Paul Ryburn's Journal

Yesterday I returned to Longshot, the shuffleboard bar in the basement of the Arrive Hotel at Main and Butler. It was my third visit there, and I had been meaning to try menu items and post pics for my readers to see. The first two visits hadn’t gone as planned, though; the first time there, I inadvertently ordered what turned out to be a vegetarian sausage sandwich, with a carrot in place of a sausage. On my second visit, there was a celebration with a free spread of food, and after eating a plate I wasn’t hungry enough to order a menu item.

This time, I was determined to order their specialty, one of their sausages, hand-made by in-house sausage master John Haley. They have eight different sausage sandwiches, each served on bread made by the Hustle & Dough bakery upstairs. However, when I got a hold of the menu, a different sausage-based item caught my eye:

Under the “Shareables” section of the menu, I ordered the Pigs in a Blanket. This is Vietnamese sausage in rice paper, fried and served with lettuce wraps, ginger and pickles, and nuoc cham sauce, a Vietnamese fish sauce, for dipping.

It was way different from anything I have ever had, and way different from what Americans usually think of when they hear “pigs in blankets.” It was yummy though. The crunchiness of the rice paper and the lettuce was a nice counterpoint to the soft sausage inside, and the pickles and fish sauce added layers of flavor.

To see the full menu, check my post from last Saturday for photos. Probably next on the menu for me to try is the Korean BBQ sausage sandwich with kimchi. I love kimchi! Although, after sampling the cherry mustard Friday night, I’m going to be tempted to order the Smoked sausage sandwich.

I got there at 4:30, not long after the place opened. I thought to myself, “It’s a cold Saturday, hardly anyone knows Longshot is open, and even if they do they won’t want to step away from the LSU-Alabama game to walk over there. I bet I’ll be the only one there for the first hour.” Wrong! The place was more than half full, with three of the five shuffleboard tables in use. I’m glad to see Longshot has been discovered.

Update on a couple of things there: I confirmed with Dax that they will be switching over from 12-ounce PBR bottles to 16-ounce PBR cans. Yay! More bang for the buck, and I’ll get to use my koozie featuring the logo of the BBQ Fest shoulder trophy-winning Moody Ques. Dax also said they’re straightening out a situation with the TVs on Monday, so that each of the three bar TVs can be tuned to a different channel. That will be important for College Football Saturday, and on Monday nights when MNF and the Grizzlies are often on at the same time.

Drew Hill of the Daily Memphian has a look at the likely next steps in the court battle between James Wiseman and the NCAA.

The Daily Memphian also has a look at River Garden in Mississippi River Park’s first birthday celebration, the changes made to make the park inviting to the public, and plans to link the park to Memphis Park across Riverside Drive.

You know, every now and then I have to sit back and appreciate the quality of journalism in the Daily Memphian. I really like it that their mission is to inform the public, not accumulate the maximum possible number of clicks or ad sales they can get. If you’re the type of person who likes to stay informed about your community, it’s probably the best seven bucks a month you can spend.

Another excellent DM article: How Memphis rebuilt itself in the 1880s following the yellow fever epidemic.

What a College Football Saturday it was! Both #3 and #4 in the CFP rankings fell, with #2 LSU beating #3 Alabama, and #17 Minnesota upsetting #4 Penn State. Having handed Bama a loss on their home turf, will LSU be able to overtake Ohio State for the #1 spot this week? And will undefeated Minnesota start to be a part of the playoff conversation?

#20 Cincinnati took care of business, so the Bearcats will likely still be ranked ahead of Memphis in this week’s poll. However, #19 Wake Forest lost, so expect Memphis to move up at least one spot.

Ugh Tennessee beat Kentucky. One more win and the Lady Vols are bowl-eligible. Can we petition the Liberty Bowl to not select Tennessee? The only bowl they belong in is a toilet bowl.

The Memphis Grilled Cheese Fest happens today at the Hi-Tone. Come enjoy some of the best grilled cheese sandwiches this city has to offer while supporting Alive Rescue Memphis.

Regina’s Cajun Kitchen is implementing a Mid-Day Mardi Gras Cocktail Hour from 2 to 5 PM Thursday-Saturday. The way it works is, you choose a cocktail from their menu, pay a set price, and you get to enjoy an unlimited number of your selected cocktail for one hour.

Oh – almost forgot – I took an additional photo at Longshot, a listing of the rules of shuffleboard: (click to view in a larger size)

Off to D-RANKS with B-RAD at Silly Goose. Looks like I’ll get one day of shorts weather in before it gets super cold. Back tomorrow with more news.

Shocking news came out late yesterday afternoon. Memphis Tigers coach Penny Hardaway announced that James Wiseman, the team’s top 5-star recruit who is projected to be the #1 pick in the 2020 NBA draft, has been ruled ineligible by the NCAA. The reason is that years ago, before he ever had any idea he would one day be Memphis’ head coach, Penny Hardaway helped finance Wiseman’s move to Memphis to play high school ball and AAU ball. The NCAA considered Penny a booster because of his $1 million donation to the U of M Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Boosters are not permitted by the NCAA to help prospects financially.

Wiseman has retained local attorney Leslie Ballin and is suing the NCAA. Ballin obtained a restraining order allowing Wiseman to play in last night’s game, in which the Tigers blew out UIC 92-46. It remains to be seen if Wiseman will be available for next week’s game against nationally ranked Oregon.

I read the news on Twitter while at Longshot, the new bar in the basement of Arrive Hotel at 477 S. Main. Good news! They have beer now. PBR is $3 a bottle. GM Dax tells me they may switch to cans, because apparently they’re the same wholesale price. Either works for me! Their craft cocktails are delicious but I can’t afford to run up a $40 tab every time I go there. Another piece of good news: They have the TVs working now. They had both the Tigers and the Grizzlies on last night.

I went up there with the intention of trying one of their house-made sausage sandwiches, but it was grand opening night and they had a spread of food to sample. “Paul, go get a plate,” bartender Keagan told me. I went full Nuh-Uh Girl on that buffet.

Look at that gorgeous plate! If I posted this pic and said it came from the salad bar at Texas de Brazil, I bet everyone would believe me. If this is what comes on their meat & cheese plate, then it has to be added to the must-try list of items at Longshot.

I particularly want to spotlight one item on this plate: the cherry mustard, in the upper left corner. It had a kick to it and was really tasty! I bet it would be fantastic on one of their house-made sausages.

There was a champagne toast to celebrate the hotel’s opening.

Bluff City Coffee is now accepting orders for chocolate covered strawberries in packs of 6 or 12.

Check out yesterday’s edition of WREG Live at 9 to see Chef Michael Patrick of Rizzo’s talking about Downtown Dining Week which starts Monday. Chef demonstrates cooking a spaghetti squash broccolini.

You can now send a chocolate dick straight to someone’s door with a box that reads “Eat a Dick” when you open it. Damn this gives me an idea… nah, never mind, I don’t think I’d waste perfectly good chocolate on that bitch.

Evelyn & Olive will have live music by “Spencer Wayne” (no idea why they put his name in quotes; maybe it’s not his real name) and the Kashmere Cashmere Band tonight starting at 8:30.

You’ve seen me post all those yummy pizzas from the Silly Goose’s wood-fired oven… how would you like to make those pizzas? They are looking for full-time and part-time kitchen help. Experience making pizza dough and working with a wood-fired oven is a plus, but not necessary. What is necessary is a great work ethic and the willingness to learn. Pay is negotiable, but is said to be more than minimum wage for sure. This is a tremendous opportunity to learn from people who are passionate about what they do. Hit me up at paul@paulryburn.com or on Facebook if interested and I’ll get you in touch with the hiring manager, or just go by the Goose during the non-busy hours and ask if Parker is there.

From CityLab: Kids raised in walkable cities earn more as adults

The big game of the day, and maybe the biggest game of the season, is LSU vs. Alabama today at 2:30 on CBS. I like both teams, I respect both teams… but today I will be rooting for Bama. Why? LSU has played a tougher schedule, and therefore two SEC teams are more likely to remain in the top four if the Tigers take a loss. Sorry, guys, nothing personal.

Lansky at the Peabody is offering 20% off all Barbour apparel through Monday. This includes quilted jackets, shirts, gilets and waistcoats.

Streetdog Foundation’s Howl at the Moon fundraiser is tonight at The Warehouse at Front and G.E. Patterson.

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

 

I know this because I’m there right now.

For the fifth time since September 21, a Downtown institution, a business that raises tens of thousands of dollars for the kids of St. Jude every year, Bardog Tavern, has been forced to close unexpectedly. For years – at least the past four that I can recall – the city has been digging holes in the streets and alleyways around Bardog, repairing their outdated sewer line. Five times their sewer line has collapsed, breaking into Bardog’s sewer line, and/or flooding The Underdog, Bardog’s downstairs bar. One of those times they had to close for almost a full week. As of this morning I am not sure whether Bardog will be open for my usual Saturday morning visit tomorrow.

11 years ago, Aldo had a vision for a bar where people who live nearby would come together for drinks, unusually good bar food, and conversation. He brought that vision to life, and it’s a big part of the reason Downtown is the most neighborly part of the city.

With Bardog, the two Aldo’s Pizza Pies, the two Slider Inns, Momma’s Roadhouse, and the Slider Rider food truck, Aldo has created many, many jobs; he has created multiple sources of tax revenue for the city; and he has made Downtown and Midtown more desirable neighborhoods for people to visit, work, and live. The city should be bending over backward to make sure a guy like this does not have any issues operating his businesses.

I have to wonder, if the first and basement floors of 73 Monroe were occupied by a bank or a prominent law firm rather than a bar, would the city devote more resources to the matter?

A new hotel has “arrived” on South Main. The CA has a taste (including photo gallery) of what you will find at the new Arrive Hotel, including Hustle & Dough Bakery + Cafe, Vice & Virtue coffee shop, Bar Hustle on the north side of the hotel lobby, and Longshot shuffleboard bar downstairs. See my post last Saturday for a look at Longshot. There’s a grand opening ceremony today with a ribbon-cutting and speeches at 4:30 and tours and samples of hotel food commencing at 5. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will… oops, forgot she’s in Europe.

I’ve heard that Longshot now has beer in bottles and cans, with taps to go in today. I plan on making a stop down there today to try one of their house-made sausages (made by sausage master John Haley) on a Hustle & Dough bun. I’m going to be sure and ask, “This isn’t vegetarian, is it?” this time when I order.

Tom Intrator, the developer who is remodeling the building at 18 S. Main (and let me tell you, as a resident of 10 S. Main I know that a lot of that remodeling happens at 5:30 AM), has a few more projects up his sleeve. Blighted, abandoned 107 S. Main, which sticks out like a sore thumb on a block that is mostly thriving, may finally be turned into something. He’s also got some ideas for South Main and the area near Gus’s Fried Chicken.

As we get closer to turkey day, we’re starting to see more restaurants advertise “let us do the cooking for you to pick up and take home. Regina’s Cajun Kitchen at 60 N. Main is running such a special. Choose from

• Mini feast (feeds 2-4) $40
• Feast (feeds 4-6) $69.99
• Super Feast (feeds 10-14) $140
• Sides only (pan sized) $34.99

Orders must be placed by November 19 and must be paid in full at the time of the order. Visit Regina’s Cajun Kitchen Facebook page for more information.

For a computer nerd like me this is a very cool development: The Daily Memphian reports that the city is now offering a data hub where you can access data on things like code violations and police calls. Since I have to be at work shortly, I don’t have time to investigate this hub as much as I like, but I see links to “API Docs” for various types of data. Holy crap, can you pull back JSON-formatted data from this thing? I will dive deeper when I have the time. Exciting!

I was in the Silly Goose yesterday afternoon when their order of printed menus for Downtown Dining Week came in. Here’s a look: (click to view in a larger size)

These pizzas run up to $14 each at regular menu price, so you’re getting up to a $28 value for $20.19. I’ve had at least a slice of every pizza on this list except the Margherita, and let me tell you, they’re all good. They have $2 domestics (including 16 oz. cans of PBR) during happy hour which lasts until 8 on weekdays, which will save you even more money.

The CA has a look at how Memphis Tigers football controls its own post-season destiny. If the Tigers win out – including a victory over Cincinnati on November 29 and a victory over Cincinnati or UCF the following weekend for the AAC championship – they are almost certainly going to play in the Cotton Bowl on December 28.

I LOVE the new feature for iPhones on AT&T, where you have the option to send calls from numbers not in your contacts directly to voicemail, without even a ring. Now I don’t have to keep my phone in Silent Mode all the time to avoid getting distracted by spam calls.

Off to work… I’ll be down at the Arrive Hotel and particularly Longshot this afternoon. Back tomorrow with more news.

I’ve mentioned Skrewball, the new whiskey that tastes exactly like peanut butter, on this blog a few times now. If you haven’t tried it yet, go to Quench, the liquor and wine store across Second Street from the Peabody, this Friday between 5 and 7. They’ll pour samples of Skrewball and also of Jack Daniel’s Apple Whiskey.

Big Cypress Lodge at Bass Pro at the Pyramid will postpone the opening of its outdoor bar until spring. Probably a good call. The low is supposed to drop to 22 one day next week. Not many people want to be outside when it’s 22.

New Wing Order has announced their November special wing flavor, and it sounds really cool: a North African-inspired recipe called Omar’s Mo-Rockin’ Wings. The recipe uses cumin, coriander, allspice, and harissa seasoning. Catch the food truck at Memphis Made Brewing Co. tomorrow 4-8 or at Memphis Grilled Cheese Fest in Crosstown on Sunday.

Arrive Hotel will celebrate its grand opening tomorrow from 5 to 8, with Butler closed between Front and Main. If you go, be sure to check out Longshot, the new bar in the basement of the hotel with the entrance on Butler. Shuffleboard, house-made sausages, and craft cocktails.

Next Thursday, November 14, streets in Uptown will be closed for MATA’s annual trolley full scale safety exercise. Traffic will be diverted at N. Main/Sycamore, A.W. Willis/N. Center Lane, A.W. Willis/Second, Shadyac/N. Center Lane, N. Main/Overton, and Shadyac/Second.

The American Legion will hold its annual Veterans Day Parade Monday. It will begin at Second and Exchange, and go down Second until its end point at Monroe. Come out and thank the veterans for their service!

All Elite Wrestling, the new promotion broadcasting on TNT, will come to the Landers Center in Southaven for the Wednesday, January 8 broadcast of its weekly TV show AEW Dynamite. Stars like Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, Jake Hager (formerly Jack Swagger), Pac (formerly Neville), and Jon Moxley (formerly Dean Ambrose) will probably be there. AEW will be in Memphis only five days after WWE’s live Smackdown broadcast from FedExForum.

Save the date: Mix-Odyssey, the premier annual Memphis competition for mixologists, will return for its 7th year Friday, March 6 at the Botanic Garden. More details to come soon.

Central Station Hotel’s in-house restaurant Bishop is now hiring. The French brasserie needs servers and bartenders. I bet you would make some good tip money at this place. Email your resume to estamper@centralstationmemphis.com to apply.

Very cool story: A dog has learned to talk by using a custom soundboard. She already knows 29 words and can form phrases. When she was whimpering by the door, her owner assumed she needed to go out. But she got on the soundboard and indicated that she missed her daddy and wished he’d come home. When he arrived, she touched “happy” on the soundboard.

Drunk musical chairs happens tonight at Loflin Yard.

Primas Bakery + Boutique on South Main is taking advance orders for Thanksgiving dessert. This is what they have on their menu:

Assorted Thanksgiving macarons
1 dozen: $24
Flavors: pumpkin spice, pecan pie, apple butter

Autumn wreath cake
Flavor: pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing
6″: $18
8″: $24
10″: $30

Thanksgiving cookie cake
8″ square cake: $32
10″ square cake: $40
Quarter sheet cake: $48
Half sheet cake: $56

Fall donuts
Flavors: Glazed pumpkin or apple cider
$30/doz

Pecan pie tart
1 full tart: $24
12 individual tartlets: $36

Buttercream butterballs
Flavor: Vanilla shortbread cookies with vanilla buttercream
$36/doz

Primas is at 523 S. Main and their phone number is 901-352-4193.

Time for another Silly Goose pizza photo!

As of yesterday there were only two pizzas left on the Silly Goose pizza menu that I haven’t tried, and a friend offered me a slice of one of those two yesterday. I present to you the Mr. Peabody.

When you hear the word “Peabody,” you probably think of ducks. The Mr. Peabody is so named because the meat on this pizza is duck pastrami. Other ingredients include brie, honey crisp, arugula, balsamic, walnuts, and chili honey. The reason I did not try this one for so long was that I wasn’t sure about sweet-tasting items on pizza, nor walnuts. The kitchen staff nailed it, though, as they have every other pizza, the flavors all coming together and the texture of the walnuts adding to the experience rather than detracting from it. The Goose has pizza happy hour (any pizza on the regular menu $10) 2-5 Monday-Tuesday and 4-6 Wednesday-Friday.

Off to work. My job continues to get even more interesting. Back tomorrow with more news.

Last night a friend gave me a suggestion that is worth passing on to my readers. Go to the Flying Saucer and order the Royale burger – chopped onions, jalapeno bacon, mustard, spiked ketchup – but in place of the American cheese, get the pepper jack cheese instead. “It’ll change your world,” he told me. I will have to try that soon.

Sounds like James Wiseman lived up to expectations in the Memphis Tigers’ preseason romp over South Carolina State last night, 97-64. Next up for the Tigers: A home game vs. UIC Friday at 6 that will be televised on ESPNU. However, the first real test for the Memphis team will come next Tuesday, when the Tigers travel to Portland to play #15 Oregon in the Phil Knight Invitational, nationally televised on ESPN.

The first College Football Playoff Rankings were released last night, and Memphis came in at #21. The only higher-ranked Group of Five school is Cincinnati at #20. If the Tigers beat their next two opponents and then hand Cincy a loss on the 29th, the Liberty Bowl will host its first-ever AAC championship game on December 7, probably against Cincinnati again.

Clemson, #1 in the AP poll for the first several weeks of the season, dropped all the way to #5 in the initial CFP poll, behind Ohio State, LSU, Alabama, and Penn State. BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Love it!! Imagine the following scenario: The loser of the LSU-Bama game will probably remain in the top four, provided the game isn’t a blowout one way or the other. If Penn State beats Ohio State on the 23rd, the Buckeyes would probably remain in the top four. Clemson could not lose a game all season and still be on the outside looking in. More on Clemson’s situation on ESPN

South Main Sounds at 550 S. Main is back this Friday at 7 with performances from Devan Yanik and Cyrena Wages, both first-timers at Songwriter Night, as well as Christina LaRocca and Gene Micofsky from L.A. on their “Never Going Back” tour.

The Blind Bear will have a Roaring 20s Back Again party on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the ushering in of the 2020s at midnight on January 1. This year there is an option to get in for NO COVER… you just have to know the password, and while I don’t normally share Blind Bear passwords on my blog, this one I will: “The Roaring 20s sent me.” Come celebrate the new Roaring 20s in a speakeasy listening to the sounds of Brimstone Jones. Party favors will be provided, and there will be specials (appetizer, entree, dessert, vegetarian and vegan) in addition to the regular menu. Get your photo taken by Joey Warner. Normally I refer to New Year’s Eve as Amateur Night and stay home, but you know what? I WILL BE AT THE BEAR, to celebrate the year I never thought I’d see, in my favorite home away from home.

The Hard Rock Cafe will open for Thanksgiving and will serve a Thanksgiving Day Plate from 11 AM-11 PM. Turkey breast, home-cooked stuffing, roasted fresh vegetables, sweet potato mash, cranberry sauce, and gravy for $26.95. Finish your meal off with pumpkin pie for $8.95. Can’t make it Thanksgiving Day? The menu will be available all weekend.

While we’re on the subject of Thanksgiving, GREAT NEWS. The City of Memphis Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless and hungry, announced earlier this week to have been canceled, is back on thanks to the generosity of some benefactors.

Loflin Yard will hold a watch party for the LSU-Alabama game this Saturday at 2:30. Considering they’re calling it the LSU Watch Party, they clearly favor one side more than the other. There will be food and drink specials.

There’s progress in the southeast quadrant of Downtown. The Daily Memphian reports that permit applications have been filed for the third and fourth phases of Foote Park at South City. The permits mainly cover the area from Butler east of Fourth to the intersection of Danny Thomas and Mississippi.

Nationally headlining video DJ, DJ RONS, comes to Atomic Rose Bar & Grill Saturday night, November 16. He has been voted Best Club DJ in Nashville 5 years in a row and maintains an extensive travel schedule. He also is a member of the panel that votes weekly on the Billboard National Club Chart.

From NPR: Microsoft Japan experimented with a four-day workweek for a month. This doesn’t mean employees worked longer days the days they were at the office; they simply worked four regular days and got a five-day paycheck. Guess what? Employees were 40% more productive, used 23% less electricity, and printed considerably less. I have long thought the 40-hour work week is a relic of times gone by. Technology ought to give workers more free time, rather than take it away.

Oh, another thing they did: They put meetings on a diet, slashing standard meeting durations from 60 minutes to 30, and enforcing a maximum meeting attendance of 5. Wow, company managers are really starting to wake up and adopt practices that work here in the late 2010s!

There will be a walking tour of November 6th Street, hosted by the DMC, today from 11 AM to noon. The tour is free, about 45 minutes and a half mile, and comfortable shoes are advised. On the tour you’ll get to see two of the hidden secrets of Downtown Memphis: the spot behind my apartment building where the bums take a piss, and the other spot behind my apartment building where the bums take a piss.

The Grizzlies host the Minnesota Timberwolves at FedExForum tonight at 7.

The monthly Peabody Master Tasters Club meets tonight in Chez Philippe 5:30-7:00. The theme this month is Give Thanks for Wine.

Do you have an unlimited data plan with AT&T for your phone? You may get a refund soon. The company has agreed to refund $60 million to customers who had the supposedly-unlimited plan but had their data throttled after exceeding a threshold. If you’re a current customer, the refund will get credited to your account. Former customers will get a check in the mail.

For those who missed the national news yesterday, there was a key development. U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland changed his testimony yesterday and admitted that there was a quid pro quo between the Trump regime and Ukraine. As one of my favorite Twitter follows, Tea Pain, put it, Sondland realized protecting the president isn’t worth it if it means pissing in a stainless steel toilet for years.

The brings the Democrat-controlled House closer to bringing formal articles of impeachment against Trump. But the Repblican-controlled Senate is the jury in the trial; surely they wouldn’t vote to remove him, would they? Maybe they would. If they remove Trump, they get Mike Pence as president. That offers several advantages:

1. Pence isn’t batshit crazy
2. Pence doesn’t embarrass the U.S. on the world stage as Trump does on a near-daily basis
3. Pence actually embraces the right-wing ideals Republicans hold dear; he doesn’t just pretend to embrace them to fool people into voting for him
4. He’d be a lot more likely to hold key battleground states like Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania as the incumbent in the 2020 election

I’ll finish the post with a quote I read on Facebook yesterday: Christians warned about the Antichrist for 2000 years. Then he appeared, and they elected him.

Back tomorrow with more news.

Michael Donahue of the Memphis Flyer reports that Slider Inn Downtown will open mid-month. Donahue has a thorough description of what you will find when you step into Slider Inn. I’m glad to see it will have a long bar, and the mezzanine sounds really cool. They’ll serve the Midtown location’s menu as well as some new features including lobster popcorn, Reuben egg rolls, and Cuban egg rolls.

South Main just keeps getting better and better, with Eight & Sand in Central Station, Longshot, and Slider Inn opening in the space of a month, with French brasserie Bishop on deck to open soon as well.

Speaking of Eight & Sand, Donahue has a dining Best Bet for you: The Birdie chicken sandwich.

Cher has announced a date at FedExForum. Her Here We Go Again Tour will make a stop in Memphis March 16. Nile Rodgers & Chic (yes, THAT Chic as in “Le Freak” and “Good Times”) will be her special guests. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon.

The Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team has their regular-season opener tonight at 7 at FedExForum, vs. South Carolina State. Penny Hardaway has announced that James Wiseman will play after missing the pre-season exhibition games.

The Book of Mormon begins a 7-show run at the Orpheum tonight. There will be an in-person lottery two hours before each show, where names will be drawn at random, winning the right to purchase one or two tickets to the show for only $25 each.

In other Orpheum news, comedian Bill Burr has added a second show (9:30 PM) to his Monday, January 6 appearance.

Zack Horvath will perform at Automatic Slim’s next Monday at 7 PM.

Edible Memphis recently had a talk with Westy’s owner Jake Schorr. Westy’s (and its predecessor, The North End) have been open for 35 years at the corner of North Main and Jackson.

Tin Roof will have a ’90s themed brunch this coming Sunday. Enjoy bottomless mimosas while DJ String Bean plays the beats.

Church Health Center is hiring a communications coordinator.

First Horizon (formerly First Tennessee) is merging with Lafayette, Louisiana-based IberiaBank. I was in First Horizon yesterday depositing a check and getting a cracked debit card replaced (seems like I have to do that once every eight months or so). Excellent customer service as always.

Memphis Firefest happens at Carolina Watershed this Saturday, November 9, with fire-spinning DJ Zeus Bigalow, Memphis’ own DJ Scotty B, and QOG Productions.

Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless at the Cook Convention Center will go on hiatus this year due to construction at the center. There will be Thanksgiving dinners for the homeless Wednesday of that week at the Union Mission (383 Poplar) and St. Vincent DePaul (1306 Monroe) on Thanksgiving Day.

Liberty Bowl projections: Kansas State, Mississippi State, Tennessee among teams listed https://t.co/Syhi8tEdGy

— Commercial Appeal (@memphisnews) November 4, 2019

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Not Tennessee! They have the worst fans in college football and we don’t want them in Memphis! In fact, we wish the Vols fans who are here, would leave! Let’s pray that the Vols lose two of their three remaining games (Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt) and fail to become bowl-eligible. The Vol Hater Facebook account posted a photo of a steaming pile of poo with the caption, “YOU CAN’T HAVE SHIT WITHOUT THE T.” Very true.

ESPN has Tennessee as a slight underdog against Kentucky and Missouri. I hope they are right.

Factory workers in China are working long shifts to beat the clock on threatened tariffs. Guess what they’re making? “Trump 2020” banners.

If you haven’t been here since yesterday morning, keep scrolling down, because yesterday about 2 I posted my “Paul’s Picks” for Downtown Dining Week. I go through all the menus so you don’t have to (and given what a horrible website they have this year, you will thank me for that), spotlighting the restaurants that embrace DDW and offer creativity and value in their menus.

That’ll do it for this post. Back tomorrow with more news.

Downtown Dining Week is next week, from Monday, November 11 to Sunday, November 17. This is a week when many of Downtown’s restaurants offer incredible value, with lunches for $10.19 and multiple-course dinners for $20.19. This is a fantastic chance to try some restaurants you haven’t in the past, and see what they have to offer. For the restaurants, it’s a chance to win people over and expand their base of customers who keep coming back the other 51 weeks of the year.

Every year I like to go through all the menus (at least, for the restaurants that have bothered to upload menus) and offer you my picks as to which are offering something interesting, something special, something yummy – which are going the extra mile to impress new customers. I also try to make a note of which restaurants have vegetarian-friendly options for DDW.

Before I start, I want to make a comment that the DDW website is SUPER ANNOYING. To get to the restaurants last in alphabetical order (Tug’s and Westy’s), I have to click a LOAD MORE LOCATIONS button six times. That’s just bad web design, and it’s unfair to the restaurants far down the list. Just load all the locations at once – heck, practically everyone has a high-speed connections and plenty of data usage these days.

I would bet you anything that the person who thought that LOAD MORE LOCATIONS button was a good idea is not a web designer, but a marketing person.

Okay, enough complaining. Let’s get on with the deliciousness!

117 Prime – Braised brisket! Anytime you can eat there for 20 bucks and some change, it’s an incredible deal. This place will fill up, so make reservations as early as possible.

Automatic Slim’s – Multiple choices for the first two courses. They clearly put a good bit of thought and creativity into this menu.

Bardog Tavern – Because the third dinner course is from local bakery Two Girls and a Whip.

Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous – They have a vegetarian sampler platter as an option for both lunch and dinner.

Evelyn & Olive – Plenty of choices for each course including vegetarian/vegan options.

Felicia Suzanne Restaurant – Felicia really gets into Downtown Dining Week and has a lot of creativity on her menu. May I recommend the Sunday Sugo? There’s a vegetarian option too. If you plan on going, make your reservation IMMEDIATELY. Will fill up for sure.

Grecian Gourmet – Options for each course, including vegetarian. That Greek lasagna on the main course list sounds particularly yummy.

Rizzo’s by Michael Patrick – Absolutely my number one, must-visit recommendation. Three courses for lunch for $10.19 or four courses for dinner for $20.19. Lots of options for each course including vegetarian-friendly. Make reservations IMMEDIATELY if you plan to go.

Sabor Caribe – Get the Venezuelan Travel Plate. Reservations required.

Spindini – Pollo Parmigiana sounds good. They also have Pasta Primavera as a vegetarian option.

Terrace at the River Inn – Crabmeat stuffed flounder!

The Majestic Grille – Menu hasn’t been posted as of this time, but this is a place I can wholeheartedly recommend menu unseen. Patrick and Deni are supporters of Downtown Dining Week and I know they will put their best foot forward. I wouldn’t dawdle getting reservations if you plan to go.

Tug’s – 6 ounce prime sirloin, a piece of key lime pie, and whichever appetizer fits your fancy sounds like a winner to me.

That’s my 2019 list. And now… longtime readers know what’s coming. During Downtown Dining Week, don’t be that guy/gal who

• Can’t decide which of three restaurants they want to visit on a particular night, so they make reservations for the same time at all three and then no-show two of them. This isn’t fair to the restaurants or your fellow diners.
• Runs the server around, asking for substitutions, extra this, leave off that, etc. Be cognizant of the fact that your server experiences unusually high volume during DDW, and try to get every request for your table in at once.
• Tips less than 20%. We all have calculators on our phones; there’s no excuse for not being able to compute a proper tip anymore. Although dinner is $20.19, some of these restaurants are clearly offering $27, $28 of value or more. I like to tip on the full-value amount. You don’t have to agree, but if you don’t tip at least $2 on a $10.19 lunch or $4 on a $20.19 dinner, you’re being  a cheapskate.

I hope you take advantage of Downtown Dining Week and discover some new favorite restaurants. Back tomorrow with more news.

 

I know I have many readers who read this blog Monday through Friday at work. If you’re one of those people, and you didn’t come here over the weekend, I encourage you to scroll down and read Saturday’s post. I know, I know, I said there wouldn’t be a post on Saturday, but Friday afternoon a great new locals’ bar, Longshot, with an emphasis on shuffleboard and house-made sausages opened for the first time. I have plenty of information and photos in Saturday’s post.

Today is one of my least favorite days of the year. It’s the first day since last winter when rush-hour commuters will drive home in the dark. For some reason it seems to make Memphis drivers even more crazy than they usually are. Remember, people:

• The 240 loop is not a NASCAR track
• Driving a foot from the back bumper of the car in front of you won’t get you there any faster
• Put your f***ing phone down, it’s illegal to play with it while driving now
• That thing on the left side of your steering wheel is called a turn signal and you can use it to let other drivers know you’re about to change lanes

The Salty Dogs running group is taking a run across Big River Crossing tonight at 7. It’s free to join them. They begin and end their runs at Bardog Tavern, and after the run there are specials for runners in the Underdog Room. The total distance of the run is about 6 miles.

Mystery Train, the 1988 movie that put Memphis and South Main on the map in the world of filmmaking, will have a special screening at Malco Powerhouse Thursday at 6. The screening will be just a short walk away from where much of the movie was shot.

The Grizzlies host the Houston Rockets tonight at 7 at FedExForum.

Eric Barnes, CEO of The Daily Memphian, answers subscribers’ question “Why can’t I stay logged in?” Folks, as someone who spent many years as a developer, I can tell you that the struggle is real and the folks at the DM are doing everything they can to ease your frustration. If everyone were viewing a website the same way, it wouldn’t be hard to keep people logged in. But when you have to deal with Chrome and Safari and Firefox and Microsoft Edge and people still using Internet Explorer 9 and iPhones and Androids and Apple computers and Windows computers (including a few still running Windows 95 – no kidding, I have seen this) and people opening subscriber-only links from their email app or their Facebook app or their Twitter app, there are a lot of subtleties that have to be addressed.

Yesterday I was at the Silly Goose and pizza masters Parker and Dylan were experimenting with the wood-fired oven. “Paul, come try a slice of our latest creation,” they said. “We’re calling it the Rajun Cajun or the Coon Ass. It’s a Cajun-inspired pizza with Creole seasonings.”

This was incredibly good! If you look closely, you’ll see jalapenos on there, which made me happy because it gave the pizza a bit of heat (it also made my troll happy because the jalapenos are the same color as her hair). Meat-wise, the flavor of the ham on this pizza comes through great. I hope this pizza earns a spot on the menu or at least the special board. You’ll definitely want a glass of ice water on the side for this one.

MakeUseOf has ways to find all accounts linked to an email address. This can be useful for not only privacy purposes, but if you need to update a credit card number for auto-payments.

I’m going to try to go through the Downtown Dining Week menus soon and do a Paul’s Picks list of places that really go out of their way to deliver a great DDW experience. DDW starts Monday, November 11 and runs through Sunday, November 17.

Off to work. Back tomorrow with more news.

“GameDay is going to be on Beale? But, no one’s going to be out on Beale Street at 8 in the morning.”

WRONG!

The street was packed as early as 5:30. Memphis was well-represented on national TV, both in the morning on GameDay and in the evening with a victory over SMU, previously undefeated and the highest-ranked Group of Five team in the AP poll.

The Tigers will climb in this week’s poll, and we will see how they are ranked in the first CFP poll to be released Tuesday. Higher-ranked Appalachian State lost yesterday too, helping clear the path for Memphis to a New Year’s Six bowl. The Tigers will need to win their November 29 home game against higher-ranked Cincinnati for that to happen, and they may also need Boise State to take a loss sometime this month. Boise State’s remaining games are against Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah State, and Colorado State.

I looked up the Tigers’ bowl history and they have never been to a New Year’s Six bowl (Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, Peach). Their most prestigious bowl appearance was probably in Memphis’ own Liberty Bowl in 2017. If the Tigers win out and win the AAC championship game, they could be romping in Cotton in a couple of months.

Just looked at the AAC standings… Memphis could have to go through Cincinnati twice in two weeks to make it to a New Year’s Six bowl. That will be rough. Cincy has only one loss, and it was to a team that is now in contention for a playoff bid, Ohio State.

Farm Fest is today 5-8 at Puck Food Hall. This is the Memphis Farmers Market’s end-of-season celebration and the Market’s biggest fundraiser. Come on out and enjoy food from some of the best restaurants in town, coordinated by Felicia Suzanne Restaurant. The beverages will be flowing and there will be live entertainment by Shufflegrit. Tickets are $50.

Memphis Farmers’ Market normally runs one Winter Market every year, and this year they are doing a really smart thing: They are having a Turkey Market Saturday, November 23 under the pavilion at Front and G.E. Patterson where you can buy everything you need for Thanksgiving dinner.

The bird has landed!

Yep, Chester’s fried chicken, sold in the better truck stops all over Arkansas, is now available at Bluefin, an Asian fusion restaurant. Why anyone would want truck stop chicken when Gus’s is three blocks away is a mystery to me, but hey, cheers to Bluefin’s owner for thinking outside the box… or should I say thinking outside the bucket.

Michael Donahue has a Flyer piece on Bailey Parks Patterson, the Gray Canary sous chef who heats things up on stage as well as in the kitchen.

Today is First Sunday artists’ market day at Westy’s. Things will get going around 2.

Memphis Made Brewing Co. hosts its sixth annual MALTED festival this coming Saturday, November 9. The fun starts at 1 PM with the first 100 people getting a commemorative MALTED pint glass. They’ll unveil a couple of new beers, including Stout Junt, a collaboration with Phillip Ashley Chocolate, as well as Memphis as Truck, a coffee stout brewed with French Truck Coffee. They’ll also have Nut Remix, Drew’s Day Off, and more malty beers. New Ballet Ensemble will perform parts of Nut Remix, followed by live music by Cassette Set and Relentless Breeze. At 7:30 Comma Comedians will take the stage for some stand-up comedy. The Grub food truck will be onsite for those who get hungry.

A work colleague told me Friday, “They say you’re a conglomeration of the five people you spend the most time with.” I guess that makes me a bartender then.

Memphis Brewfest 2020 has been announced for March 28 on the field of the Liberty Bowl. Man… they are gambling on the weather, putting a festival that early in the spring. Most of the time the weather is nice (normal would be about 68/47 I think) but it can be chilly… see today for example, when the normal high and low would be about 68/47 as well.

Are you a fan of chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman (Gray Canary, Catherine & Mary’s, soon-to-open Bishop French brasserie)? Next year you can take a food tour of Italy with them.

That’s it for this post. Off to Silly Goose for D-RANKS with B-RAD. This week I made it a point to eat before going out so I won’t be tempted to order a pizza. Back tomorrow with more news.