It was looking as though my daughter and I were not going to have the chance to eat at Central. We pulled in, saw the line around the building, and went on to A & R. We came back, saw the line was no shorter, and went back to Beauty Shop. Now completely full, thanks to a thick (and bizarre) milkshake, we made our way toward our next destination. We asked a server at Beauty Shop whether she knew of any thrift stores in town; my daughter was ready for more bargain hunting. Continue reading “Central BBQ, Memphis TN”
Category: memphis
Beauty Shop, Memphis TN
As we were standing in line for Gus’s on the Saturday night of our trip to Memphis, Mike told us about this remarkable milkshake that he’d enjoyed the previous night. He said that it was a – get this – cinnamon chocolate chile pepper milkshake, and that it came from a place in the Cooper-Young neighborhood called Beauty Shop. “Well, heck,” I thought, “I am definitely going to have to check that out.” As you might have guessed, I do enjoy good milkshakes. And weird ones, too. Continue reading “Beauty Shop, Memphis TN”
A & R Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN
Driving south down Elvis Presley Boulevard into what the blog Memphis Que describes as “one of the poorest urban areas in the United States,” it’s not possible to avoid the feeling of shellshock. Much of Memphis feels distinctly and troublingly unhappy and impoverished. My daughter and I stopped into a strip mall on Lamar about an hour before we had a meal at A & R, and the feeling there was one of gloomy malaise and malignance, too. Much of Memphis also feels bright and full of sunshine as well, but the sad parts are expansive and the feeling lingers. Continue reading “A & R Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN”
Leonard’s Pit Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN
On the Sunday of our too-short visit to Memphis, the four of us started the morning at that city’s children’s museum, about which more in a later chapter, and then we dropped Marie and the baby off with her sister. My daughter and I then took off for Arkansas and a lot of barbecue. We soon turned around, because the first stop on our planned tour was, weirdly, closed, despite my phoning the day before to confirm they’d be open. Still, we crossed the Mississippi on the fantastic I-40 bridge and returned via the slightly less awesome I-55 bridge, which is how everybody should go to Arkansas and back. Continue reading “Leonard’s Pit Bar-B-Que, Memphis TN”
Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, Memphis TN
It takes about nine hours to get to Memphis from Atlanta if you take a leisurely detour in Oxford along with three or four baby relaxation stops. Eventually, we found our hotel, which was nowhere near anyplace we wanted to be, or where Marie’s sister lives. The Memphis in May shindig, which seems to be embraced by at least half the locals, encompasses four weekends of festivals, food and fun. The first weekend of the month is the Beale Street Music Festival, which, unlike some that we enjoy like AthFest or Bele Chere, charges a heady admission price, thus keeping us away from the center of Memphis tourism, and also banishing us to the first reasonably-priced hotel in the area, just outside the I-240 perimeter on the road to Nashville. Continue reading “Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, Memphis TN”
The Bar-B-Q Shop, Memphis TN
Here’s a restaurant that I genuinely waited a year to enjoy. When Marie and I went to Memphis to visit her younger sister in June of 2010 – “Never again visit Memphis in June,” I told myself, “because it’s too darn hot.” Shows how I listen. – Anne suggested that we eat at The Bar-B-Q Shop. She and her boyfriend and her housemates all agree that this is the best of Memphis’s many amazing barbecue restaurants. Unfortunately, we had Sunday free for eating out, and this is one of those aggravating places that closes on Sunday. We ended up at Jim Neely’s Interstate instead, and I had no complaints. Continue reading “The Bar-B-Q Shop, Memphis TN”
Coletta’s, Memphis TN
On the Sunday we were in Memphis, I chose to wear my Zeb Dean’s T-shirt. I packed it even before we established the bizarre truth that Marie had not selected a barbecue restaurant for us to try. It’s just that I’m going to carry my home town pride with me, and even though Danielsville’s not my home town, I wasn’t about to visit a barbecue-happy city like Memphis without wearing my local colors somehow, much in the same way that I want to pack my Bulldog shirt when I’m in somebody else’s football town. Continue reading “Coletta’s, Memphis TN”
Marie, Let's Eat! 