The drive between Nashville and Little Rock goes through Memphis, and Memphis is home to some great barbecue joints, and since I’m a barbecue lover it was only right to stop off for lunch on our way home. Gina is generally not big on barbecue, but she loves Rendezvous and the dry-rub heaven they serve, so that was the ticket. (Our waiter took the group shot of us above.)
The restaurant is located in an alley in downtown Memphis and when we turned the corner we saw a big table loaded down with merchandise advertising the University of North Carolina. I thought “now that’s odd.” And then i remembered the NCAA basketball tournament was in town. Because Rendezvous is world famous, I braced for a long wait for a table even though it was 2 p.m.
A 15-minute wait, the hostess said. No problem. We just went upstairs to the auxiliary bar. We’ve waited much longer in the past. We waited almost 2 hours one time when we were in town with some friends to see the PGA golf tournament the city hosts. It’s worth the wait.
The scene from our table.
Gina had the small order of ribs: 4-5 bones. Gina always gets ribs. She said it wasn’t as good as usual. A little dry.
I always get pork shoulder (which I did this time) or loin chops. I like ribs, but I really like pulled pork better. I had to agree with Gina. The meat was little dry. Like it had been sitting in a warmer for a while. We chalked it up to the big crowds from the basketball tourney causing the pit master to have to prepare a lot of meat ahead of time to meet demand.
Rendezvous is very good but I can’t declare it hands down the best barbecue I’ve ever had. It’s hard to beat Whole Hog Cafe in Little Rock and Fayetteville.
Comments
One of your better shots of Gina. 🙂 Made me want some bar-b-que.
Looks super yummy!
Every time I hear “Rendezvous” I cringe. I don’t know why it has become synonymous with Memphis barbecue. Any true Memphian will tell you the Rendezvous ain’t real Memphis barbecue. Stroll down to Beal Steet and have some Blues City Cafe. Now them are some REAL Memphis ribs. 🙂
Marc, we’ve eaten at Blues City Cafe a couple times and it is good.
One highly touted BBQ place in Memphis I don’t like is Interstate. The pork shoulder there is chopped and not pulled, which I think is a travesty to pork shoulder. I haven’t had the ribs there because after being served chopped pork I vowed never to return. The sauce is also lacking.
But like I said, Whole Hog is hard to beat for my money.
Discussing memphis BBQ is like disussing who is the second prettiest girl at the dance because everyone know’s Arthur Bryants is the best there is 🙂
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Well, I’ve been to Arthur Bryants, too, and, as I recall, they don’t serve pulled pork either. that’s a minus. on the plus side are the atmosphere, the location and the regular white bread they serve the meat on.