And the Foodie in Me Comes Out

One of my internships this semester is with Folk Alliance, which happens to be located in the South Main Arts District. This allows me once a week to explore a part of Memphis that I do not normally see on a regular basis. Now, I love this part of town. Next to Cooper Young, it is probably my most favorite part of Memphis.

and one of the best parts? The food. The food downtown is fantastic. There are so many locally owned, amazing restaurants in this part of the city. Therefore, while I am interning this semester, I have made it a goal of mine to try a new place to eat every Tuesday for lunch, while on my break from interning.

So far this experiment has gone great.

The first week, I went across the street to Earnestine and Hazels and had a soul burger and chips. Now, the food was nothing to rave about, but then again, I have been working at Hueys for nearly four years. I am kind of pretentious when it comes to burgers. Sorry, but it comes with the territory. Anyway, the burger was mediocre, and Lays potato chips are, well, Lays potato chips. The part of this meal that made it memorable was the company. There were only three people in the entire place: me, another lady, and the man running the place. The lady and I got to talking and were carrying on a nice conversation. She was telling me what it was like to live downtown, as she had almost her whole life (and she was in her 70s). Not to mention she was drinking beer at noon. Old ladies who drink midday always make me happy. The nice, old gentleman behind the bar/working the grill was great company too. He had a million stories about Memphis and Earnestine and Hazels. He talked about all of the legends behind the building and many stories about how it used to be a brothel. Talk about pure entertainment. and cute old men can always make my day. Especially ones that wear fashionable hats. So I ate my burger and chips, but ended up staying for over an hour just talking to these people.

For my second week, I packed my lunch but ate it across the street at Bluff City Coffee. All you restauranteers stop frowning at me, because I did order stuff while I was there. I order a coffee, tipped, and sat down at a table to eat. And let me tell you, that place knows how to make a cup of coffee. Local coffee shops are always my favorite, and this place is no exception. They have a cool atmosphere, and can keep me caffeinated happily. Two thumbs up. Not to mention that now they fuel me every Tuesday before I go into my internship in the morning.

The next week I decided to go a couple of doors down and try The Arcade. Hey, if it was good enough for Elvis, then it is good enough for me. I knew that I had to try the breakfast there, because that is what everyone raves about. So when I opened up the menu and saw a little note by the sweet potato pancakes that said "Food Network Favorite", I knew it was destiny. Not only do I love sweet potato pancakes, but I also LOVE the Food Network. a lot. My pancakes came with bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns. Also include was enough grease, butter, and syrup to give all of Africa a heart attack. Just the way I like it. In the next 20 minutes I consumed my weeks worth of calories. But man was it worth it. The food was amazing. and now I can officially say that I have been to Elvis' favorite restaurant (which makes up for the fact that I have lived in Memphis almost all of my life and have never set foot in Graceland).

This past week I decided to walk down a block or two and try Pearl's Oyster House. I have always heard great things about this place, but have never been. I did not want to eat a plate of oysters midday, thinking it might upset my stomach for the rest of the day. So I tried the crabcake off of their express lunch menu. Man, do I love crabcakes. and theirs was definatelty delicious. It came with rice (buttery delicious) and a vegetable meddley. Now, normally vegetable meddleys are nothing to get incredibly excited about, but this meddley needs further explanation.

Here we go... I do not eat squash or anything in its family. Ever. I am not a picky eater by any means, and in fact, pride myself on the fact that I will try anything once. This family of veggies is pretty much the only thing I shy away from. Squash. Cucumber. Zucchini. Pickles. et al. This vegetable meddley at Pearl's consisted of only squash and zucchini. When the plate arrived, I looked at it with a frown. But then I thought, it is the only source of veggies available to me for lunch, so I might as well try to eat it. I took one bite and it was actually pretty good! I was shocked! Congratulations to Pearl's for getting me to eat yucky squash! I ate the whole veggie meddley and for the most part enjoyed it. I dont know what they put in it (special imported secret seasoning, crack, etc), but personally I am okay with it. So any restaurant that accomplished this automatically gets an excellent rating from me.

Aside from the food, another thing that attracted me to this place was their selection of beer on tap. They had two types of the local Memphis Ghost River that I had not tried yet. I opted to try the brown ale, and I loved it. As an English-wannabe, I am an ale girl through and through. So kudos to Pearl's for their beer.

Not only was the food good, but the people were very friendly. I had a lovely conversation with the guy grilling oysters. He said he was disappointed I was not trying his oysters, but I promised to come back another day and try them.

But one of the best aspects of my trip to Pearl's Oyster House? The whole time I was there, they played albums by The Beatles and Neil Young. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who does this has a direct, one way ticket into this girl's heart. Even if the food was not that good, the fact that they had good taste in music would have encouraged me to give them another shot.

So overall, my foodie experience downtown on Tuesdays has been excellent. The food has been great, but the service and atmosphere has been even better. I cannot wait to try more places. My next venture? The Rumba Room. I have been there on weekend nights to dance and have had a blast, but during the week for lunch they serve cuban food! How fun! Its interesting and different, and I cannot wait to give it a try next week.