BBQ with Louise and Sass in Memphis
Trip Start
Nov 19, 2007
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Trip End
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Memphis,
Tennessee,
United States
Friday, September 19, 2008
Drove through heavy rain storms in Missouri and Arkansas to get to Memphis, TN for a couple of days. Our BBQ lovin friends Louise and Sass, agreed to drive 8 hours from GA to meet us for a sampling of what many claim to be ..."the best BBQ in America".
Sept. 20th.
After warm greetings, hugs and kisses, we headed off for lunch at Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ. Jodie and I had heard about this place last spring on our way west through Memphis and all four of us had read reviews that claimed the BBQ was outstanding. Another common claim was how nasty the employees are and how poor the service is. We decided that the opportunity to sample "the best BBQ" was worth any grief some rude employees could dish out, so in we went.
A friendly hostess seated us as soon as we entered the place and our waitress was warm, polite and happy to answer our questions about the menu. We chose to share everything and ended up ordering pork and beef ribs, pulled pork, and pork tips, along with their coleslaw and baked beans. Everything came out quickly and it was all very tasty. The pork ribs and slaw were everyone's favorite.
Feeling satisfied, we cruised around the city and its outskirts with Sass at the wheel of his car. We drove in and out of Graceland, The Pink Palace and plenty of side streets before heading over to check Louise and Sass into their downtown hotel.
Our next stop was the Peabody Hotel to see the "marching of the ducks" though the lobby. We got therr early and had coffee while we waited for the "show" to begin.
bridge over the Mississippi River
Every day, two times a day, 4 ducks walk down stairs from the huge marble fountain in the lobby, across a red carpet (that is rolled out each time for the occasion), into the elevator, where they ride to the roof top "Duck Palace" where they reside (for 3 months before a new group is brought in). The lobby filled up quickly and at least 100 people were lined up and around the fountain to watch the show. The "Duckmaster" put on a theatrical show with lots of pomp and pagentry (sp?) before he directed them to leave the fountain and walk across the red carpet to the waiting elevator. What a show! A brief history is that some hunters who were staying at the hotel many decades ago, got drunk, put their live duck decoys into the fountain one night (thinking it would be funny) and then went to bed forgetting about them. When the staff and guests saw the ducks in the morning, they were all amused and the hotel decided to adopt the practice and make it a tradition.That night, we went to The Rendevous for what has been billed the best BBQ in Memphis and we ordered the same things that we had at lunch, along with some lamb riblets (since we all love lamb). No question about it, the results were inconclusive (good sentence eh?), but we did all like the lamb riblets.
After dinner we walked over to Beale Street to hear some live music. Street performers were on and between every block and the music was pouring out of the many clubs that line both sides of the street. The night was warm and the smell of BBQ and cajun (strange to us considering where we were) filled the air. We heard lots of great music and enjoyed a nice walk before heading back to the RV for the night.
Sept. 21st.
Louise called to tell us about a fuel shortage that was hitting the area. They headed out ahead of us and we decided to all meet at our friend Phil's house in Nashville later in the day. We found diesel at a station along I-40, but lots of stations had bags over their pump handles to show they were out of fuel. The shortage was claimed to be from Hurricane Ike disrupting the distribution pipeline.
Comments
Hair!
Looks liek Jodies hair is getting longer and Andy's shorter! Andyman are you leaving a lock in each state? :) ~QT