be in there quite a bit.

Back to work.  Today’s meeting day.  Yay meetings.  Actually I’m looking forward to this one because I have something cool to demo.  After work I’ll stop by the Saucer for a happy hour Dos Equis Lager, then head to the Disco.

Oh – one more thing – probably not gonna get by the Saucer until after work, so if anyone knows the Fire Sale e-mail or text it to me and I’ll post it.

On the menu at On the River

So, yesterday I never got around to my post about the menu at On the River, the new seafood place opening soon at 51 S. Main, between Monroe and Union on the Main Street Mall.

They have seafood entrees that you can purchase as a dinner, or in half pound, 3/4 pound, and 1 pound sizes.  Dinners come with two sides of your choice and huspuppies.  Entrees include 8 piece regular shrimp, 6 piece jumbo shrimp, fish and chips, lake perch, 4 piece catfish, buffalo, smelt, 2 piece whiting, red snapper, crawfish tails, and frog legs.  The frog legs are only available as a dinner, not by weight.  Dinner prices range from $6.99 (smelt) up to $10.99 (jumbo shrimp).

Sides include pasta salad, french fries, mixed vegetables, spaghetti, slaw, and chips.

They also have chicken and shrimp alfredo, which, judging by prices, look to be meals in themselves, although they apparently don’t come with sides.  They also have sandwiches, salads, desserts, and appetizer items like crab cakes and fried green tomatoes.

The menu says they’ll open for lunch and will be open ’til 8 PM Monday-Thursday and 10 PM Friday-Saturday.  Closed Sunday.

Wonder if this place will give the Flying Fish a run for its money… it’ll surely be a lunch hotspot for those who work on or near the Main Street Mall.

This week’s Memphis Flyer review: Best of Memphis edition

Time for my weekly look through the Memphis Flyer, for stuff relevant to Downtowners. Because it’s the Best of Memphis issue, this one’s going to be long.

p.6: State Place at South End ad: “Down here we don’t measure convenience in Applebee’s drive times.” Heh. That’s a shot at East Bumblefuck if I ever heard one. I like these people.

p.9: Good article about the push for Downtown to become dumpster-free. They’re right, the dumpsters attract vagrants and homeless who dig through them, and then leave garbage strewn about everywhere, which in turn attracts rats and pigeons. The article notes that vagrants also tend to go behind dumpsters to do their ‘business,’ making conditions even more unsanitary.

All right, on to the Best of Memphis awards.

Best Burger: Note that all three winners are Downtown restaurants (although #1 Huey’s is all over the city).

Best Brunch: I knew the bigger, more well-known brunches would win, but only the Majestic Grille has the “John D Breakfast” on the menu, so it got my vote.

Best Service: Chick-Fil-A? Really? This was another Majestic vote for me. Second-place Texas de Brazil certainly deserved to be in the top three.

Best Waiter/Waitress: Michelle from Calhoun’s won!!! Cool! Although, I must admit, I never thought of voting for her in this category, because I always sit at the bar when she serves me. But she works the tables too. Glad to see Calhoun’s in the awards. My vote went to Melissa from the Flying Saucer, although she’s been promoted to bartender since voting ended.

Best place for people-watching: The Flying Saucer. The Flyer lists the hot waitresses in miniskirts, and the tourists passing by the window, as reasons why. But they forgot one more reason – the BUMS!!! No place better for watching bums do their “tour guide” and “flower man” gimmicks than the Saucer’s garage windows. Even more fun now that I can call the Downtown safety patrol on them.

Best restaurant: This was a hard call for me to vote on. There are four or five I could have gone with. Circa and the Majestic were certainly on that list. I don’t really hang out at McEwen’s much, but I have no doubt it deserves its spot too. Great choices, although I’m sad to see Big Foot didn’t get a share of the Reader’s Choice award this year.

Best local band: Congrats to the Dempseys for sharing in the award again this year. They were my vote.

Best bartender: Michelle from Calhoun’s wins again!!! Nice! I left this category blank because I couldn’t decide. In my mind, it was a many-way tie between Max, Michelle, and Lauren from Calhoun’s; Karen and Nate from E&H; Melissa from Itta Bena; the entire Saucer; Troy from Big Foot; Hoop from Hoop’s Bar; and I know I’m leaving a couple more out. No way I could’ve picked one out of all those. We have some great bartenders Downtown.

Best after-hours club: Hollywood Disco! Damn right!

Best “cougar” bar: I never thought I’d use the words “best” and “Spindini” in the same breath, but the Flyer found a way for me to do it. Spindini got “BOM” status, meaning they won by a margin of more than three to one.

Best beer selection: Flying Saucer! Damn right!

Best happy hour: I love the Saucer but wouldn’t have voted for it here. 7 extra ounces of beer is nice but not enough to be called “best in town.” Right now I’d go with Circa as the best happy hour Downtown. As much as I hate East Bumblefuck chain restaurants, I can’t deny the appeal of “2-for-1 all day” at Chili’s.

Best dance club: SO glad to see Hollywood Disco/Raiford’s beat Senses this year. Memphians are starting to appreciate quality. If Atlas had won I would’ve started looking for another city to move to, but they weren’t in the top three.

Best jukebox: E&H! Damn right!

Best new bar: Even though it’s not Downtown, I have absolutely no problem with The Cove winning – with great ambience and hand-crafted drinks, it’s outstanding. Glad Calhoun’s made #2, although technically I wasn’t sure it was eligible, since it opened December 31, 2007. My vote, the Red Rooster, tied with the Downtown Monkey for third.

Best sports team: Memphis Tigers basketball! Damn right! Go Tigers!

Best local athlete: Joey Dorsey! Damn right!

Best local radio talk show: I voted for Thaddeus since I couldn’t vote for him for Best Blogger. He didn’t win though.

Best local blogger: Pleased to be sharing the top three with Thaddeus and MPD Enforcer 2.0. Again, genuine thanks to everyone who voted for me.

Best local place for men’s clothing: Glad to see my choice, Shelton Clothiers, made it to the top 3. I have several nice shirts and a great new wallet from Shelton.

Best local health club: Glad to see Downtown YMCA won, although, how would I know who the best is? I’m too busy drinking at bars to have time to work out.

Best Memphis failure: KING WILLIE!!!!!!!!!!!! DAMN RIGHT!

Best Memphis success: I voted for the new Downtown safety patrol, although I agree Steve Cohen’s defeat of Nikki Tinker deserves the award too.

Best Memphian: I voted for Sam from the Red Rooster using “why the hell not” as my reasoning. I’m quite happy with the actual winner, Steve Cohen, though.

All right, back to the rest of the Flyer.

p. 67: Blues Ball is this Saturday. I never go to the ball itself but it’s fun to hang out at Earnestine & Hazel’s afterward and watch the party-goers come in. I’ll probably catch the first hour of Funk de Ville at the Saucer Saturday, then head to E&H.

Back page: Not only is Mpact Memphis having a debate watch party at the Red Rooster Friday night, but afterward Aquanet plays! I have a party to go to that night elsewhere, but this is where I would otherwise be.

Off to the BOM party… see you later.

Thanks

Just picked up a copy of the 2008 Memphis Flyer “Best of” issue… I won Best Blogger.  Thanks to everyone who voted for me, and I’m glad you enjoy the blog.  Haven’t had time to flip through the rest of the issue, but rest assured, I’ll have comments on it in the next day or two.  For those of you going to the Best of Memphis party tonight, I’ll see you there.

Also picked up a menu for the new “On the River Seafood and More” place at 51 S. Main.  Will blog about that in my lunchtime post.  Right now, gotta get back to work.

Quick morning update: Staying awake, trolleys, more

Here’s a WikiHow article that should be useful to Downtowners who like to go out to the bars on the weeknights: How to Stay Awake at Work. I’m disappointed that the article didn’t specifically mention Mountain Dew though.

I meant to link to this last Friday, and forgot, but it’s too good to leave behind: Bruce VanWyngarden from the Memphis Flyer took his car into the repair shop last week, and since the shop was on the Madison Avenue line he decided to use the trolley to commute to work. Read about his experience here. The public transportation system in Memphis is a complete joke.

New promo on the discount restaurant gift certificates I talk about from time to time: Enter FALL to get 60% off on them. These are $25 face-value restaurant gift certificates that normally sell for $10, but with 60% off they’re $4 for the remainder of the month when you enter the promotional code FALL at checkout. Scroll to the bottom of my blog’s right sidebar to find a box where you can search by zip code. Enter 38103 to search for Downtown restaurants (or your zip if you don’t live Downtown). A lot of Downtown restaurants participate – Big Foot, Stella, Pearl’s, Blue Fin, Blue Plate Cafe, McEwen’s, and many more. Note that some restrictions apply (generally you can’t redeem them for alcohol, for example) – be sure to read the restrictions before purchasing.  Yes they are legit – many of my readers have purchased them and have told me they used them successfully.

The Rapscallions didn’t make the top 3 in trivia last night, but at least we have $135 in prize money to show for our efforts over the past month. As opposed to the team of St. Jude scientists, who have not even one dollar in prize money for the same period.  I notice they didn’t use “Finding Cures and Drinking Beers” as their team name last night.  I’d suggest “Might as Well Face it, We’re Addicted to Losing” as an alternate name.

I won’t be at the Downtown Alive! Latino-themed party at Court Square tonight, even though it sounds like it will be a lot of fun.  Got a private event to attend elsewhere Downtown… more on that later today.

Tue update: College jewelry, concert in Court Square tomorrow, street vendors

Information on tomorrow’s concert in Court Square coming in a moment. But first, it’s time to roll out my new website:

College Logo Jewelry sells earrings, pendants, bracelets, charms, rings, navel rings, and similar items for over 100 of the nation’s top colleges, including merchandise for the Memphis Tigers, Arkansas Razorbacks, Tennessee Volunteers, Ole Miss Rebels, and Arkansas State Red Wolves. Like most of my recent sites, checkout and shipping is handled by Amazon.com, the Internet’s most trusted retailer, so you can rest easy that your purchase is secure and handled professionally.  This is a sister site to my College Logo Watches store, which has been doing very well lately.

On to the news…

This week’s installment of the Downtown Alive! concert series is the Latino Memphis Hispanic Heritage Fest in Court Square, tomorrow, September 24, from 4:30 to 8:30 PM. Music by Caribbean Sound starts at 5 PM, and there will be salsa lessons by Salsa Memphis. There will also be Aztec dancing. Vending will include margaritas and Mexican beers, the Crepe Maker, hot dogs, and tacos. They welcome picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs.  With the Downtown Security Patrol around, there shouldn’t be a problem with bums bothering people like there was at last year’s Court Square concerts.

A few days ago I mentioned the street vendors on the Main Street Mall near Court Square. Yesterday I received the CCC’s Downtown Developer newsletter, which says that outdoor vendors are encouraged, and the CCC rents facilities to set up to sell outdoors for as little as $38/week when a yearly lease is signed. We’ve seen Hippie Geek out there in recent weeks; maybe we’ll see more vendors soon.

Trivia tonight at the Saucer.  The St. Jude team will be back to get their ass kicked again.  Looking forward to it.

Who will be the October BFF of the Month?

September is drawing to an end, and that means in about a week it’ll be time for me to name the October BFF (Best Friend Forever) of the Month.  I forgot to appoint a BFF for September.  Let’s take a look at the candidates.

Jenny and Michelle

Jenny (far left, in the photo to the left) and Michelle (far right) are proposing I do a double BFF of the Month, as I did in August with Darbi and Kristin.

Jenny and Michelle’s main selling point is that they are scientists for St. Jude, doing important research to find cures for diseases that affect children.  They also like to hang out at the Saucer and drink beer, which is a plus, and they like to go see the Dempseys whenever possible.

The main argument against them is that their trivia team keeps losing to my team The Rapscallions week after week at Tuesday night trivia.  I remember boardroom scenes from The Apprentice where Donald Trump would say, “You have a lot of potential, but you keep losing. Nobody likes a loser.”

Then again, you can’t find a bigger loser than original BFF Meghan, so maybe they’ll be able to overcome their lousy showings at trivia.

They scored some points last night.  As you can see in the pic, they thought, “Maybe Paul will pick us as his BFF if we bring girls in tube tops to the Saucer.”  That’s not a bad strategy.

Lauren

Lauren declared herself to be in the running for BFF of the Month this past Saturday, when I stopped in Calhoun’s, where she bartends, to have brunch and watch football.  “I think I should be the October BFF of the Month,” she told me, “because my birthday is in October.  And, I work at a bar that serves PBR.”

Lauren would have been the runaway favorite to win in October, but then she did something that cost her 82 million gazillion points.  She changed into an orange Tennessee Vols shirt.  I was still eating brunch, and nearly puked it back up when I saw that shirt.  What was she thinking?????  The Nuh-Uh Girl wears Tennessee stuff all the time, and you never hear her mentioned as being in the running for BFF of the Month.

Who will win?  I really don’t know.  The top two contenders are running neck and neck in my eyes right now.  If you have reasons why you think I should pick one or the other, or if you think there’s someone else I should consider for BFF of the Month, let me know.

Back at lunch with information on this week’s Downtown Alive! Wednesday night concert series.  They’re moving it back to Court Square, so I guess for one week it really will be a return to “Bands, Beer and Bums.”