Wow, this is going to be hard, becasue there is so much good barbecue around here! But, here goes…

Best Sandwich: Pulled pork BBQ from Brad’s in Bartlett. A close second is the pulled pork BBQ from P’s & Q in West Memphis.

Best Bologna: The blackened barbecue bologna sandwich at Zennie’s East, served with Swiss cheese and bacon on a kaiser roll.

Best Ribs: Cozy Corner.

Best sauce and bean: Neely’s (Jefferson Avenue location).

Best BBQ Nachos: A&R (Elvis Presley location).

Oh boy, get ready for massive disagreement!

Best Wet Ribs: Central BBQ on Central.

Best Dry Ribs: Rendevous…I don’t care if it gets labeled as a tourist trap.

Best Beans: Cozy Corner.

Best Slaw (on the side): Rendevous.

Best Sandwich: Tie between Neely’s and The BBQ Shop on Madison. The sauces are so different that I can’t pick one.

Best Wings: Central BBQ. I know wings could be a whole seperate category but they smoke the wings before frying! So good and most BBQ places seem to sell wings so they should be a legit BBQ item.

Best Nachos: There’s nothing like the Rendevous nachos and a cold beer at an afternoon Redbirds game!

Best overall sides (deviled eggs, onion rings, etc…): Germantown Commisary.

Neely’s all the way.

I’m a Central fan. Love their nachos.

I was raised on Showboat, and it remains my overall favorite for simplicity and the casual atmosphere.

I’m not a big rib eater, but Blues City has some great wet ribs. They are some of the most tender things I have ever eaten.

BBQ is a special case for this city, of course. There are a load of superb places in town. (If there was no Showboat, I’d be just as content at Neely’s, Interstate, or Central.) I’d have a much easier time saying which places are not to my liking.

I love the Rendezvous for barbeque, especially their sauce. But when it comes to “fast” barbeque, I think Tops is pretty good!

as long as we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty, what you get at Rendezvous has little to do with the history and practice of barbecue in Memphis before outside food writers and tourists decided that Rendezvous was the “ground zero of barbecue,” as a writer in the NYTimes said a few years ago. I mean, the place is so EASY to get to; none of this going into “bad” neighborhood stuff. Charlie Vergos himself told me years ago that he didn’t get what all the fuss was about. “What we’re doing,” he told me in an interview, “is a Greek thing.”
ANYWAY, best sandwich at Payne’s. Best ribs either Cozy Corner or Central, I mean wet ribs, of course.

I don’t know what all the fuss is about with Rendezvous. On my last several visits there the ribs, sandwich and service have been inferior to lots of other places in town.

Dry ribs (the only way to eat them) - Corky’s

Sandwich - Central

Nacho’s - Autozone Park

Sandwich tie between Paynes and BBQ Shop.

Ribs dry from the BBQ Shop. I’d love to see a show of hands from those who’ve had their ribs.

None of that other stuff matters (the bologna and sausage plate at the shop is good, but so is everyone elses).

Does anyone do cracklin cornbread?

Morris’ Grocery (shoulder)
Central BBQ (ribs)

Beaver Creek BBQ is closed, sadly.

Honorable mention:

Cozy Corner
Payne’s
Jim & Nicks
Whole Hog
Interstate
bozo’s

Props to Jim & Nicks for their Brunswick Stew. Hearty and cheap.

Slaw: Leonard’s and Tops

Balonga: Cozy Corner, Central BBQ and Interstate

Sandwich: Interstate, BBQ Shop, Neely’s, Paynes and Tops

Beans: Tops

Wet Ribs: Central BBQ, Germantown Commissary and Blues City Cafe

Dry Ribs: Corky’s

Atmosphere: Rendezvous

Sauce: Tops and Corky’s

Lost favorite: Ribs and beans at Gridley’s (I know that there is a Gridley’s II in Bartlett, but it doesn’t taste the same to me. The old Gridley’s at Macon & Sycamore View had the best ribs and beans EVER)

Miscellaneous: Cheese plate at Rendezvous because it’s the original, Ham sandwich at Canale’s, Cornish Hen at Cozy Corner, Hot sauce at Payne’s, Smoked sausage at Neely’s, BBQ Nachos everywhere, BBQ pizza at Colletta’s and Broadway Pizza

It does aggravage me that many folks outside of the city think that all Memphis does is dry ribs. As far as I know, the Rendezvous was the only place in town where you could get dry ribs for years. EVERYONE else sold wet ribs only.

Ann, Tom’s is still there serving everyday.

Payne’s, Cozy Corner, and Central are my favorites. Although Payne’s easily has the best sandwich, I can never find a place with consistently the best ribs. Central’s sandwich is not very good for some reason.

Enjoy your trip to Louisiana. In New Orleans, you must go to Cochon. It’s probably the best meal I’ve ever had, and it isn’t very expensive (Encore prices). It’s Southern/Creole cuisine with a unique perspective. Try the moonshine.

I’ll admit I’d never gotten the appeal of Payne’s sandwich, until I got my last one, which was a revelation. Smoky, sweet, sour, hot, savory; it showed some other sandwiches a firm lesson in discipline and balance. Don’t know why it didn’t work the few times I’d tried it before.

Rendezvous ribs can be great when it’s a good night, but it’s only a been good night about 50% of the times I’ve visited (I’ll take issue with Fredric’s “that’s not real barbecue” somewhere else, except to say that if woodsmoke as opposed to charcoal (or just hanging out in a warm oven) is the key to barbecue, there’s precious little of it in Memphis). More consistent are the ribs at Cozy Corner, the Barbecue Shop, Central, or Jim-n-Nicks. Corky’s is so consistent that you can make it in your own oven at home, from your grocer’s freezer.

The Whole Hog Cafe in East Memphis is closed.

If you’re ever in Jackson, try the Cajun Cookers just off I-40 at Exit 82A across the street from Shoney’s. He’s a former cookoff national champion and his ribs are tender, juicy and smokey. His slow cooked bar-b-q chicken thighs wrapped in slab bacon with a marinate are mouth watering.

Even Charlie Vergos will tell you the ribs aren’t real bbq. It says so on their wesbite:
“The Rendezvous’ dry ribs are the most famous barbecue in Memphis. But are they true barbecue? The ribs are cooked over charcoal, not wood, so there isn’t any smoke flavor. The cooking process is direct grilling, not individual grilling or smoking. Forget about the low pit temperatures of competition pit masters – these ribs cook in a virtual blast furnace. They’re not rubbed or seasoned ahead of time, nor mopped during the cooking. ‘The fact is, we use the fastest method we can simply to be able to cook the eight hundred racks of ribs we serve nightly,’ Nick says.”

I’d argue, Todd, that that’s a matter of semantics. Rendezvous also serves a shoulder sandwich, presumably cooked with the same charcoal and seasonings as the ribs, and similarly not smoked or basted. Is that similarly “not barbecue?” What’s the difference between that and, say, Cozy Corner, which also uses charcoal, and reasonably direct heat for its ribs?

Arguments that “barbecue” is “only” food cooked using indirect wood smoke over a long period of time, and no other method, eliminates a great number of marvelous restaurants from contention, and adds places that serve smoked salmon. And really, once you become snooty about barbecue, you’ve missed the point entirely.

In other news, I shall henceforth be referring to persons snooty about barbecue as “snouty.”

I cook competitivley. The closest to authentic I have found in Memphis is the PIG. They use a lot of Hickory so the meat is real flavorful.

Ribs fall off of the bone.

Pork is pulled not chopped so it stays moist.

Nachos are bar none the best pork nachos I have ever had.

Its prices are cheap, its worth a try. If you want quick, I always go through the drive thu in Millington.

I love Barbque. Barbeque is by far my favorite thing to eat. The best thing I have tried is the Barbeque wrap from the MILLINGTON PIG or THE PIG ON BEALE. It is very good and I love to get extra to warm up the next day. Way To Go Millington Pig for a great new invention.

Pig ‘n Whistle has a BBQ baked potato too, but I haven’t been there in a long time so don’t know if it’s still good. I actually liked a few things at Smokey Bones pretty well, especially asparagus as a side dish. But I guess other people didn’t or else they couldn’t survive as a chain in a city w/so many good individually owned BBQ restaurants. Something else unique about The Rendezvous is lamb riblets. I’m not a fan of lamb, but people I’ve taken there loved those riblets.

I love the BBQ Bologna sandwhich at the Pig in Southaven. Thick hand cut, lots of tangy Sweet sauce and some of the best cole slaw I’ve ever had.

Sorry to delay my post. Today, I am eating a BBQ from Joyner’s of Jack’s Creek TN. The other day I ate a BBQ from Curt’s Smokehouse (formerly Hays Smokehouse of Lexington TN. Both plces are very good.

Rural West Tennessee is known for Whole Hog BBQ.

The Joyner’s Jack’s Creek BBQ is about 2.75 for a small sandwich and is loaded with meat and mayo slaw. It was EXCELLENT! I wish all of you were here. Regrettably, they did not have any of their famous fried pies.

The restaurant is just 7 miles east of Henderson TN at the intersection of 22A and Highway 100. It a wonderful drive in the country and a great sandwich.