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Memphis in the Meantime
Saturday, April 12th, 2008The Agitatrix and I will be in Memphis the last weekend in April.
Any ideas on where to eat, stay, stuff not to miss, etc.?
I’m thinking the Stax Museum is must.
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Damn Radley, knowing what a music fan you are you are coming to Memphis one week too early…you are going to miss the Memphis in May Music Festival.
http://memphisinmay.org/documents/2008BSMFLineup31408.pdf
Of course, anytime of year is a good time to just bar hop down Beale street for some great music. I haven’t been but I hear B.B. King’s Blues Club is great for food and music.
Memphis has great BBQ and rib places. The Rendezvous is probably the most famous.
For food, Tsunami in Cooper-Young, Automatic Slim’s downtown, Abyssinia on Poplar if you crave Ethiopian and you weren’t from D.C.
About once a year, we do the sun studios tour. My 12 yo daughter loves going through it with me and it and it feels like hallowed ground.
For food and to settle in, try Itta Bena on Beale. It’s in the upstairs of B.B. King’s club (separate entrance) and is way cool. Good atmosphere, food, and above the maddening crowds of Beale. I’d have to disagree with Chris in AL about your timing. I wouldn’t wish the crowds, mud, impossible parking, etc. of Music Fest on any first-time visitor to our fair city. Go see the Stax Museum and truly do NOT miss the Civil Rights Museum and/or the Rock N Soul Museum (in the Gibson Guitar factory off Beale). Great stuff. As for BBQ, the Rendezvous is for tourists. Not bad, but certainly not Memphis’ best. For ribs, try the Barbecue Shop (on Madison in Midtown), Blues City (on Beale), or Interstate BBQ on South Third. Have fun. Stand on the bluffs and gaze at the Mighty Mississippi. As of now, it’s about three miles wide, flooding well into Arkansas. May have receded by the time you get here.
Arcade is a great diner (Elvis’s favorite booth is through the door all the way back on the left).
Civil Rights museum was worthwhile.
For dry rub ribs the Rendezvous is pretty good. For wet ribs your going to want to go to either Gridley’s or Corky’s. The way to tell if you’ve got a good bbq joint is by how many times it’s burnt down, Corky’s on Poplar Ave. has burnt down three times.
Central BBQ on Central or Summer is fantastic. Corky’s and the Rendezvous aren’t what they used to be, although the Rendezvous is the best one for celebrity sightings.
Hot 107.1 is the best Hip Hop Station in the Dirty Dirty. It’s the radio station in the movie Hustle and Flow.
Sun Studios is good. Graceland is what happens when you give a Mississippi redneck millions of dollars.
The Memphis Zombie Attack 2008 is April 25.
http://www.myspace.com/memphiszombies
Elvis is waiting for ya.
Radley,
Willl us Memphians have a chance to hear you speak somewhere, or is this a personal trip?
For blues music away from Beale Street, Wild Bill’s on Vollontine (sp?) is an excellent experience–everyone sits at long, cafeteria-style tables and soul food and 40-oz. bottles of beer are served.
Yes, the Stax Museum is excellent. I went to the Rendezvous last fall and it was very good. People in Memphis are very friendly.
ah Memphis, my birthplace. to reitterate what is mentioned above,
get to Corky’s (for wet ribs) or Rendezvous (dry ribs). Of course, if you miss that, they fedex it out to the east coast.
Civil Rights Museum
Stax, Sun
I’d skip Mud Island (is that even open anymore?), but check out the waterfront and gaze at the awesomeness of the Mighty Mississippi.
For bars, I’d recommend places in Midtown, Beale St. is a little too much like a tourist theme park. P&H Cafe, Bosco’s, Young Ave Deli. Have a great southern food lunch at Soul Fish Cafe. Go for an afternoon stroll around Overton Park, coffee at Otherlands.
For BBQ check out Central BBQ, Interstate BBQ, Payne’s, Cozy Corner… there are quite a few good BBQ places beyond Rendevous and Corky’s.
Downtown eating- Rendevous, Automatic Slim’s, Gus’ Fried Chicken, the Arcade.
memphis isnt that bad of a place to let yourself do what tourists do:
ribs at the rendevos, chicken and 40s at gus’, walk by the civil rights Museum, dont go to graceland, go to a redbirds game if they are in town, get a big beer on beale, walk the riverfront and wonder why they built that damn pyramid…go to Tunica (40 minutes away) and put it all on black
I second the suggestions above for ribs at the Rendezvous and the Sun Studio visit. You should definitely stay at the Peabody Hotel–it’s old, cool, and worth it for the daily duck parades alone.
That’s IF you have to go to Memphis….I’ll never go back, after my then-pregnant wife and I were stopped, detained roadside and rousted by the local cops. They brought out the drug dog, illegally searched the car, everything but a strip search….all apparently because we were driving an expensive (rental) car with out-of-state plates.
The Tennessee ACLU wanted to use us as a test case but my wife was too scared to even go back. I know you’re a law-abiding guy Radley, just like me. but watch your ass in Memphis.
I second many of the above recommendations: Sun Studio, The BBQ Shop (1782 Madision), Redbirds baseball (they’re at home that weekend), and the 2nd annual Memphis Zombie Attack on Beale St.
The recommendation I’ll add: eat breakfast at Buns on the Run, 2150 Elzey Ave. (Closed on Sunday and Monday.)