introducing project: patio

Let me tell you how you know you've found a keeper. It goes something like this.

I was telling Mr. Risky Business today about a little adventure I'm going to get myself into this summer (or more accurately, this April through September) wherein I plan to consume one alcoholic beverage on every restaurant or bar patio in the city of Memphis.

And do you know what he did?

He promptly created a Google doc, organized the preliminary list that my best friend Stef had thrown together by areas of town (with subheadings), added several to the list and included the following note next to one of the pubs: "May not count as local but a Mr. RB fav."

Keeping. Him. KEEPINGHIM.

So here's the sitch. This adventure is going to be called Project: Patio, and will commence April 1 and end September 30. The goal is to drink a beverage on every outdoor eating/drinking space in Memphis. There are only three rules, and they are as follows:

1.) Only bars and restaurants in Memphis proper. No 'burbs included.
2.) Only local bars and restaurants. No chains. (Locally franchised establishments still count.)
3.) Only places where alcoholic beverages are served.

In the coming weeks I'm going to be working on getting the list completed, and I'll need your help for that. I'll show you what we've got so far (courtesy of the Google doc, thankyouverymuch) at the close of this post, and feel free to leave comments or give me a shout on Twitter with suggestions. And of course, if you're in the Memphis area and would like to join me for a jaunt through a patio or two, please let me know.

Project: Patio will be blogged about extensively here, as its parallel purpose will be to meet interesting or funny or cool or also creepy and unsavory characters who will fit in REAL NICE around this here blog. There will also be a related Facebook album under the same name, where I will post at least one photo of every patio excursion. I say at least one, because there must be photographic evidence at each location of me consuming said alcoholic beverage. Any additional photos will be of the aforementioned interesting/funny/cool/creepy/unsavory characters.

Here's the list so far. Help me out, Memphis.

Downtown:

Alfred's
BB Kings
King's Palace
Silky's
The Silly Goose

The Majestic Grille

The Madison Hotel

The Peabody Hotel

Rum Boogie
Redbirds stadium

TJ Mullingan's (Pinch)
Westy's

Spindini

Midtown:

Beauty Shop
Blue Monkey
Boscos Squared
Buccaneer

Cafe 1912
Cafe Eclectic

Cafe Ole'

Central BBQ

Do

Otherland's

Celtic Crossing

Fresh Slices - Overton Park

Grace

Memphis Pizza Cafe
Neil's Bar & Grille

Harry's Detour

Young Ave. Deli

Zinnie's

East Memphis:

Brookhaven Pub and Grill
Dan McGuinness

El Porton
Old Venice Pizza Company
Patrick’s steak and spirits

Raffe's Beer Garden

R.P. Tracks


cheers,
elizabeth