Jack held up ten fingers in a basement on Friday night, and in our family that is a coronation. He had a dry rib in one hand, paprika up to his wrist and the look of a seven-year-old who has found his life's work. The rest of the weekend was the other three of us trying to talk him into a second opinion.
We left Spring Hill at 3:00 on Friday, June 13, as soon as Ryan got home from the plant, and drove about 210 miles west on I-840 and I-40. Waylon stayed next door with Deb and Marcus. Our hotel was near the river and had its own free lot, which downtown Memphis does not hand out to everybody. Two nights came to $262 with tax. The plan was three barbecue places in two days, the National Civil Rights Museum and Beale Street in daylight, when it's a street a seven-year-old can walk down.
Three places, ranked by Jack
The basement rib joint downtown. You walk down an alley and then down a set of stairs into a big, loud room with every inch of wall covered. The ribs here are the dry kind: cooked over charcoal, mopped with a vinegar wash and dusted with a rub heavy on paprika and garlic. The vinegar is the part people miss. It gives the rub something to stick to, and the sourness makes the meat taste juicy with no sauce on the plate at all. Jack: 10. Ryan finished his half rack, wiped his hands and said, "I can do that at home." Dinner for four was $78.
An old barbecue place with pulled pork and slaw on top. Saturday lunch was the Memphis sandwich I had been waiting for: pulled pork on a plain bun with coleslaw piled on top of the meat, not on the side. Cold, crunchy slaw against warm, fatty pork is the whole point. They also served wet ribs, glazed in a sweet tomato sauce, and this is where the argument started. Nora, who doesn't like spicy food, had done her one bite of Jack's dry rib the night before under our one-bite rule, said it "tasted like a sneeze" and declared herself team wet. Jack: 8 for the sandwich, 7 for the wet ribs ("too sticky"). Lunch was $64.
A counter-service joint in an old gas station. On Sunday we stopped on the way out of town at a little place in a converted gas station, where you order at the counter and eat in the car if the two tables are taken. We got chopped pork sandwiches with a bright yellow mustard slaw and, because every trip gets one dish we've never eaten, a smoked bologna sandwich: a thick slice of bologna smoked and then griddled until the edges curl up. I expected a joke and got one of the best sandwiches of the weekend. Jack: 9. That stop was $41.
Between the barbecue
Saturday morning we went to the National Civil Rights Museum, built around the old motel where Dr. King was killed in 1968. We went early, before the crowds, and I'm not going to try to sum it up on a food blog. Nora read every panel. Jack asked questions all the way to lunch, and they were good questions.
Afterward we walked Beale Street in daylight, which is a different street from the one on the postcards. The neon was off, somebody was hosing down the sidewalk, and the brass music notes set into the pavement were easy to read. Nora photographed every one with a name she recognized from music class. Then we walked down to the river and looked at the Mississippi for a while, which is all you really need to do with the Mississippi.
Saturday night nobody wanted barbecue, which I did not see coming. We swam in the hotel pool and ate a $27 pizza sitting on the beds. The rest of the food money went to breakfast pastries, ice cream on a hot afternoon and snacks for the road.
We came home arguing about wet versus dry, and I have a feeling the argument is moving to our patio.
What it cost
- Gas: $58 (about 450 miles with the driving around town, roughly 20.5 gallons at $2.85)
- Lodging: $262 (two nights at a hotel near the river, tax included, free parking)
- Food: $246 (ribs $78, Saturday lunch $64, pizza $27, the gas station stop $41, pastries, ice cream and road snacks $36)
- Admissions: $67 (National Civil Rights Museum for four)
- Parking: $18 (a lot near the museum and the meters near Beale)
- Total: $651
- Food per person: $61.50
