Day Trip Memphis
Birthday week celebrations continue! This time guided by my former Memphisonian friends, Jan and Virginia. They whisked me off for a day of fun, flowers, and food. We started with lunch at Hog & Hominy. This is the Italian sister/cousin of Husk that I've blogged about before.
I wasn't sure what to expect from "Italian Dining with a Southern Drawl" but I'm pretty much up for anything.
The interior is very much that farm-to-table thing that's popular.
At first, the menu didn't impress us that much. It had changed since the girls were there last so we decided to at least have a drink and share a couple of dishes.
I got a tried and true Old Fashioned and Jan got a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Jan's drink was the winner, especially for a warm afternoon but Virginia swears by her Ultra!
The BBQ Shrimp and Grits were very tasty and the shrimp were tender. It didn't taste as heavy as it looks.
We dug into a pizza called The Prewiitt topped with fontina, boudin, and scrambled eggs.
All and all, lunch was better than we expected. Hog & Hominy has a lot of hype around it and I will definitely be back to try dinner.
The weather was warm and spring was in the air so we hopped over to Garden District to take in the flora and fauna.
We met a little feisty friend who we would have LOVED to take home!
That sweet pup put us in the mood for something sweet, so we headed over to Muddy's for a treat.
The line wasn't quite as long as it usually is.
Couldn't resist a little photo shoot while we were waiting.
These cupcakes aren't overly frosted and they are just the right size. The brownie wasn't bad, either.
We drove around visiting old artist friends and seeing their new work and catching up.
After all that high-brow-ness, it was time to get down to business with a trip to the best beer store in Memphis. I call it tall boy town!
If that wasn't enough, it was time for a happy hour. Virginia took us to an old haunt, Molly's La Casita.
I think one of the best things about our visit was our waiter. Example: I ordered a margarita on the rocks. "Are you sure you don't want a half and half? Half frozen, half on the rocks? The guys here came up with it because it was stronger and didn't give them a brain freeze." Sold!
When Jan wanted premium tequila in her drink he said, "Why would you want to do that? It's no better." Guess he doesn't get a commission on premium liquor sales.
He approved of our choices of seven layer dip and queso, so he brought them without question.
The white queso is definitely the best. We decided a quesadilla would hit the spot and didn't even ask for the menu back. We just asked him what he would recommend. "I always get the spinach and mushroom but I've only worked here 15 years. What do I know?" Dude, you know everything!! Sold!
It's never a bad idea to get exactly what the waiter tells you to get. Everything was fabulous and I'll never order a margarita the same ever again.
Thanks Jan and Virginia for showing me fun, new places in Memphis!
