After a long night of partying, we had a wonderful meal at the downtown Denny's on Union Avenue and 3rd Street. There were some great dishes to be had and we ordered them all. We had a great time enjoying various "Grand Slams" eloquently paired with various coffees, waters and other frosty beverages. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Oh how I long for another Grand Slam soon!
I also captured a rare picture of Paul stalking his prey... the infamous Nuh-Uh girl. As the Nuh-Uh girl devours a defenseless french fry, Paul takes aim and carefully fires his digital cannon! A burst of light and a shot rings out, and the Nuh-Uh girl stops just millimeters from the complete death of said french fry.
Friday night, the sister and I made a late appearance at the Shelton Clothier Mark it for Market party. Starting a new clothing store, the owners really wanted to understand what women want.Tables were piled with magazines, scissors, and glue. Sheets of paper with various themes lined the wall – Date Night, Work, Accessories, etc. All you had to do was cut out what you liked and paste it on the appropriate wall. Serving appetizers from Circa (got the last bite of tuna!), wine, and cake was an additional touch of class.
We cut out our ideas and glued them on the walls. After we had exhausted the mags, we sat around talking to the owners and managers of the new store. They are very committed to bringing fashionable, yet affordable, clothes and accessories to Memphis. This will be a welcome addition to the Memphis downtown core, and I look forward to shopping there!
We headed to the Saucer to meet up with a birthday party after the Shelton shindig. What a group of friends we have. I swear we took up half the bar!! After a few cocktails (and the introduction of baby Guinness shots to our friends), we headed to a buddy’s condo for darts, drinks, and quesadillas. Oh – and to hang a brand new 52” TV on the wall. I am not sure that was the best idea under the circumstances, but it all worked out well thank goodness.
Most of Saturday was spent with my dad out east, but I headed to the Saucer around 8:00 to celebrate former-bartender-Katie’s first Saturday off. A small group of us braved the monsoon-to-come to grab a few beers and hang out in the beer garden. After the usual antics, I headed to Bardog to meet up with some friends who I haven’t seen in awhile. My home-away-from-home never disappoints. I finally got something to eat – the ahi tuna is fabulous there! (Yes, ahi tuna in a bar! Eat there. You won’t be sorry!) Thank goodness for friends in the area, because a little after midnight, I decided I was in a movie mood. I was lucky enough to be able to call a friend and WALK over!
Sunday was workout and cleaning day, but only during the first football game. For the second, I threw on my gold and black (my Mom is from New Orleans) and headed to Calhoun’s. The place was packed! Apparently, it was the place to be to watch the game for locals. I was even able to play a little QB1. I would have won, too, if I didn’t leave early to head to… Circa!
Review to come!
Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, is coming to the Orpheum January 27 – February 14! I have heard this show, the winner of the 2006 Best Musical Tony Award, is not to be missed. My tickets are not until February 10th, but I have been excited for months. There are still tickets available, and I have heard that there are really good seats even left for opening night – this Wednesday, January 27th!
There is also a unique opportunity to meet the cast. From the Orpheum:
Looking forward to seeing the show in a few weeks! For more information, including tickets, times, and dates, please visit the Jersey Boys page on the Orpheum website: http://www.orpheum-memphis.com/index.cfm?section=comattrac&page=details&showid=646.
Congrats to my friends Kerry and Max who made the 20 under 30 list featured in this week's Memphis Flyer! Great job!
As many of you know, I am a HUGE food, wine, and beer lover. I like everything from hole-in-the-walls to pub grub to casual eateries to 5 star restaurants. I LOVE going out to eat – to try different food, meet the chefs, and just have the whole experience. However, I know just how expensive it can get to eat out so much, especially when you want to try everything on a menu and order drinks!
A great way to have a fabulous restaurant experience is to attend a dinner where the menu is set and paired with a specific beverage. This way, you know up front what to expect and can plan accordingly. I have found you also get to try a lot more food items this way! Plus, you get to taste unique dishes that may not be on the regular menu.
There has recently been unexpected (in a VERY good way) surge of wine and beer dinners in the downtown area. I have tried to compile a list below, with dates, prices, and menus. They all look really delicious, so you might see me at a couple of them!
Bon appétit!
[All menus are in pictures below, for formatting reasons]
What a crazy week last week, with something going on every night. Monday and Wednesday I had various meetings at venues around downtown. Tuesday was Flying Saucer trivia, where we were victorious once again and added $50 to our party stash. Thursday I headed to Calhoun’s to play poker, where unfortunately I placed 4th (but did get to stay and play a fun NTN trivia game). No one can say there is not always something going on downtown) :-)
So after a bunch of busy nights, I decided to have couch time on Friday. Every once in awhile, it is nice to just stay in. Being downtown, you can always change your mind at the last minute and walk out the front door!
After a Saturday of cleaning and a short field trip to midtown for a comedy show, the sister and I decided to hit the bars and see where the evening took us. One of our favorite local bands Snozberry was playing the Saucer, so we headed there first. There was a great crowd rocking out to the music in the beer garden and socializing inside the bar. We ran into a group of friends I hadn’t seen since new year’s, plus got to see some of their gorgeous new engagement rings. The holidays were quite the proposing time this year.
We then got a text from friends who were at Rehab. We hadn’t been there before, so we decided to check it out. I think this could be a new favorite place. As of this past weekend, there wasn’t a cover charge! They served beer and liquor (so the sister was happy). It is 2.5 stories tall, with a VIP half level upstairs, a chill room downstairs, and a dance floor & couches on the main level. They played a variety of music – from current hip hop to old school to Journey! The sister and I got our dance on for a bit, had a few drinks, then decided to end the night with a final drink at Bardog. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it were), there is no photographic evidence from the weekend.
I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. The random nights can sometimes be the most fun, because you never know who you will see or where you will end up.
Around the same time of the holidays, trivia team member and local blogger Paul completed his third plate, so we all gathered to celebrate both occasions at the Flying Saucer.
After the trivia team party, the sister and I headed to Esther’s house for a potluck style holiday party, complete with Dirty Santa presents. When our friends downtown do a potluck party, they do it up right! With prosciutto wrapped asparagus, deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, meatballs, antipasto platter, homemade pasta, eggrolls, and more – we had quite the feast. And don’t forget the bottles of wine, fun beers, and dispensers with all kinds of festive cocktails!
After everyone had their first rounds of food and imbibed a few cocktails, it was time to start the gift exchange. I won’t bore you with the whole process, but needless to say, there was lots of laughter, stealing, hiding presents, and making deals. There were presents of all sorts – bottles of wine, games, food items, lip gloss, Playboys, cozies, lottery tickets, and a…. toilet seat?!? Some of the more popular ones that were stolen over and over again were a Partini board game (which I ended up with!), a beer hammer, and a chocolate cutting board. What a fun holiday night downtown!!
The last holiday celebration I attended was the South Main Association and Downtown Neighborhood Association joint party, which was in the basement of the new Metro 67 apartment complex. What a nice building, complete with a media room and party rooms downstairs! There was a live band playing music and a small buffet with food from local restaurants. After a tasting of the food, a couple of drinks, and a round of foosball, we called it a night.
