The Early Word: Bayou has new roux-lers, and a top COVID doc peaces out
Good morning, Memphis! It’s Tuesday, Aug. 13, which is National Prosecco Day. And that sounds like a good excuse for a midweek, morning mimosa if you ask me. So, cin-cin, friends!
While you’re enjoying your brunch drink, you might also take a moment to register for our next Daily Memphian Small Business Seminar, scheduled for Sept. 4. Memphis entrepreneurs Beverly and Ryan Robertson (the mother-and-son duo behind Trust Marketing), Scott Tashie of City Silo and Monique Williams of Biscuits and Jams will share personal stories of triumphs and challenges. Register here.
Overton Square’s Bayou Bar & Grill has changed hands after three decades. Two longtime employees (Tyler Hamilton and Amara Jameson) and local hospitality veteran Crosby Keltner purchased the Cajun restaurant that’s been around since 1987. “We didn’t want to see another legacy restaurant go away,” Hamilton said. But no worries about your favorite servers and Zydeco Wings; the staff and menu shouldn’t change. But a few new things are coming, including more ways for you to watch the big game.
Back in the stay-at-home pandemic days, most of us were just hiding our lack of pants during Zoom calls. But Dr. Jon McCullers — the man who led Memphis through the pandemic — was hiding something else beneath his laptop’s camera view. “I had a big catheter through my abdominal wall,” he said. McCullers had surgery for prostate cancer in 2020, when he was leading the area’s COVID-19 task force and writing a roadmap for how Memphis would deal with the pandemic over the next two years. Now, as McCullers prepares to leave Memphis for a new job in Houston, he opens up to The Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins about navigating his own health scare as he helped Memphis navigate worldwide health emergency. He also talked about Memphis’ middle-of-the-road approach to the pandemic — and what still makes people mad.
Plus, Memphis-Shelby County Schools cops walk out, the Racquet Club redevelopment plan expands and contracts and new owners plan to save a Cooper-Young coffee institution.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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