Best of Memphis

Gotta be my peeps. Above is Kimmy- my rather stunning tour guide for Cooper Young night and a good friend from HHS. She was in Chicago for Lollapalooza last year and this year successfully took me on a fantastic little bar sashay right in my childhood backyard.

I also got all of 35 minutes with Brian and Jenn at Brian's SWEET new place overlooking Overton Park. It's adorable and I mean that in a way that translates the following estimate: if you took the square footage of all his closets, not including the laundry room, and added them up it would be bigger than my apartment. Which, love it as I do, still has no closet. 3 bed, 2 bath with top o the line everything, three terraces, park views and water/cable included. In Chi that would be 1.2 to 1.4 million. In Memphis, that is not the case. I'm jealous. I'm not budging either, but I am genuinely green.


Beauty Shop Restaurant & Lounge: Part of my doesn't think this place can be real because it was so spot on to everything I would really want to do with my own place and there are virtually no good photos of it on the web or otherwise. I tried but you will just have to go. This building was the home to Priscilla Presley's beauty salon and they kept all the white leather chairs with dome dryers attached. Then they added the local artwork and mismatched white leather chairs of other sorts. An eclectic American menu with Southern roots and international flair. Martinis like the Basa Brava (me) and Cooperpolitan (Kim). And it's called Beauty Shop....come ON.

Cafe 1912- Delicious , affordable French fare that is a stone's throw from the Cooper Young district for a summer stroll. They have also put some of their recipes online so check the link.
Celtic Crossing: Second stop in the Cooper Young district (clearly my new favorite) with Kim. Irish pub with some personality, futbol on the TV and allegedly great Shepard's Pie. Oh and the "DJ"'s name is Sully. Pretty college on the weekends but I'm dying to sit out on the patio on a warmer weekend.

Pat O's: Can't mention going out and going home without mentioning Hurricane's at Pat O's on Beale St. Yes, it is a high school reunion and yes it can get pretty yuppie but you will not forget you're on Beale Street, they heat the patio in the winter, the Hurricanes will set an SEC lineman on his ass and the dueling pianists are hilarious. See, I'm all huffy about it but now I'm a little sad I didn't make it this trip.
Chick-fil-A: If you don't know what this is, specifically what this is in the presence of Polynesian sauce, you need to get to a mall in the Dixieland area immediately. I'm also starting a petition for them to open in Chicago. And to stay open on Sundays. I don't expect to have much luck with either but had to go there anyway. So good.
Automatic Slim's Tonga Club: Been around forever in restaurant years and started by the same woman who has Beauty Shop under her belt(genius). This was the first place I had a sweet potato fry and still a great spot for dinner and cocktails.

Italian: Two recommendations for Italian, verrrry different. Pasta Italia is on the Square in Collierville and blends right in with some adorable shops and is next to the cowboy boot store. The owner is a very sweet Italian woman who was pushed from Biloxi by the hurricane and set up shop here with her brother. We're very happy she did- they deliver bread and cheese to your table first thing and it just keeps getting better from there. ALSO, Spindini in the gallery district on N Main. This is more of a downtown Chicago spot. I felt right at home here and then some. Very slick but with that famous southern charm and great food, Gold Coast could learn a thing or two.

Rendezvous: The picture above is my brother's basket after a full order of ribs and two of mine. Incredible- I brought some sauce home so make nice. As you can see based on the empty plastic container floating above the bones, the baked beans are laced with something silly. Addictive.

Last but not least, Dad got floor seats for the Grizzlies game on Saturday as a birthday surprise for Mom and Brother. They are BIG fans but this was my first time to even step inside the Forum. After 2 pitchers of beer between Mom, Brother and I along with the following at halftime, well, we had a GREAT time.