We are about to head out to Shiloh National Battleground, about 120 miles from Memphis. A few days there then on to Chattanooga, where the boys will visit Chickamauga Battleground, we will see some of Will's family (I'm so excited!) and we'll do some chores that are easier to do in a big city - visit a Camping World, got to Costco, get haircuts, etc.
Memphis has been a wonderful surprise to us, in matters of the spirit and of the flesh. I will return to the former in another post, and focus here on the latter. Specifically on matters of animal flesh, barbecued or deep fried.
As I said in my last post, I did some research on our best eating options in Memphis after my friend Don said that my priority when visiting should be eating as much barbecue as possible. We are trying to stay on budget, so we've been pretty good about keeping in groceries and cooking in the RV. This strategy feel apart in the face of Memphis barbecue.
Here is a partial list of the "must visit" barbecue spots in Memphis, culled from Chowhound posts (I don't know if I mentioned this is the ultimate foodie resource on the web), reviews and friends' recommendations:
Payne's, Central BBQ, Cozy Corner, The BBQ Place, Neely's, Rendezvous, Gilsby's, Tom's, Interstate, Corky's.
After we ate at Payne's, we decided that we could go a little into debt to investigate Memphis barbecue more thoroughly. Our plan was to hit as many of the list above as possible while in Memphis.
The first place we tried, after Payne's, was Cozy Corner. Will and Ben were going into town to visit the Mississippi River Museum, so I asked them to pick up Cozy Corner ribs on their way home, since it was close.
They brought home a big paper bag, full of ribs and half a loaf of white bread. You get that at some BBQ places in Kansas City too. I guess it's to sop up the extra Q sauce, but I'm not a big fan of it. Why would I fill up on Wonder bread when I've got ribs in front of me?
Will and Ben were gushing about Cozy Corner. They said it was a bit run down but nothing like Payne's, and it felt like a real family place. Two boys - maybe 11 and 17 years old - were working the front counter and cash register. Their little sister, about 5 years old, took a liking to Ben and grabbed his hands to get him to dance with her.
We bit into the ribs and stopped and stared at each other. There are no words. I have never tasted anything like that in my life. They were the ultimate food.
On Sunday Will and I picked up ribs at Central BBQ after going to Al Green's church (service was from 11 to 2:45!). Central is in a very nice part of Memphis, with some of the biggest homes I've ever seen. The clientele looked like they had a lot more money too, and the waiters looked like college kids. The ribs were fantastic, but tasted a little over-smoked to me. The flesh was bright pink and it was almost like eating ham in Q sauce instead of ribs. I guess I've been ruined forever by Cozy Corner.
The next day Ben and Will went to Sun Studios (I was working on a chapter, as usual). They stopped off at Cozy Corner on their way home and IT WAS CLOSED. They are closed on Mondays. Gah. So they drove by Central and picked up more ribs. Which were again great, but not as great as Cozy Corner. So the next day Will and I picked up ribs at Cozy Corner. They were still the best ribs, but not quite as good as the first time. I don't THINK this is because I was tired of BBQ. I think it must just be really tricky to get everything exactly right.
In between all this ribs eating, we had breakfast at Miss Cordelia's on Mud Island. This is a very fancy part of town. It was odd to see new condos and nice cars and people jogging with baby strollers, after being in our part of Memphis for a week. Miss Cordelia's is an upscale grocery store with a little diner attached, kind of like a Bristol Farms but smaller and not a chain. They had several different kinds of goood coffee. Bliss. Ben and Will both had breakfast panini and I had a muffin stuffed with eggs and bacon. We bought some coffee and nice cheese and bread to bring back to the RV.
One final foodie report: Will and I went to Beale Street on Saturday night. An amazing experience, especially a street performer, a Mississippi Hills blues musician named Richard Johnston. We tried a Dyer's hamburger and fries there. The hamburger was a bit greasy but the fries were perfect. Dyer's advertises that they cook everything in 100 year old grease. Since they opened, they have strained their grease every night and added new as needed. When they moved to Beale Street a few years ago, they made a big deal out of bringing the grease along under police escort.
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