As the day wrapped up, and after we enjoyed a trip to the amazing Shangri-La Records, we picked up Marie and her sister from the con, dropped her at work, and drove on to our fourth barbecue destination, and then ran into a disappointment. I’d been looking forward to visiting Payne’s as our final stop on the Saturday expedition, but I did not do the proper research. They’re only open for lunch. We wouldn’t have one of their celebrated pig sandwiches on this visit after all. So we went back to the hotel for me to reconsider plans, and everything turned out all right. I even got to learn about a long-vanished chain of barbecue restaurants that I did not know about previously. Continue reading “Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q, Memphis TN”
Category: memphis
Tops Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN
Well, I done Tops wrong, to be blunt. I had mistakenly assumed that they were a sort of Memphis version of some other regional fast food barbecue chains, like Whitt’s or Rick’s in middle Tennessee / northern Alabama, or Buddy’s around Knoxville, where meat is smoked in one location and moved around to others and kept in warmers. It turns out that Tops, which has fourteen stores in the area – one of which is across the river in Arkansas, and another two in Mississippi – smokes the meat in each location. They use an indoor pit in each store, and the children and I visited the oldest existing restaurant on Rhodes Avenue in East Memphis, thinking, incorrectly, that they do all the smoking here. Continue reading “Tops Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN”
Cozy Corner Restaurant, Memphis TN
My plans for the day o’ barbecue in Memphis took a hit when the venerable, and extremely popular, Cozy Corner Restaurant was damaged by a fire in January and was forced to close. Happily, a few days before our trip, Southern Living writer Robert Moss tweeted out that they would reopen in temporary digs across the street. The owners of Encore Cafe had reached out to them, giving Cozy Corner a stopover home with an abbreviated menu while their restaurant was repaired. Continue reading “Cozy Corner Restaurant, Memphis TN”
Leonard’s Pit Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN (take two)
A couple of chapters back, I mentioned how quite a few restaurants in this part of the country go to town on the Elvis memorabilia, even if there may be some disagreement as to how much influence that The King had on their cash registers while he was living. Leonard’s does not play up the Elvis angle, but he really did seem to enjoy this place. There are stories aplenty about how he’d rent the previous location, at 1140 South Bellevue, for all-night parties in the early 1960s. Continue reading “Leonard’s Pit Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN (take two)”
Saigon Le, Memphis TN (CLOSED)
We were last in Memphis three years ago. We had planned a trip last spring, but couldn’t make it work, and so this time we scheduled it around Marie’s birthday, so she could celebrate with her sister, who lives in town, and her brother, who was planning to come that way for MidSouthCon anyhow. I batted a few ideas around with Marie’s sister, who recommended that we have at least a small break from barbecue to sample something else in the city. She said that there are some excellent Vietnamese restaurants in town, including Saigon Le, which is just a few blocks from her place in midtown, on the corner of Cleveland and Court. Continue reading “Saigon Le, Memphis TN (CLOSED)”
Gibson’s Donuts, Memphis TN
The last time we were in Chattanooga, we stopped by that city’s children’s museum, prompting me to write a few paragraphs in praise of these fun little getaways. If you’ve Googled your way to our blog because you’d like to read a short thing or two about Gibson’s Donuts, then hit your Page Down button a couple of times. Before I get there, I’d like to reiterate what I said previously for the benefit of our road tripping audience. Continue reading “Gibson’s Donuts, Memphis TN”
Marie, meanwhile, in Memphis…
This is Marie, contributing an article about how the baby and I spent the Sunday in Memphis while Grant and Big Sis went off in search of barbecue, thrift stores, and other entertainment. The visit was primarily an opportunity for my siblings and mother to enjoy spoiling the baby. This task was, of course, efficiently accomplished during the course of the day. However, we had some meals worth mentioning in between gifts and playtime. Continue reading “Marie, meanwhile, in Memphis…”
Marie, Let's Eat! 