Last week, I had the opportunity to spend several days in Memphis, TN, home to Stax Records, Graceland and of course, Memphis style BBQ.  Needless to say, I was stoked.  I ate bbq three out of the five nights I was in town.  On the other nights I went on pork hiatus, opting for fried chicken on one night and then sushi the other night because at that point, I was seriously craving something Asian that hadn’t been cooked for hours on a smoky grill.  But, there are way worse things to OD on than bbq and if you’re into slow cooked meat and delicious Southern soul food, then Memphis is the place for you. Just make sure you wear your eating pants.

First Night – Central BBQ
When I asked the agent at the Hertz Car rental desk which bbq joint she recommended, she gave me a pained look and said, “Well, it’s hard for me to answer that question because I’m not eating meat right now.”  Okay…

“But,” she added, “my favorite place is Central BBQ.”  Nice. So, that first night I took that rental car and drove it straight to Central BBQ.

Memphis BBQ is big on the pig

Notice the smoke coming out of the chimney. I figured that was a good sign.

Interesting. You see Memphis was named after the ancient city in Egypt but I'm not sure how many people in the Arab world today would dig on pig. But, it was also a shout out to Tunisia which was kind of timely.

Three meat combo meal (before): pulled pork, ribs (served dry) and sausage. The two sides were green beans and mac and cheese.

Three meat combo meal (after). Pulled pork - too dry and I had to gussy it up with sauce. Ribs - fatty, delicious and flavorful. Sausage - you can't really message up this kind of sausage. It was like smoky Hillshire Farms kielbasa. The green beans - reminded me of school cafeteria food. Mac and cheese - velveeta comes to mind.

Final verdict: Pretty good.

Next post: second night…