The 9:01: Highland Strip evolves with Maciel's, Belltower Coffeehouse, plus a Memphis Valentine's Day mixtape

Good morning in Memphis, where we're gifting you tunes and tacos, but first…

New on Highland 

When I was in high school, I lived a stone's throw from the Highland Strip (okay, if Riley Ferguson was throwing), and there are elements of the Strip's past that I definitely miss: Little Pigs barbecue, Memphis Comics & Records, and Highland Cue all featured prominently in my adolescence.

But the Strip, in those days at least, was not what it should have been as the primary commercial destination in a college district. There's reason to wonder if its current direction caters enough to the student population, but there's no doubt it's becoming a better place, and I sampled three new or new-to-me additions last night.

Tacos, coffee and cookies: Three great things that go great together? I've done the field work and can say, yes, absolutely.

Opening at 11 a.m. tomorrow at 525 S. Highland, in what was once Highland Cue, is Maciel's, an unexpected (to me, at least) second location of the Downtown tacos-and-tortas shop that's one of my favorite lunch spots. 

This second Maciel's is a partnership between the owner of the original (Manuel Martinez) and a group of entrepreneurs (including Taylor Berger and John Planchon) involved in Railgarten, Rec Room, and Loflin Yard. 

This second Maciel's seems bigger, or is at least more open, with a bar and about 20 tables in a big open room, with a nice back patio separated from the rear parking lot by a wooden fence.

The food that I sampled at last night's preview -- chips with salsa and chunky guacamole, chicken and steak tacos -- was as good as the Downtown location, and the menu includes tortas, quesadillas, nachos, and fajitas, all in the style of the western Mexican region of Michoacan. 

Especially interesting is the full bar and I think I've found my new drink: A Changuirongo, good tequila and fresh lime on ice with a bottle of Jarritos soda (my pick: Tamarindo) to pour over.

I'm of the opinion that a city can't have too much authentic Mexican food (heck, inauthentic will do in a pinch), and Maciel's food is distinctive even within the constellation of Memphis Mexican food. This was a good idea.

Before checking out Maciel's, I stopped in for coffee and some late-afternoon work at Belltower Coffeehouse (549 S. Highland), a newish strip addition a few doors south of Maciel's. 

Belltower is part coffee shop, part pottery studio, the brainchild of a couple of college-student entrepreneurs. Tom Bailey told their story here. 

It's kind of an ingenious idea: They make all of their own mugs and saucers and such, and sipping a warm, rich latte out of those handsome mugs is a winning sales pitch for more than coffee. 

Belltower offers pottery classes at different levels. But it's a good hang even if you're their to consume rather than create. The coffee and pastries are good (pro tip: s'mores brownie) and the wood-and-brick atmosphere manages to be both clean and cozy. (There are couches too.) I was impressed and will be back.

Post-Maciel's, we wandered down to Insomnia Cookies (545 S. Highland), which has been on the strip a little bit. The cookies come out warm, you can slip ice cream between them if you want to double-down on indulgence, and you can get them delivered within three miles until 3 a.m. 

Biggest personal concern about Highland: Pedestrian safety. Walking up to Maciel's, I saw three young women sprinting across the street, just ahead of a car bearing down considerably faster than whatever the speed limit is. 

A Valentine's Gift for You

Valentine’s Day is a Hallmark holiday, but we’ll go ahead and celebrate it here. And while I can’t cook dinner for you all, I’ll offer the next best thing: A mixtape of Memphis love songs.

Ground rules: Nothing too obvious, no artist repeats. This was not a painstaking process, just a bunch of eligible songs I like, thrown together yesterday afternoon.

In the digital age, mixtapes have turned into playlists, and have lost their shape as a result. Consider this, instead, a Maxell 60, with a “Classic” side (mid-1950s through mid-1970s) and “Modern” side (2000 to present).

Some quick liner notes:

“Classic side”: Johnny Ace was born and raised in Memphis and became a Beale Streeter, but skipped to Houston to launch a solo career and had skipped this mortal coil (victim of what legend deemed, and likely embellished, a Russian roulette game gone bad) by the time “Pledging My Love” became an R&B chart-topper in 1954. Those devotional opening piano licks always get me.

Ol’ Elvis is not a fashionable taste these days, but his Sun sides remain a wonderment. “I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine” is not one of the monuments of those sessions, but its lightness fits best here.

Carla Thomas’ “Let Me Be Good To You” and Otis Redding’s “It’s Growing” (a Motown cover) are among my favorite lesser-known gems from Stax’s “King & Queen.” They dueted on the former, but I prefer Thomas’ slinky solo version.

James Carr is known for torment (“The Dark End of the Street,” “Pouring Water on a Drowning Man”), but it’s nice hearing him pledging his love more happily on “I’m a Fool For You,” with a duet partner credited only as “a woman named Betty.”

“Love is a Doggone Good Thing” is a title that makes you feel good, and Eddie Floyd and the Stax crew manage to live up to it.

The Box Tops' “I Met Her in Church” plays with sin and salvation so knowingly it bumps up against satire, but in a city so churchy, I bet many have found their sweetie “in the Sunday morning light.” Singer Alex Chilton just slips through the “no repeat artists rule” with Big Star’s sweet proto-alt-rock standard “I’m in Love With a Girl.”

Hi Records shows its depth with thankful deeper cuts from Ann Peebles (“Make Me Yours”) and, of course, Al Green (“Look What You Done For Me”).

“Modern side”: Greg Cartwright has led or co-led three great modern Memphis bands, and the Compulsive Gamblers might (might) be ultimately be the least among them, but he gifted the group with his greatest masterpiece of throwback songwriting with “Stop & Think It Over.”

I think the late Di Anne Price may be the most underrated of Memphis musicians. I’m floored every single time I hear her husky voice grab hold of a song. “Tonight’s the Night” is from 2000’s “Wild Women.” Spin the whole thing.

Cory Branan’s “Hell-bent and Heart-first” captures the loopy energy of a meet-cute that lasts, and then follows it all the way down the line.

Harlan T. Bobo emerged on the Memphis scene with a kind of tormented romantic master statement (the album “Too Much Love”), but that only makes the later “Sweet Life” -- a big sigh of contentment even sweeter.

Rap/hip-hop might be the dominant Memphis pop music of the past decade or two, but Memphis rap is short on love songs. I’ll let that think piece linger (you’re welcome to it), but will instead spin “Sunny,” a fetching exception from Skewby, who shoulda been a contender

“Dearest” from Motel Mirrors (John Paul Keith and Amy Lavere; let’s get that new record already) is a Mickey & Sylvia cover and the way Keith and Lavere lace their voices around that swooning guitar lick sends me.

With a vocal assist for Kaitlyn Lawson, Mark Edgar Stuart’s “Wrapped Up in Nothing New” is a romantic anthem for the introverts and homebodies.

And speaking of settling down, Lucero’s “Throwback #2” is where a hard-touring leader of a rock and roll band decides to do just that. It ends with a marriage proposal. A real one.

Quick-and-Pop: The Grizzlies return to action tonight, hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team's last game before this weekend's All-Star Break. The Thunder are on the second-night of a back-to-back (losing to the Cleveland Lebrons on national TV last night) and the Grizzlies are well-rested, which would normally bode well for the home team, but ... . Right, this is not one of those seasons. For the Grizzlies, it's sounding like Chandler Parsons will return to the floor. 

From a reverse standings perspective, it's getting really tight. As of this morning, there are six teams tied at the bottom in the win column, with 18 a piece, the Grizzlies among them. Best bet for help tonight? Probably the Magic at home against the Hornets. 

Happening in Memphis Today: I can't keep up with all the Valentine's Day stuff, so I'm just going to let I Love Memphis hook you up (so to speak).  Our own Ron Maxey also offers five ideas. 

The Fadeout: A mixtape bonus cut, from Amy LaVere: 

Reach Chris Herrington at chris.herrington@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @chrisherrington and @herringtonNBA.