Charley Vergo's Rendezvous, Memphis, TN

Charley Vergo’s Rendezvous

Memphis, Tennessee

June 15, 2005 

This is it, the Mecca, the Mt. Everest, the ultimate barbeque experience, or so I’d read and been told.  The Rendezvous in Memphis, TN may be the world’s most famous barbeque joint.  Reportedly, Elvis had Rendezvous ribs flown into Las Vegas anytime he was playing there.  President Clinton served Rendezvous ribs on Air Force One.

Of course, there is some controversy about whether the Rendezvous really even is barbeque.  Barbeque purists insist that the fact that the ribs are directly grilled over charcoal, rather than using indirect cooking from wood disqualifies them from being true barbeque.  Nevertheless, most barbeque books and guidebooks treat the Rendezvous as barbeque, so I will suppress my purist urge and do likewise.

Charley Vergo’s Rendezvous was, in a word, extremely disappointing.  Okay, that was two words, but the qualifier was apt.

The Rendezvous is located in an alley just half a block from the Peabody Hotel and a block and a half off the famous Beale Street.  We watched the 5:00 duck march at the Peabody and then walked over to the Rendezvous, skirting dumpsters along the way.  We were seated immediately and our waiter appeared at our table as soon as we sat down.  As opposed to the service at the barbeque shop, which was just as quick, the attitude of the service at the Rendezvous seemed geared toward getting the customers in and out as quickly as possible.  One nice touch was that the waiter immediately brought us full pitchers of our drinks – water for me and diet Coke for Dawn.  The interior is nice with a lot of brick.  Menus are on top of the red and white checked tablecloths, all under glass.  A faint scent of charcoal and propane (which, I presume, was used to start the charcoal) permeates the restaurant.

We ordered an appetizer of pork nachos for $7.95 and a full rack of ribs for $16.95.  They both arrived at the same time.

The nachos were just normal ballpark type nachos with a generous pile of pork on top.

The ribs are, famously, served dry, but there is sauce on the table.  The ribs are caked with a dry rub which is said to be the secret to the greatness of the Rendezvous’ ribs.  My question upon tasting them was, “What’s the big deal?”

The regular sauce is thick and sweet with a strong molasses taste.  The hot sauce is thinner and is hot without being tongue-searing, sinus-clearing hot.

The baked beans tasted like they’d just come out of the Van Kamp’s can and warmed on the stove.  The coleslaw was mustard-based and was not very good.

In short, Charley Vergo’s Rendezvous seems to be living on its past reputation alone.  If you want to go, just so you can say you’ve been and are disappointed, don’t say that you weren’t warned.

Pros:  Proximity to the Peabody Hotel and Beale Street; quick service.

Cons:  Falls far short of its reputation; food is average, at best; felt rushed through.

BBQ:  «« ½                                     Service:  ««« ½

Sauce:  «««                                     Sides:  ««

Ambience:  ««««                          Overall:  «« ½

 

Jim Neeley's Interstate Bar-B-Q, Memphis, TN

Jim Neeley’s Interstate Bar-B-Q

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