Felicia Suzanne

Felicia Suzanne
80 Monroe Avenue, Suite L-1
Memphis, TN 38103

Felicia Suzanne's restaurant is one of Memphis most elegant and nicest restaurants.  It's not cheap.  However, I have been a couple of times, but during downtown dining week, when a three course meal is only around $20.  I hear that the restaurant has done some changes recently.  I also see that they have $.25 martinis for Friday lunch.  Somehow, I need to get there to try these!

When I went, I did have a cocktail made of Kettle One vodka, which is my favorite vodka.  

For one of our appetizers, we had deviled eggs.  One was made with smoked salmon, one with chow chow, and one with bacon.  They were all great, a nice change from the traditional deviled egg.  

The other appetizer is a fried green tomato topped with pimento cheese, bacon, and lettuce.  

For my meal, I had the pecan encrusted fish with grits.  

For dessert, we had the pumpkin cake.  

We also had the dark chocolate bourbon ice cream 

Everything was delicious.  Even though, it was a special event, all of the food is on their regular menu.  Next time I go, I want to try the lamb chops.  Hopefully, that will be sooner rather than later.

Surin of Thailand

Surin of Thailand
6213 Kingston Pike
Knoxville, TN 37919
Phone: 865-330-0007

G and I were hungry, so we decided to try this Thai restaurant.  It looked fancy on the outside and it had an upscale vibe in the inside.  However, the price point is rather inexpensive.  The menu is a little overwhelming with thai food and sushi.

We both ended up having thai food.  Garrett had the Masaman beef curry.  It came with lots of chunks of beef in a red curry.  He said it was very good.

I went with the shrimp curry.  It was a hot green curry with a mix of vegetables.  It was great!  The sauce was too good.  Even after I ate all the shrimp and veggies out of it, I kept eating the curry, like it was a soup.  It was spicy and sweet at the same time.  It would be hard for me not to order this one again.

Service was fine.  The meals were $15 and less.  It is a good Thai restaurant in Knoxville.  

Drink

Drink
215 BROOKVIEW CENTRE WAY, SUITE 107
KNOXVILLE, TN 37919

One chic place to hang out for drinks is ironically called Drink.  It's an upscale lounge.  They have nice upscale tapas, too.  I didn't try anyway, but they sounded good.

I had a whiskey and water.  It was good.  I think it was about $5.  

They also have one of those self serve wine stations.  This one gives you a card, and you drink what you want.  Then at the end of the night, they add up your wine.  It could be easy to rack up the total if you don't pay attention.  

I enjoyed hanging out here.  A person can chill at the bar or sit in one of the lounge areas.  There were quite a lot of people hanging here.  It seems like a good place to see and be seen. 

Honest John's

Honest John's
488 Selden St
Detroit, MI 48201
(313) 832-5646

We visited Honest John's Bar and No Grill.  That's what the sign on the door said "no grill."  I have no idea why it said that, because they clearly have a grill.

The sign says Sobriety Sucks.  Ha ha.  

Anyway, they have daily meal specials.  Mondays is short ribs, but they were out today.  G had the catfish plate with fries and slaw.  It came with two large catfish filets.  It looked fine.  He said it was good.

I went with a burger and added fries.  I ordered the burger medium but it was cooked more to medium rare.  However, it was a good burger.  It came with lettuce and tomato and onions.  I had my onions grilled and also added blue cheese.  It had plenty of blue cheese on it.

They also have several beers on draft.  I started with a Guinness.  Then I had a ghettoblaster.  It is a bitter beer that is more pale than a Guinness.

Finally I ended with a Great Laked Edmund Fitzgerald.  It was a dark beer but less creamy than a Guinness.

The meals were under $10 and each beer on draught was $5.  A pretty good deal.  I recommend this place if you are visiting Detroit.

Automatic Slim's

Automatic Slim's
83 S. 2nd Street
Memphis TN
901.525.7948

Automatic Slim's is a great restaurant in downtown Memphis.  I'm actually surprised that I have never reviewed it before.  One of my friend's likes to come here for brunch.  I love to come here for drinks.

Their mimosas are only $2.50 during brunch.  

Their bloody mary's are also $2.50.  They are pretty spicy, and I love the seasoned rim of the glass.  

My favorite thing here are the martinis.  They are only $5 from 10am to 7pm, and they have TONS of flavors.  My personal favorite is the key lime pie martini.  It literally tastes just like a liquid key lime pie.  The rim is a graham cracker crust.  

Their food is also good.  I have never had something that I didn't like.  In the past I have had their Monte Cristo sandwich, which is sinfully delicious.  

Their parmesan gravy on their sausage and biscuits is also good.  You really can't go wrong with anything on their menu.  

Urban Soul

Urban Soul
1535 Lafayette Street
Detroit, MI 48207
(313) 344-9070

G wanted to try this new soul food restaurant in Detroit, so we ventured to it.  It has a nice lounge looking feel about it.  It is a soul food restaurant that has all the classics (meatloaf, pork chops, fried chicken, etc).

G had the meatloaf with sweet potatoes and turnip greens.  I don't care for sweet potatoes, so I can't comment on them.  The meatloaf was just ok.  The greens were awesome.  They were definitely fresh and well seasoned.

I had the fried chicken.  I ordered the dark, which came with two legs and two thighs.  I took one  thigh home and discovered it was a breast.  The chicken was fried perfectly.  I had the mac n' cheese and the cornbread dressing.  yes, I had a lot of starches.  The mac n' cheese was great and the corn bread dressing was even better.  They put a brown gravy on it, which I would have preferred it to have been left off.  The corn bread dressing was so good that I ha to give G half so that he didn't have to order his own.  Extra sides were $3.69, so not cheap.  The meals were around $10, though and each came with two sides.

The restaurant is still new, so they do not have sweet tea yet.

They also had a list of desserts, so we had to try to carrot cake.  This cake was huge.  For only $4.99, it could easily serve 2 (maybe even 4).  We ate half and took half home.

This place is great.  I definitely would visit again.

Union Jack's

Union Jack's
124 Northshore Dr
Knoxville, Tennessee 37919

G now spends a lot of time in Knoxville since he is a bassoonist with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.  On my first visit, he took me to a pub called Union Jack's.  It does have food, but I haven't sampled anyway.

We went to England over Christmas, and this place is very similar to those pubs that we visited.  It has tons of beers on draught.  I don't care for bottled beers.

It has one of the BEST Guinness beers on draught ever.  I don't know how they do it.  It comes out slower than any other place, so we have to wait a few extra minutes before it's ready.  It's also not as cold as some.  The bartender even puts a cute shamrock in the foam.

The best Guinness that I have ever had in the United States is here.  If you're in Knoxville, it's a must try.