Description: When I left everything up to Aunt Ellen to decide on the dining plans one of my two requests would be BBQ. After all I am a GRIT (girl raised in the south) and no self respecting GRIT would dare go to a southern town without paying her proper respects to the pit master. Especially when you’re visiting a city known for its Q.
When making final plans, Aunt Ellen picked the Rendezvous our first night since it was across from our hotel. She said their BBQ ribs were legendary and we had to go. She also said it would be crowded so we needed to go about 6 o’clock to make it to our 8 pm curtain call at the Orpheum. Sounded good.
Since 1948, locals, visitors, presidents, celebrities, and TV food personalities have been visiting this now Memphis landmark. Owner, Charlie Vergos, had a restaurant here prior to this time. But in 1948, while cleaning out the basement, he discovered a coal shoot and as they say..a legend was born. Pretty good for a Greek immigrant making ribs in the south. Oh, and you might ask..while dining here..who's fabulous and famous spirit might still be lingering? Vince Gill, Joe Walsh, Prince Albert of Monaco, Frankie "baby" Sinatra, Bill Clinton, John McCain, Bill and Camille Cosby, Bear Bryant, John Grisham, Justin Timberlake, the Rolling Stones, Elvis, and Al Green (who has a church in town and you can go visit)..just to name a few.
Adam Richman was here on his Memphis episode of Man vs Food. Bobby Flay stopped by in his Memphis episode of Food Nation. In fact TV and the media have all featured this legend in their shows and on the pages of their papers and magazines. They have even been mentioned in books and songs. They have had oodles of those "Best of" awards given to them. They have also catered some pretty fancy shin digs. They have served food on Air Force 1 and 2, at Bill’s Inaugural Gala, the South Beach Food and Wine Festival, several American Embassies, PGA tournament luncheons, lunch for Bush and Japanese Prime Minster Koizumi, and apparently the touring cast of Wicked. When we were there, as we were arriving several employees were going out the door with bags and pans of food and someone asked where they were going, and they replied the Orpheum. Not to brag..but that is just a few of the places they have been. Oh and you will also find them at plenty of fundraising events and feeding volunteers helping in the community.
Just this past March, the family at the Rendezvous was saddened by the loss of Charlie at age 84. Today his children and grandchildren run this place like a well oiled machine. Many of the staff here have been here for decades. And no doubt the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Charlie will keep this place running for decades to come.
They have appetizer plates but I have no idea how big they are since most are almost $10. They include cheese & sausage, ham & cheese, nachos, or riblets. They offer several sandwiches including pork, chicken, and ham and cheese. For vegans and vegetarians they offer meatless red beans and rice, Mama’s real Greek salad, or skillet of shrimp. In addition to ribs they offer BBQ chicken, brisket, and lamb. But what you really want when you come here is those ribs.
Aunt Ellen and I arrived around 6 thinking we have plenty of time before our 8 pm curtain call at the Orpheum. This place is huge and busy since there is also a Redbirds game that night. It is so crowed that we ask the hostess how long the wait is and she says 45 minutes. We put our name on the list and head upstairs to the bar area. There are people packed into every corner and there are tons of tables on the upper two levels. Why they do not serve food up here, I don’t know. It is hot in here and the sweat is just ruining down the back of my gown. Aunt Ellen grabs a wine from the bar and I get a coke.
After an hour and our name still isn’t called, we decide to go downstairs and she how long it will be since we now have an hour before curtain call. We ask the hostess and mention we have to be at the Orpheum before 8. She tells us to stay close by and she will get us next. Food is served downstairs in the basement and there are people crowed into every nook and cranny here and hanging out on the steps. 5 minutes later we are finally seated. Our server comes over to get our drink order and since we have had an hour to look at the menu, we were ready to order. We both order the small order of ribs which includes beans and slaw and I get an order of pickles.
Now a good GRIT knows her BBQ. It is something in our southern genetic make up that we know BBQ. I have on many occasion gave you a dissertation on NC BBQ. But I also know my neighbors BBQ as well. Here in Memphis they prefer a dry rub. Ribs (and all manners of Q) are still cooked in a pit for hours (and you can smell the heavenly smells from the Rendezvous before you get here) but they apply a dry rub to the ribs for flavor rather than a sauce like we do here in NC. Of course they do have sauce at the table should you want some when the ribs arrive.
After placing our order we wait and we wait. Normally ribs are something that are already made and come out in a flash. At least here in NC they do. 30 minutes go by and I am looking at my watch and finally stop our waiter, who hasn’t stopped to check on us at all and ask about the ribs and once again mention we have theater tickets. He tells us he will go see if he can get them out immediately since if we didn’t have them in the next 5 minutes we would have to cancel our order. Sure enough he comes right out with the ribs. One bite and oh my goodness these babies will want to make you slap your mamma they are so good. They are fall off the bone tender and the rub is wonderful. No need for sauce. I would have been happy with just a plate of ribs and no sides. Unfortunately I would have had loved to had time to savor the goodness of the ribs, but we had to inhale them. Since the service was so slow, we inhaled our food, just left the money on the table and left a bigger tip that we thought was deserved, but we didn’t want to wait for change. And we dashed up to the trolley to the Orpheum. Unfortunately since there is a 15 minute hold, we arrived too late and had to miss the first 15 minutes.
Website/hours/info www.hogsfly.com.
You can check out the menu, check out the hours, and even have these succulent pieces of heaven delivered to your home.
Ok, so are you recommending them? . This is how much I love these ribs, by all means possible get here and try their ribs. You will be glad you did. Should I find myself in Memphis again, I will be right back here at the Rendezvous waiting in line for some of the best ribs I have ever eaten. Next time I will just make sure not to go on a night where I have to be somewhere. And good solid advice if your stopping by as well.
They are in the $10-$20 pp range.
Charlie built a wonderful BBQ kingdom here in Memphis. Whether you visit in person or order on line, eating Rendezvous ribs should become a bucket list item for the BBQ fan.
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