Trip to Oxford and Memphis

We went up to Memphis this weekend, to eat barbecue and visit Graceland. I had never been to Memphis and I had wanted to go for years.
We spent Friday night at the in-laws house in Brookhaven, Mississippi, then drove up to Oxford for lunch. We stopped at Big Bad Breakfast, one of John Currence's restaurants. It's in a old shopping center that has been remodeled, just north of the town square. The people sitting next to us were talking about characters from William Faulkner novels. I got the Big Bad Breakfast plate, with country ham, fried eggs, home fries and toast, with a side of grits. My wife got a burger with cheese, bacon and a fried egg, with a side of sweet potato hash.
The ham was excellent, as was the homemade bread they used for the toast. The grits were really good too. But my wife's burger was great. They make their own bacon at Big Bad Breakfast, it's cured with brown sugar and Tabasco. It was out of this world. The homemade bun was nice too.





We stopped at Square Books and bought some reading material, then ducked into Proud Larry's for a pint. I had the first of many Wiseacre beers.
We drove into Memphis on Highway 78. It was kind of the gritty end of town. We were behind a flatbed truck carrying bees. We also saw a daytime hooker walking around. She was a solid 7.

We went to some vintage stores in midtown Memphis, then headed over to Wiseacre Brewing. They have a cool tap room. The weather was great and there were people spread out all over the place. The tap room was playing entire albums, so we enjoyed a couple of beers to Led Zeppelin II.

After that, we went to Buster's, a good liquor store. It was like Spec's, in Texas. There was a woman shopping there with a T-shirt that said "Memphis as frick". I later saw a hipster dude at the Peabody wearing the same shirt. Tip of a hat to the beer guy. I had picked out a bottle of Wiseacre's sour beer and he told me that the consensus about it was that it was kind of blue cheesy. So I put it back. It's always good when people at stores are looking out for you and making sure you get the best products, instead of trying to make a little more dough. Here's a picture of my haul:



We checked in to the hotel, had a couple of beers and caught an Uber to downtown. First stop was dinner at Charles Vergos' Rendezvous, a famous barbecue rib place. The place is so big and old, there was a whole floor to hang out and drink while you waited for a table. After about 40 minutes, they called us and we had a seat in the basement. We started off with an appetizer of lamb ribs. The first bite was a little gamey, but I got in to them. Charles Vergos is known for putting a ton of dry rub on their meat, you add the sauce yourself. The dry rub was kind of a Greek seasoning. It worked well with the fattiness of the ribs. There was a little chew to the ribs.



I got pork ribs for my entrée, my wife got a combo plate of pork ribs and beef brisket. The pork ribs were great --- I wanted to crack them open and suck out the marrow. The brisket was nice too.



After dinner, we walked around a bit. We headed toward Beale Street, but there were police everywhere and it was crazy crowded (turned out there was a shooting after a free concert). We went to the Flying Saucer downtown an I decided to turn up the evening by doing a shot of Fireball. After a drink there, we walked to the Bardog Tavern. That was a cool downtown bar with a decent beer selection. I decided to further turn up the evening by alternating Jagermeister shots with PBRs. A couple of grown up Ole Miss fratboys got into a fight in the bar, which was quickly broken up. I got a little off the chain and turned into a 4-year-old. I unscrewed a light fixture in the hotel hallway, than ran down the halls. Thank God security didn't catch me.

I woke up the next morning with the resolve not to do shots like a 21-year-old. The first stop of the day was at Arcade Restaurant, an old diner. While we waited for a table, we went over to a photography store. The woman working there told us about the Tennessee Brewery Revival, a pop-up that was going on at an old brewery. It sounded cool and it was close to the Arcade. The Arcade is like a little bit nicer version of Louie's. I got some massive combination of biscuits, sausage, gravy, hash browns and scrambled eggs, my wife got an omelet. There was a TV showing pictures of the famous people who had eaten at the restaurant, of the owner and his kid at Memphis Grizzlies games and of the waitresses hanging out around Memphis. The meal gave me a solid foundation upon which to begin my day.



After this hearty feast, we headed to the Tennessee Brewery. It's in an industrial part of town that's kind of gentrifying. The setup there was awesome. The interior of the place was massive and looks like a M.C. Escher drawing come to life. Artists had set stuff up, they were selling good local beers and there were a few food trucks posted up in the courtyard. All sorts of different people were hanging out there, having a good time. This sort of shite needs to happen in Baton Rouge or New Orleans.







We had a few beers, then headed back downtown to see the ducks at the Peabody hotel. We made a brief detour onto Beale Street. That place is a nastier version of Bourbon Street. Rough looking locals, trashy stores, tourist traps and a place selling 100 ounce hurricanes. I wasn't impressed.
We hung out at the Peabody and saw the ducks. We shared a table with a couple of Scottish ladies, who talked about how Mick Jagger obviously works out, but Keith Richards doesn't. After that, we returned to the hotel, changed and caught Uber out to dinner.