Mississippi Guide and Deals

The pizza chefs at Johnny Brusco’s pack a menu full of saucy dough disks, which can be customized with a lineup of fresh veggies and meats. Warm up appetites with an order of garlic knots, which come tinged with a crisp golden brown color and carefully tied by an accomplished Eagle Scout. The restaurant's skilled pie personnel sling large New York–style pizzas in a full regulation size of 16 inches. Add personality to your pizza without the hassle of assigning it a Social Security number by decking the crust out in any of 15 regular toppings, which include minced garlic, pineapple, or zesty italian sausage.

Bead Towne's classes range in price from $10 to $30 and possibly more, depending on supplies; a variety of options are offered for fledgling-finding fumblers and bead-wielding artisans alike. Classes are often created with customer suggestions in mind; request a specific type of class, and Bead Towne will do its best to accommodate you. Past offerings have included earring workshops ($15), pearl rope bracelets ($38), and making swirl beads with polymer clay ($20). Learn the basic skills of jewelry construction from seasoned instructors. Then you can go to town customizing bracelets and rings into towering, hubris-laden stacks of glittering crystals that threaten to buckle the knees of their wearers. The store stocks everything from Czech glass and fire-polished crystals to semi-precious gems and Swarovski crystals, as well as the tools needed to construct accessories for your bridesmaids or your bejeweled boatswain. Classes usually take place on Thursday and Saturday, but if you have a group of three or more who want to take a class together, you can arrange a girl's night out for a Friday night.

The two-hour cruise is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m., depart at 7 p.m., and return at 9 p.m., affording passengers plenty of time to successfully saturate taste buds, ear buds, and dance buds. As you set off into the sunset backdrop on the Mississippi River, the wafting aromas of a feast prepared onboard will tempt a range of palates. Select from salads, hot entrees, carving stations, and sides; choices include prime rib, roasted turkey, red beans and rice, steamed seasonal vegetables, and seasoned potatoes. Complimentary coffee, soft drinks, and tea abound, and tipplers can head to the cash bar for a classic cocktail. Panoramic windows, two enclosed decks, and two outdoor decks showcase the historic waterfront unfolding in front of you as live music invites dance muscles to twitch rhythmically under the stars.

The cooks at Pho Vietnam Restaurant freshly craft more than 90 authentic Vietnamese menu items complemented by bubble teas and other specialty drinks. Generously portioned specialty entrees, including the braised short ribs of the suong rang mang ($14.95), land on white tabletops flanked by sleek black booths and a colorful aquarium filled with more fish than an overindulgent grizzly. Sure-handed chefs craft stir-fries that include xao xa ot, a mixture of chicken and lemongrass ($11.95), and shrimp pad ka pao, which lets shrimp get cozy in a spicy basil sauce served with jasmine rice ($14.95). Soft red light emanates from tasseled globe fixtures, and palates become entranced by heaping bowls of pho, a soupy staple that combines rice noodles with the diner's choice of meat. The pho soup is diligently crafted over 10 hours, eschewing bullion in favor of all fresh ingredients, with options including eye of round steak, brisket, chicken, and crab ($6.95+). Mouth gears can stay lubricated for munchathons and congressional filibusters with 16 different flavors of bubble tea ($4) as well as time-honored Vietnamese beverages such as ca phe den nong (Vietnamese black coffee) ($4) and sinh to trai bo (avocado shakes) ($4).

Ballroom dance builds coordination, rhythm, and grace, and is an uncommonly enjoyable form of low-impact exercise for a high-impact blind date. The hip-limbering and feet-fancying Memphis Ballroom Dance Company can tackle the leftest of beginner left feet with the beginner ballroom dance class. Through a month's worth of once-weekly 50-minute lessons, you'll learn the basics of rumba, waltz, swing, foxtrot, and tango. Attend the Southhaven location on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. or the Collierville location on Saturdays at noon to sprinkle some rhythm in your bag of twists and shimmies. Unlike a marriage license, chess matches, and tandem Segways, you don't need a partner to attend ballroom lessons

Since swinging its doors open in 2007, Strike Zone Bowling Lanes has served as a community-first, family-oriented polestar for pin-pummeling action. Sphere flingers collect strikes and spares seven days per week, including during dance-fueled Boogie Bowl on Friday and Saturday evenings, and on Dollar Day Wednesdays, when $1 bills can be used to purchase single games or pooled into a bifocal fund for poor-sighted balls. In addition to hosting pickup games between friends, Strike Zone lends its alleys to globular engagements during league-play and birthday parties. Players on a break between frames can also venture into the facility's onsite pro shop, to stock up on gear, or into the arcade area, where video games and air-hockey tables help eyes and hands communicate and avoid using walkie-talkies.