Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Legendary Pitmasters Past and Present: Charlie Vergos

In keeping with the Tennessee theme for the week, I have picked a Memphis legend to highlight during this week's segment of Legendary Pitmasters. This is the second installment of the weekly, 12 part series.

Week 1: Chris Lilly                     Week 7:             

Week 2: Charlie Vergos              Week 8:

Week 3:                                    Week 9:

Week 4:                                    Week 10:

Week 5:                                    Week 11:

Week 6:                                    Week 12:



Pitmaster: Charlie Vergos aka "Mr. Downtown"





Positions: Founder and former owner of Rendezvous Restaurant, background supporter and advisor to the happenings of downtown Memphis 


Still Living: No, died in 2010

Restaurant: Rendezvous, Memphis, TN; Food can be ordered through FedEx and shipped to any location

Years in Business: Began barbecuing in 1948, found a coal chute in the basement of his diner and eventually expanded from serving ham and cheese sandwiches to ribs, his restaurant is now run by his kids

Vitals: Second generation Greek American, brought the concept of a dry rub to Memphis which is similar to traditional Greek and Cajun seasonings; One of the first restaurants to offer barbecue through FedEx shipping to any location in the United States; Unique in that only charcoal is used to smoke meats

Specialties: Ribs!! Although a rub is put on the ribs, the folks at Rendezvous consider their ribs a cross between wet and dry ribs. They discourage people from referring to their ribs as dry. Also, they still offer ham and cheese sandwiches on the menu as an appetizer or entree. Most people do not know that Charlie Vergos was serving ham and cheese sandwiches before he was serving ribs.The most interesting item on the menu is the barbecue shrimp. It is cooked in a skillet and requires 24 hours of advanced notice to order them.

Qoute: “People want to get into too much philosophical detail about barbecue. From my perspective, there are two things that make barbecue special—and two things only. One, it tastes really good. And two, it never goes out of style,” John Vergos, co-owner of the Rendezvous and the son of Charles Vergos, menshealth.com profile of restaurants in the Southeast

Sources:

Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous

WMCTV

nytimes.com

menshealth.com

Videos:

Interview with John Vergos, Son of Charlie Vergos


Interview with a Manager at Rendezvous



Barbecue is Truly International! Does Anybody Know What He is Saying?

















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