Memphis

Hello Forum! Taking daughter to Graceland BUT boyfriend and I are looking for AMAZING BBQ! Have a pretty good list from friends and internet investigating-would love comments or new "local" spots to dine!
Germantown Commissary
A&R Bar-B-Que
Interstate
Payne's
Rendezvous
The Little Tea Shop
Dryer's-deep fried cheeseburgers
Brothers Juniper's-breakfast
Thanks so much for any input or reviews!

I had better BBQ at B.B. Kings than Rendezous, but Interstate destroyed them both.

http://www.bbkingclubs.com/index.php?page=memmenu

I lived in Memphis for 5 yrs. I love Rendezvous ribs even though it is one of the most famous places. I think it would be a must visit for anyone.

Neely BBQ may be one of the more popular local spot and of course they have a TV show.
http://www.neelysbbq.com/

I've had Dyers, it's good but nothing special. I think I'd try this place that I saw on the Travel Channel if I was going to visit.

6. Gus's World Famous Hot & Spicy Fried Chicken
310 S Front St, Memphis, TN (Map)
901-527-4877

A favorite of the locals for whole, breaded wings is Crumpy's. This is their web page which just shows their locations. When I lived there I think they only had one.

http://crumpyshotwings.com/

Thanks so much for the scoop! Crumpy's sounds good-love super HOT wings! Love the Neely's Show but have only heard "it's good but not great" comments. Looking forward to a good time and good food!

After many a Liberty Bowls we found that Rendezvous was the best, actually locals think the same when we were asking.

Don't forget to visit Sun Studio when you are there, it's where it all began !

We like Rendezvous best by far. When we lived there, Germantown Commissary was close and not bad, Corky's was decent (the branches outside of the metro area aren't much, but in Memphis they're good), Interstate was very good, and others were OK, but if we were taking out-of-towners to dinner for the best we'd always hit Rendezvous!

Gus's fried chicken was mentioned above. The chicken is spectacular, spicy but not hot, perfectly crispy but not oily, wonderful. Before you go, realize that (1) it has a dirt/concrete floor in (2) an old run-down building (3) in a run-down part of town (go for lunch, NOT dinner) where the (4) sides include a slice of Wonderbread and what seems like canned beans or slaw. I'm truly not trying to scare you, but if you don't know the area and have a kid with you it's perfectly fine for lunch, but at dinner you'd look around and wonder what you're heading in to!

Central City BBQ is great, but a little farther from downtown. Pig on Beale has phenomenal ribs. They've won Memphis in May a few times. I believe they were voted the 3rd best ribs in the world by some publication. Skip Rendezvous. I ate there a few weeks ago and the ribs were terrible. They were tough and didn't have much meat on them at all. The dry rub is good, but that doesn't mean much if the meat isn't good.
If you're looking for a break from BBQ, try South of Beale. Its a very cool little Gastropub on the outskirts of downtown. Brittany and Ed are the owners and doing some very cool stuff.
Have fun. I love Memphis.

I'm truly not trying to scare you, but if you don't know the area and have a kid with you it's perfectly fine for lunch, but at dinner you'd look around and wonder what you're heading in to!

I've never been there but I looked up the address. It's right across the MS border in Southhaven MS. I looked on Google and there is a major hospital, several decent hotels and a Starbucks in the immediate area. I'm not sure if Gus's moved since Andrew visited but I think this is a safe area where they are located, day or night. But living there five years, I can understand how out of town people could get spooked driving to almost anywhere in Memphis because to get almost anywhere you may have to drive through some pretty rough parts of town.

And I'll have just have to disagree with Scott. Rendezvous is has to be one of the most consistent places on ribs, having being around for so long. I've never had bad ribs there on countless visits over 17yrs.

Annemarie, if you ask 30 different people in Memphis you may get 30 different answers on the best places to go. There's lots of places and there are differing opinions. I've been to Leonard's and sure they're still going strong.

my then husband's company is based out of memphis and we would fly down and eat at leonard's.
this was years ago and i noticed nobody mentioned them. are they (ribs) not good anymore?
they were one of the original rib places, since 1922 if i remember correctly. that was the to place to go at one time

Thanks again for even more ideas! Scott, if you see Beckmann at BoomBozz this week, let him know your thoughts-he is the main one ready to EAT BBQ Breakfast, lunch and dinner with a fried cheeseburger and wings for a snack! I think Interstate is a must as well as GUS's Wings! We are staying .3 miles from Beale Street-ONE day will be an all day downtown discovery day! Monday is Graceland...thanks again for all your thoughts and reviews!

Monday is Graceland...thanks again for all your thoughts and reviews!

I don't know if this means you are devoting an entire day to Graceland or think it will take a full day to see it, but I would figure 3 hours tops.

We aren't huge Elvis fans and we spent about 1 1/2 hour to complete the process.

Just a heads up if you wanted to plan something else for Monday.

re Gus's:

Gus's is a CHAIN. The original is in "downtown" Mason Tennessee, and people still come from all over the world for its fried chicken. The original owner then opened a "branch" in downtown Memphis (310 S. Front Street) in a totally run down area within 2 blocks of Beale Street, bright lights, et al, but in the run-down building I described. Note that recent reviews have called this one a "franchise", so I'm not sure if Gus still owns it or not, but it is still as described.

There are now two franchises for the restaurant. One franchise is in Mississippi as mentioned by Brian above; there is another franchise in Bartlett, which has varying reviews (mainly negative regarding help).

I still would go to the Memphis location for lunch - IF you love "down & dirty" but spectacular chicken!

my then husband's company is based out of memphis and we would fly down and eat at leonard's.
this was years ago and i noticed nobody mentioned them. are they (ribs) not good anymore?
they were one of the original rib places, since 1922 if i remember correctly. that was the to place to go at one time.

I don't know what happened to them . . . they're still there, and on some nights (call to find out) they have ribs on their buffet line (have both menu and buffet for lunch and dinner now), but nobody mentions them and - since we liked Rend. best - when we go back now we hit Rendezvous!

(BTW, Gridley's is also good, but way out in burbs - that was our mainstay when we lived there, but if you're downtown or in Graceland area not geographically convenient - and, while good, not as good as Rendezvous!)

Something just hit me . . .

In Louisville, when you mention ribs you're talking about baby backs. In Memphis, when you mention ribs you're talking about either the large, standard ribs or sometimes what the rest of the country calls St. Louis ribs. Many of the best Memphis BBQ places do not even sell baby backs!

I like the St. Louis better, as it's much meatier, but there is usually a "bite" to them (they don't fall apart at the touch of a fork, so some mistakenly call them tough), and if you're expecting baby backs you'll be surprised!

IMHO, Germantown Commissary, hands down. The building has some serious history, and the BBQ rocks. A college friend and Memphis native first took me there.