sTHE BIRTH OF THE KING AND SOME PRETTY GOOD Q
We were on our way back from eating breakfast at The Arcade and sure enough we drive right by Sun Studio…the birthplace of Elvis’ career…..
The Wife makes a u-turn, find a spot to park down the block and walk into the small building…..
As we get inside we are greeted with Wall-To-Wall people…..seems we weren’t the only ones wanting to see where Elvis got his start….it was so crowded it was hard to really stop and look at all the stuff on the walls….and there was some very cool stuff on the walls….just standing in that little studio and considering who had recorded there…..it was amazing….
We thought about buying tickets for the tour…..but decided against it with the drive to Nashville still ahead of us…..
After getting back to the hotel and packing up, we began our trek to Music City….before leaving Memphis we had one more stop to make…..Lenard’s BBQ…it was another Triple D spot and being on the way outta town…..it was a perfect way to end our three days in Memphis….
Lenard’s claims to be Elvis’ favorite BBQ joint….many places in Memphis claim to be Elvis’ favorite…..but if you think about how big The King was when he left us….maybe he did have a lot of favorite places…..
Lenard’s is a very nice joint….and might even hover above “joint” status….it is more restaurant than joint but the smell of BBQ fills the air so the fact that it was “nice” didn’t really take away from what I was expecting….
As the hostess showed us our seats, I was suddenly elated to find that this fancy establishment had a truck parked in the dinning room…..now how more “joint-like” can you be??????
I wanted the table right next to the truck…..I’m so glad The Wife has just accepted her fate and just kinda rolls with FatJoe….isn’t she a lucky girl….
We got our menus and started figurin’ out what we wanted….having just seen the Triple D episode that featured all the Memphis BBQ stops…..I knew I wanted to try some ribs and pork shoulder…..I ordered the ribs with a dry rub and the port shoulder “muddy” or wet……I went with a side of beans and slaw…..The Wife ordered a sliced brisket sandwich….
I snapped a few pics and the waitress returned with our drinks and some hot rolls….you could smell how good these rolls were gonna be….we both reached for the roll basket at the same time…..they were hot…..and with some real butter just inches away….the wait for our BBQ was going to be a good wait…..
They were even better than they looked…..
We scarfed all four rolls down and were just licking our fingers clean when our meals showed up….and from what I was seeing…..the Q looked like it was going to live up to the standard of those rolls….
I started with some of the slaw and found it heavy on the vinager but tasty…..then some beans…..very bbq-ey and good…..
I then dug into the ribs and they were pretty good…..not “Hunka-Hunka-Burnin’-Love” good….but good…..the ribs were tender, moist and the rub had a nice little bite to it….I then forked up some of the pork shoulder…..they were dripping with sauce….the pork was smokey and the sauce tangy….I liked the pork shoulder more than the ribs…..but both were good….
The Wife’s sandwich looked messy…..
Brisket covered in sauce and potato salad…..for the first time she would need more napkins than I would….
As we were leaving the Memphis city limits I took a moment to reveiw what I had eaten…..and there was some great food in Memphis…..I rate Tom’s BBQ, Uncle Lou’s, and The Arcade as “Must-Visits”……Lenard’s as a “Worth-A-Shot”….and Marlowe’s as kinda “Not-So-Much”…..
Can’t wait to go back and try all the other joints……we both agreed that Memphis would be a return visit kinda place….
And now for the Brisket Pics….
She’s growing fast….
EAT WITH FATJOE 