All my homies!

Or perhaps both of my homies! Or my single homie! Is "homie" still accepted common vernacular?

No matter! You can now follow the Memphis Barbecue Map blog, which I presume will drive traffic to your blogs, where you can in turn add a gadget to list your followers and so on in an endless set of interlinking circles. Since the internet became Ouroboros long ago, it's only a perfunctory matter to make it official, like having a ceremony for a marriage between a long-cohabitating couple.

Anyway--box on the right. If you're reading this on an RSS reader, come visit and list yourself.

Visit: Tastee Barbecue

Stopped by Tastee [sic] Barbecue and had a pretty good sandwich for lunch. Solid, workmanlike. Worth a visit, and worth regular visits if you work in the neighborhood.

Barbecue sandwiches, burgers, plate lunches, and breakfast.

More detail here.

1028 E Brooks Rd
Memphis, TN 38116
(901) 332-3133

Visit: Buck's Smoking Pit

I had an abbreviated lunch hour today, and decided to make the quick trip to Buck's Smoking Pit to give the sandwich a try. I was a little concerned about whether they were open as I saw a padlock on the door and the carry-out window--but the padlock was merely on the open hasp of the door.

The menu's painted over the order counter: I tried the large hot pork shoulder sandwich. The proprietor made a point of saying that they had beef as well, but I like to be consistent the first time I go into a place.

Needless to say, I should have taken his advice. The shoulder was undercooked, with pieces of chewy fat, and no discernible smokiness. The sandwich itself wasn't bad (after I'd taken the pure fat off), but the meat would have benefited greatly from some additional time on the pit.

Buck's has lots of other options available, as well: Beef ribs, pork ribs, rib tips, bologna, sausage, pig feet, pig tails (that's new to me), and a handful of non-barbecue items. I'll have to give it another visit to try something that's not a barbecue sandwich.

Buck's Smoking Pit

On Saturdays when I've got to go into work I usually stop by the Memphis Farmer's Market since it's a little out of the way for a dedicated trip. Then I take some odd route through the city to get from there to work; the better for discovery. Today was down Mississippi Blvd, where I passed a place that hadn't popped up on any of the Google searches for "barbecue" or "restaurants" I'd done, and I might have needed verification to add anyway. In any case, Buck's Smoking Pit exists, is open for business, is on the map, and is going to be visited very soon, because it looks like it has the potential for greatness.

1293 Mississippi Blvd
Memphis, TN 38106
(901) 347-3127

Pollard's Barbecue

Updated map information for Pollard's Barbecue.

Pollard's is little more than a barbecue take-out counter located in a strip mall. Two chairs sit against the wall for folks to wait for their food, and a menu is set on the wall behind the counter.

They make a solid sandwich, however. The meat lacks some smokiness of an A&R sandwich, but with that distinction, the two are virtually identical. Also like A&R, they have warm fried pies available. Being compared to A&R isn't necessarily a bad thing--unfortunately A&R is more convenient to most folks around town, given their multiple locations, and with smokiness and a slightly better pie has an edge in flavor, as well. Still, green is green on the map, and Pollard's is worth a visit if you're in the area.

The sandwich was a little pricey ($4.50 for a regular, in days of $5.00 footlong subs), compared to some other places, but it may just be ahead of the curve on keeping up with a general increase in food prices, and the unavailability of certain economies of scale.

4637 Boeingshire Dr
Memphis, TN 38116
(901) 398-2987

Fat Larry's Barbecue

Visited Fat Larry's Barbecue in Bartlett, and added it to the map. Like most places, it's not bad, but not necessarily worth a special trip.

Most of the customers, from what I observed, were getting steak--I don't know if the menu (or the decor) has changed at all since it was named Stables--but I never visited Stables, so I don't have much in terms of comparison.

Comparison Data!

Memphis is often listed as the Barbecue Capital of the world because of the prevalence of barbecue restaurants around town (and the map's a pretty good indication. By comparison, the greater New Orleans area might have a dozen or so barbecue restaurants total, although they have plenty of other great food).

But perhaps, secretly, we're also number one in another, less publicized category as well.

It's not as if folks actually read this, but IF you do, does anyone care to conjecture about why we have so many Chinese restaurants? That map was slapped together in no time, and is by no means accurate or comprehensive, but that's a lot of Chinese for a city without sizable Chinese community--at least in my opinion. And I left off other Asian ethnic cuisine, so there's no Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, or Korean on the map unless it had some crossover on the menu that I knew of (Pei Wei, for instance).