From Little Rock to Memphis

[VipAhyanaJames]

First time in Memphis, I stopped in Little Rock and decided to keep going and ended up here so Now What?? Newbie to the city just wondering what all Memphis has to offer.... me and my girlfriend are here for a minute i guess....

[bluffcityguy]

Originally Posted by VipAhyanaJames

First time in Memphis, I stopped in Little Rock and decided to keep going and ended up here so Now What?? Newbie to the city just wondering what all Memphis has to offer.... me and my girlfriend are here for a minute i guess....

The St. Louis Cardinals are in town tonight playing an exhibition game against the Memphis Redbirds, their AAA farm team. (Pardon me if you're not a baseball fan. Or if the game is sold out; I've had my tickets for a while, so I haven't kept track of how the ticket sale is going.)

Except for baseball games during the season, and eating out, I don't get out much. You've already seen the barbecue discussion, I see. If you can find a copy of the Memphis Flyer (the local alternative fishwrap; it can be found at most restaurants (I think) and at a lot of street corner distribution boxes downtown and Midtown) it should have a pretty good rundown of your local entertainment options for the weekend.

There's always Beale Street, I suppose. I don't go much, as it's gotten a bit too touristy for me. And I'm sure you're heard of a certain mansion owned by the heirs of rock and roll royalty that a lot of people still come here to visit...

Enjoy your visit.

Cheers,

bcg

[VipAhyanaJames]

wish i had read this earlier. Thanks I did get out to enjoy Beale street tonight tho. Memphis is awesome.

[HoustonRiley]

I'm here now BC I can't drive no more today!!! It's pretty!!

[VipAhyanaJames]

I'll be back in town next week and can't wait. I had a ball in Memphis. Hope to have more fun this time around.

[Satyrrical]

Ribs.

[VipAhyanaJames]

Originally Posted by Satyrrical

Ribs.

lol that's so random.

[Kabarakh]

Originally Posted by VipAhyanaJames

lol that's so random.

Nah. We're pretty packed with great BBQ places. Plenty of them have some kick ass ribs. We host the world's largest BBQ competition every year: BBQ fest, part of the Memphis in May festival. It's coming up soon (something going on every weekend). Might want to check it out.

[VipAhyanaJames]

Originally Posted by Kabarakh

Nah. We're pretty packed with great BBQ places. Plenty of them have some kick ass ribs. We host the world's largest BBQ competition every year: BBQ fest, part of the Memphis in May festival. It's coming up soon (something going on every weekend). Might want to check it out.

I was sold at "Ribs" to be completely honest. lol
I love me some BBQ. especially ribs. That's exactly what i had at the Blues Cafe on Beale and it was bone-sucking good. not to mention the sweet tea there was pretty great.
i must say I Love memphis a lot.

[bluffcityguy]

Originally Posted by VipAhyanaJames

I love me some BBQ. especially ribs. That's exactly what i had at the Blues Cafe on Beale and it was bone-sucking good. not to mention the sweet tea there was pretty great.

Craig David Meek literally wrote the book on Memphis barbecue:

Memphis Barbecue: A Succulent History of Smoke, Sauce & Soul

and if you're planning on making Memphis a regular stop, you might want to get a copy of it and devote some time studying it. Mr. Meek also maintained a Memphis barbecue blog for a while (sadly, he stopped blogging in 2014), and you might want to spend a little time groveling the archives there:

Memphis Que

One of the things Mr. Meek wrote a number of times at Memphis Que was that the "barbecue" you'll get on Beale Street is pretty mediocre, cooked in electric or gas-fired ovens, not slow cooked in smoke in the true Memphis style. For example, from his review of the ribs at Silky O'Sullivan's:

Beale Street is a fun place to walk around, drink, socialize and enjoy music. And it has plenty of food that is good enough to satisfy a case of alcohol-induced munchies. But I've already learned to dismiss all the claims of "Memphis best" and "world championship" barbecue on restaurant signs there as empty marketing hype. Even if an establishment has sponsored a team that won a Memphis in May championship, that team would have competed with a charcoal and wood competition cooker, not one of the electric or gas-fired ovens used throughout the restaurant kitchens on Beale.

Silky's offered ribs dinners in an assortment of sizes. This is common on Beale, although restaurants anywhere else in the city largely just stick to full or half-slab options. I ordered the six-bone meal since it was equivalent to the half-slab combos I usually order for lunch. The presentation was great. It arrived looking like the kind of dry-rub ribs I love from places like Leonard's, Memphis Barbecue Company and the Bar-B-Q Shop.

But as I've come to expect on Beale, as soon as I began pulling them apart there was no evidence of smoke in the taste or appearance of the meat. the rub had a really good flavor, but the oven-cooked meat had some unrendered chunks of fat I had to pull off. The slaw was good but the beans tasted like they were straight from a can. For a pleasant Saturday afternoon strolling around Beale it was still a pleasant lunch experience. The patio where we ate is heated in the winter and our server was friendly and helpful. But when a place is boasting its ribs will make everywhere else's "taste like Spam!" it should be serving better ribs than the ones I can grab from the drive-thru at the Tops near my house. Silky's doesn't.

If you want to have a good time in Memphis, Beale Street has plenty of great options. But if you are searching for some of the best barbecue in Memphis I'll leave you with one last bit of information. Most of the real, old-fashioned barbecue pits in Memphis restaurants are fueled by deliveries from the Charcoal Warehouse on Florida Street. That business goes through a 42,000-pound truckload of charcoal every week. During a recent visit there I asked the owner if he has ANY sales accounts on Beale Street these days. His answer was "no."

Source: More Beale Street - Silky O' Sullivan's

Next visit, you should make sure you get out of the Beale Street district and hunt down a few of the other Memphis BBQ classics. I'm sure you'll have no shortage of tour guides among the guys here if you want to ask for a little help.

Cheers,

bcg

[mrtenn15]

im from LR and i am about 30 min outside of Memphis right now still at some relatives from 4th of july. I think u missed out not seeing anyone in LR. At least on backpage. Ive lived here (millington) for about 2 years total, and the rest of my life in LR. I currently live in LR. I hate how at least in my search since ive been here you go to memphis or pay out the ass for an outcall... i mean literally nothing in between. well 1 or 2, yesterday fucking sucked as there is 1 in millington, nice body, Tits that mde me nearly cream my pants when i got the pic,,, but seems like even the question of a bbbj is scoffed at. I asked very early on in texts and didnt geta response...i chatted some more then in a rediculously round about way of asking found out no questions asked absolutely no chance in hell...Ill be happy to get back home where there are providers located all over, better deals, bbbjs, idk just my opinion, not knocking memphis but its not a safe place , downtown and alot of areas, so i just dont like the idea of going to an area where there is a heavy conventration of providers bc of cops and also those out there who know there are ppl coming in and out of that area and have cash on them....ne way my 2 cents