Road trip down from DC (non-BB) to Dallas, Memphis included-suggestions?

[Gizzmonic]

My friend and I are road-tripping down from Washington, DC to Dallas in a couple of weeks.  I don't know the exact route, but I do know we're headed through Memphis.

Does anyone have any recommendation for night spots, tourist traps, restaurants, local brands of moonshine etc? 

[Noe]

My friend and I are road-tripping down from Washington, DC to Dallas in a couple of weeks.  I don't know the exact route, but I do know we're headed through Memphis.

Does anyone have any recommendation for night spots, tourist traps, restaurants, local brands of moonshine etc? 

Beale Street.

[Duman]

If you take I-81 to catch I-40 you will pass two Astros minor league parks along the way.  Salem is just of 81 in the Roanoke area and Greeneville is an hour into Tn (about 15 miles off the interstate). 

Greeneville is about a 6 hour drive from DC and Memphis is about 8 from Greeneville.

[Andyzipp]

Beale Street.

that would cover tourist traps, night spots and restaurants...

You can always go to graceland and see how poorly people with money decorate.  And get a sample of the death sandwich.

[ybbodeus]

I grew up in Memphis.  Beale Street wasn't what it is today in those days--60's & 70's.  You went there to get into the WRONG kind of trouble then--the kind that could get you killed quickly, if you didn't know what you were doing.  That said, Noe's right (Zip is, too, to a degree); Beale Street's your best option.  My brother says Blues Street Cafe is reported to have terrific Memphis Style Bar-B-Q. 

The Rendezvous (across the street from The Peabody in an alley) is a great PLACE, but too many Texans I know walk away from there thinking, "What the fuck was that?"  The saying goes, "The best bar-b-q is the one you grew up with."  Those of us living here who've been anywhere NEAR Lockhart, Llano or Luling know that saying to be a crock of shit.

The Peabody at Duck Time is kinda cool, as is the atrium lobby and its pretty solid bar.  Downtown Memphis is a lot better destination NOW than it was twenty years ago.

For those of you oriented towards MEN'S CLUB activities, Memphis WOULD have been your dream home; think "hands on', hell, MOUTH on experience.  However, the city has cut into their action BIG time and closed a bunch of the clubs down.  The Gold Cup on Summer and 240 out east is about the only one left that's not terribly dangerous to hit.

Unless you really DIDN'T or DON'T give a shit about Elvis, Graceland IS worth a visit, though not because of the house; it's the museum behind it that's worth the look.  And even if you DON'T give two rat farts about Elvis, which I was bordering on despite having grown up a stone's throw from his house, the museum WILL impress you, considering he was a dirt poor kid from Tupelo who ended up meeting kings and queens and presidents and stars....and was as big or bigger than ALL of them. 

Anyway, two weeks from now will be HOLY PILGRAMMAGE month, when all the sympathizers take their annual trek to touch the robe/write on the wall/sniff the glove, so to speak....he died in August, less ye ferget ("fer'get, hell!".....sorry, those redneck ways of mine that Elton Sucking John--literally--alleges that I miss creep back in at times).  Every August Graceland is akin to the main branch post office most April 15th's....to be avoided.

Just keep it simple and do your partying on Beale Street and in the downtown area.  Anything else will be hit and miss.  Overton Square, for example, died a slow painful death when Beale Street got rolling. 

[OldBlevins]

This is not exactly a fun activity, but the Civil Rights Museum is well worth seeing.

[ybbodeus]

Didn't even know that was there.....or I'd forgotten it was.  My bad.

[Ron Brand]

Stax / Volt museum is good if you've got the time.  Not the nicest neighborhood, but cool place.  Look across the street to see the Big Star supermarket that Chilton and Chris Bell used to name the band.

Catfish Cabin on Airline has astonishingly great catfish, etc. and it's not expensive either.  Sun Records is pretty cool, doesn't take long to go by and see.  Get a T-shirt.

[ybbodeus]

Half the good stuff in Memphis is predicated by the phrase, "Not the nicest neighborhood, but..."

[BUWebguy]

Only half??

[ybbodeus]

The city HAS grown damn near all the way to Collierville now, ya' know, sayeth the boy who grew up in a suburb disturbingly known as Whitehaven?  No, I don't know how you get away with calling a community that.

[Andyzipp]

My mother-in-law lived in Memphis when I met my wife.  For real entertainment, go to the "International" Airport and count the people with overalls and no shirts.

[ybbodeus]

My mother-in-law lived in Memphis when I met my wife.  For real entertainment, go to the "International" Airport and count the people with overalls and no shirts.

Until Northwest bought out the place, I always presumed international meant, "You can fly to real airports from here."

[Limey]

The city HAS grown damn near all the way to Collierville now, ya' know, sayeth the boy who grew up in a suburb distubingly known as Whitehaven?  No, I don't know how you get away with calling a community that.

Lucky it's not called Greyhaven, otherwise you'd be plagued by anoraks.

[legs_of_eggs]

avoid Dallas its full of steers and queers

[Gizzmonic]

Lucky it's not called Greyhaven, otherwise you'd be plagued by anoraks.

Thanks for the fine and sundry recommendations.  We're cruising down the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Should be some nice scenery along the way...

[Noe]

My mother-in-law lived in Memphis when I met my wife.  For real entertainment, go to the "International" Airport and count the people with overalls and no shirts.

There is a part of the airport that is owned literally by FedEx.  Because I had a chance to interview with that mega-company, I got a chance to tour their gianormus campus (which I was told was only a small part of the entire company complex).  Out behind the campus was a golf course, which you could see from the employee lunch... ahum... cafeteria doesn't do it justice.  Mall of food!  Any way, I am sitting there with the team I was interviewing with and they casually mention to me that the golf course is where the Memphis Open is held... you know, the PGA tour stop.  No shit sez I (not really knowing they had a PGA tour stop and not really caring either).  They were very proud of the fact that they could watch Tiger Woods tee off over near the coffee bar.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I've been to Charlie Vergos' Rondevous several times. Nice place.  My friend always orders the St Louis Style Pork Ribs and they are excellent. Just a short walk to the Peabody for the ducks and desert in the deli.

[BUWebguy]

The city HAS grown damn near all the way to Collierville now, ya' know, sayeth the boy who grew up in a suburb distubingly known as Whitehaven?  No, I don't know how you get away with calling a community that.

My family lived in Hernando til I was three, and my grandparents lived in Southaven, so I grew up knowing of Whitehaven. I don't think I realized what that name meant til sometime in H.S.

That was about the same time I saw a report on 20/20 about Hernando High School and how they dealt with racism. Their solution? One year, the student council president would be white, and the vice-president black. The next year, it would switch, back and forth each year. As I remember, the students they interviewed were very happy and quite proud of their way of doing things.

[ybbodeus]

avoid Dallas its full of steers and queers

"You ain't sprouting any horns, so I guess that kinda narrows it down!"

[ybbodeus]

They were very proud of the fact that they could watch Tiger Woods tee off over near the coffee bar.

Except for the fact that I don't think he ever plays the St. Jude Tourney. 

Which reminds me of one of my favorite Dan Jenkins stories.  Actually Dan Jenkins WROTE about it, but it's a Ray Floyd story. 

Ray had a caddy who was as notorious about the all-nighters as Ray was...caddy was >>>>>.  Shit, I'd have to go find the book to remember the name.

Story goes that Ray's playing his opening round at Colonial in Memphis, back when it was called the Danny Thomas St. Jude Open, I believe.  Ray's missing fairways and greens badly.  About five holes in Ray calls for a club, caddy hands him a 5 iron and Ray blasts 20 yards over the green. 

"Bag, what the hell's goin' on?  You keep this up and we can leave Memphis tonight!"

To which the caddy replies, "Memphis?!  Hell, I thought we were in Ft. Worth."

The story should have been titled, "When too drunk to know where you are leads to too hungover to know where you are."

Caddy had been using Hogan's Colonial book to club Raymond in Memphis.

[Holly]

There's a whole bunch of English words in here, but heck if I can tell whatchoo talkin' 'bout.

[MikeyBoy]

Just keep it simple and do your partying on Beale Street and in the downtown area.   

I agree, I've been there on business and pleasure and downtown is the way to go. There are numerous nice (enough) hotels, plus eateries and such. Rendezvous is neat place to go, but I didn't think the food was as good as advertised, but one place I always make it a point to eat at, is Hueys. It's just burgers, but very good ones. Hueys is located across the street from the Peabody. A cheap thing to do is take the trolly that goes down by the river, if you are lucky enough to get a good operator it's an interesting, historic tour of the downtown area. Lots of sites pertaining to Elvis as well as the hotel where Martin Luthur King was killed. Also, the Red Birds (STL AAA team) stadium is just a block or so from the Peabody, if there is a game in town.

[Ron Brand]

Might or might not be helpful to you, but I just rode my bike from Austin to Nashville and back home via Birmingham.  The most surprising part of the trip was discovering that traffic on the interstate highway through Arkansas and Tennessee was zipping on by at 85-100 mph all the way.  Two lanes in each direction, the right lane is all big trucks.  I constantly felt I was going to get popped by the police for riding 95+ but I only saw a couple of them the whole way.  Certainly cuts down on travel time.

[ybbodeus]

I agree, I've been there on business and pleasure and downtown is the way to go. There are numerous nice (enough) hotels, plus eateries and such. Rendezvous is neat place to go, but I didn't think the food was as good as advertised, but one place I always make it a point to eat at, is Hueys. It's just burgers, but very good ones. Hueys is located across the street from the Peabody. A cheap thing to do is take the trolly that goes down by the river, if you are lucky enough to get a good operator it's an interesting, historic tour of the downtown area. Lots of sites pertaining to Elvis as well as the hotel where Martin Luthur King was killed. Also, the Red Birds (STL AAA team) stadium is just a block or so from the Peabody, if there is a game in town.

They modeled that little park after Camden Yard.  They're pretty proud of AutoZone Park there.  It IS in fact pretty darn nice.... a PALACE compared to ol' Chicks Stadium.

[The Spleen]

They modeled that little park after Camden Yard.  They're pretty proud of AutoZone Park there.  It IS in fact pretty darn nice.... a PALACE compared to ol' Chicks Stadium.

Too bad it's infested with larval Jakes...

[Navin R Johnson]

Interstate BBQ > Rendezvous BBQ.

BBQ Spaghetti at Interstate is top notch as are the Ribs.

I agree with the Downtown/Bealle st suggestions, you really cant go wrong.  Since the FEDEX center was opened for the NBA team, Bealle St and Downtown has really cleaned up.     

[Kent's Moustache]

I went to school in Midtown Memphis, so I'm partial to the idiosynchratic little bars and restaurants there.  However, those aren't really suited for a one-night tourist visit.

While I agree that the Rendezvous' ribs aren't world-class, IMO, the overall experience there justifies a visit.  From the pitchers of Michelob to the sausage-and-cheese plates to the ribs, it's a good place to chow down and begin a fun evening.

Whoever mentioned Huey's was preaching the Gospel.  Great potato soup, good burgers and fries, a fairly decent beer and liquor selection, and a very cool atmosphere.  A good choice for lunch.

I miss that town.

[Navin R Johnson]

I third the Huey's recommendation.   I ate their last January, good food and cold beer.   Very reasonable prices too.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I used to frequent Memphis quite a bit from '87 to '90 with a band I used to be in. We used to play at a wonderful dive of a place called the Antenna Club. I knew the owner, Steve McGehee through mutual friends, and he always welcomed us. The band may have been from St. Louis but three of us were Texans, which we made known as we played up the Tennesee & Texas thing; thanking them for Davy and Sam. Some crazy ass people hung around there, I remember guys shooting pistols in the air out in the parking lot as the clock struck midnight one New Year. It seemed then that the Midtown was a decent area. Back then Beal Street was nothing, except for a really cool old dry goods store. It was mostly just facades, where you could tell something was coming soon.

I try to get back every three or four years.

[ybbodeus]

EVen if you're not hungry, Huey's is good.  To the Memphis familiar, we're talking late 70's/early 80's here, but my buddies and I used to hang out at Murphy's Oyster Bar in mid-town--they had no oysters!  There was a place called J-Wags that was casual on the ID thing, so it was popular with a few of us high schoolers--drinking age was 18 until about '82, I think.  By the mid/late 80's, though, J-Wags had somehow morphed into a speakasy gay bar....a tragedy.  I say speakeasy, because to be flamboyantly gay in Memphis in the 80's was to invite the law and kids with steel pipes out for a quick kill.  Jimmy Wagner, who died in the early 70's, I believe, would not have appreciated the change.  Almost forgot the P&H across the street from Murphy's to round out our non-Overton Square mid-town options.  There were a couple of good spots over by Southwestern at Memphis--now known as Rhodes College), but I can't remember them.

Over by Memphis State--yeah, I know they've changed THAT name, too--there was the Bull Shot, which had good steaks, believe it or not, but great Tiger High Eye Candy, including girls who wished they were still attending Tiger High.  The London Transport down the street was an amazingly hot spot for about two years, but the drinking age change killed it.  Keith Sykes and Robert Johnson used to pop in there to play unplugged, long before THAT was more common.

WHAT A PLAY AT THE MOUND BY WOODY IN THE 8th!!!  Ball coulda wrecked him....WRECKED HIM, SHIT, IT COULDA KILLED HIM.  GEEZ, the shot to right center to follow looked good off the bat, but Burke made it look routine.  Guess the hit looked at lot like my tee game....looks beautiful and pured off the box until you get out there and find that you're still 200 yards out on a 380 yard hole.

[juliogotay]

after you leave Memphis and head for Texas, there are a couple of places. Cotham's is a general store located in Scott, Arkansas just east of Little Rock. Take Hwy. 161 south off of the interstate and drive a few miles through the cotton fields. Their burgers are called hubcaps because of their size and they are tasty. This place is well-known, lots of folks from LR make the drive for lunch.

If you are hungry when you get to Texarkana, Bryce's Cafeteria is off of the interstate by the mall and has been around forever. Great home cookin' and great desserts.

[Kent's Moustache]

EVen if you're not hungry, Huey's is good.  To the Memphis familiar, we're talking late 70's/early 80's here, but my buddies and I used to hang out at Murphy's Oyster Bar in mid-town--they had no oysters!  There was a place called J-Wags that was casual on the ID thing, so it was popular with a few of us high schoolers--drinking age was 18 until about '82, I think.  By the mid/late 80's, though, J-Wags had somehow morphed into a speakasy gay bar....a tragedy.  I say speakeasy, because to be flamboyantly gay in Memphis in the 80's was to invite the law and kids with steel pipes out for a quick kill.  Jimmy Wagner, who died in the early 70's, I believe, would not have appreciated the change.  Almost forgot the P&H across the street from Murphy's to round out our non-Overton Square mid-town options.  There were a couple of good spots over by Southwestern at Memphis--now known as Rhodes College), but I can't remember them.

Over by Memphis State--yeah, I know they've changed THAT name, too--there was the Bull Shot, which had good steaks, believe it or not, but great Tiger High Eye Candy, including girls who wished they were still attending Tiger High.  The London Transport down the street was an amazingly hot spot for about two years, but the drinking age change killed it.  Keith Sykes and Robert Johnson used to pop in there to play unplugged, long before THAT was more common.

WHAT A PLAY AT THE MOUND BY WOODY IN THE 8th!!!  Ball coulda wrecked him....WRECKED HIM, SHIT, IT COULDA KILLED HIM.  GEEZ, the shot to right center to follow looked good off the bat, but Burke made it look routine.  Guess the hit looked at lot like my tee game....looks beautiful and pured off the box until you get out there and find that you're still 200 yards out on a 380 yard hole.

My two favorite Midtown dives are Old Zinnie's and Alex's.  The latter has an outstanding burger, called the "Rocky Burger" after the current owner (whose father, the original owner, named it after his adolescent son).  I say it's outstanding, but I've never actually had one while I was sober.  I'll be hitting both of those establishments this fall when I trek back to Memphis for my Rhodes 10-year reunion.

Also, if it's still in operation, Ernestine and Hazel's is a good late-night spot downtown, just a few blocks south of Beale Street on the riverfront.  The place was a whorehouse for a number of years in the early 20th Century, and the current club is named after its most prominent madames.

[ybbodeus]

Good stuff, Kent's & julio.