Sometimes you don’t find out about great specials until it’s too late. Last night I was checking Facebook, and Rehab Disco posted that they were open for Monday Night Football with a 12×12 foot big screen, $13 all-you-can-eat wings, and 12 pitcher specials. I messaged JJ and asked if they had those specials every week. He said yes, so it’s a deal to keep in mind for next Monday!
The Hungry Memphis blogger had lunch at Rizzo’s Diner today. Check out the pics.
It’ll be a bit chilly, but the Third Thursday party on Main between Gayoso and Peabody Place is happening this Thursday, October 20. Live music by Grace Askew, WAMPA, and the Daddy Mack Blues Band. Retail specials and food and drink specials in area shops and restaurants. It kicks off around 5:30.
This isn’t a Downtown event, but you might want to put on your calendar that India Fest will happen out east on Saturday, November 5. It’s a celebration of Indian food and culture. I’ll post more details as the date draws nearer.
City Market is ready to take care of your holiday cooking this year. Call 901-729-6152 to order a traditional Thanksgiving meal that can be easily reheated per the chef’s easy instructions. Orders must be placed by Monday, November 21 for pickup before noon Thursday, November 24.
On Thursday, October 27, City Market will have an open house. Holiday menus and pre-order forms will be available at that time, and there will be a sampling of some of their pies and desserts. Open house starts at 5 PM. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.
Just drove home from work in the blowing rain, and damn, Memphis drivers are idiots. It amazes me how people don’t get the “when you turn your wipers on, turn on your headlights too” thing. Didn’t you get taught that in Driver Ed? I think it was state law when I took my driver’s test in Arkansas years ago; not sure about Tennessee, but if it’s not law it’s just common sense. In conditions of reduced visibility, why would you not take that step to announce your presence to other drivers on the road? It’s not like it will cost you anything or slow you down if you take half a sec to switch on the lights.
Not sure what I’m doing tonight. I’ve kind of been enjoying having Tuesday nights that weren’t automatically planned by trivia. Then again, if people text me I might go over there. Right now, I need a beer or two to get over that drive home!
When AutoZone Park announced a watch party for Game 2 of the World Series, they had no idea that it would be a real celebration. The Redbirds’ parent club the St. Louis Cardinals came out of nowhere to clinch a wild card spot, then win the division and league playoffs. The Cards play the Texas Rangers Thursday night, and the public is invited to AutoZone Park to watch for free. The game will be shown on a big screen at the Club Level. Gates open at 6 PM.
In addition to the game, there will be other free events at the park, including batting practice in the indoor cages, self-guided tours of the clubhouse and dugout, and inflatables in the plaza (weather permitting). There will also be a silent auction and door prizes throughout the game. The Redbirds team store, the Backstop Baseball Emporium, will open at 6 as well.
If you get hungry, you can purchase a buffet for $7 (in advance) and $10 (the day of). Buffet will include Rendezvous BBQ, King Cotton hot dogs, Turner Dairy ice cream, and Coca-Cola soft drinks. Kids under 12 eat free.
If you’re a season ticket holder and you renew your tickets that night, you’ll receive a free buffet wristband and a free drink ticket for each ticket renewed.
Call 901-721-6000 or visit memphisredbirds.com for ticket information. Go Cards!
Memphis’ biggest arts festival of the year, RiverArtsFest, happens this weekend, Saturday, October 22 (10 AM-6 PM) and Sunday, October 23 (10 AM-5 PM). This is definitely a festival to attend, whether you’re into art, good food, or great live music. Main will be closed off between Huling and Webster, and patrons will be free to stroll the street.
The main attraction will be a juried artists’ market, with 160 artists from around the country who have been invited to exhibit and sell their wares. Categories include ceramics, digital art, drawing, fiber & leather, glass, graphics and printmaking, jewelry, metalworks, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture, and wood.
There will also be live music, with over 50 performing artists. Three stages will be set up along the festival route, and there will be wandering artists as well. South Main tenant the Memphis Music Foundation assisted this year with the recruitment of live music acts.
There will be food vendors as well. From what I remember last year, the food was well above average, with everything from Cajun to BBQ to Chinese and much more represented. Insider tip: If the guy selling the cinnamon-roasted pecans is back this year, they are absolutely a must eat. Second insider tip: Make a reservation to eat at Michael Patrick’s new place Rizzo’s Diner after the festival. Lobster pronto pups are back! (Remember those from EP Delta Kitchen?)
Of course, the shops of South Main will be open as well. Trendy clothing, handmade accessories, jewelry, and even more art.
I plan on being at the festival by noon both days, and staying until close. I’m putting my “festival rule” back in effect for this one: When there’s a festival going on, my plan is to be at the festival, not somewhere near the festival watching football. I did too much of that last year. Arkansas is playing a team that isn’t worth a damn (Ole Miss) this week, so I don’t feel the need to closely monitor the game. Besides, with the festival closing at 6 Saturday, 5 Sunday, there will be plenty of time for me to wander north and get in some bar time at the Saucer later in the day.
This is too good an event to miss. Come one day, or both!
Usually I feature the food of Downtown Memphis in my Paul’s Food Find posts, but this is a worthy exception. After the Cooper-Young Beer Festival yesterday, I walked up Cooper to meet my friend John D for a beer at the Slider Inn. Slider Inn, in the old One More space at Peabody and Cooper, is the second bar opened by Aldo of Bardog Tavern. Many Downtowners consider it “Bardog East,” so in a way this is a Downtown food post.
I chatted with John for a while, then he tabbed out and I decided I was hungry. The guy to my left had just ordered the lobster roll, and it looked so good that I couldn’t resist. Several people have told me that Slider Inn is the only place where you can get an authentic lobster roll like you would find in New England. Realizing I might not be back in Midtown for months, I decided to take this opportunity to try the roll. It normally comes with fries but I asked for potato salad instead.
The consistency is similar to seafood salad, but it’s lobster salad. The bread was firm enough to hold the lobster in place, yet chewy enough to really complement the lobster. Absolutely delicious. It’s the most expensive item on the menu – $15.95 I think – but worth every last penny.
Service was excellent too, not a surprise since it’s one of Aldo’s bars. Megan (could be spelling that wrong; there are about a million different ways to spell that name) made sure I had everything I needed, and that my PBR glass was never empty.
If you like seafood, this is definitely a sandwich you need to try. Another excellent experience at Slider Inn.
Yesterday I hopped in a cab and headed to the parking lot of LifeLink Church on Cooper for the 2011 Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest. I’ve said over and over that this is Memphis’ best beer festival, and it lived up to its reputation. Read on to see photos from the festival and learn some cool facts about beer.
This is one of the main reasons I like CY Beerfest so much. They have an education tent with a list of speakers and topics. I’d estimate that half the time I spent at the festival yesterday was spent in the education tent. And I don’t even brew beer!
A shot of the crowd. The parking lot provided more than ample space for everyone to mingle and talk about beer.
Above: The rep from Yazoo discussed the difference between cask beer and keg beer (and he brought samples of both). Cask beer is unfiltered, so you get more yeast than keg beer. There’s a lot less CO2 in cask beer, so there are fewer bubbles, and it’s more creamy.
(Nice street art in the background, by the way. You won’t see that if you go to a festival in Germantown.)
This is a black peppered bacon stout from Bluff City Brewers, a local club made up of people who brew their own beer at home.
The Bluff City Brewers gave a presentation. They said if you drink beer at home, you can save quite a bit of money by brewing your own beer. Mid-South Malts was there selling starter kits for $85. They were also selling ingredient kits to make a beer similar to Budweiser for $40. It lets you brew about as much beer as you’d get if you paid for $50 worth of Bud. The savings increase if you brew premium beers; for every batch of beer you brew similar to Guinness, you save $50-60. So, you quickly recover the cost of the starter kit.
Contents of a Mid-South Malts ingredient kit
The Bluff City Brewers invited the public to attend their next club meeting. Even if you don’t brew beer, you’ll be welcomed. You can find their calendar on their website at bluffcitybrewers.com.
Not long after I got to the festival, I grabbed some food. The fest had two excellent vendors this year:
Central BBQ was selling BBQ sandwiches, homemade chips, and nachos. Sweet Grass grilled up some brats. I got a delicious BBQ pork sandwich from Central, topped with slaw and hot BBQ sauce.
I always look forward to the Southwest Distributors presentation in the education tent.
Before Prohibition, he said, every community had its own brewery, its own unique taste of beer. We’re just starting to get back from that. I learned from another presenter that, once Prohibition ended, it took the U.S. until 2010 to have the number of breweries it had in 1900.
Quote of the day came from the Southwest rep. “I’m not knocking Bud, Miller, Coors. There’s a place for every beer, even if it’s on the beer pong table.”
Check out memphisbeersandwines.com to find out about upcoming beer festivals, dinners and tastings.
One of the most interesting events they do is beer vs. wine dinners. Each course is paired with a beer and a wine, and you get a scoresheet where you can vote for the winner. They have done 3 of these dinners thus far, and in all 3 the winner has been beer. The next one is tentatively planned for January, venue yet to be determined.
The SW rep named Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and Raffe’s as “retail best bets” for finding craft beer. He said that if Kroger doesn’t carry the beer you want, ask for it. If enough people ask, they’ll get the hint and expand their craft beer selection.
Probably the longest lines of any booth were at Bayou Teche, a Louisiana-based brewery that I’d never heard of before yesterday. Their beers were delicious and I hope to see them in the Memphis area soon.
The Schlafly rep discussed “What is craft beer?” Here are the notes I took, but warning: I was starting to get pretty wasted by this point, so I’m not 100% sure everything I wrote is correct. Craft breweries are defined by the following:
Size. Craft breweries must brew no more than 6 million barrels per year. Sam Adams, currently the largest, brews 2 million. Budweiser, by comparison, brews 100 million.
Independent. Less than 25% owned by a larger alcohol corporation. Goose Island used to be considered a craft brewery. Bud was part owner, but less than 25%. They lost their craft brewery status when Bud purchased them outright.
Purity. (This is where my note taking got sloppy.) Ideally, beer should be brewed from four ingredients: Water, yeast, hops and barley. The brewery’s flagship beer should be an all-malt beer, with no adjuncts such as rice or corn used.
In 2010, beer sales across the U.S. were down 1%. Craft beer sales were up 11%.
Budweiser employs 1 person for every 50,000 barrels brewed. Craft breweries employ one person for every 1,000 barrels brewed. Therefore, you should stimulate the economy by drinking craft beer.
Audience question: Where can we get Schlafly’s high-alcohol beers? For those unfamiliar with TN state law, beers over 6% ABV are classified as liquor and have to be sold in liquor stores. The rep said that Party Mart in Jackson, TN, 1 mile north of I-40, is the best place to go.
The final speaker of the day was Chuck from Ghost River Brewery here in Memphis.
Chuck told us that Boscos’ 20th anniversary is next year, and to expect a lot of exciting events. He then gave a history of craft brewing in Tennessee, ending with a sampling of some of the first bottles of Ghost River Golden.
Complete photo album (about 25 pics) here. Outstanding beer fest all around, and thank goodness the weather was not sweltering hot like last year. I actually ended up leaving a bit early: About 4:15 I checked Foursquare and saw that my friend John D had checked in at Slider Inn. I decided to have a beer with John on his home turf, and bid the festival adieu. To everyone who was involved with the festival, absolutely a fantastic job! I’ll see you in 2012!
Replicas of Columbus’ ships the Nina and the Pinta are docked at the riverboat harbor for the next week. These are the most authentic replicas ever made and they’re open for public tours. Read more about the ships here.
The Flyer’s Memphis Beer Beat blog has an interview with Andy Ashby, one of the organizers of the Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest that happens today. Read it here. This is part 1 of a 2-part interview. I’ll say it one more time: If you go to only one Memphis beer festival a year, make it this one. This is the only festival to which I take a notepad because there’s so much to learn about beer.
Speaking of Andy, he has a new So you’re going to the beer festival? blog post up. There are still a few tickets available, but my advice is, you better get there right at 1 if you plan to get one.
Ghost River brewery is now selling their Golden Ale in bottles. Currently it’s only on sale at the brewery’s dock at Main and Crump.
Exciting morning around here. Laundry, upgrading my MacBook to Parallels Desktop 7. I’m going to head to the Saucer in a little while to pre-game for CY Beerfest. If anyone wants to split a cab down there, meet me at the Saucer around 12:30.
This Sunday, October 16, Delphinium Boutique on G.E. Patterson will host a Make-Over Party from 3 PM until close. Professional makeup artists will be giving free Bare Ecscentuals makeovers. All Bare Ecscentuals products will be 10% off. Everyone who RSVPs by Friday (call 901-522-8600 to RSVP) will receive a free gift. In addition, there will be food, catered by South Main resident Gloria Maloney. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.
Guys, if you’re less than thrilled about hanging out at a boutique while your lady gets her makeover, walk down the street to Max’s Sports Bar. They have the NFL package with all the games, a big deck out back, and $2.50 PBR.
The Fuel Cafe food truck has been set up Downtown for the past couple of days. Today it is parked at Front and Peabody Place. Follow it on Twitter at @fuelfoodtruck to keep up with its whereabouts on future days.
Short post today, because I have to grab lunch and run errands. I’ll be at the Silly Goose’s Pink Party tonight (starts at 8, date auction at 10, $5 cover and proceeds from auction and certain drinks going to breast cancer research). Will probably pre-game for the pink party at the Flying Saucer.
The Silly Goose crowned a new mayor on Foursquare tonight. Here are pics of mayor Rebekah erasing the old mayoral announcement and putting up her own. The Queen Mayor is dead, long live the Queen Mayor:
Dr. Jodi Rump’s Main Street Dental has a really unique fundraiser going on right now. For $30, they will put a pink jewel in your teeth. All the proceeds go to breast cancer research. More info, and photos of the jewels, can be found on Main Street Dental’s Facebook page.
This would be a great accessory for tomorrow night’s Pink Party at the Silly Goose.
The fundraiser reminds me of a debate I once had. I was sitting on the patio of Sleep Out Louie’s with my friends Kit, Kelly, Shane and Leigh. We were discussing whether the proper pluralization of “tooth” in Memphis was “tooths,” “tootheses,” or “teetheses.” A subsequent poll of Downtown Memphians in their native habitat (i.e. we polled the bums) indicated that “teetheses” is preferred, so that’s what I used here in the post title.
Does anyone else think the inside corner spaces – those on a corner, facing an interior rather than an exterior wall of the garage – should be marked “Compact Cars Only?”
Last night as I pulled into the garage in my Saturn SC2, there was a huge, full-sized SUV parked in the interior corner space of level 2. It totally created a blind corner for anyone in a regular-height car. As I rounded the corner, I honked several times to announce my presence, but still came within about a foot and a half of hitting a car coming in the opposite direction, who had cut the corner. She had no idea I was there, nor I her.
Seems like this has been happening more and more lately. If it’s happened to you too, shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com. Maybe we can get a group together to ask the garage to make the interior corner spaces compact cars only. If the garage won’t do it, maybe we can at least convince the Residence Inn to tell their valets to stop parking big SUVs and trucks in those spaces. It’s a big safety hazard and I’m surprised it hasn’t caused a wreck yet.
