Rendezvous at Memphis

I'm going to try to post to the blog even though we only have dial-up as an Internet connection.

We stopped at a couple of noted barbecue places on the way south. The first was the Rendezvous in downtown Memphis. We had attempted a stop there last year, but they were closed on New Year's Eve - hard for us to fathom. There are other things that are unique about the Rendezvous. The published address is 52 S. 2nd St, but you won't find it there. That's a ten story downtown building, but the entrance doesn't look as if it has been used in years - and it hasn't. The sign on the door says to go the alley in back of that building. Sure enough, as you round the corner into the alley the sweet smell of smoking meat fills the air around you.

The Rendezvous is in the basement of the building - the only entrance is from the alley, and it's been that way since 1948. The other unusual thing about this smokehouse, is that they cook all their meats over charcoal. So the smoked flavor is derived from the burnt meat drippings wafting back up on the meat. They are most noted for their pork ribs, and sauce is not a part of their cooking ritual. A dry rub is used and the meat is marinated in that alone. Sauces are available at the table, but we could tell that our waiter (a 70 something African American) disapproved of their use.

It being lunch-time, we split a full order of ribs. They had a good taste, but were somewhat tough. We didn't use any sauce. The rub was mild, complex and leaned toward brown sugar. We were sorry that our serving wasn't fall-off-the-bone ready. We gave the ribs a 3 for flavor, and a 1 for doneness. The side dish of beans divided us. Bil thought they were quite good, while Kay was on the other end of the spectrum. They had an unusual combination of spices that included nutmeg and others usually associated with pies.

The Rendezvous has a great reputation and following, but we were not impressed on our first visit.