Paul Ryburn's Journal

It’s a slow Monday and there’s not much to report, so I’ll keep this one brief.

Usually when I post about deals, I restrict them to Downtown restaurants, but today I’m going to make an exception. LivingSocial has a deal for $20 worth food and drink from Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken for $10. The deal expires at midnight. Having worked near the airport for a year, I am familiar with Uncle Lou’s, and it is worth the drive to Whitehaven – it’s on Millbranch just south of Winchester. Some people think the chicken is better than Gus’s. The burgers are also considered to be among the best in town. If you’ve never been to Uncle Lou’s, this is your chance to try it while saving some money.

Speaking of saving money on food, my friend Air Traffic Mike continued with his $100 challenge yesterday. On day 2 of his quest to see how long $100 will feed him, ATM cooked breakfast. For about $1.75 grocery cost, ATM made a breakfast bowl of biscuits, tomatoes, bacon and eggs that looked every bit as good as the brunch items the Sunday Fun Day crew ordered at the Majestic. He washed it down with a 24 oz. PBR that, bought in bulk from the Cash & Carry, cost about a dollar more. As I’ve noted before, ATM has a nice pension, and if he wanted to eat out and drink beer all day, he certainly could have done it. He has the income, and he also doesn’t have to worry about driving home. With the challenge, however, he’s demonstrating that one can have a lot of fun on Sunday Fun Day without spending upward of $50. He’s alluded to a “change in circumstances” that will let him loosen up on beer purchases within the challenge, and I can’t wait to hear what that’s all about.

Monday roundup: $2.75 Pint Nite at the Saucer. Half priced wine and pizza at Spindini. Trivia with Will at Local at 8. Texas Hold’em at the Silly Goose, two games at 9 and 11:30.

If you’re trying to think of something to do this afternoon, Gone with the Wind is playing at the Orpheum at 2 PM.  Most of us have seen the movie on TV, but I’ve been told it’s magnificent on the big screen in a theater that was around when Gone with the Wind was first released.  It’s part of the summer movie series.

Still annoyed with myself for allowing our trivia team party to be scheduled the night of Rocky Horror.  From now on I’m going to check event schedules to see what’s conflicting with potential party dates.

Up early enough to go out when the restaurants open at 11 AM.  Probably I’ll do brunch at the Majestic, although Kooky Canuck also looms in my mind as a possibility.

Last night got off to a slow start.  Was bored at the Saucer.  Was bored at Bardog.  About 11 I got hungry for breakfast food, and decided to go back to the Saucer, to bide my time waiting for Cockadoos to open at midnight.  As I walked down Second, I got a text: “Don’t you dare walk past my bar without coming in to say hello Pau Pau.” It was Lana from Kooky Canuck.  So I turned around and doubled back to Kooky, where I had a beer with Shawn and Lana and had a really good time.  They wanted me to go with them to the Memphis Sounds club on N. Third Street, but I was tiring out and needed to get some food and get home, so I took a rain check.

And I literally mean a rain check – by the time I left Kooky, it was pouring outside.  Thank goodness Cockadoos is only about 50 feet down the street.  I made the dash down there.

My original plan for Cockadoos was to try an experiment.  I have some Chinese mustard and soy sauce packets at home, left over from a visit to Wang’s.  I was going to order two of Cockadoos’ country ham biscuit sandwiches to go, and take them home and experiment with Chinese mustard and soy sauce as condiments.

However, I wasn’t interested in walking home in the rain, so I decided to dine in.  I ordered the hash browns ($2.99) with added toppings of cheese, bacon, and mushrooms for 50 cents each extra.  I wasn’t expecting much.  “It’ll probably come with a few sprinkles of cheese and a few bacon bits,” I thought, “but at this point, I just need food in my stomach.”

This is what came out:

The hashbrowns were absolutely smothered in cheese, large pieces of bacon, and plenty of mushrooms.  Every bite was delicious.  They really loaded me up and this was a real value for $4.49.  Talk about exceeding expectations!

Yesterday I posted that my friend Air Traffic Mike is doing a $100 challenge – he bought $100 worth of groceries, and starting yesterday, he’s seeing how long he can live on them, how cheaply he can eat.  ATM is a retired air traffic controller and can afford to eat out every day, but he was just curious how much money he could save, if he needed to in these tough economic times.

I did a little searching and found a way to do the $100 challenge even cheaper.  There’s a nonprofit program called Angel Food Ministries that sells food in bulk at very affordable prices.  You don’t have to be unemployed or on government assistance to qualify – anyone can order from the organization.  You pick up your food package at one of the many delivery points, which are mostly churches.  A search revealed 37 delivery points within 20 miles of the 38103 zip code.

Every month they sell a box of food for $29 that will make healthy, delicious, balanced meals for about a week.  Their August box includes four 6 oz. New York strip steaks; 1.5 lbs. breaded chicken nuggets; 2 lbs. ground beef; 1 lb. fish wedges; four 6 oz. pork chops; 1 lb. pasta and a 26 oz. jar of pasta sauce; broccoli, carrots, corn and cauliflower for veggies; and milk and eggs.  At only $29, you could do the $100 challenge and still have $71 left to spend on beer.  Or, if you’re out of work, you have $71 left over to put away for a rainy day, or to spend on a professional resume writer or interview coach.

They have other specials too.  If you don’t like to cook, they have a box of a dozen frozen dinners.  They have an after-school box for kids.  They also have veggie boxes, and for those who like to grill they have a grill special box full of quality meats.  All of these contain enough food for about a week, and none of them are more than $29.

For more about Angel Food Ministries, visit their website.

Fellow blogger Air Traffic Mike is a retired air traffic controller.  Even in retirement, air traffic controllers make very good money, and he could afford to eat out every day if he wanted.  However, times are tough, and he sympathizes with people he knows who are out of work.  So he decided to do the Air Traffic Mike $100 challenge.

He went to Schnucks and bought $100 worth of food.  Starting today, ATM will cook and eat at home, and see how far he can stretch his $100.  He’s not eating “beans and rice, rice and beans” all week either.  He bought the staples that were in his pantry growing up – ground beef, pork spare ribs, fish, chicken.  He’s an excellent cook, so he’ll probably be eating better than he would if he went out.

He figures he can make it until at least the first of September on what he bought.

It will be interesting to see the meals he posts, although we’ll miss him at the bars for the next 10 days or so.

Last night, our trivia team had its quarterly party at the Saucer.  We were all watching out the windows, as cops were walking out into traffic on Second every time the light at Peabody Place turned red.  If they saw someone who didn’t have their seat belt on, they pulled the violator over and wrote a ticket.

I’ve heard they’ve been doing it on Union as well.  If you’re driving Downtown, buckle up, and let the police find someone else to harass.

The big news everyone’s talking about this morning is that John Bragg has announced he’s moving Circa to East Memphis. I actually have known about this for a couple of weeks. John told me about it one day at the Saucer but asked me not to blog it yet. Sad to see it go but I can understand the need to be in a location more convenient to Circa’s target market. I also heard some of the ideas for the casual neighborhood place John intends to put in at the current location, and think it could be a good gathering spot for people who live in the Downtown core.

Circa will continue to serve dinner at the current location until the new location is ready, probably in October. Now I’ve really got to stop being so lazy and get down there for their Gorgonzola Filet while I still do it without driving a car.

Tickets for the October 9 Cooper-Young Brewfest go on sale today on their website. Downtowners: Who wants to split a cab with me to and from the beer fest? We can probably get enough people together to get one of those van cabs.

Once again I recommend that you follow @the_ironsheik on Twitter if you’re an ’80s wrestling fan. Apparently Sheik is a Jersey Shore fan, because last night he tweeted that he would like to “have the sex with the Snookie.” He then tweeted, “hello the @Sn00ki if you want to have good time, and be with the legend, I show you who the real champion is. Come to my house now.” Be prepared to deal with A LOT of profanity if you follow the Iron Sheik, but he is damn funny.

Speaking of Jersey Shore, or at least speaking of people who look like they should be on the show, good seeing Meghan last night on Silly Goose’s patio. This morning I saw that she’d checked into Bardog after I left, so apparently she tried to follow me there.  I may have to stop tweeting my Foursquare checkins.

Rocky Horror Picture Show is tonight at the Orpheum. You can bring your own props, or buy a bag of props from the theater. I went last year and it was SO MUCH FUN. I highly recommend you go.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it to Rocky Horror… will be busy drinking beer! There may be pics tomorrow.

From time to time I’ll go out to eat, and I’ll take and post pics of particularly good food I had to eat Downtown.  “Maybe I should do the same for beer,” I thought.

One of my favorite beers at the Saucer, when I want to treat myself, is Stone Ruination IPA.

For those not familiar with styles of beer, “pale ales” tend to be more hoppy and bitter than most varieties.  “India Pale Ales,” or IPAs, are so named because when they were first brewed, extra hops had to be added so they could be transported all the way to India without spoiling.  This tended to make them even more bitter and high in alcohol.  Ruination is a “Double IPA,” so you can imagine the bitterness (100+ IBUs, for those of you who speak beer).  They even tell you on the back of the bottle that this beer will ruin your palate.

At 7.7% alcohol, this is not a beer to mess around with when you want something light and summery.  Probably a good idea to have a designated driver lined up before you attempt this one.  Once you acquire a taste for Ruination, though, it is really good beer.

More info on Ruination IPA here.

South of Beale had their 1st birthday party a week ago Saturday, with complimentary appetizers from 4-6, $1 Ghost River Golden until the keg ran out, and $2 birthday shots all night.  I got there right after 4, and found the gang at the corner table.  “We saved you a seat,” they said.

Not long after, the complimentary appetizers began to come out.  They started serving in the back of the room, which made sense, since it’s nearest the kitchen.  Right around that time, the Nuh-Uh Girl came in.  She saw all her friends seated near the front door.  Then she saw the appetizers being served in the back of the room, and she made a beeline back there where she found some people to sit with.

A few minutes later, Brittany made it to the front of the room, where we were seated, with an appetizer tray.

All of the sudden, the Nuh-Uh Girl appeared at our table and reached for an appetizer.  It happened so fast, I didn’t have time to focus the camera.

I did get the camera focused for the next appetizer, though.

With everyone served, Brittany started to walk away from our table, to serve the others in the restaurant.  The Nuh-Uh Girl decided she had some very important things to talk to Brittany about, and followed after her, of course reaching for more appetizers as they talked.

Thanks to SOB for a great party.  The chips and dip, hummus, and shrimp on grit fries were all delicious.  Apologies for taking a week and a half to blog about it – sometimes things get stuck in Drafts and I forget they’re there.

GREAT NEWS for those of us who are tired of seeing cars parked all over the Main Street Mall. Center City Commission president Paul Morris, after receiving numerous complaints about the matter, checked into the CCC’s charter and discovered that the organization has the power to write parking tickets on the pedestrian mall. If a car is parked on the mall without a valid permit for loading and unloading, they’re breaking the law, and they’re going to start receiving tickets. It’s about time! Great job Paul!

Tonight is the “Third Thursday” block party on the Peabody Place block of the Main Street Mall. Many of the businesses will have food and drink specials and retail discounts. The Ghost Town Blues band and jazz/funk band Tempeh Four will be playing outside.

There’s also going to be a flash mob at the event… people are encouraged to bring water guns, and around 6:45, when Buster Poindexter’s “Hot Hot Hot” is played, a water gun fight will break out. Unarmed people are off limits, and the fight is over when the song ends.

The Bardog Tavern 5K is only 10 days away, Sunday, August 29. You can register online here, or you can register at Bardog or at either Breakaway Running location. If you’re not a runner, you can walk. If you don’t even want to walk, but want to donate (all funds raised will go to St. Jude), you can donate on the race registration website as well.

Funds donated through the site will count toward the Dunk Jen fund. Later in the day, Bardog Tavern will have its second birthday, and if $500 is raised for St. Jude to dunk Jen, she’ll get in the dunking booth in a bikini. The person who donates the most gets the first three attempts to dunk Jen. Jen is the organizer of the Monday night Salty Dog runners club that meets at Bardog at 7 PM.

There was an article in the CA this morning about the Peabody ducks serving as traveling ambassadors. About 20 times each year, the ducks visit schools, hospitals, and retirement homes, doing an extended version of their red-carpet march, with time to talk and answer questions.

Off to lunch… sorry for the lack of posts yesterday, just didn’t have anything.