Bo's off to Texas playing 3 shows......

.......and is guest blogging while he's down there. Lord willing he'll be back for the start of next week. Here is his latest blog he sent to me tonight:

we ate at this gourmet Mexican place and to say the least it was
phenomenal. margaritas were the best ive had and ive had a few! smoked a
padron 1964 anniversary series to top off the spicy steak dish that i
was served. went to see the band "speedtrucker" play - all the guys were
realy nice and the music was really good too! then it was off to the
candleroom for a night cap. not much today just a bunch of sitting
around and waiting/watching tv trying to recoup from last night. ill
write more later. hope all is well at the joint. later

Busy....

Been busier than a one legged man in an ass kickin' contest. Not much to add right now. Bo took off to Texas this week to play 3 shows with his band. I'm glad for him, its some much needed vacation! The past two weeks have been slow. Its damned if you do and damned if you dont. When its raining or has been raining your screwed cause the construction guys dont come in because of the mud. If its sunny and warm everyone wants to be outside doing something. Thats what the past two weeks have been. Last week we only did $6900, down from the previous week which was already off our norm big time! Naturally I am a little concerned but my food reps told me today that "everyone" they have talked to is in the same boat I'm in right now, so that makes me feel better. We're going to take a break from live music this Saturday night and ramp it up the following Saturday night (Lord willing). We have scored some pretty good catering jobs coming up and a couple of festivals. We'll be doing the Music City Brewers festival this July which brings in about 5000 people and we've also been invited to be a part of the "Taste of Music City" which is a pretty big deal and a big honor. Big honor or not I'm looking to make some dadgum green...........I got kids to feed!

Adios Willie & the "dread-neck" jerk chicken.

This past Saturday night was Willies last night to play for the next 5 months. Willie and his family own a fishing lodge in Elfin Cove, AL (www.innerharborlodge.com) and Willie is a captain on one of the boats. Yes its the same lodge we went to this past August. I'll miss ol' Willie, he's a hell of a guy with hell of a family......but he'll be back in the fall (Lord willing) to sit back in. Jill's voice fell on some good ears here lately. There's been a couple of music row folks out to hear them sing. One of them lined her up a showcase @3rd & Lindsey here about 2 weeks ago.......I recon it went pretty well cause they are sending them (Bo included) to Texas to play two shows on the last weekend of this month. She is a stud........er should I say "studette". Biz was down last week a little, we only did about $7300.00 for the week. So we were off right at about $1000.00-$1500.00 for the week as a whole. The rain on Friday & Saturday was the big reason that probably made up for most of it but last Tuesday for some reason it was really slow. We only did $723.00 for that day! This on a day with mild temps & sunshine. I don't know what was up with that day!?!?! Weeks like this make me start thinking about being open more than 5 days a week......then I see that boy of mine & our new little girl and think different real fast! We're looking at a 50% chance of rain tomorrow but after that high 60's & clear for the week so I'm praying to the good Lord above that we'll pick back up this week. We're waiting for those warm temps to come back around before we put out Bo's jerk chicken recipe he got from a 80 year old Rastafarian down in the U.S. virgin islands a few years back. It is really, really good! I'm going to bbq the chicken on the pit but instead of the sauce we're going to jerk it. No I didn't mean for it to sound that way........but jerking my chicken does sound funny. Anyway, it will be called the "Dread-neck Jerk Chicken". We're also going to wait on the shrimp po-boys and the gazpacho until warmer weather. There are big changes coming to the blog in the next couple/few weeks so keep an eye out.

O.K. here it is.....the $100.00 BBQ sandwich

I've had several requests for pics of "The most expensive BBQ sandwich in the world". Pork, smoked then seared Fois Gras with white truffle oil and balsamic vinegar. Served with Champagne (Miller High Life, the champagne of beers). We did not sell a single sandwich this past weekend! The pics........here they are:

Here we are putting it in the Pit to be cold smoked














This is it after it was smoked:














Here is the constructed sandwich (with said "Champagne"......Miller High Life). Tough to differentiate everything in this pic. The balsamic hides the pan seared fois gras. Marteen constructed the sandwich while Bo and I were opening a beer. I usually put about 3-4 DROPS of the balsamic on there.....you don't need much, you are just trying to compliment it. Well Marteen proceeded to sauce the thing as if he were using our sauce (which is expensive enough to make!). He poured about 4 million ounces of the 15yr old "tradizianal" balsamic over this thing........so really this sandwich is not $100.00 but probably more along the lines of $875.00........ah hell lets call it a grand, at this point who's counting anyway? Let me put it to you this way, there was really none left. Bo spit beer up on himself in laughter at my financial disgust.














Here is Troy taking a bite. For such a smooth, velvety sandwich I don't know why Troy's head looks so dadgum explosive. He looks more like he's trying to pass a gallstone.

Trucking along.

Things are still going very well. Catering has picked up big time over the past couple/few weeks, specifically on music row. The Joint has been doing really well. Jackie has been working the register on Tues. & Wed. nights which has enabled me to go home and be with Martha to help with Daisy and Wyatt.........more so Wyatt. Entertaining him frees Martha up with Daisy, who like Wyatt has colic!
We're slowly bringing on our spring/summer specials. We had oysters brought in for oyster po-boys and sold out of those in less than a week. This coming week I've got shrimp coming in for the remainder of the spring/summer for shrimp po-boys. Bo & I are making a gazpacho on Monday (when its supposed to get warm again). I'm curious to see how that goes over. This past Saturday I offered the most expensive BBQ sandwich in the world. I should have taken a picture of it but forgot to. I plan on having it this Saturday so I'll try to take one then to post on the blog. Anyway, I brought in some fois gras and cold smoked it in the pit. When it was finished we sliced it, pan seared it and put it on top of pulled pork drizzled with white truffle oil and about 4-5 big drops of traditional balsamic vinegar (which is about $60.00 per ounce!). We sold that sandwich with fries and a Miller High Life (what else but the "champagne" of beers?) beer for $99.00 - AND ACTUALLY SOLD A COUPLE OF THEM! To describe the sandwich all you can say is "decadence"! It was very, very good.......very hard to describe unless you taste it. You really should come out and pay me $99.00 for this meal, its worth it! If after you eat it and you dont think its worth it then just come up to the counter and let me know. Now, I wont give you your money back, but I will listen to your frustration which by releasing those emotions will make you feel better about your decision.