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Ate at China Restaurant for the first time today, and had the Chef Special, Singapore Fried Rice and an egg roll for $5.99. It was a good-sized pile of fried rice with beef, chicken, shrimp, egg and vegetables, fried in curry sauce so it was spicy but not TOO spicy. I enjoyed it. Figured there’d be enough left to put in a to-go box for local homeless person Scratchy, but I guess I was hungry. Sorry, Scratchy, maybe next time.

They have two $5.99 Chef Specials every day, and in most cases you can choose an egg roll, fries, or fried rice as your side. Most days they have one special that’s spicy and one that’s not. They also have a $4.99 lunch menu where you can choose from about 10 items which are pretty standard at Chinese restaurants.

One thing though – it took 20 minutes for them to get the fried rice out to the table (they did bring the egg roll after only a few minutes), and I stood at the counter for another 5 waiting to pay. If you work for a boss who gets upset if you run over your alloted time for lunch, this may not be the best place to go.

You can tell they’ve had problems with the bums by the signs on the wall. There’s a sign saying that drink refills must be consumed within the restaurant. They also charge for to-go packets of soy sauce, duck sauce, and mustard. Only in Downtown do you see signs like this, but if you’ve spent any amount of time among the “locals” here, you understand why those signs are necessary.

Overall, a good meal. I’ll go back on other days of the week to try more Chef Specials.

Will be working from the Second Street branch office this afternoon.

Ate lunch at China Restaurant as planned. Will blog about that later today.

Here’s a link to the latest storm track for Hurricane Humberto, which just made landfall on the Texas-Louisiana coast. Seems like every year around Cooper-Young Festival time, we have to worry about remnants of a hurricane spoiling the fun. It looks like Humberto will move through northern Louisiana and then make a U-turn away from Memphis, and probably won’t bring rain to the area on Saturday. Still worth keeping an eye on though.

Starting to go into Cooper-Young preparation mode… making sure I have sunscreen in the apartment to put on Saturday morning… making sure the camera battery is charged, and so is the spare battery… making sure I have enough money in my wallet to buy food, beverages, and anything I want from vendors … making sure I have plenty of business cards for the Handling-Panhandling group, my Memphis Discount Dining site, and some of my own cards to give to people… making plans for a relatively quiet Friday evening so I can wake up well-rested and ready to go on Saturday.

Time to do about an hour’s worth of work on a real estate website, then I’ll head to China Restaurant around 11 to try their Singapore Fried Rice.

Last night I met fellow Sunday bruncher John D at the Peabody/Capriccio Corner Bar to check out the free appetizer buffet (free with alcoholic beverage) that they’re now doing. John D was already there when I arrived, and they had Bud Light bottles, so needless to say he was a happy man.

The buffet consisted of some breads, some nice imported cheeses, and one hot item, which last night was fried ravioli. I’ve been told they have other hot items on different days, including (according to a press release the Peabody sent me) fried calamari, chicken Parmesan strips, and meatballs.

Between the two of us, we had 4 beers and the tab was $17.48 before tip – that works out to $4.37 per beer. A little pricey for Bud and Bud Light, but it’s the Peabody, what do you expect. My recommendation: The happy hour is worth going to, but fill up on apps while you have one beer, then tab out and go somewhere where the beer is cheaper (like Frenchie’s bar across the street at the Holiday Inn).

John D and I then headed up to Court Square for “Bands, Beer and Bums: The Court Square Concert Series.” A guy walked up and started talking to John D: John had him immediately pegged as a panhandler, but I didn’t. He was clean and had all his teeth. I went to get a round of beers, and while I was away the panhandler asked John, “Do you think that guy (meaning me) will give me some money?”

“No,” said John D. “But what he will do is take your picture and post it to a panhandling site on the Internet that the cops read.”

The panhandler beat a hasty retreat to the other side of the park. When he saw me take my camera out of my pocket, he nervously ran over to another panhandler and pointed me out, and they gathered their belongings and left the area.

So I didn’t get a pic of him, but I did manage to snap a few other pics.

Giant Bear performing in the gazebo. They were outstanding.

Legendary Downtown street person Willie N. lights up some concert attendees with his sparkling conversation. That is, if you consider “Hey, lemme get a quarter” sparkling conversation. The Blue Suede Brigade told me he was in rare form last night.

The guy in the gray jacket approached John D and me for a cigarette. I don’t smoke, but John reluctantly gave him one. The guy walked away, then came back up about five seconds later. “Hey man, look here, I’ve got some VCRs I’m trying to sell,” he said, motioning toward a couple of bags on a bench. Couldn’t see the contents of the bags, but they looked like they very well could contain VCRs. After we turned him down he was nice enough to pose for the picture above, which has since been brought to the attention of MPD.

In the entire time I was there – about an hour, from 6 to 7 – I did not see ONE police officer actually in the park. Occasionally a police car would cruise the perimeter of the park, but there were no cops on foot or bike. This probably explains why the bums felt like they had free reign of Court Square.

Then I moved on to the Saucer where I had a few Left Hand Sawtooth Ales on Fire Sale. My friend Lee was there and, on the bartender’s recommendation, he got the Winter Solstice Ale, which came in a collectible porcelain bottle. “Yeah, that was left over from a past ‘buy the beer, get the glass’ night,” I told him. “Specifically, it was left from December 22, 2005.”

“This beer is almost two years old?” he asked me. “How much is it?”

“Hell if I know,” I said. “They took it off the menu 18 months ago, when spring ’06 arrived.”

He offered me a sip. I don’t remember Winter Solstice being a high-alcohol beer, but it seemed to have fermented into one after two years in that bottle.

Was going to head to Beale Street to catch The Dempseys, but Kings of the Delta were playing the Saucer and they were good, so I just stayed there. They played the Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon” from the White Album… that’s a song you don’t hear a lot of bands cover.

Ever wonder which beers are most frequently consumed at the Saucer? I saw a list posted by the waitress station:

Memphis Saucer Most Popular

1. Blue Moon
2. Newcastle
3. Stella Artois (really? A draft that isn’t on Pint Nite made the top 3? Wow. It’s good beer, but still, I’m a little surprised.)
4. Paulaner Hefe-Weizen
5. Guinness (and they spelled it correctly this time! Good job on that!)
6. Shiner Bock
7. Dos Equis Amber
8. Sierra Nevada Pale
9. Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat (they misspelled “Leinenkugel,” but that’s a tough one for anyone to spell)
10. Woodchuck (they didn’t say if it was the Amber, Granny Smith, Pear, or bottled Raspberry cider – maybe they all count as one)

Hmmm… I wonder what the Cordova Saucer Most Popular would look like. Here’s my guess at their top 5:

1. Coors Light
2. Bud Light draft
3. Bud bottles
4. Miller Lite
5. Bud Light bottles

And I’ll take a shot at my personal top ten:

1. Dos Equis Special Lager (with lime)
2. Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat
3. Woodchuck Pear Cider
4. Franziskaner Hefe-Weizen (several waitresses told me this was better than the Paulaner, so I gave it a try – not bad)
5. Blue Moon
6. Foster’s (only because it’s the value drinking option at the Saucer – $5.50 for a 25-ounce “oil can”)
7. Warsteiner
8. Flying Dog Woody Creek
9. Bridgeport IPA
10. Stella Artois

Dogfish Head Midas Touch would’ve been on the list (at #1) but they’re currently out of it.

Time to get to work. Trying to decide if I’ll hit the Madison rooftop to catch Charlie Wood this evening. Probably will hit EP’s a little later on, around 9.

Fellow blogger Downtown Amy posted this site to her blog yesterday – looks like the Raiford’s comeback is official.

The Memphis Business Journal has a new article about the RiverArtsFest to be held in the South Main Arts District October 26-28. Some new details about the fest are revealed in the article. Check it out here.

One of the Sunday brunch crew e-mailed me, and it looks like we’re going to meet up at the Peabody/Capriccio Corner Bar around 5:30 for their drinks and appetizer buffet, then head to Court Square after that for “Bands, Beer and Bums.” If anyone wants to join us feel free.

Although, keep in mind the Saucer has good glasses – the really nice Stella Artois ones – tonight for glass night at 7. If you collect beer glassware, might want to skip Court Square tonight and hit the Saucer. Court Square will have a scaled-down version of its entertainment tomorrow night, so you can go then – no bands or beer, just “Bums” as the theme. “Bums” will also be the theme Friday night, all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and pretty much the rest of 2007.

I’ve already got a full set of glasses though, so I’ll be at the Corner Bar. If anyone who works there reads my blog: Better stock up on Bud Light bottles this afternoon.

In order to tide myself over until 5:30, I stopped by Jack’s Food Store and got a bag of these:

You know who ought to team up? Frito-Lay and NORML, the organization that works to try and legalize marijuana. Seems like a lot more Doritos would get sold if people could buy pot legally.

Think I may eat at China restaurant, on Jefferson between Second and Third, for lunch tomorrow. I noticed a sign on their door that they have daily chef’s specials for $5.99, and tomorrow’s special looks good – Singapore Fried Rice, which appears to be combination fried rice fried in spicy curry sauce. Yum! I think it comes with an egg roll and maybe soup – although, I’m not sure, because as I was reading the menu a woman walked out and said “Ex…CUSE me.” in a tone of voice that implied, “How DARE you be in my way.”

These Doritos are pretty good, especially when you eat one hot wing chip and one blue cheese chip together.

The Fire Sale at the Downtown Saucer is Left Hand Sawtooth Ale.

Back to work.

One of my favorite readers sent me comments via e-mail, responding to yesterday’s post about Westy’s:

• She pointed out that Westy’s is one of the few places Downtown where you can get a complete meal at 2 AM and get it fast. She said the bartenders are always super-friendly (which was the experience I had yesterday) and she recommends the wild rice dishes, asparagus soup, chicken and pasta, and even their salads which are very big. I haven’t had the other items she mentioned but I agree about the wild rice dishes – very, very good. Also, they deliver anywhere Downtown if you don’t feel like making the trip to Westy’s.
• She mentioned the chicken pot pie at the Westin’s Daily Grill, which has been recommended to me as THE item to try. She said it was as big as a plate. This is not the first time I’ve heard this about the pot pie – another person told me it was enough for four people to eat. Better plan on asking for a to-go box if you order it. When I first saw it on the menu, I thought, $12.95 is a lot to pay for a pot pie, but if you get an extra meal or two out of it the next day, it’s not a bad deal at all.
• She also got a chance to try Itta Bena, the fine-dining restaurant on the third floor of BB King’s (Second at Beale). She said the atmosphere was wonderful, you felt like you were in on a big secret, and the food (she had the halibut) was as good as it gets.

I’ll throw in one more food-related item, although it didn’t come from her… if you like fried okra, I’ve been told by several people that EP Delta Kitchen has the best in town. Next time I see chef Michael Patrick I’ll ask him about it.

So last night was trivia night at the Saucer. The Rapscallions had a huge team and we were all over the place… a couple of times, we handed in an answer, got it wrong, and then Pete revealed the correct answer and someone said, “I said that! Why didn’t we go with that?” It was a team of 12, but it was really 4 people having 3 conversations, most of the time none of which had to do with the trivia answer. After we totaled up our final score – 79 out of 135, not as bad as last week but possibly our second-lowest score ever – I threw up my hands. The Nuh-Uh Girl offered help. “I want the Power of the Pen next week,” she said. “I’ll rule this team with an iron fist!”

Then Pete announced a run-off question, for the Rapscallions and one other team. What? Did we actually have a chance for third with that lousy score? The runoff question was, what year was the Reuters news agency founded? Our team consensus was 1887, and the correct answer was 1851. Luckily the other team guessed 1984, so we had won the runoff and were guaranteed a prize.

Then Pete announced the third-place team and it wasn’t us.

Then Pete announced the second-place team and it wasn’t us.

“And in first place, The Rapscallions.” WHAT??? I wondered if he was kidding, but a few minutes later he brought us the 50. Turns out he had been kidding a few minutes earlier, when he said “Lots of high scores this week.” Apparently ALL the teams sucked. That brings our gift-certificate total to $95 toward the next party, with the first certificate expiring November 21.

Good news for the team – we picked up a new member last week, and last night I talked to her and learned that she’s an expert on Chinese and Japanese culture. That works out perfectly, as we just lost our Japan expert to a job in DC. She’s also from Austria, so she can be our Central Europe expert (of course, I consider myself the team’s expert on Eastern Europe).

Speaking of the Saucer: A couple of weeks ago, they promised to start offering more variety in their Fire Sale beers, in exchange for raising the price a quarter. They had gotten in rut of running Killian’s Red, Leinenkugel Red, Abita Amber and Shiner Bock, which are all pretty close to the same type of beer. Have they lived up to their promise since the increase? Here are the Fire Sales they’ve had since:

Thur 8/30: Killian’s Red
Fri 8/31: Sierra Nevada Porter
Sat 9/1: Abita Amber
Sun 9/2: Flying Dog Doggie Style pale ale
Mon 9/3: Pint Nite, so no Fire Sale
Tue 9/4: RedHook Porter
Wed 9/5: Old Scratch steam ale
Thur 9/6: Sierra Nevada Brown Ale
Fri 9/7: Heineken, which I think is considered a pilsner
Sat 9/8: Blue Moon, orange-flavored wheat beer
Sun 9/9: Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat, blueberry-flavored wheat beer
Mon 9/10: Pint Nite
Tue 9/11: Yazoo Pale Ale

So it looks like they ARE living up to their promise. Lots of different styles represented, and no repeats. Good job guys! I know the Yazoo Pale Ale in particular was a big hit last night – one of the regulars said, “Finally, MY beer is on Fire Sale!”

My plans for this evening, however, are NOT to sit around the Saucer all night long. Enough of that – it’s time to enjoy some of Downtown’s other entertainment options. My tentative plan:

• I still have not tried Capriccio Corner Bar’s happy hour (free appetizer buffet with drink purchase), nor have I tried the Daily Grill’s inexpensive mini-appetizers during happy hour there. I’ll hit one or the other about 5:30.
• Then I plan on going to “Bands, Beer and Bums” at Court Square for a little while, where Giant Bear will be playing;
• After that I may stop by Frenchie’s bar (Russwood Park Grill at the Holiday Inn) for a drink, or maybe Huey’s. Or maybe the Saucer for ONE beer.
• Not sure if I’ll make it there, but The Dempseys play Blues City Cafe tonight at 8:30.

Time to earn some $$$ to pay for tonight’s adventures… outta here.

I finally made it to Westy’s for lunch today after my favorite blogger/MILF wrote several times about how good their plate lunches are. She was right! Normally I don’t expect much from bars, but this was one of the best plate lunches I’ve had Downtown, on par with Blue Plate Cafe and The Little Tea Shop. Food was delicious, didn’t even need salt and pepper, and just the right amount.

You can check out their blue plate specials here. They have meat-and-two, meat-and-three, and a veggie plate. Westy’s is at the corner of Main and Jackson and is probably most famous for its Hot Fudge Pie, a menu carryover from the building’s former life as The North End.

While I was there I discovered something else: They have Wi-Fi! Whenever I go to a restaurant or bar I pull my cell phone out to see if there are any wireless networks in range… and it found an unsecured network named “westys” and jumped right on. Hmmm… they have Wi-Fi and they have beer… Westy’s may be seeing more of me in the future.

In other news about my favorite blogger/MILF, there’s a dirty old man at her work who keeps staring at her boobs. I’m jealous of the dirty old man.

I’ve moved on to Cafe Francisco. The owner, Julie, told me she wore a tube top the other day and people told her, “Paul Ryburn would be happy.” Heh.

On the agenda this afternoon: I’m trying to develop a content management system, a system that would allow people to create and edit web pages online without knowing any HTML. There are plenty of CMSs out there already, but I thought it would be kinda cool to create one from scratch, just to get the experience. Besides, it would be a neat feature to offer my web consulting customers. Think I’ll call it ProfPR-CMS. I plan to develop two versions of it, a PHP one and a .NET one.

Downtown temp has dropped to 65 according to WeatherBug. Happy about the cool weather, but all right, that’s enough. Don’t drop into the 50s. I’m not ready to stop wearing shorts yet.

All right, time to get some work done.

According to the WeatherBug software on my computer, it’s 67 Downtown right now.

I want to be outside… think I may pack up the laptop and walk up to the Pinch for lunch. My favorite blogger/MILF has mentioned several times that Westy’s has great plate lunches… then I can walk down the street to Cafe Francisco and hop on their Wi-Fi and work on my programming projects all afternoon.