Barbecue Factory

Hey! Someplace new!

My visit the The Barbecue Factory was notable for the fact that they locked the door behind me, because they didn't have enough money in the register to make change. Fortunately, I had correct change available, but they'll have to work out those kinks if they're gonna be successful. Also, having to repeat my order (hot regular sandwich--not particularly complicated) four times could use work, but I understand the manager (I guess) was distracted by the lack of change. The place was clean, well-lit, but a little chaotic--don't know how long they've been open.

The sandwich itself was tender and flavorful, although not particularly smoky (there was a small bit of visible pink in the meat). The hot sauce was milder than several others in town, but had a bit of a bite to it. Their wall menu has ribs, rib tips, etc, which appear to be cooked in a cast iron pit behind the counter, but they didn't have a visible carry-out menu.

All in all, a well-done assembly of pork, slaw, and bread, but when you have to have someone come let you out, you have second thoughts about a second visit. I'll give it another go soon, however, hopefully they'll have the kinks worked out.

Barbecue Factory
3711 Lamar Ave
Memphis, TN 38118
(901) 797-8195

Closings!

I haven't been to visit anything new in the past couple of months (lousy diet), but I wanted to update the map to indicate that Memphis Smokehouse on Stage has definitely closed, and Bynum's Barbecue on Airways (which I never got to visit) has been shuttered at lunchtime each time I've passed it in the past couple of weeks. Uncle Sam's Barbecue inside Rangemasters off of Kirby Whitten @ Summer (which was arguably the most entertaining barbecue in town) is listed as closed on its website, but mentions a catering business to be announced in the future.

The economy's taking its victims, although some of these are probably as much victims of poor location and poor marketing as a downturn in the stock market.

Barbecue was born out of poverty, taking the difficult cuts of the pig and--with the proper application of heat, time, smoke, and spice--turning it into something delicious. In theory, it ought to thrive during a recession, assuming you're not in the mood to charge $9 for a $3 sandwich.

In the hopes that better times might bring these places back (Dan's Barbecue on Austin Peay has re-opened as something else I can't recall at the moment Wild Wes'), I'm temporarily changing the colors for shuttered places to purple rather than immediately taking 'em off the map.

A&R Downtown

Based on news from Paul Ryburn, I've gone ahead and added A&R Barbecue downtown, in the former Roma Pizza location. Rumor has it that they'll sell beer, but no news about fried pies (the location in Bartlett told me they didn't carry them there the last time I visited, some two years ago. Which is why my last visit was two years ago.)

Barbecue Feed.

Occasionally I check out the map to see if I've had a sudden influx of new folks discover it, or if there's been another comment--today I discovered that my map entries now have an RSS feed (clicking that link will bring you to a page of goobledegook if you don't have any familiarity with RSS feeds, by the way. It's not broken). In theory, this means that you can subscribe to the feed, and when I add a new restaurant (probably) or new information about an old restaurant (possibly) you'll automatically get an item in your reader. I'll be running a couple of tests to see how it works, so if you subscribe to my map (which I encourage. Map subscribers = publicity = comments = better, more interesting map = book deal = groupies), you might get some strange items as I try things out.

Does anyone know how long the RSS feed has been available? Has it been there for eons, and I just missed it up until now?

Reese's Barbecue

I probably ought to apologize; I don't get to update this as often as I'd like to simply because of the logistics of visiting every barbecue restaurant in Memphis. One of the difficult parts of this undertaking is that my fifteen-minute lunch radius is a finite area, and lots of barbecue places in Memphis are only open for lunch owing to unprofitable dinner crowds and less-than-savory neighborhoods.

Not so with Reese's barbecue, which is open until 9 most days (not Sunday), but is fortunately right on the edge of my lunch amoeba--areas accessible by interstate form the pseudopods. Now that I've put "amoeba" and "lunch" in the same sentence (TWICE!) and ruined appetites in the process, let's talk about Reese's.

Reese's boasted a pretty good crowd when I walked into it; a lot of construction workers, a couple of cops. I entered the building with a group of similarly-dressed guys, who ordered the same thing as I did, so the lady behind the counter assumed we were together--which (coupled with a security guard coming in to chit-chat for a few minutes) meant that we all got our food simultaneously, a little slower than I would have liked, but not terrible.

The sandwich isn't smoky; I presume the shoulder is roasted as there was no telltale pinkness in the meat and no noticeable smoke flavor. The sauce is both sweeter and spicier (for a mild sauce) than most. The slaw is ordinary, the bun toasted. All in all it's a good sandwich, but indistinguishable from lots of other good sandwiches in town. Beans looked to be cooked in-house and were tasty, fries were nothing special. The menu boasted a wide variety of other barbecue and non-barbecue options--plate lunches, burgers (which looked very good, incidentally), a variety of other sides. Worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood, or if it's somewhere within the perimeter of your lunch amoeba.

Reese's Bar-BQ
4606 Winchester Rd
Memphis, TN 38118
(901) 366-1497

Kelvin's Barbecue: Closed!

From reader Mike comes the sad news that Kelvin's Barbecue and Wings on Austin Peay closed back in August. I hadn't visited that location, but the one location I had visited (on Winchester, now also closed) made a pretty good sandwich.

Don't know if the one at 2675 Frayser Blvd is still a going concern or not.

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.