Paul Ryburn's Journal

I know, I know… I said I was taking the day off from posting. But I just can’t stay away from this blog.

The Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team hits the road to Nashville today to open the regular season at Vanderbilt. According to gotigersgo.com, TV coverage will be on SEC Network+. I didn’t even know that network had a “plus” level. Crap, I guess that means it won’t be on TV at the bars tonight.

Speaking of basketball on TV at bars: Can someone who is a smart TV genius PLEASE come to Blind Bear and help them figure out how to tune into Bally Sports Southeast? The TV had the Bally Sports app when they first got it, but one day it disappeared. We’re missing our Grizzlies!!!

There was a report of a group of 40 people fighting near the First Horizon building at B.B. King and Madison shortly after midnight. WTF? That’s a random place to have a fight.

The 114th COGIC Holy Convocation kicks off tomorrow in Downtown Memphis. Curious what happens at a holy convocation? Download the program guide.

PRO TIP for those of you who live or work in the northern Downtown core/the Pinch District/St. Jude: In the past, when the COGIC convocation has been in town, a lot of food vendors have set up shop on Exchange Ave. between Main and Second. Interesting lunch options, especially if you love soul food.

With their win last night, the Grizzlies (7-3) find themselves in sole possession of third place in the Western Conference. They host the Boston Celtics at 8 tonight.

Feelin’ Memphis’s Lovin and Livin South Main party is tonight from 5:30 to 8:30.

The annual Howl at the Moon party, a fundraiser for Streetdog Foundation, returns to The Warehouse at Front and G.E. Patterson this Saturday. That is always a fun event.

Corey Smith plays Loflin Yard Thursday night.

There’s Santa Claus Bingo at Grind City Brewing today from 5-8 PM.

JD Westmoreland plays Local on Main 1-4 Saturday.

Memphis 901 FC’s owner Craig Unger recently weighed in on the possibility of the club getting its own soccer stadium.

That’s it for today. Back tomorrow with more.

Tomorrow is the beginning of Downtown Dining Week, where you can enjoy some incredible multi-course meals at fabulous restaurants for $20.22. I’ve been through all the menus and my picks for the best spots are below. First, though, a few tips to help you, as well as other diners and people serving you, have the best experience possible:

If you can’t make a reservation, call and cancel it. Don’t just not show up. No-showing a reservation is rude to both the restaurant and to fellow diners who could have had that empty table.

Be patient with your servers. Many restaurants will be booked solid this week, and servers will be running around trying to keep up. Be understanding if it takes them an extra couple of minutes to get you what you need.

Tip well. A lot of places Downtown add 20% to the bill (it’s called autogratting) just to make sure servers are well-compensated in this post-pandemic era. Ask your server if their restaurant does this. If not, please add 20% or more to your bill. In this day and age when everyone has a calculator on their phone, there’s really no excuse for not knowing what a good tip is.

All right! On to the picks.

• Arcade: Breakfast for dinner and drink specials! Get the Elvis sandwich (peanut butter and banana) as your appetizer.
• Automatic Slim’s: That ribeye topped with Old Dominick sweet bourbon butter sounds amazing. They have some yummy appetizers too.
• Edge Alley: Smoked pimiento appetizer followed by fresh panzanella loaded with blackened shrimp. Creative!
• Feast & Graze: 2 sandwiches 2 sides for $20.22 is a heck of a value. Perfect for you and a co-worker to bring back to the office.
• Majestic Grille: You can always count on Patrick & Deni to knock it out of the park for Downtown Dining Week.
• Mesquite Chop House: The barramundi and the New Zealand lamb sound interesting.
• Rendezvous: Sampler platter for 2 comes with beef brisket, pork shoulder, sliced BBQ chicken strips, beans, and slaw. Good way to explore several of this legendary restaurant’s offerings.
• Sabor Caribe: Excellent opportunity to try a variety of Venezuelan foods for a reasonable price. I’m going to call this my number-one overall Paul’s Pick.
• Slider Inn Downtown: Argentinian-style sliders have my curiosity piqued. You get an app of fried pickles too.
• Slim & Husky’s: Two signature pizzas for $20.22 is quite a deal. Probably my number-two pick behind Sabor. The Edge District is stepping up for DDW this year.
• South of Beale: A curry item on the menu? Speakin’ my language! The Jack & Coke – a dessert not a drink – sounds interesting too.
• Stix: Ginger salad, either the Riverside or Downtown sushi roll, and teriyaki chicken or hibachi shrimp for $20.20. That’s a good value.
• Westy’s: I’d have trouble deciding between the #4 Dos Mex Tamales and the 4 rib basket. One thing’s for sure, though, if I chose the rib basket, the tots would be my side item.

So there you have it. Many outstanding options to try new things this week.

On an unrelated note: CONGRATULATIONS to my friends Randi & Robert who are getting married today. Two of the nicest people I know and I am honored to be included in their celebration.

Unless there’s time-sensitive news, I’ll probably take tomorrow off from posting. Back Tuesday.

Happy College Football Saturday everyone!

The big news Downtown this morning is that there was a fire yesterday around 11 AM in the 99 N. Main apartment building. It was contained to one unit, and although there was considerable smoke, MFD quickly put it out. I was talking to a resident of the building last night and he was concerned that the elevators would be out all weekend, leaving him with a 20+ flight walk up the stairs to get home. I can’t imagine…

Cocozza, the red sauce Italian restaurant in Harbor Town, is hiring

• Servers
• Bartenders
• Expos
• Cooks

They’ll have open interviews from 1 to 4 PM Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of next week. If you can’t make any of those times, you can apply online. 108 Harbor Town Square is the address. Benefits include health, dental, vision, paid time off, and paid training. For those not familiar with the Cocozza name, it’s the Majestic Grille’s sister restaurant. So you’d be working for Patrick and Deni Reilly, two of the kindest and most caring bosses you’ll find in the Downtown service industry.

Central Station Hotel is now hiring for the following positions with AM and PM shifts available:

• Line cooks
• Hosts
• Bartenders
• Servers
• Backservers

Benefits for these jobs include

• Competitive pay
• Health, vision, and dental insurance
• Opportunity for growth
• Hilton travel benefits
• Paid time off for all positions
• 401(k) with employer matching
• Employee referral bonus program

Email dstephens@centralstationmemphis.com to apply. Thrillist has an article about the hotel, by the way.

Pints for Proceeds: Every time you drink a Coors Light at Blind Bear during the month of November, Ajax (the beer’s distributor in Memphis) will make a donation to St. Jude.

Today is National Wine Tasting Day.

Quote from a tourist I talked to yesterday: “Malort tastes like a 1970s shag rug that got flooded and then dried out.”

Tip from a bartender I talked to yesterday: Get a Bushwacker frozen drink at the Green Beetle and add a shot of banana pudding moonshine. Or a shot of Skrewball peanut butter whiskey. Or both.

The South Main Association will hold its final South Main Social of 2022 Tuesday. It will be at 6 PM at Jack Robinson Gallery at 44 Huling. Complimentary cocktails and light fare will be served. There will be nominations for the 2023 SMA board of directors. Free for SMA members, $20 for non-members. (Join the SMA here)

This Thursday at the Memphis Tigers football home game, it’ll be Wrestling Night. Jerry Lawler, Lex Luger, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Dave Brown, “Dangerous” Doug Gilbert, Downtown Bruno, Koko B. Ware, and Jerry Calhoun will be there. There’ll be wrestling in Tiger Lane at 5:30 followed by the game at the Liberty Bowl at 6:30.

Lex Luger? Now that’s a name I didn’t expect to pop up at a Memphis wrestling event. He does have a Memphis connection though. Under his real name, Larry Pfohl, he played for the USFL’s Memphis Showboats in the mid-1980s.

The Grizzlies beat the Charlotte Hornets 130-99 last night. That puts Memphis in 4th place in the Western Conference, half a game back from league leaders Portland, Phoenix, and Utah. Next up for the Grizz: A home game vs. Washington at 5 PM tomorrow.

GO DAWGS!!!!! Back tomorrow with more news.

The Grizzlies are back from their road trip out west. They host the Charlotte Hornets tonight at 7 at FedExForum. Tonight is Military Appreciation Night and the first 10,000 fans get a Grizzlies magnet schedule.

The CA’s Jennifer Chandler has lunch and dinner picks for Downtown Dining Week next week.

The CA also has photos of new restaurant Penny’s Nitty Gritty.

Advice for owners/managers of Downtown restaurants that automatically add a 20% gratuity to guest checks: You need to PROMINENTLY display that fact near your front door next week, where customers CAN’T MISS seeing it. If you don’t, I guarantee you are going to have a lot of heated arguments about it.

Elevation Memphis and Jamie Lynn Vessels play South Main Sounds tonight at 7.

Cognac Cars & Cigars happens tomorrow at Fourth Bluff Park from 5 to 9 PM.

Happy National Chicken Lady Day to my friend Tawanda Pirtle!

Finally, The Rock has come back to WMC.

UPS is hiring 450 seasonal workers.

Fieldaze, a festival celebrating the great outdoors, returns this weekend.

I think I’ve mentioned Quora on here before. It’s a website where anyone can ask a question and anyone can answer a question, This morning I received an invitation to join their Partner Program and get paid to write answers. Pretty excited about that. I’ve been on kind of a “fall break” from writing (other than this blog) for about 2 months and Quora could be just what I need to get back into a groove.

Too bad Bardog doesn’t have a partner program where I can get paid for drinking PBR, because that’s my plan for today. Back tomorrow with more news.

 

 

 

The DM’s Inked column reports that Ferraro’s Pizza in the Pinch District will open under a new name, Cheesy Corner. Its main focus will be grilled cheese sandwiches, although the restaurant will still offer simple pizzas.

Al Kapone will perform a live DJ set at Wiseacre Downtown Friday, November at 5:30 PM.

Your Christmas tree can serve you beer. Yes that’s a thing.

The jukebox at Bardog has been fixed.

I deleted the Weatherbug app from my iPhone and now I come home each night with 30 to 40 percent more battery life. It’s a shame, because that is a great app. Too bad it’s such a battery hog.

Today is National Sandwich Day. I recommend you celebrate it with my friends Pam and Bill at River Time Deli on Court Square.

A new canopy which will be the centerpiece of Tom Lee Park is being installed this week.

The Grand Hyatt, a 350-room hotel planned for the corner of Riverside and Beale, is once again on hold. The city of Memphis declined a $5 million request for capital to keep the project moving.

A site called GoSslo has a good article about The Peanut Shoppe.

The PRVLG play a happy hour concert in Health Sciences Park today at 5. Food trucks and a mobile bar will be on site.

Every year I hear people get this wrong, so let’s summarize:

• We are currently, like, as of the time I’m typing this, on Central Daylight Time.
• Sunday at 2:00 AM our clocks will “fall back” to 1:00 AM.
• Then it will be Central Standard Time and will remain so until the second Sunday in March.

In other words, we are not switching TO Daylight Time this weekend. We are switching OUT of it.

Just walked to Walgreens and noticed a real estate agency’s sign on the Fat Tuesday location that has yet to open. Does that mean it’s not happening?

That’s it for today.

I was told about the neatest-sounding party yesterday, and one that is perfect for fall weather: A chili dump. Everyone brings a pot of chili, and they all dump it into one big pot and mix it up. Why have I never heard of this before?

…. And then, the day after the chili dump, you have a second chili dump in the privacy of your own bathroom.

Congratulations are in order for our friend, bluesman Eric Hughes. I was told yesterday that Eric will get his Brass Note on Beale Street Sunday, November 13 at 2:00 PM. Well-deserved and a bit overdue.

Grizzlies on national TV alert: They play a road game at Portland with a 9 PM tip. It will be on ESPN.

There will be a free salsa class at River Garden from 6 to 7 PM Saturday. You don’t need dance experience or a partner to participate.

Wiseacre Downtown will host the Grind City Coffee Xpo this Saturday from 9 AM to 3 PM. Tickets are $25-$35 and proceeds benefit Protect Our Aquifer. WKNO has info about the event.

One of the FCC commissioners wants to ban TikTok. He says the Chinese company is a threat to U.S. national security.

The Brooklyn Nets fired head coach Steve Nash yesterday.

The Memphis Veterans Day parade will return on November 11 after a couple of years off for COVID. The parade will gather at Second and Market at 9 AM.

Let’s have a look at college football games of interest to Memphians this Saturday

• Florida at Texas A&M, 11:00 AM, ESPN
• 1 Tennessee at 3 Georgia, 2:30 PM, CBS
• 25 UCF at Memphis, 2:30 PM, ESPN2
• Liberty at Arkansas, 3:00 PM, SEC Network
• 6 Alabama at 10. LSU, 6:00 PM, ESPN
• 24 Texas at 13 Kansas State, 6:00 PM, FS1
• 4 Clemson at Notre Dame, 6:30 PM, NBC/Peacock
• Auburn at Mississippi State, 6:30 PM, ESPN2
• 21 Wake Forest at 22 NC State, 7:00 PM, ACC Network

GO DAWGS!

That’s it for this morning. Tomorrow is run-errands day so the post may be a bit late or pushed until Friday.

I had a cheese quesadilla at the Blind Bear yesterday and it was really good. Probably the best quesadilla I’ve had since I’ve been down here. I don’t think it’s on the current printed menu, but they have them.

Cheers to Memphis 901 FC on their best season yet. They were eliminated by Tampa Bay in the second round of the playoffs Sunday.

Not a Downtown thing, except it kinda is because Historical Haunts and The Broom Closet are listed as hosts: There will be a Yule Masquerade Ball at Black Lodge on the afternoon of Saturday, December 10.

Harvest Hosts plans to pay to send someone on a two-year tour of breweries and distilleries across America.

Primas Bakery and Boutique is hosting a gingerbread house decorating party Sunday, December 11.

Chinese Connection Dub Embassy plays Wiseacre Downtown Saturday night.

Blue Man Group is at the Orpheum today and tomorrow.

It’s National Cinnamon Day, a day to celebrate the bartender who works Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday happy hour at Blind Bear.

Breakfast with Santa at the Memphis Fire Museum on Adams returns December 10.

New Twitter owner Elon Musk plans to start charging users $20 a month if they want to keep that blue “Verified” check mark.

The Grizzlies dropped to 4-3 with a loss to Utah last night. They’re now tied for 6th-7th-8th in the West.

That’s it for today. I hope everyone survived Halloween. Back tomorrow.

I said I was gonna take today off, but I have a high-priority news item.

The Majestic Grille is getting ready to send out an email announcing their Christmas events, including Brunch with Santa and the annual showing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. If you are interested in attending these events, you need to do two things:

1. Go to their website and sign up to be on their email list. (Scroll to the bottom of the website’s main page to see the signup form)
2. Whitelist email from the Majestic in whatever email client you use to make sure the announcement doesn’t end up in your spam folder. If you use Gmail, make a rule to send email from Majestic to your Primary tab rather than Promotions.

When you get the email, make reservations for the events you want to attend IMMEDIATELY. Do not say to yourself, “I’ll do it later,” because these events have a history of being booked solid within HOURS of the announcement.

That’s all for now. Happy Halloween.

Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers take on Lane College in their second exhibition game of the season today. It will tip off at FedExForum at 1 PM. The game will be on 98.1 FM but won’t be on TV.

Due to weather, Memphis 901 FC’s Eastern Conference semifinal vs. the Tampa Bay Rowdies was postponed yesterday. The match will be played at AutoZone Park at 3:00 today.

Desmond Bane scored 32 and Dillon Brooks scored 30 but it was not enough to stop the Utah Jazz last night. They beat the Grizzlies 124-123. The Grizzlies’ regular-season record is now 4-2.

How about those L.A. Lakers though! 0-5!

Author Sheree Renee Thomas will have a book signing for her book Black Panther – Panther’s Rage this afternoon from 3 to 5 at Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum on N. Second.

Bardog now has Cinnamon Toast Crunch shots. They’re $7 + liquor and sales tax, so probably $9something.

The girl who invented the bleach shot (blackberry & peach moonshine) tasted my invention, the strawnana shot (white chocolate strawberry & banana pudding moonshine) Friday night and gave it her stamp of approval (would that be a tramp stamp?). Well, actually, I think Michael at Blind Bear invented the shot and I named it. But anyway, we now have outside confirmation that the strawnana is heaven in a shot glass.

Reggae Halloween happens today at 3 at Carolina Watershed.

Attention Nate: There’s a twerking class tonight in Cooper-Young.

Word that needs to come into common usage Downtown: sozzled. I was watching an episode of The Andy Griffith Show and Andy and Barney were searching for an illegal still out in the country. They didn’t find it, but they did find a chicken who had gotten into the moonshine the still produced. “That chicken is sozzled,” Andy commented.

Reminder: Today is Oktoberfest at Wiseacre Downtown.

There’s trick-or-treating tomorrow at Bass Pro at the Pyramid tomorrow 3-6 PM.

That’s it for today. I may possibly take tomorrow off from posting.

Chez Philippe, the Peabody’s signature fine-dining restaurant, is back open after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus. Its new tasting menu is a 7-course adventure that includes an amuse bouche, sorbet to cleanse the palate, a collection of petite sweets, and a take-home treat from the Peabody’s pastry shop. Chez Philippe is Memphis’ only Forbes Four-Star/AAA Four Diamond restaurant. Its hours are

• Afternoon tea: Thursday-Sunday 1:00-3:30 PM
• Dinner: Thursday-Sunday 5:30-10:00 PM Dinner Menu

Rock ‘n roll lost a legend yesterday. RIP “The Killer” Jerry Lee Lewis.

Mayor Jimbo from Mempho said he wouldn’t get involved in the dispute between Memphis in May and the Memphis River Parks Partnership over the use of Tom Lee Park for Music Fest and BBQ Fest, but it looks like he did. He proposes that the city put up a damage fund – $350,000 in 2023, $150,000 in 2024 – that would cover repairs to the park needed following those two festivals. Memphis in May would still have to put up a $250,000 damage deposit, but it would only be touched if damages exceeded the amount the city put up.

The Grizzlies play a road game vs. Utah tonight at 8. Ja is listed as doubtful for the game due to a non-COVID illness.

The Blind Bear solved its problem of getting an Xfinity “Not Authorized” error when attempting to tune into Bally Sports Southeast for Grizzlies games. The solution? They cut the cord and are now relying on smart TV subscription packages to get the channels customers want. Good for them. Xfinity sucks.

Feast & Graze is doing a Sunday brunch with DJ AD Sunday, November 20.

Yesterday I was watching boxing at Bardog and noticed that one of the boxers had the Led Zeppelin IV runes tattooed on his back. Nice.

Today is Hug a Sheep Day.

WREG has a look at the Historical Haunts ghost tour.

There’s midnight bowling at the Fishbowl inside Bass Pro at the Pyramid tonight from 9 to 2.

It’s Zombie Night all weekend at Craft Axe Throwing.

Southern Airways has named an aircraft after former Memphis Chamber CEO Phil Trenary. Trenary was shot and killed in a robbery attempt on South Front Street as he was walking home from an event.

Quintessential Sweets is opening a Downtown location at 97 N. Main. Downtowners can now get a deep-fried Twinkie without having to go to a fair.

That’s it for today. Heading out to Bardog for Saturday brunch.