Southern Food

It's just not possible to say you have visited Memphis without eating barbecue food. There seems to be BBQ restaurants on every corner. So...stops at a number of the more famous restaurants in the downtown area was "mandatory";

* Silky O'Sullivans on Beale Street is where the "Father of Barbecue" (Silky) reigned. He was the originator of BBQ contests in Ireland, Bankok, Russia, and Cuba.

The patio entrance to Silky O'Sullivans on Beale street.

The main dining room. It was not very busy during the early lunch time, but gets quite packed and somewhat rawdy during the late evening hours. Note all the college banners hanging from the ceiling.

Silky reigned as "King" of five different New Orleans Mardi Gras carnivals. These are his costumes.

The long bar.

  *Central Barbecue, located just behind the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, is one of the best places in Memphis for slow cooked BBQ ribs. The owner, Craig Blondis, has been on the "competition style" BBQ circuit since the early 1980's. The "wet" or "dry" ribs (i.e. With or without sauce) are really good. We just had to eat here twice in order to eat the ribs and BBQ chicken.

Central Barbecue's main entrance.

The main dining room is always packed.

The first time we ate here, we had the barbecue chicken. It was really good.

Since it is truly known for its BBQ pork ribs, we just had to return...

...and it was really, really good.

  *The Rendezvous Charcoal Ribs restaurant is down an alleyway opposite the Peabody hotel. Its motto is "Not since Adam has a rib been this famous." Opened in 1948, it now serves several thousand patrons on an average Saturday night.

Charles Vergo's Charcoal Ribs is an institution in its own right.

Although the full restaurant does not open until 5:00 pm, you can come in for its ribs over lunch.

It is also a sort of museum as well as a restaurant.

Some of the memorabilia found on all of the walls.

Portrait of Charles Vergo, the founder of Rendezvous.

The slow-cook rib cooker is always full ( they are served dry - i.e. without. sauce).

  * The other famous southern food is fried chicken. Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken is located on Front Street, just a block from South Main Street's Orpheum Theater and Beale Street. Gus's began in a roadside shack in a tiny town east of Memphis over sixty years ago. It has attained worldwide recognition as having some of the best fried chicken ever eaten.

The building's front is not much to look at, but like many "Mom & Pop" style restaurants, the food is good and the place is always packed.

The standard fare is not fancy looking but is REALLY good "eatin."

We got there early, before the lunch crowd arrived. Shortly afterwards, the place was packed.

You can watch them cook your meal in the open front kitchen.