2009 GLEE CLUB Memphis Meet-Up

Yep, That's the one. They must be related !!

Looks like a fantastic experience!!Food looks wonderful, smiles on everyones faces look wonderful, and thanks for sharing the experience!

I keep thinking that I need to attend one of the Roadfood experiences, although I am a teacher will lots of vacation time, a lot of them seem to happen when I am ultra busy at work and cannot take a day off..( would have loved the Memphis trip last weekend, but could not have taken Friday the 13th off since we are off this week)...maybe this summer I will be able to find the time and the place...

mayor al


Yep, That's the one. They must be related !!

Except that my beard is my metrosexuality.

SpeechPeach
   We hope you can make it to one of the get-togethers later in the year this year...but if not, mark your calandar for a visit to Charleston SC next President's Day Weekend. That promises to be a dandy.
  Janet and I hope to meet with the Delegation from So Alabama and Georgia later this year... We loved Mobile (while it is cool) and hope to see some folks there later this Spring.
   I was a teacher prior to retirement, I understand how the schedule gets tight at times....but OH those summer roadtrips !!

The Travelin Man

Poverty Pete


I'm guessing Louisville

Would you care to elaborate on your guess, sir?

I'm guessing your burger came from Kaelin's, and that the blonde waitress neglected to drape herself all over your greasy-smelling tee-shirt.

nocarolina


Travelin man, I haven't a clue where that atomic mutation of a burger came from, but I have to know: did you eat that all by yourself, or did you have to call on Buffetbuster to help you?   lol

I was not with Buffetbuster.  I was with another Roadfood semi-lurker, who consumed his own burger.

Thursday, February 12 - continued
After our successful opening run to A&R Bar-B-Que, it was back to the airport to pick-up the rest of our weekend travel companions - buffetbuster and the equally infamous Cousin Johnny!  It was almost like a reunion of sorts as the four of us had not been together since Austin last April.  With a couple of pieces of cake - pictured earlier by buffetbuster - we headed to our hotel for the quick 10 minute check-in and then were off in search of dinner.
 

It was off to Corky's Bar-B-Que for some indoor dining fun.  Now with four of us...we could do some damage on the ordering side of things!
 

After checking the lengthy menu...
 

...we started things off with a simple item, the Bar-B-Que Smoked Sausage & Cheese Plate.  It was a pleasant combination of of pickles, two kind of cheese, grapes and wonderfully flavored smoked sausage all dusted in dry rub. 
 

We followed up with the Bar-B-Que Pork Pizza.  Loaded with pork, this was gone in  minutes!
 
For the main course, we huddled briefly before deciding to try three different BBQ sandwiches to both develop a standard and do a little comparing!
 

First up, the Bar-B-Que Beef Sandwich - Jumbo, of course.  As we were in Memphis, the cole slaw was served on the sandwich.
 

Followed by the Bar-B-Que Pulled Chicken, Jumbo!  You can see the beans in the background and we'll get to those soon enough.
 

And finally, the Bar-B-Que Pork Sandwich, also Jumbo!
 

Here's a shot of the Trifecta, with a quarter of each sharing the plate.  Corky's is solid BBQ.  It's family friendly, large group accomadating and has a well chosen, varied menu.  All three sandwiches were really good with the meats being light and cooked to perfection.  There were no dried out parts which we were to find at later stops. 
 

Getting back to the beans, they were thick and loaded with pulled pork.  Really good...
 

...but when paired with hush puppies made from scratch and with a little jalapeno thrown in...
 

...this was a home run combo!  Note the absence of before-mentioned Trifecta!
 

The tab was reasonable for the four of us.
 

Our server both posed for a picture...
 

...and took ours...seated clockwise from the lower left, Brother Kerry, ChiTownDiner, buffetbuster and Cousin Johnny. 
 

Memphis has some cool neon - hey Signman - and this cute little guy on the inside was just begging me to pinch his cheek!
 

I love the Southern tradition of displaying photos of several generations of the owning family.
 

Outside the discussion had turned to selecting a location for our next dinner of the evening, but not before I snapped this pilot's mug...is this proof that pig's can fly?!
 
If you're looking for solid Memphis BBQ, Corky's has got it all.
 
Corky's BBQ
5259 Poplar Avenue
Memphis, TN 38119
Tel: 901-685-9744
 
www.corkeysmemphis.com
 
 
We dropped off Brother Kerry as he was a little tired from his 9-hour drive and the the remaining three of us headed downtown. 
 

After paying someone to watch our car, we headed over to the Rendezvous, located down an alley across from the famous Peabody Hotel.
 
/
Once inside, the senses are overwhelmed with every wall spot covered in something....
 

...like guns...and most other things imaginable.
 

As it was dinner number three for me, we choose carefully and began with a Meatless Red Beans & Rice.
 

Served with crackers, cheese, pickles and slaw, this was only fair.  I believe, had there been a sausage version, it would have been better.
 

The Pork Shoulder Sandwich with beans and slaw.  This was our favorite of the three items tried.  It was moist and plentiful.
 

We had heard so much about the dry-rub ribs, we ordered a full order.  These were delicious...meaty and moist, I finished my share without adding sauce.
 

Check out the meat on this bad boy...
 

Part historical, part touristy, the Rendezvous did have some pretty solid choices...and it's a short walk to Beale Street!
 
 
Charles Vergo's Rendezvous
52 South Second Street (in the alley)
Memphis, TN 38103
Tel:901-523-2746
 
www.hogsfly.com
 
Well, we'd been in town for four hours and had already hit three of Memphis' best.  We decided to head back to our hotel and get an early start on breakfast. 
 
Much more to come....

Chi Town Diner

I'm amazed at the platters of food-however the question is , did you at least share some if it with Kerry, Buffetbuster and Cousin Johnny???

TTM was not kidding when he indicated that CTD was a eating machine.  Three dinners in one evening would have put me down for days.  Generally, I eat only one meal a day.  How he does it is beyound me.
 
I was the receiver of some great beer he brought to Memphis.  Truly delicious and CTD, thank you.  He is a wonderful person.
 
I wish I had made a trip to the Rendezvous.
 
Paul E. smith
Knoxville, TN

CTD, as usual, great photos and report. I've got to get back to Memphis someday soon and try those dry-rub ribs at the Rendezvous, not to mention that BBQ pork sandwich at Corky's. On the way home last Sunday, I did some grocery-shopping in a small town in western TN, and one of the only-in-the-South things I found was a frozen dinner from Corky's; it contained pulled pork with sauce, barbequed beans and cinnamon apple slices. Me being me, I had to buy one and give it a try. Unfortunately, it was just what you'd expect from a frozen dinner ( bah. ) Oh well, live and learn.... 

I've really enjoyed reading all your trip reports from last weekend.  Thanks for sharing a memorable Roadfood experience.

wanderingjew


Chi Town Diner

I'm amazed at the platters of food-however the question is , did you at least share some if it with Kerry, Buffetbuster and Cousin Johnny???

What happens in Memphis stays in Memhis....

Sundancer -

Was great seeing you again...won't let it get as long next time!  glad you enjoyed the beer...I think I can russle some up from time to time!  Nice to see Roz also!

nocarolina -

Thanks for all your compliments also!  We never do learn our lessons on frozen dinners do we?  They sure know how to package things!

I'll start my leg of the trip.....

I thought I would summarize my trip prior to our meet up at Doe's....and then simply add some photos for the weekend event without duplicating too much detail....

Wednesday February 11

Its predictable that something has to go wrong with my flight whenever I start or end a Roadfood trip.  My direct flight to Nashville was supposed to leave TF Green in Providence at 3:45 PM, with a stop in Philly....I deliberately took half a day off of work that day. Of course when they announced due heavy traffic into Philly our flight won't leave until 5pm, I wasn't surprised.... This was the day of the midwest/mid south windstorm so perhaps that may have had  something to do with it.

I arrived in Nashville an hour late at 8:30pm, so there went my plans to visit Bolton's Hot Chicken, I called Poverty Pete to tell him that I will meet him there the next day at 11AM.  I got my one day rental car and drove to my hotel, about 3 miles outside of downtown. Since it was a beautiful although somewhat windy night and I wasn't that hungry, I decided to do a 2 1/2 mile roundtrip walk to Bosco's Brewpub. Bosco's is in the same neighborhood as Pancake Pantry, in fact they're across the street from eachother.  I ordered a Scottish Ale which was surprisingly good and malty and a grilled shrimp appetizer. I was tired and didn't want to order anything too heavy since I was walking back to my hotel. After relaxing with a good brew, I walked back to my hotel and called it a night.

Thursday February 12

I  walked to Fido's Coffee House Thursday Morning (located a few doors down from Pancake Pantry) sat down and enjoyed a couple of big cups of dark roast over the local paper. Prior to walking back to my hotel, I had to call Buffetbuster and "toy with him" by letting him know that I was standing right outside of Pancake Pantry and didn't even bother to eat there.

I arrived at Bolton's shortly before 11 AM.



 



As you can tell from the bars on the window, it's not exactly located in the greatest neighborhood.




Mr. Bolton was just opening up as I arrived and saw me taking photos, I explained I was on  a Roadfood trip and came all the way to Nashville to check out the restaurant. He knew all about Roadfood and smiled when I told him how I found out about the local specialty Hot Chicken. Poverty Pete called and said he was on his way.


When Poverty Pete arrived, we walked in and looked at the menu





But I think we knew what we were both getting...
I ordered the The Hot Chicken- leg quarter




Less greasy than the Hot Chicken I had at Prince's 4 months earlier. It also didn't pack as much searing heat which I thought was a good thing. I learned from Poverty Pete that "medium" at Prince's is "hot" just about anywhere else.
The other thing I liked about Bolton's is that the heat permeated the entire interior of the  leg quarter whereat Prince's it just scratched the surface "so to speak".  My only regret is that I didn't order a breast quarter to compare.

Poverty Pete ordered the Hot Fish sandwich




It looked good- but I guess I'll have to let Poverty Pete be the judge of how it tasted..

After my first lunch (yes you heard correctly) I will end up having two lunches I left Poverty Pete for the afternoon and
decided to visit The Hermitage- the home of our 7th president, Andrew Jackson.






Inside the visitors center there is a small museum depicting the life of our former president




Here is a lifesized replica of Andrew Jackson and his wife, Rachel, right after the war of 1812. I'm wondering if Rachel might have been an early Roadfooder??








After enjoying the museum, I took a brief walk on a Path leading to the Jackson's actual home where a guided tour awaits. Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside the home.  However I did see some livestock along the way.






After the guided tour, we were allowed to explore the grounds of the Plantation.

Here is the smokehouse



And the slaves quarters...









Here is where the Jacksons lives while the main house was being built



I can see why our former president chose this spot, it seems peaceful and ethereal with a brook nearby




The lovely garden is nicely landscaped and kept up after all these years.



The family plot is nearby




And this is where President and Ms. Jackson are entombed..








One former slave, who became a caretaker of the Hermitage wanted to be buried in the Jackson Family Plot and his wish was granted..




After leaving the Hermitage, I headed back towards the city for my second lunch

More to come!

Nice write WJ.  I always enjoy you exploring the area that you visit.  The last time I visited the Hermitage was in 1960.  That was a high school trip for me.
 
The chicken place sounded very good to me.  next time I am in Nashville, i will call PP and plan on a lunch there.
 
Your photos were very good.
 
Paul E. Smith
knoxville, TN

When you say hot fish in Nashville, you're normally referring to whiting. Actually, I had the grouper sandwich. Bolton's is the only place I can think of that does it. Grouper is lighter in taste than the whiting, thicker- cut and boneless.  Presentation is just the same; white bread Louisiana hot sauce pickles and mustard.

WJ -

Fours times to Nashville and still no Hermitage...got to get it in one of these times.

Poverty Pete -

Still remembering that hot fish place past the capital and the market you recommended to us...we loved it!

Gregg man, that is a whole helluva lot of pork.  Now I'm all sad I got TMd out of Bolton's--the chicken and fish look wonderful.

Paul,

I have to at least commend you on getting there 5 years before I was born!

Chi Town Diner

It took me 3 times!

Poverty Pete

If I was Chi Town Diner I could have ordered the breast quarter, the leg quarter, and the Grouper Sandwich and still be hungry enough for lunch #2

Nancypalooza

Remember planning in advance will prevent you from being TM'D!

ChiTownDiner would have eaten everything we ordered, then insisted on going to East Side for his Jumbo sandwich.
Paul, I'd be delighted to take you to Bolton's any time you feel like coming to town.

Thursday February 12 continued

After leaving the Hermitage, I headed back towards town for my next stop at Swetts for lunch #2.



Since 1954, Swett's is housed in a new looking sterile building without much character.

It was well after 3pm and obviously in between meals so I wasn't sure what to expect....

I ordered the Country Fried Steak, with sides of Turnip Greens, Beans, Squash Casserole and the locally favored, "griddled"  Corn Bread and unsweetened Iced Tea








And I had a tough decision for dessert- the Peach Cobbler looked good and so did the banana pudding, since I'm not Buffetbuster, I could only choose one.



So I went with the Peach Cobbler..

Despite being a tad "luke warm" everything was very good, I specifically enjoyed the Beans which had bits of pork in it and the Griddled Corn bread was almost as good as Joe's BBQ which I enjoyed on my last trip. The only thing I didn't like was the squash casserole, if anything it had the consistency of "pudding" and tasted like galvanized rubber. Overall despite the "odd tasting" Squash Casserole, I liked Swett's, and would consider returning, perhaps not during off hours.

After my second lunch, I called Poverty Pete to tell him where I was. We agreed to meet at his secret Tap Room, The Yazoo Tap Room- ha ha! I'm special- he didn't even take The Travelin Man there on his last visit in June!

Housed in the old Marathon Auto Factory



Here's some history about the Auto Plant.




It was a little tricky to get to, but I found it..



And I even found out where the beer was!



We also met up with Poverty Pete's coworker- I'm sorry but his name slipped my mind. I had the Sly Rye Porter  which I really really liked. It's not too often that I can find a good rye ale and I was certainly surpised to find it in Nashville.  I think I also had the hefeweizen but I'm not too sure.. We spent about an hour there and although I wasn't overly hungry, I thought I could fit in a hot fish sandwich for dinner.. First I followed Poverty Pete back to the airport so I could drop off my one day car rental.

After dropping my rental at the airport, I initially thought our plan was to go to Eastside Fish, but Poverty Pete warned me that their Hot Fish Sandwiches are huge- He recommended an alternative- King Fish



Which I remember passing on my last trip to Nashville this past October since it was near my hotel...Poverty Pete says this is one of his favorite Hot Fish Places...

I got the Hot Fish Sandwich




and Poverty Pete got the Fried Shrimp.



This time I actually got to try the Hot Fish with Hot Sauce which I forgot to put on last time......Overall, this was a pretty good sandwich, but I thought the fish tasted a little overdone I think I preferred the Hot Fish I experienced last time at Joe's BBQ a  little more.  Poverty Pete also thought his Fried Shrimp wasn't up to snuff....Perhaps we caught them on an off day. I would certainly give them another chance if I return to Nashville..

After dinner, Poverty Pete dropped me off at my hotel....since we have an early start on Friday....

Much more to come!

mayor al


Seeing that photo of I-95 looking like a Medicine Man Hawking his Snake Oil (door-prize) really came back to me when I saw this one of TTM's photos showing Ayersian doing pretty much the same thing with the Maple-Medicine last weekend !!

 
Anyone else notice the resemblance??

Ummm they are both holidng something??  
 
I can be such a smart arse at times!

CTD

What an awesome adventure you had, I am truly sad i missed this great adventure.  Your BBQ tour made my mouth water.

WJ

The Hermitage is one of my favorite Presidential places I have been too.  Your Hot Chicken and Fish looks outstanding.

Love these reports.  As a local, I am negative on Corkys and Rendevouz.  But, if you all enjoyed I am happy.  I am still a Central lover.  I am glad to see that you liked the dry ribs versus the wet.  Much better, IMHO.

WJ, so much history in that part of Tennessee.  I need to take those tours myself.

Ah, unsweet tea!.   Sacreligious in this part of the world, but the only why I will drink it.

Thanks for the wonderful report, Dale.  I have been to The Hermitage twice though my study of American history left me with a lot less admiration of President Jackson than many American historians. President Polk's grave is on the Capitol  grounds in Nashville. my roadfood trip to Nashville is one of my favorite memories.

I really appreciate the efforts being made to report the various stops and points of view expressed by many folks who participated in this weekend. Rather than just one 'travel report', The way this thread is going we are able to see thru the eyes of several people, not only the main stops on the tour, but a large number of "other spots" that really give some depth to the visit!  There are still more to come! We need to get TTM busy and I am looking forward to reading Chris and Amy's adventures as well.
 
Here's another teaser from TTM's  first round of photos. The group  as seen from his table at Cozy Corner.
 
 
Clockwise from the left-- Wandering Jew, Iwanago, Janet, Poverty Pete,  Mayor Al, Sundancer, Bob-NoCarolina, and Ayersian (Chris)

Boy, I wish I had known that my picture was being taken. I sure wouldn't have been sitting there licking sauce off my hand if I'd seen that camera pointed at me. This is downright 'barrassing!

Looks like nocarolina got the action shot!!!

Susanll

I know, unsweetened tea is sacreligious. If I had started this trip 10 lbs thinner I wouldn't have batted an eye, but I don't want to tempt fate if I didn't have too.


Mr Chips

If it weren't for history or baseball, "roadfood" and friends, what would be the purpose of these trips? I forgot that James K Polk was buried on the capital grounds.

CajunKing

I could probably go for another round of Hot Chicken and Hot Fish right now.

Friday February 13


As it turns out, this day in my opinion will be the best food day of the trip.

Poverty Pete showed up bright and early at my hotel, so off we were at 7am sharp!

We made a quick in and out stop at Fido's Coffeehouse so I could start the day with a good strong cuppa joe......I was looking forward to breakfast. Poverty Pete previously mentioned we would stop in Franklin TN- about 15 miles south of Nashville, and he thought that Henpeck Market would be a good idea for a breakfast stop.



(there's Poverty Pete walking towards the door)

Henpeck Market is basically a convenience store/gas station  that also just happens to serve good homemade food.



Basically you order at the counter and can get your meal to go or eat inside at one of the few sets of tables.

I ordered the country ham and eggs on a biscuit and a side of grits. The country ham had a substantially oinky and salty kick, a  compliment to the warm soft biscuit and eggs. The creamy earthy grits loaded with butter rounded out this southern breakfast.







A couple at a nearby table noticed me taking photos of the food and replied "you don't get out very often, do you?" I replied that I just got out of jail and that Poverty Pete was my parole officer. Seriously, i explained that we simply don't have these types of convenience stores in Rhode Island.

Poverty Pete had this bacon and egg sandwich which looked pretty good too.



Poverty Pete suggested that I may want to pick up some corn bread salad for the road- as interesting as it looked and sounded, I wanted to save my appetite for what was to come (and I'm glad I did)

After our short stop for breakfast, we headed back on the road somehow managed to pick up the Natchez Trace Parkway. We stopped at the Merriweather Lewis Cabin just off the parkway.




This is where Merrweather Lewis (of Lewis and Clarke fame) end up "offing himself"





We continued on, I was looking forward to our next stop- Shiloh National Battlefield, located about 10 miles from the Mississippi border.  I visited Fort Sumpter in South Carolina last year and visited Antietam battlefied in 2003 and was looking forward  to this one. The visitors center had a small museum and the battlefield itself was basically a do it yourself driving tour with noted stops along the map..











this is Bloody Pond. this is where soldiers bathed in an attempt to nurse their wounds. Both horses and men died in this pond, their blood turning the pond red.










Prior to arriving at Shiloh National Battlefied, we observed Hagy's Catfish Hotel practically right at the gate to the park. This was going to be our planned stop for lunch.



Housed in a rustic building overlooking the river, Hagy's Catfish Hotel reminded me of Jo Jo's catfish wharf in Mountain View Arkansas which I visited a decade earlier and which also happenned to be my first introduction to catfish.




I had a premonition that this meal would be promising when the Coleslaw arrived with a side of creamy sweet and sour dressing which you mix yourself.



And here is the result.




This was probably some of the best tasting slaw I ever had at a Catfish House. It was tempting to finish this before the meal arrived but I managed to keep myself under control..

Finally the rest of the meal arrives....

Sweet -hot n' crunchy hushpuppies...nuggests of "corny goodness"



Some so-so fries



And finally probably the freshest and cleanest tasting crispy catfish I've ever had...



This was definetely the best meal of the trip so far...

I was tempted to order dessert- the Lemon Rub Pie looked promising, but I had to forego it and save myself for dinner.....I know Buffetbuster was going to be dissapointed.

Here is the website for those that are interested..

www.catfishhotel.com

This is a true Roadfood destination.

After lunch we were on our way to Greenville...

more to come later....