Through My Lens

Monday, April 20, 2009

Bourdain Would Have Been Proud

I ate so much pork this weekend that Anthony Bourdain would have been applauding. Memphis, ah, Memphis. You're the first city Huz and I have escaped to for one blissful kid-free night in an entire year and a half*. Much fun was had - I twittered about it the whole time, but for those of you who don't follow me (or didn't see it on my sidebar), I'll give you a recap.

After seeing Claire and her Grandma ("Mo Mo") off for a trip to the Nashville Zoo, we packed and took off in a car seat-free car (weird!) for a 3 hour drive southwest.

Our first stop was a BBQ joint where a local that I work with told me was the best, and it was.

We checked into our hotel (with champagne in hand), freshened up, and headed out for some shopping and Beale Streeting.

We got caught in the pouring rain and had much fun and laughter as we hopped through ~~puddles~~ lakes of water huddled under a cheap Beale Street gift shop umbrella that was seriously made out of cheese cloth. We took shelter in 3 bars, enjoying booze and live music, before we made our very wet way to Rendezvous for dinner. After an hour wait, we had some marvelous dry rub ribs with slaw and beans. Oh, and beer! I've turned into a beer drinker since going to Memphis. Who knew that Fat Tire was so good!?

We went back to the hotel for a very nice, long, non-kid-interrupted sleep. I never used to think that sleeping until 8:00 was considered "sleeping in," but it is and it was wonderful. We enjoyed our complimentary gourmet breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then headed out for a few more hours of fun.

We rode the trolley around town.

We saw Sun Studios and the ducks crossing at the Peabody Hotel (a 76-year-long tradition that started with 2 drunk hunters playing a joke).

We went to Gus's Chicken for lunch, which took forever, but, damn, was it good fried chicken! I admit, we took the time to loop back up to Central BBQ to get a full slab to bring home so that we could compare ribs at Rendezvous and Central (verdict is: Central kicks ass!) and a rib spice rub gift for my mom for her babysitting awesomeness.

Then we headed home.

Basically, it was an awesome time. Very brief, but very fun. Marc Cohn sings about seeing the ghost of Elvis in Memphis. I wasn't even looking, as I'm not a fan, but I can definitely see the history. It's sort of stuck in the past a bit. And that's alright. Thanks for the good time, Memphis! (And thank you, Mom, for allowing this to happen!)