Memphis, Tennessee

From Little Rock to Memphis, the chosen midway point between Bentonville and Atlanta. We arrived in time to stop for BBQ at Leonard’s before checking in to our hotel. Again, we got a very quick snippet of the city, but unlike LR, Memphis doesn’t really put its best foot forward. Maybe it’s because we got lost, or because I almost got us into an accident, or because we bickered all the way into town, but my sense of Memphis is one of a dirty, poor, and mostly unsightly city.

Leonard’s was perhaps the only bright spot. A darkly lit, very old school kind of place, with Elvis memorabilia on the walls, a 1950s truck in the center of the dining room, and older men and women on staff, some of whom (including our waiter) carried themselves as if Jim Crow were alive and well.** The buffet is one of the more impressive things I’ve seen in a while. In one room, meat: Dry ribs, wet ribs, beef brisket, dry pulled pork, fried catfish, chicken wings, and on and on. In another, a huge steam table of sides, too many to mention. On top of it all, insanely good, fresh butter rolls.

Speaking of rolling, we stuffed our faces full and rolled our way out. Good food and a great experience.

** So did most of the restaurant’s patrons. It was a little unsettling to juxtapose the staff’s “sirs,” “ma’ams,” and overly deferential manner with that of the restaurant patrons, who seemed most comfortable either completely ignoring or disrespectfully barking at the staff. The enormous, unhealthily pale mother who kept telling her near-equally enormous child, “you need more MEAT. Go back and get MORE MEAT!” definitely preferred to ignore the waiter. Clearly, they were fine all by themselves.

My favorite wait-staff related moment: The waiter brought out a pitcher of iced water and a warm glass with my bottle of Bud. He filled class with the ice water to chill it, let it rest for 30 seconds or so, and then poured in the beer. It was so unfamiliar, so out of place, and ultimately, pretty cool.