Memphis Favorites

I get asked "What's your favorite place to eat?" a lot. This post is going to be a baseline for what I really enjoy at the moment in Memphis. As things change, I'll make new posts and try to give reasons for why I added new places, or removed old ones. I'm going to break it down into categories, since my favorite place to eat highly depends on what type of food I'm craving.

I'm going to start with my overall favorite restaurants right now in Memphis. After that, I'll break down some of the popular categories.

Overall 

1. Bayou - I've been going here since the late 90's and have never had a bad experience. The food is amazing and full of flavor. Some of my favorites are the hot wings, the crawfish po-boy, and the duck and sausage gumbo. The mainstays of the menu were recipes from original chef, Michael Cahal (who also had my favorite hot wing ever, at the long defunct Cafe Roux) who was trained under Paul Prudhomme, so you know they are legit. Local beers on tap, awesome patio when the weather is nice. 
2. Central BBQ - Pulled pork sandwiches are pretty much interchangeable and it's not hard to find a decent one in Memphis. That really means good bbq here comes down to ribs and other dishes besides pulled pork. Central does have good ribs, but probably not my favorite. Other menu items is where Central BBQ really shines. Although it's not a traditional hot wing, the smoked wet wings are probably my favorite chicken wing of all time. The nachos on freshly made house chips are by far my favorite nachos in Memphis. And the smoked sausage is amazing as well, coming either by the link or on the sausage and cheese platter. I frequent the Summer Avenue location, but I have been to all of them and they are equally good. 
3. Elwood's Shack - After my first experience at Elwood's, I almost never went back. I'm glad I did, because it turned out to be my favorite lunch spot. The reuben is my favorite sandwich, and the best reuben I've ever had. Anything with bbq here is good, but my favorite bbq dishes here are the sliders, quesadilla, and pizza. If you like fish taco's, Elwood's serves up HUGE tacos with steel-head trout that are amazing. The breakfast service here is also excellent and ranges from flaky biscuits to french toast and cinnamon rolls. 
4. Uncle Lou's - While everyone goes on and on about Gus's (and I admit, it's pretty good), I've always preferred Uncle Lou's. The meat is so tender, fried perfectly, and then dipped in the Sweet Spicy Love sauce (credit to Guy Fieri for coining that term). I get the 3 piece dark or mixed, but really you cannot go wrong with any chicken on the menu. This is NOT fried chicken like you've had anywhere else, so don't show up expecting KFC style chicken. 
5. Schweinhaus - I'd be lying if I said that having Krombacher Pils on tap didn't influence my decision here. But I also love the food here. I'm a huge fan of sausage, and Schweinhaus features a rotating selection of wurst. The jagerschnitzel is also really good, as are most of the sides and apps including bar frites and sauerkraut balls. I'd also recommend doing some barenjager shotski's. Love the atmosphere and communal seating here. 

Barbecue (I'm sure this will be controversial)

1. Central BBQ - You can't go wrong with any of the Central locations. My favorites are nachos on house chips, smoked wings (wet and hard), and smoked sausage (either by the link or in the sausage and cheese plate). The ribs are pretty decent, but I'd recommend wet over dry if you are going that route. The pulled pork salad with house dressing is also pretty good. 
2. Tops BBQ - If you want a pork sandwich on the cheap, this is the place to go. Get extra sauce and for sides go with crinkle fries or beans. They also have a really good cheeseburger that is made to order on the griddle. The best thing here to me is the pork sandwich with lots of that tangy sauce. 
3. Tom's Bar-B-Q - If you liked the flavor of the ribs at Rendezvous, you'll probably like Tom's ribs as well. Although, I'd recommend the rib tips over the ribs. Order them with sauce on the side unless you're fully prepared to get messy. Seasoned fries are usually my side of choice here. Tom's also serves Circle-B (local Memphis brand) smoked sausage sandwiches, which are a local Memphis product and probably my favorite all-time grilled/smoked meat item. 

Burgers

1. Dyer's (Beale Street only) - Hand's down my favorite Memphis burger. Thin patties fried in hundred year old grease. Who could ask for more? Any of the burgers are good, but I get the Filthy Diablo - a triple cheese burger with two more layers of polish sausage. That's 5 layers of meat if you're keeping count. 
2. Tie - Top's/Five Guys - Both of these places have good, thin burger patties, cooked right on the flat top. They are very similar in taste as well, and you can't go wrong with either of these places, although if you're visiting Memphis, go with Top's for the experience. Five Guys can be found in most cities. 
3. Huey's - The food is pretty consistent across all the locations across Memphis, but Huey's on Madison is probably my favorite atmosphere. They have a wide variety of burgers, of which the Bluff City Burger is probably my favorite (honorable mention - Senor Huey). I'm usually not a huge fan of thicker burgers, but Huey's does a good job of hitting the sweet spot without losing flavor.  

Fried Chicken

1. Uncle Lou's
2. Gus's
3. Jack Pirtle's

Breakfast

1. Bryant's
2. Elwood's Shack
3. Brother Junipers

Pizza

1. Milano's (Bartlett Blvd only)
2. Coletta's (South Parkway only)
3. Pyro's

Hot Wings 

1. Central BBQ
2. Bayou
3. Bosses

Maple Street Grill - Murfreesboro

We had to wait on help to jump start our car, so we didn't have time to go shopping. Stacey and I decided to go to the town square and try and support local restaurants. Since she had recently been to Marina's on the Square, we opted for Maple Street Grill.

I wish I had anything positive to say about the place, but it's more disappointing food in a series of mediocre meals here in Murfreesboro. It's apparent that if we want something better than chain food, we'll have to venture into Nashville or Franklin.

As we opened the door to the Maple Street Grill, I already knew the outcome of the meal. It has a weird decor that is fancy casual, but hasn't been kept up. The floor was covered in ratty low-tread commercial carpet and the tables had 1980's era vinyl-ish table cloths. The menu wasn't huge, but was all over the place from a burger served on a doughnut, to ahi tuna tacos, to alfredo pasta.

The fact that, during the dinner rush, there was only one other couple in a restaurant that seats probably 75+ people would normally have been plenty of warning for me to turn around, but there really wasn't anywhere else we wanted to go.

1. Bread - They brought out bread before the meal, which was very 1990 of them. It wasn't awful, but the best way I can describe it is a cross between a Chinese doughnut (sans sugar) and dinner roll. It was deep fried, but too dense. 
2. Caesar salad - Everything about this salad was average. Store-bought everything. Unless you really just want a grocery store salad, skip this. 
3. Loaded cheese chips - This may have been the only dish that contained a freshly-made component. The chips were freshly made, but then covered in bland, canned cheese sauce and topped with shredded cheddar and what appeared to be pre-crumbled microwaveable bacon. With just the smallest effort, this dish could have been better. 
4. Blackened chicken alfredo - Not only did this dish lack any flavor at all, it wasn't even salted properly. It was hand down the most bland pasta dish I've ever ordered at a restaurant. The chicken breast was slightly over-cooked, and also lacking in flavor. 
5. Ahi tuna taco - Stacey got these, but they looked so gross I didn't even want to try them. The tuna looked like it was cooked ok, but it was just an unappetizing dish. Just tuna and spring mix tossed into flour tortillas without any sort of preparation. Putting them in fancy taco stands only goes so far. 

Overall Rating: 2/5

Would visit again: No

Would recommend: No

Best dish of this meal: No real winners, but the Loaded Cheese Chips were the best of the less-than-memorable dishes.

Date of visit: 12/1/2014

Babalu - Overton Square

Went to Babalu for the first time tonight with my parents. The restaurant has a pretty cool/trendy vibe to it (as do most places at Overton Square right now). We got there at 6 on a Wednesday night and by 7 it was completely packed.

We ordered several dishes and shared them all. Keep in mind that the dishes are tapas, so the portions are smaller than a traditional entree. Because of this they are also not very expensive. If you like a dish, a bigger portion is available for an additional charge.

For $10 they will come make fresh guacamole at your table. The guy I saw doing it looked like an even more retarded (if that's possible) version of Hannibal Buress and was wearing a headband. Needless to say that for that price, I passed on guacamole.

At Babalu, they bring dishes out individually as soon as they are finished, rather than waiting for all dishes to be ready. I'm a fan of this because it gets food to me faster, and keeps everything as fresh as possible. This is the order in which our food came out:

1. Delta grind chihuahua cheese grits - these were ok. they had a very corny taste, more than I expect from grits in the south. for what it's worth, i'd rank them pretty high up on the list of grits I've had in Memphis. 
2. Braised beef short rib - the short rib had the classic, falling-apart, braised texture. Having cooked short ribs sous vide for so long now, the meat felt a little dry and stringy, even with the jus. This was served on Delta grind grits, so I somewhat regretted ordering the other grits for the table.
3. Baba burger - the patty itself was very well cooked and had good flavor. There were too many thick, caramelized onions for my tastes. Sourdough bun was tasty. Probably the best non-dessert dish I tried. 
4. House cut thin fries - your standard fresh cut fries. They were cooked properly, but nothing made them stand out. 
5. Seared tuna tataki - the tuna itself was very well prepared. The outside had a light sear and the inside was completely raw and cold. The fried avocado wedge had no flavor to me, and seemed to not be very crispy on the outside. The wasabi-red chili aoli had good flavor, which was needed to mask the cilantro I was getting. (hate cilantro)
6. Dessert sampler
1. Dulce de leche cheesecake - this was my favorite dessert and favorite dish all night. It is exactly what it sounds like, caramel cheesecake
2. Cinnamon bread pudding - also delicious. very rich bread pudding that's not overly sweet. 
3. Cayenne chocolate truffles - probably my least favorite dish of the night. I'm not a fan of chocolate truffles, and it had an alcohol infused whipped cream that tasted like 100% crown royal XR

Overall, it was pretty decent. Nothing was mind-blowing, but most things were prepared pretty well. The wait staff was on point. We didn't really have any issues at all other than the cold weather and a little bit of a walk due to lack of parking. 

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Would visit again: Yes

Would recommend: Yes

Best dish of this meal: dulce de leche cheesecake/baba burger
Date of visit: 11/19/2014