Paul Ryburn's Journal

If you prefer to watch in a smoke-free environment: Flying Saucer. 5 TVs plus two big screens. Opens at noon.

Otherwise: Max’s Sports Bar. 10 TVs. Opens at 12:30.

Good news for soccer fans Downtown: Max’s Sports Bar has announced that they will open at (Edit: I had 12 noon here, but now Max has posted an opening time of 12:30) on Sunday. The Women’s World Cup soccer final is at 12:45, and Max’s will be open with the sound on and the PBR flowing. If you’re a serious sports fan, there is no better watch spot in Downtown Memphis.

The Green Beetle has its own blog now at greenbeetleblog.blogspot.com. It’s maintained by the great-granddaughter of Frank who founded the Beetle in 1939. Very cool! Many bars have a Facebook and Twitter presence, but I think a blog is a great way to get news out, and also to get people more familiar with the owners, management and staff.

By the way… one thing I’ve been forgetting to mention about the Beetle is that they have a kids’ menu. That means they’re SMOKE FREE! Good for them. A new poll out reveals that for the first time, a majority of Americans support a ban on public smoking. Hopefully in a few years, public smoking will be as completely extinct as the woolly mammoth. I guess smokers will complain about their “rights” (such as the right to kill fellow bar patrons with secondhand smoke, and the right to stink up everyone’s hair and clothes), but public opinion is turning against them.

The upcoming V3 Fight night at the FedExForum, on July 23, will honor fallen MPD officer Timothy Warren. A portion of each ticket sale will go toward the fund for his family. Before the main event, featuring MPD officer and two-time defending champion Brian “The Law” Hall, a group of officers invited by V3 Fights will be honored in the octagon.

The work week is over, and Harp is the Fire Sale tonight at the Flying Saucer. Of all the Saucer’s beers, it’s closest in taste to PBR, so I’m quite happy to enjoy some $3 Harp pints. May swing by Bardog later, where their “Dog of the Day” is a Volcano Dog with cheddar, onions, and sriracha. Any hot dog with sriracha is sure to be a winner!

A couple of my fellow bloggers have posted some good reviews of Downtown restaurants. Kerry from the I Love Memphis Blog checked out the Green Beetle, and you can read her review here. One of her friends ordered the sausage & pepper po-boy, which is next on my list to try. That potato salad looks yummy! When I think of sausage & peppers, I can’t help but think of the time The Situation cooked them for dinner on Jersey Shore.

The Beetle, by the way, will be on the news on ABC 24 tonight at 5 PM.

You don’t have to take my word for it that the Majestic Grille’s brunch is one of the best around. Just ask Wendy, one of Memphis’ best food bloggers. She had the smoked salmon hash, an excellent choice. Her friends ordered the flatbreads. Tip for Wendy, in case she’s reading this: Try the breakfast flatbread, next time you go. I’ll be at the Majestic for brunch this Sunday, followed by Sunday Fun Day at the Saucer. Yeah I could vary my Sunday routine like some people are doing, but why mess with perfection?

There’s a new Popeye’s at 4201 Hacks Cross today. It’s the 2000th restaurant in the chain, and to celebrate, the new location is giving away 2000 pieces of chicken. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. She works nearby.

Shelton Clothiers and Christine by Shelton Clothiers are having a “flash sale” this weekend only. At Shelton, suits, sport coats, and a select group of summer merchandise (in stock only) will be 50% off. Down the street at Christine’s, the entire store is 50% off.

Big weekend for the Redbirds. Tonight they’ll have a doubleheader and collect funds for the Officer Timothy Warren Fund. Tomorrow, two Navy T45 Goshawks will fly over prior to the game, and there will be a swearing-in ceremony for 25-30 Air Force recruits. There will be fireworks after the game tomorrow. First game starts at 5:05 tonight; tomorrow’s game is at 6:05.

The Hard Rock’s 40th anniversary tour bus will be parked outside the restaurant on Beale today, from 2 to 8 PM. Hard Rock has some of the most coveted pieces of rock’n’roll memorabilia, and this is your chance to see it in an interactive display.

A boarding house where a lot of Downtown’s career panhandlers/scam artists stay caught on fire yesterday. Well, I guess now when they tell you they’re homeless, they’ll be telling the truth. Not sure how extensive the damage is, but it took firefighters 54 minutes to get the blaze under control.

Plans for tonight: TBD. That tour bus actually sounds kind of cool. May wander down to Beale and check it out. Hmmm maybe I’ll visit my mug at the Tap Room while I’m in the area.

One of Downtown’s very own chefs will be a contestant on the new season of Hell’s Kitchen, which premieres at 7 PM on Monday, July 18. The Green Beetle’s Jonathon Plumley will be one of the 18 competitors. The Beetle will have a watch party. Come by a little before 7 to grab a good seat and enjoy some good food and good beer. Best of luck to Jonathon! His signature dish is listed on the Hell’s Kitchen site as Punch-Drunk Chicken.

If you’re a fan of Woot.com, there’s a Woot-off going on today. I plan to keep my eye on it, and hopefully snag the Bag of Crap I’ve long dreamed of.

Last week on Facebook, I posted a suggestion: Try Bardog’s potato salad instead of their fries. It’s some of the best potato salad I’ve had. Last night, a friend who normally doesn’t like potato salad tried it, and agreed with me. The fries are awesome too, but the potato salad is a welcome change of pace now and then.

It’s Thursday night party time. On the Peabody’s roof, Ryan Peel and Alexis Grace will perform. There will be a “Friends with Benefits” movie promotion with screening passes, prize giveaways, a game station and themed specialty cocktails. Buffet theme is “favorite American snacks” with mini pizzas, grilled cheese sandwiches, kosher dill pickles, potato chips with onion dip, and tortilla chips with salsa. In VIP they’ll have southern fried chicken fingers, jalapeno poppers, a wheel of cheddar with assorted crackers, and spinach dip with pita chips. $10 to get in includes first drink; ladies free until 7; $50 for VIP pass that gets you in for the rest of the season.

Marcella Pinilla will bring her Latin jazz fusion to the Madison rooftop tonight. Doors open at 5:30, live music 6-10, sunset at 8:15. $7 to get in, with cash bar and tapas menu available on the roof.

Josh Kelley and Heidi Newfield play Country on Beale tonight at Handy Park at 7:30. Hollywood Disco on Vance does a Country on Beale after-party every Thursday, with doors opening at 9, beer bust, hottest cowgirl contest.

I have the U.S. government to thank for killing my attendance at rooftop parties this year. Since they busted my favorite poker sites, the only place I have to play a 10-person, single-table freezeout tournament is at Max’s on Thursday nights. It’s only for a $15 bar tab, but it’s fun, it’s poker, and I get to play with friends. That’s the likely plan for tonight.

I just learned that Ferraro’s Pizzeria and Pub has $1 PBR from 4 to 6 PM Monday-Thursday. I get home from work to take full advantage, but wanted to pass the info on to my readers.

Voting has begun in the Memphis Flyer’s Best of Memphis poll for 2011. Click here to vote. Voting runs through July 29.

Sick of all the surveys rating Memphis one of the most miserable cities? One group is ready to tell Mr. Forbes exactly what they think about Memphis. Door of Hope will host the event at Caritas Village, 2509 Harvard, on Saturday, July 16 from 3:30 to 5 PM. Door of Hope’s writers’ group, made up of men and women who have experienced homelessness, will share personal experiences and Memphis stories as they tell you what they think. Door of Hope’s writing group meets every Wednesday. More info here.

Those lobbying for more bike lanes in Memphis should check out this Mashable article. Four cities have implemented bike-sharing plans, with Denver being the leader. If we get the bike lanes on Madison (which I hope we do) and other city streets, I’d love to see a program like this.

There’s a Dole mobile fruit stand at Court Square today. It will be there until 6, handing out samples and coupons.

There were a HUGE number of people out last night! The Saucer was packed, both early and late, and when I made my late-night stop at Bardog it was packed too. I knew there had to be a convention in town. A handy site to check when you’re wondering what convention is going on is this one. It told me that ServiceMaster is in town all week for their annual convention. Welcome, and if you need advice on what to do Downtown, hit me up with an e-mail to paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll try to respond quickly. Oh goody, the Jehovah’s Witnesses will be here later this month.

If you’re on Google+, here’s a cheatsheet that may help.

Plans for tonight: Hmmm don’t know. It’s Indian food Wednesday at City Market. Today’s special is vegetable korma, okra masala, tandoori chicken, zeera rice, and naan. I love Indian food, so I may have to eat there before I start my usual Wednesday night beer consumption. Probably will be out at the usual places later.

Last night I was hanging out at the Flying Saucer for Pint Nite. A friend of mine appeared next to me at the bar, and while I’d seen him around town from time to time, it occurred to me that it had been a long time since I’d seen him at the Saucer. “That’s right, I haven’t been here in a year and a half,” he told me. “I heard it went non-smoking and decided to start coming back.”

Previously he had done 67 beers for his UFO Club membership, in which you get a plate on the wall if you drink 200 different beers. “I had given up on it because the smoke bothered me,” he said, “but now I think I’m going to start working on my plate again.” He asked the bartender if he could get a replacement UFO card (he’d lost his old one) and got a Guinness for beer #68. This is the kind of thing I knew would happen. Former regulars who hated the smoke are starting to come back. Good to see.

I’ll be at the Saucer after work. This morning I checked our remaining uncashed gift certificates that we won at trivia there, and found that a 25 expires today! Yikes! We’ve fooled around planning a party, so I’m going to have to spend the certificate and pitch in $25 cash to the team. Gonna be hard to get there at 6 and spend $25 and still make it next door to the Silly Goose for trivia at 8. Guess I’ll be eating dinner at the Saucer. One of those sausage and cheese plates maybe.

Tonight is the fundraiser for Memphis Music & Heritage Festival at Maggie Moo’s from 5 to 9, so stop by and eat some ice cream. If you want to volunteer for the festival, go next door to the Center for Southern Folklore and they’ll sign you up.

It’s also trivia night at Ferraro’s (8 PM, $15 all you can eat and drink), trivia night at the Saucer (7 PM, and they’ve been talking about some new grand prize, a trip to Abita Brewery), and Pint Nite at Bardog (7 PM to 3 AM, all drafts $3).

If you’re looking for a place to watch the MLB All-Star Game tonight, my top recommendation would be Max’s Sports Bar on G.E. Patterson. 10 TVs and they’re sure to have the sound on. Not a bad seat in the house. Lauren is making a special Tuesday night appearance behind the bar.

Time for a quick Target run, then back to my desk to wrap up a PHP project. I hope this afternoon flies by.