I can’t stand to hear of another restaurant closing–the latest I’ve heard about is Bittersweet, a local place that’s now closed. I want us all to pitch in to help our local business owners make it through these tough economic times, but I understand that the dollar is short for most people. So first let’s share tips on how to save money when dining out, and then in part 2, we’ll share ways we save at the grocery. I’ve got a wire story running Wednesday about tips bloggers shared with each other in Atlanta, and I know we can do better.

My favorite tip for dining on the cheap: Eat ethnic. Maya’s or La Gualalupana are plainly inexpensive–anywhere two people can eat, leave a tip and be out the door for less than $15 isn’t going to break the bank. The portions are so plentiful at most Thai restaurants that one meal easily becomes two. Indian, too.

My second tip is that if I’m not drinking wine, I only drink water. It so happens that I don’t drink soft drinks, anyway, but you can forgo a couple of bucks per diner by sticking with agua.

Let’s get a nice list of tips–and affordable places–together!

There’s a conversation going on under the “Go Memphis” post about what’s missing from our restaurant list, and there is a determined poster who thinks that Open Table offers unbiased reports more than we do. Well, my point is that Open Table only has 29 restaurants in town, but that does bring me to ANOTHER point. We have all these listings at GoMemphis, but I’m not seeing reader ratings pop up yet. So head over, start browsing, and start putting in your ratings and comments for restaurants. This is how we’re going to build a big ol’ fat database of info. And when you rate your places, post here and let us know what you’ve rated, so I can go check it out! (You don’t have to use your real name if you want to remain anonymous).

Illustration by Michael Anthony Paglia

There was a bit of a stir a year or two ago when we started running Buster’s ads for Fat Bastard wines. I remember a few letters to the editor about it being an unsuitable name for a wine and an unsuitable word for print. Well, look at us. We’re saying it and drinking it on the same day…

Come back at 7 tonight and join us. Bill Huddleston is going to guide us through the pinot noir, which is the newest wine to the FB line-up. I haven’t tried it yet, so I don’t know what to say about it except that I’m looking forward to it, and that if I’m ever reincarnated as an animal, a hippopotamus is at the top of my list. I’ll tell you why tonight! See you then.

My colleague Beth Gooch says she saw a watermelon for $7.99 at the grocery. The only ones I ever buy are the tiny sugarbells at the farmers market, usually for a buck or two, and I haven’t gotten one this year. But $7.99 sounds crazy. Has anyone looked at the farmers market prices for watermelons this year? I wonder if it’s a transportation cost increase or if it’s been a bad watermelon season.

I just looked at the card for the Memphis Farmers Market dinner on my desk and wow, three of the six are done. We been through more than half of our 52 wines for 2008 on W&D’s Thursday wine tasting. Labor Day is just a month away–and I haven’t had blackberries or local figs yet (but my friend Sherry has a tree and it’s ripe for pickin’, so I’ll be there soon). The only lady peas I’ve had were probably shipped in from some place south of here, I was told after I bought them (they were good anyway), and Michael Donahue hasn’t brought me a baggie full of his tiny home-grown tomatoes that I love.

I have had some excellent tomatoes this year, though, the best being Brandywines that were grown in Ripley. I bought the one loaf of white bread I buy each year for my bacon and tomato sandwiches (with Duke’s mayo, of course). We’ve had mango daiquiris and mojitos, but somehow it just doesn’t seem like I’ve enjoyed this summer as much as I usually do, from a culinary point of view.

Of course, it’s not over just yet. In tomorrow’s Food section, take a look at Scott Peacock’s story about Southern peas and you’ll want to get out and buy a mess of them. Unlike him, I didn’t actually like shelling peas when I was a kid. We had to shell on the porch, not in the air-conditioned house, and it seemed like that HUGE purple pile of peas just got bigger. Those tiny peas would hit the Nanny’s big enamel-ware bowl with a ping! ping! for what seemed like forever until enough peas were in it to muffle the sound. But, man, not only would I love to sit on the porch with her now (even if I had to shell), but I’d also like a big plate of purple hull peas with Granddaddy’s chow-chow. Does anyone have a recipe for a really spicy chow chow? Peas just aren’t the same without it.

(And talk about time flying: I was just thinking about the summer getting by too quickly and now I’m remembering 30 or 40 years ago like it was yesterday…)

Katherine just e-mailed me and says she thinks there’s a new Italian restaurant at Summer and Sycamore View, and that it might starts with an “L”.  Has anyone seen it or even better, eaten there?

Have you taken a look at our new arts and entertainment site, GoMemphis? The list is still growing, but we’ve got a searchable listing of about 600 restaurants online right now. Glance over them and tell me what’s missing–AND–go ahead and put in your comments, too. We’ll eventually have something like a Memphis Zagat’s right here on our own site. (Pronounced, by the way, za-GAT, like “za CAT in the hat.” I heard him say this once.)

Dave already emailed me to tell me we need to add Thai Bistro. That’s the second time this week I’ve heard about this place out in Germantown/Cordova. Has anyone else been?

Let me know what you think of the nonstarred restaurant format, too.

Tonight John Vego from Buster’s joins us and we’re going to drink a lovely little white, Tangent Ecclestone. Vego recommended this wine to me a few weeks ago when I went in search for a wine similar to Caymus Conundrum that cost a bit less. That’s a great idea, by the way, one I picked up from friends. When you like a wine, ask someone in your liquor store who knows wine to suggest something similar at about half the price. You might find something you like. Maybe not–but give it a try.

See you back here at 7 tonight!

Many of you have eaten Allen Benton’s bacon at restaurants around town, but it’s not available for retail purchase here–yet. I called Benton’s after a reader called me about getting the bacon, and they tell me that they’re expanding their operation and all we have to do to get the products in Memphis this fall is to find a retailer that wants it. I’m certain we won’t have a problem with that. Meanwhile, I ordered a package of Benton’s prosciutto and Oh. My. God. Just look at it!

I compared it to an imported prosciutto I had in the fridge and it simple wasn’t fair. This is THE most supple and luxurious prosciutto I’ve ever tasted. My daughter found it a tad too salty, but I thought it was perfectly balanced, and I just ordered more. I met Allen Benton briefly at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium last fall, when he won the Lifetime Achievement Award. He just told me on the phone that it might be a pitiful way to spend your life, in the pursuit of creating perfect bacon and ham. I told him that instead it is honorable, and that we all appreciate it!

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So last night I fried up the imported prosciutto with a little onion and garlic in olive oil, tossed in pasta, topped it with tomatoes from the farmers market, a little blue cheese, pepper and then tore in pieces of that great Benton’s prosciutto. It was heavenly and took about 10 minutes of work, even though I burned the garlic the first time and had to start over.

Go to bentonshams.com to see what else he’s got.

Last night the nacho crew met again and this time we struck gold–and silver. We went to R.P. Tracks, where I’ve eaten many a pie plate of nachos (that’s how they’re served) over the years, but I confess I’ve never tried the BBQ tofu nachos. Nothing against tofu; it’s the barbecue nachos that offend me. But bloggers raved about them, so we ordered those along with the R.P. Tracks Famous nachos.

One thing I loved right away–real cheese, no cheese sauce. We had black bean chili on the BBQ nachos and red bean chili on the others; I alone preferred the red beans. Last night there were four of us tasting and I was surprised when the meat-lovin’ Billy H. declared the tofu nachos the winner. I agree that the pieces of tofu were excellent, and I found myself picking pieces out of the nachos to eat alone. But overall, I went with the original nachos, as my friend Suzy did. Jon–and correct me if I’m wrong here–also went with the tofu, so it was girls against boys.

We all agreed that the chips held up (toward the end they got soft), that the nachos were supremely “diggable” and appropriately messy. Jalepenos spiced things up, and the homemade salsa we requested to go alongside was delicious.

Next stop, Molly’s.

Photos by Jennifer Biggs: Top, R.P. Tracks Famous Nachos; bottom, R.P. Tracks BBQ Nachos