Memphis Eats: Boscos

“I wanted to seem so at home here that you could slap a 38104 bumper sticker on my ass and call me a Volkswagen.”

I first  heard about the magical place called Boscos from a new friend, B, who is a waiter there. All of the people I was with said, ‘oh Boscos, they brew their own beer, ahhhtastic.’

I wanted to show my parents new places they don’t have back home (which is easy considering home is the big ice block up north) and also show them that I know a lot about where I live. I wanted to do as the locals do. I wanted to seem so at home that you could slap a 38104 bumper sticker on my ass and call me a volkswagen. I wanted my parents to see that I was doing fine on my own.

Returning from a shopping trip to Collierville one evening, my mother declared that she did not in fact want to return to the hotel to change into nice clothes and go to Flemings to eat. Since we’d already visited many Midtown haunts, including but not limited to Do Sushi, Cafe Ole (where we Ole’d a little too hard on Monday bo-go margaritas and had to return to the hotel for a sobering nap fest), and Young Avenue Deli, I suggested we go to Boscos.

We were seated on the porch and handed the beer (pronounced burr round these yonder parts) and eats menus to peruse. It was a lovely evening and I was super excited to suck down some locally brewed beverages. I went with the IPA, my father chose the brown ale and my mother, ever the dandy, ordered a cosmo. The place was a-buzz with big and small groups, a lot of families as well. This is the type of crowd that you would expect to see at Chili’s. I was surprised at the extensive and reasonably priced menu options (few things over $20) that included Ahi tuna, fried calamari and margarita pizza.

I ordered the fried Ahi tuna. I’ve never had battered tuna before and I was delighted at the prospect of having raw fish in a fried casing. I’d recommend this dish, though perhaps with a bit of soy sauce because the sauce was a bit on the bland side. The vegetables were buttery, salty and delicious, definitely not your average push-to-the-side dish. Mom ordered the special of the day, which was some sort of fish encrusted in pecan. We all agreed that hers was the best.

There are additional Boscos locations in Nashville, Franklin and Little Rock, so eating here is not super local but it South local. So get your south on.

It turned out that my friend B was working. He came up to the table and introduced himself to my parents. They were excited that the friends that I have been telling them about are indeed not made up.