Memphis Adventures

Hi ya'll...sorry...need to get my west coast accent back. Bree and I came back from our Tennessee trip and it was great. Awesome food, friendly people, and lots of places to drink. Here's what went down:

Day #1
-A&R's Barbeque 4 Stars
Very simple tables and chairs with a deli-style counter for to-go orders. Pretty run down, but with three flat screen tvs on the walls showing ESPN. This is a place you come to hang out and enjoy some grub, not impress a date.

Entrees:
Bree- Brisket platter, sides: Fried okra and BBQ Baked Beans
Andres- Pulled Pork platter, sides: Seasoned Fries and BBQ Baked Beans

Food: First off, the portions were very generous. Bree's brisket was tender and practically melted in your mouth. The fried okra was nice and crispy. The baked beans were some of the best I've ever had. And the seasoned fries were nothing special. The pulled pork was delicious, if not slightly dry. Although this is a completely personal matter, I found the BBQ sauce to be slightly too sweet, I like to have a little kick to my BBQ sauce, but again, a personal choice.
Service: Like I said, a pretty run-down place, and it took a few minutes for anyone to realize we were there (all the workers were pretty much in the back), but when we were seated and helped, the waitress was very friendly. Not too quick to check back up on us, but that was just fine as we were enjoying our food.
Overall: Great place recommended to us by the hotel guide in our rooms. Very reasonably priced, huge portions, and fried okra that even the most resistant child would eat.

-B.B. Kings Restaurant and Blues Club 4.2 Stars
So we came to B.B. Kings after some A&R's for some drinks. It was the brightest spot on Beale St. (Bree: "the poor man's Bourbon Street"). Went in, guy charged us a $5 cover for the 3 of us...excellent (normally it's $3 a head). Went upstairs and found ourselves a table. Ordered some rum and cokes, which were nice and strong. But what was really awesome about this place is its house band. Amazing instrumentalists and vocalists. Everyone really got into the music and it was a great spot just to hang out.
Food: Didn't have food. Sorry. A&R's was filling I tell you! But for what it's worth, the table next to us had fried pickles, and they looked amazing.
Service: Not bad. Waitress came by every once in awhile, but not quite as attentive as the night got busier.

Day#2
-Denny's (no...we're not gonna do it)
-The Flying Saucer 3.5 Stars

Apps:
Bree: Rocket-Tots- Cheese and pepper potato tots with habanero sour cream dip
Andres: Chicken Snack- Basically fried chicken tenders with fries.

Food: We came here just looking for a snack, but found a beer-drinkers paradise. The Rocket-Tots were delicious and the habanero sour cream dip was a nice touch. The chicken tenders weren't anything extraordinary, but they were hot and moist.

Service: Waitresses were really friendly and sociable. We decided to bust out Bree's Indiana Jones cards for some card games. The waitress asked if they were like Magic cards....No....they are just poker cards. But I can see where she was confused. The Indiana Jones symbols are pretty weird.

Overall: Great place to hang, but lots of smoke. Ridiculously huge selection of beers, over 300 to choose from. They even have golden plates on the walls dedicated to the brave souls who joined their U.F.O. Club and have drank more than 300 different kinds. Impressive.

-Superior Bar on Beale Street 2.9 Stars
Another restaurant/bar on Beale St. Actually heard the karaoke singing from the night before on went on the recommendation of a local. Ironically...not superior at all.

Entrees:
Bree- Fried Catfish Platter, sides: Hushpuppies, Slaw, and BBQ Baked Beans
Andres- BBQ Sampler Platter- Ribs, Pulled Pork, Smoked Sausage, BBQ Baked Beans

Food: Bree described her catfish as pretty dry and everything else was slightly sub-par. My BBQ ribs, which are served dry in Memphis, fell right off the bone, the sausage was nice and crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. Unfortunately, the pulled pork was quite dry, and the BBQ Baked beans on both out platters were runny and flavorless.
Service: Very friendly and attentive....at first. For some reason she seemed stressed out and a bit frayed. If it wasn't for her slightly off-putting worry, the whole experience would have been more enjoyable.
Overall: With all the other great choices on Beale Street, we find ourselves giving you readers the advice of not going to the less than superior Superior Bar on Beale Street.

-Alfred's On Beale 4.3 Stars
Voted #1 Dance Club in Memphis 2007?? Well then...excellent. Seemed really really dead on the inside, but we asked if there was going to be a live band. Yes? Well then, in we go.

Apps:
Sausage and Cheese Plate: Pepperjack, cheddar, and crisp sausage served with BBQ seasoning and honey mustard.

Food: With our filled up stomachs of less-than adequate food from Superiors, we weren't that hungry until about 6 rum and cokes into the night. But we ended up getting the Sausage and Cheese platter. The texture of the cheese was slightly off-putting because the warm sausage had melted it just slightly. The sausage, however, was delicious. Seasoned well, crispy, and went well with the honey mustard.
Service: Okay. Please note that I am not exaggerating when I am seriously considering this lovely young lady from Memphis waitress of the decade. Very charismatic, always checked in, hardly let our glasses go empty. But most impressive was that she, alone, was covering more than half the room. She looked like Supergirl I tell you, zooming from table to table. It was extremely impressive and she made the whole Alfred's experience that much better.
Overall: The live band was great, but what made the night enjoyable was the amazing service and view of Memphis-folk dancing to the Top 20 hits of today.

Day #3
- Miss Polly's Soul Food Cafe 4.1 Stars
For breakfast we walked on over to Miss Polly's and can I just say?...it was a good decision.

Entrees:
Bree- Southern Scramble, scrambled eggs, topped with bacons bits, country gravy, sides: grits, toast
Andres- Country Fried Chicken, sides: grits, eggs, biscuit

Food: Bree enjoyed her basic breakfast of eggs and toast. She also enjoyed the grits, which I found to be a little plain and missing some serious pats of butter. I, however, extremely enjoyed the perfectly fried, juicy piece of chicken i was served. A nice crunch followed by the richness of the gravy and the perfectly seasoned piece of chicken. And the biscuit was flaky, and buttery, and everything a biscuit should be.
Service: Didn't really pay much attention after we ordered. That may be because soft drinks aren't refillable. Yeah yeah, we had soda for breakfast, give us a break, we needed the caffeine.
Overall: A great place to come for breakfast, and from what I hear, all other meals are just as tasty.

-Huey's 4.2 Stars
The last stop on our Memphis adventure. We ran into it on our way to another restaurant we were gonna go to, but decided this place would be better.

Apps:
Fried Pickles, Cheese Fries, Onion Rings
Entrees:
Bree: Bluff City Burger- Kaiser Roll, smoked cheddar cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce and onion straws
Andres: Shrimp Po-Boy- Hoagie bun, roumalade sauce

Food: Everything was just amazing. And the portions were huge. The fried pickles and onion rings were great. And the cheese fried were okay. Onion rings aren't normally the size of your face, right? Well these were. The Bluff city burger was juicy and the BBQ sauce added a nice sweet flavor against the salty bacon. The Po-Boy was a bit boring looking, and bland tasting, but the roumalade gave it a nice kick.
Service: This lady was our best friend. She gave us our drinks, then promptly returned with carafes of soda! Carafes! Best. Friend. She made sure we were okay, and was really friendly the entire time we were there. Even though we kept deciding to put more things into our order.
Overall: A great place to hangout. TV's make is sport-fan friendly and if you like big portions, Huey's is definitely your place.


Well...that ends this incredibly huge post that is our Memphis Adventure. I hope that if any of you plan to visit Memphis, be sure to bring big appetites because this city's got a lot to offer.