Restaurant SOB and Allison Krauss Concert

A catch-up post about my few days at home in Memphis. It was lovely. The respite from constant care-taking is always so welcome. I left KY on Wednesday afternoon, spent Thursday and Friday there, and drove back to KY on Saturday evening. That drive back was one of the easiest I've had; there was next to no traffic on the roads.

While I was home, we combined my birthday, our anniversary, and Max's birthday for a little celebration that took us out to eat and to a concert by Allison Krauss and Union Station. All of our events are about a week apart starting August 21st.  This time the weather cooperated - not blistering hot nor raining cats and dogs - and we had a lovely evening.

We started off by going to a "gastro pub" named South of Beale in downtown Memphis.
http://www.southofbeale.com/uploads/files/SOB_Menu_2011.pdf
It was an okay restaurant. The decor wasn't anything to write home about, a little dark for me, but I'm one of those weirdos who doesn't like to be surrounded by black and dark colors. The height of the tables was perfect. Being a shorty, I'm continually battling tables whose tops are at boob level and make me feel like I can just shovel the food into my mouth straight off the plate.

We ordered an appetizer of assorted meats and cheeses which was wonderful. The meats were salami, pepperoni and andouille sausage; the cheeses were caramelized onion, sage, and "Red Dragon." Everything was made in-house. The andouille and pepperoni were too hot for me; although, they tasted good. The salami was delicious! The cheeses were creamy and delicious. The Red Dragon was as suspected, a hot cheese, but I saw no pepper flakes only small round seeds. I'm stumped as to what they were.

Max got fish and chips, and I had duck breast and bok choy. His fish was perch, and he enjoyed it but said it was fishy tasting; so I wouldn't have enjoyed it. Shaking head at myself - as long as it doesn't taste like fish, I quite enjoy fish. His chips were cajun chips, so too hot for me. My duck and bok choy were delicious. There were little slices of duck and braised, halved, baby bok choy. Sad to say, I couldn't chew either. Damn denture. The duck wasn't tough; it just wouldn't chew down. And those of you with dentures know how hard it is to chew greens.

I got butterscotch mousse for desert, and it was fantastic. However, right after it was served, Max froze in his seat and exclaimed he'd left the tickets at home. So I didn't get linger over the mousse. We dashed home and back and made it in plenty of time for the concert.

The concert was absolutely fantastic. I think they were the best musicians I have ever seen. The dobro player was jaw dropping - Jerry Douglas. You can check him out in wikipedia by clicking here. He was the singing voice of George Clooney in O, Brother Where Art Thou. I was stunned at the amount of notes he could coax out of that dobro.

The Orpheum in Memphis

The organ at the Orpheum in Memphis

The concert was at the Orpheum (click here to check the wonderful old theater out,) and our seats were perfect. We sat on the first-level balcony in the last row in the center section. With a wall behind us, we had no worries at all about blocking anyone's views. I was lucky, and no tall huge person sat in front of me; so I could actually see the people on the stage.

The rest of the trip, I relaxed and recuperated. It was great.

Updated 9/5/11 to add pictures of the Orpheum

Restaurant and Getting Back

Ooo, la la.  We did the lunch at Red Lobster. I was in heaven.  Rock lobster, Maine lobster, shrimp and langostino. Of course, it was so much that I'm still eating on it, and that was Sunday. I have one meal left - that would be the rest of the Maine lobster and the shrimp.

Of course, I didn't do all the things I thought I would while in Memphis, but at least got an appointment to get my hair cut and dyed in two weeks when I'm home again. Argh. It's beginning to look pretty shaggy and scary.

On Saturday we went to, sigh, WallyWorld, and got a smoker. Yay! Can't wait to try it out on the homemade bacon. I brought it (the smoker) up to west Ky. since I'm now here more than in Memphis. I oven cured the batch from last week so Max could try some while I was there to learn if he liked it.  I think I have a convert. Got a good pic of him cooking it for brunch.

Now I have to wait for a nice strong young man to help me move the smoker from the car to the back of the house. These out-of-condition, too-old muscles of mine can't manage it. I suppose two of us girls could do it, but nice strong young men are so much more fun to watch.

Home Again and Restaurants

Yeehaw! I'm home again with my husband for a few days.  He's pleased because I sometimes sound more intelligent than the cats; I'm pleased because he always sounds more intelligent than my parents. It's quite wonderful to not have to be someone's caretaker for a few days. I slept late, guilt-free, and have watched videos on the internet.

We were going to go to Red Lobster for supper since their Lobster Fest is on, and their commercials always make me drool. We left the house at 5:00 p.m. to beat the supper crowd. Or so we thought. Just as we were topping the stairs of the entry someone sighed heavily, held up their restaurant beeper, and said, "An hour!" Max did an immediate about face and said, "Nope, not tonight. We'll do lunch tomorrow." Ah, well.

Since there was nothing in the house for supper, we went cheap and went to a Bob Evans. He got what he always gets after reading the full menu - chicken fried steak and gravy.  I decided to try the Stroganoff Pot Roast Stew - slow cooked pot roast in a creamy stroganoff stew with mushrooms and onions, and egg noodles with creamy sour cream. He was delighted with his meal, and I so disappointed in mine.

I think it was my fault for misinterpreting the description. I'm one of those totally tasteless people who like their noodles well cooked, not the accepted al dente norm. But, ah ha, I thought. Those noodles will be cooked in the pan with the roast and sauce and will be nice and soft. Wrongo.

Nice, clean al dente pasta put in a bowl, topped with a spoonful of brown gravy sauce, which was topped with chopped roast beef, a dollop of sour cream and a sparse sprinkling of bread crumbs. Sigh. The meat was roast beef, not pot roast but was delicious and  tender. The sauce was perhaps more than just brown gravy, but certainly not the creamy gravy of stroganoff. They tried to go gourmet with the mushrooms I think. I couldn't tell exactly what kind they were, but they weren't your innocuous button mushrooms. Much too earthy for me.

To add insult to injury, although not listed on the ingredients, the butter spread tasted like it had sugar in it, and the yeast rolls were sweet, too.  Argh! If I want a sweet roll, I'll order a sweet roll - for desert. Please give me nice pure butter and a savory yeast roll with my meal, which is not desert.

I do have to give BIG KUDOS to Bob Evans for their savor-size (I think that's what it was called) option on the  dish.  First time I have ever seen an option to downsize something. That's impressive in my book. I still couldn't have eaten it all, even if it had been exactly what I was expecting and delicious.

Oh, well, Red Lobster for lunch tomorrow and Lobster Fest.  I won't complain.