Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Restaurants End of Tomato Season at Green Hills Bar
Posted by Nicki Wood on Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 5:00 AM
Look at the fantastic green tomato basket we had last week at Spanky McGee's. I heard about the great food here from our builder, who said the daily special was always worth getting. But it's been discontinued, and so have the fried green tomatoes.
In their place is "bar food with a twist," including Rotel dip, fried pickles and shrimp and chicken skewers. The bar's got a new name too: Joe's.
Wonder whether the Spanky's management deliberately named it for (or didn't know about) the previous Joe's in Green Hills: an old-fashioned, smoky, sticky-floored, red-leather-seat joint, located where Bread & Company is now. That was back when Green Hills still had a laundromat and a hardware store. Also before the days of cell phones, so you called Joe's looking for people. You usually found them.
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"Joe's Village Inn" is the bar you are talking about. The feds forced Joe Lane to close it down because of the gambling ring he had going in there. Feds were limited in prosecuting him though because literally more than half of those on his "book" were judges, cops, politicians, and/or wealthy Belle Meade folk. Randall "Tex" Cobb (ex-boxer/actor....Uncommon Valor with Gene Hackman) was a bouncer at the door. Joe Frazier came in a good bit (Joe Lane was also a boxing promoter/manager back in the day....all his fights were honest I'm sure). Sounds like a great "Scene" cover article if you ask me. He then moved down the road and opened up the "End Zone" which was really a Lipscomb and/or Church of Christ "speak-easy". The Zone was one of the best dive bars in town for years. In its hey-day in the mid-late 90's there were 45 minute waits to get in for Monday night "drink-or-drown". The regulars though, Judges, Cheif of Police, 2 Headmasters, Lipscomb and/or Brentwood Academy and/or Father Ryan kids would just walk right through with no cover and no wait. Joe was busted again several times for paying off poker machines, playing craps on the pool table, etc. He eventually took on a partner about a year or two ago who actually is shadier than him. The partner took about 8 months to screw Joe out of the partnership, then he changed the name to.......Spanky McGee's.....worst bar name ever. Word has it Joe is close to opening up a new place on Charlotte. He's really just a good ole guy trying to make a good, hard illegal living. The guy at Spanky's though....be careful of that guy, I wouldnt trust him as far as I could throw him!
