Thursday, June 08, 2017

Lucky Cat Pop Up

Lucky Cat Pop Up
247 Cooper


I have been a fan of Lucky Cat Ramen since they started doing pop ups at the Cove. Even though the Cove was letting kids in to eat ramen, that's my bar and I didn't wanna take the monkeys (Satchel, 15 and Jiro, 13). Now that Lucky Cat is doing a six month pop up in the former 1912 "Tapas" bar (did it ever have a name?) I got the monkeys there as soon as I could, which ended up being Day 3 of them being open and Day 8 of the third worst storm and subsequent outage in Memphis history.

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I'd been working non-stop, and was more than happy not to cook dinner. The monkeys and I arrived around 6:00pm and the place was packed. Sarah, one of the owners, greeted us at the counter and took our order. I already knew I wanted the yuzu veggie, but the kids were perplexed by the menu.

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"Don't worry about all the stuff that sounds weird, " I said. Then I encouraged Jiro to try the miso pork and Satchel to try the shoyu pork. (They didn't have the collards the day I was there or I would have tried that. I didn't get my own pic of the menu, hence the one from Instagram.) Satchel also went with a $1 side of spicy chile oil. They used to serve large and small bowls at the Cove, but now it's just large and they are all $12. I saw the steamed buns on the menu and decided to add an order of those as well. They used to come two to an order, but now they are $4 each. Sarah told me they had a vegetarian version with eggplant but I stuck with the BBQ, and ordered 3 thinking we'd each eat one. There were a few bottled drinks to choose from, but I only remember there being Iced Tea because I was sure the monkeys would want tea, but they didn't. Anyways, our total for three bowls of ramen and three buns was just under $54, plus tip. Sarah gave us a number and we went to look for a place to sit.

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They have normal tables (which were all full) and then several community type tables. We just happened to know a family sitting at one, and they had three extra seats for us. AND even better...the dad had even already gone down to Fresh Market and bought beer! After working for 8 days straight, I was never more thankful for a beer. (Lucky Cat doesn't have a beer permit, and I'm not sure they can get one for a pop up, so BYOB.)

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The monkeys got waters from the jug in the back and then we waited maybe 5 minutes before our ramen came out. The buns were not far behind. Jiro, who is a little picky, seemed slightly worried when he saw his, but I told him to just eat it. And he did. Every bite.

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Satchel didn't say a word, just dug in.

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The veggie was just as yuzu yummy as I remembered. Satchel wanted a taste and eventually took it from me.

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I let him take it because neither monkey would try the buns due to the slaw on top (weirdos). So, I ate two and a half of them!

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MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

We all left full and happy. (Our friends and table mates were experiencing it for the first time and were ooohing an aaaahing and loving it.) Satchel's main complaint was that I drank my beer too slow!

For only being open three days, I was super impressed by how organized they were and how fast the service was. I also think they did a great job making the space look super cute. I never went into the tapas place so I'm not sure how much work they had to do, but I think it was substantial.

I did feel a little weird about having a $50 ramen dinner when the monkeys would just as happily eat $.25 ramen, but this is no regular ramen. I love what Zach & Sarah are doing and without alcohol to boost sales, I understand why the prices are a bit higher than in the past. I'll definitely be back, and I'll take the monkeys.

One last thing, they are only serving dinner Thursday-Sunday. They open at 5:30pm. I've seen various closing times posted (9:00pm, 10:00pm and 11:00pm). The Facebook page doesn't specify. It may just be a matter of when they sell out. So, go early!

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