Below I have organized my experiences with Memphis barbecue by categorizing them by The Good, The Bad, and The Smokey.
The Good:
On our first full day in Memphis, my wife and I traveled to Corky's BBQ for a quick lunch. Just for your information, Corky's is not in downtown Memphis. It is still within the city limits, but I would estimate it is a 10-15 minute drive from popular tourist destinations such as Bourbon Street, the Grizzles' basketball forum, and the Civil Rights Museum. The parking around Corky's was tight, so I would not drive your new Ford F350 or a church van there.Once I managed to navigate our Toyota Corolla into a parking spot, my wife and I eagerly walked inside the restaurant. What we saw was a bit surprising.
It seemed that tourists were seated at most of the tables. How did I know they were tourists? It was easy to tell. Many of them looked as though they were from foreign countries while others talked in accents which ranged from American Standard to the nasal accents of the Midwest. What was absent from most of the tables was the Deep South drawl which is characteristic of Memphis. I was second guessing my decision to eat at Corky's since it appeared locals had avoided the place on that particular afternoon. However, it was cool to see people from so many different cultures enjoying barbecue. You have to remember, I am from the Deep South, and us Southerners from the heart of the South sometimes forget that barbecue can be found across the country.
Once seated, I ordered a full rack of dry rubbed ribs. They were good. The ribs were tender and well seasoned. They had a deep smoke flavor and the sight of them was undeniably visually appealing. I would not classify them as great. The dry rub got kind of old after a while. Perhaps me being a Georgian had something to do with my slight displeasure. Us Georgians tend to prefer our ribs wet. The best part about the meal was the portions. I was able to take a few ribs to the hotel room and eat them for breakfast the next morning.
*Corky's BBQ has multiple locations. We ate at the one in East Memphis, and there is even one in Pigeon Forge.
http://www.corkysbbq.com/
Brief Commercial About the History of Corky's
The Bad:
On our first night in Memphis, my wife and I checked into our hotel room and then traveled to Neely's Bar-B-Que for what was expected to be one of the best meals we had ever eaten. It was a disaster! When we arrived, we were not sure we had found the correct Neely's restaurant because the lights in the sign were half lit and the sign read Ne 's. My wife and I had a heart-to-heart discussion on whether we had found a liquor store or a wack imitation of the real Neely's restaurant. The experience got even worse from there.
We ordered our food and I chose the ribs. My ribs were tender, but the sauce was awful. It tasted like old bottled ketchup with a teaspoon of vinegar. It was bland and tasted worse than a generic brand of barbecue sauce found in a supermarket. My side of mac and cheese was even worse. It was made with processed cheese (a big no-no according to my culinary standards), and it also tasted store bought. The best way I can describe it is to imagine eating mac and cheese at a preschooler's birthday party. It is not homemade and comes from unmarked Styrofoam containers. YUK! My wife was severely disappointed in her barbecue and made the same mistake I did in ordering the mac and cheese.
The only enjoyable part of our dining experience were the other customers we met while eating there. We were all equally disappointed in our food, and it seemed that the shared disappointment brought us together in an unexpected bond of camaraderie and friendliness. We met another couple from Atlanta, and I felt bad because they had only one night in Memphis and wasted it on Neely's.
Disappointed Reviews of Neely's From Urbanspoon
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/50/541129/restaurant/Hickory-Ridge/Neelys-Bar-B-Que-Memphis
The Smokey:
The most impressive aspect of our trip to Memphis was the creative ways in which people smoked food. We ate at Pearl's Oyster House on Main Street. I was expecting to eat a decent plate of seafood, but I was pleasantly surprised to eat a meal full of what I call "Southern Smoke." I ordered the char grilled oysters topped with garlic chipolte butter and Parmesan cheese. The shells of the oysters were charred to a dark black while the oysters themselves were cooked to a state of juicy goodness. What made my meal even more pleasurable was the smoke flavor which filled the oysters' juicy goodness. I was not able to sneak a peek at the kitchen, but I assume the oysters were grilled over an open flame. Ultimately, the smoke and juiciness combined with a strong flavor of chipolte and cheese to form a solid seafood dinner in a city which is not known for its quality of seafood.
Pearl's Oyster House
229 South Main Street
Memphis, TN 38103
http://www.pearlsoysterhouse.com/
On our trip back from Memphis, we decided to swing down to the Mississippi Delta to visit the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi. It was a nice museum. The most interesting part of it is that it houses the cabin in which the bluesman Muddy Waters grew up. It was actually a slave cabin which was eventually converted to a cabin for more permanent living arrangements. After we finished visiting the museum, we traveled to Como, Mississippi to eat at Como Steakhouse. It was recommended by a coworker who is a native of Mississippi. The town of Como is located in Panola County. Panola County is interesting because it is located where a portion of the Delta and Piedmont regions of Mississippi collide. When leaving the Delta and entering the Piedmont, it is interesting to be able to actually view the elevation rise and the soil turn from black to the more well known red clay which is commonly found throughout the Deep South. The landscape additionally changes from endless fields of cotton to rolling hills and cow pasture.
If you travel to Como, do not expect to see a bustling town where everybody visits main street on a Friday or Saturday afternoon. When we arrived in Como, we were a bit surprised to notice that the restaurant was the only thing bustling on an otherwise lonely small town street. The general lack of commercial activity within the town frightened us, but we trusted my coworker and proceeded inside.
I ordered the Porterhouse and my wife ordered the Pork Chops. The meat was stored in a freezer near the entrance of the restaurant, and it was fun to see the grill man pull our meat out and place it over an open grill. The meats were cooked in plain sight from where we were sitting, and it was entertaining to watch one man simultaneously cook 15 pieces of meat. It seemed it took very little time for our food to be cooked because we were so entertained, and what we ate was worth the trip to Memphis all by itself. Our food had a strong smokey flavor with a slight kick of charcoal. We also detected a hint of sweet flavor with a flare of hickory in it. I think much of the flavor stemmed from some type of fluid which was sprayed on top of the meats while they were grilled. Upon eating my steak, it immediately made it to my top five all time list (perhaps I will share that with you in a later post). My wife affirmatively stated that the pork chops were the best she had ever eaten.
Reviews of Como Steakhouse on Urbanspoon: Well Over 90%!
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/211/1068545/restaurant/Mississippi/Como-Steak-House-Como
Panola County, MS
Downtown Como, MS
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