Memphis, Tennessee
June 14, 2005
The first stop on our planned Memphis barbeque orgy was Jim Neeley’s Interstate Bar-B-Q. I was a little nervous on the drive in as the restaurant in not in the best section of town. Walking in from the parking lot didn’t help my anxiety as we noticed the bars on the windows and doors. Once inside, we were greeted by a smiling, “How ‘ya doing?” from across the room, from the proprietor, Jim Neeley’s son. The interior consisted of a couple of large rooms filled with tables whose tops were a laminated mosaic of advertisements. The walls were covered with plaques, pictures of celebrities who have eaten there, and framed newspaper and magazine articles about the restaurant. Looking at the plaque, Mr. Neeley seemed to have generously given back to the community, which made it even nicer to eat there. One wall was devoted entirely to pictures of the Neeley family, which I thought was nice.
Dawn asked our waitress about the size of the “sampler platter” and we were assured that it was large enough for two to share. She wasn’t kidding! For $16.00, we received a pile of chopped pork shoulder, chopped brisket, 2 large pork ribs, 2 large beef ribs, and a large sausage. Sides included baked beans, coleslaw, and a treat possibly found only in Memphis – barbequed spaghetti.
In a departure from typical Memphis barbeque, all the meat arrived “wet” – covered with sauce. The sauce was thick and sweet and complimented the meat well.
In another departure from typical Memphis barbeque, the meats at Interstate Bar-B-Q are smoked with wood as opposed to being grilled over charcoal. Nevertheless, for the most part, the smoke was essentially undetectable. This may have been at least partially due to the fact that the meat was already sauced. The pork shoulder was tender and was especially good when eaten on the same fork as the coleslaw (more on that later.) The brisket was essentially the same texture, but had a little more robust taste than the pork.
The pork ribs actually did have a little bit of smoky flavor and a nice, pink smoke ring. The beef ribs had a good flavor, but were a bit more chewy. I finally gave up trying to get the meat off the bone with my fork and wound up just gnawing it off the bone.
The sausage link was mild, slightly sweet, and not greasy.
My favorite part of the meal was a Memphis specialty – barbequed spaghetti. The sauce was spaghetti sauce combined with barbeque sauce with some chopped meat, probably pork, added. It definitely had the most smoky taste of any of my meal. I wonder why this hasn’t caught on elsewhere. The only problem we had with it was that it was a little bit cold.
The coleslaw was a mustard based slaw. As I’ve stated elsewhere, I’m not usually a slaw fan, but I like this slaw. Apparently, the Interstate Bar-B-Q’s award-winning pork sandwich has a large dollop on the pork, so I tried the slaw and pork on the same fork and it was outstanding.
The baked beans were also a little cool. They were meaty and good, but not great.
One incidental detractor – I primarily drink water in restaurants and this water was not good at all. I realize that this is not the fault of the restaurants, but you may want to stick with bottled beverages.
Pros: A ton of good food at a good price; great barbequed spaghetti; very good mustard coleslaw.
Cons: Location; beef ribs were a little tough; poor tasting water.
BBQ: ««« 1/2 Service: «««
Sauce: ««« Sides: ««««
Ambience: «« Overall: ««« ½
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