The Memphis Scene

* The new Blue Monkey Downtown is open for business as of last week. You'll recognize many of the faces on the staff from the Midtown location (or the former Downtown location that burned a few years ago). The floor plan is much the same (elevated bar seating), and other fixtures return, such as the painstaking wine-cork molding and collages of wine labels covering parts of the walls and the bar surface. The place has no beer on tap, but does feature plenty of bottles as well as the usual massive selection of premium liquor (including coffee-flavored Patron XO Cafe, which I had never seen before). I didn't have a chance to peep the food menu; I'll check it out next time.

Meanwhile, Paul Ryburn has pictures and writeup of his own.

* In other Downtown bar news, also from the fertile blog of Ryburn, that man about Downtown, Calhoun's on G.E. Patterson has to change its name. Any ideas?