South of Beale

I had a great time last night at dinner with a friend. She is the first work friend I made when I moved to Memphis 11 years ago. We don't work at the same place anymore, but our friendship has survived.

We went to South of Beale (SOB) last night. We both started with the Honey and Ginger cocktail, which was really good. I know it had a whiskey in it (which I don't normally like), but this was good. For dinner, we split the tuna appetizer, lobster and scallop cakes and each tried a side. The tuna was good, but the fried rice cakes were a little over-cooked, which made them difficult to chew (and cut). The lobster and scallop cakes were bready- not many big chunks of meat that you would expect. I had the duck fried rice for my side. It had a good spice to it. M got the cheddar grit fries. It was enough to feed about 10 people. The flavor and texture was good, it was just a lot... All in all, SOB is a place I would go back to (the braised ribs looked divine). We got a lot of fried food, so I am looking forward to trying other things on the menu. It claims to be a gastro-pub, which means the chef isn't there to cook chicken strips and has a very diverse menu. The waiter recommended the duck and braised ribs. The wine list is very good too with two price points. If you want a great atmosphere, get there around 7:30 pm or so.