Memphis on my mind

BB King’s

BSP visited Memphis, Tennessee a couple of weeks ago. Other than a work trip years ago, it was my first real visit and I have to say, the food and music were pretty great.

Imagine Cafe offered up incredible vegan food (salivate over the picture below of a po-boy and “chicken” fries), and Butterific Bakery supplied all that missed dairy with pillowy and creamy banana pudding, a caramel-y pecan tart, and luscious chocolate chip cookies. I even got in on the barbecue action with veg-friendly red beans and rice at Rendezvous, with chess pie for dessert.

Seeing the Lorraine Motel, and visiting the National Civil Rights Museum, was a somber highlight. I also listened to dozens of rootsy songs at the Blues Hall of Fame and spent many pleasant hours on Beale Street, listening to the Blues Trio at BB King’s, and a band I never got the name of at an outdoor stage across the street (the singer’s name was Rockstar but at least 2 other singers popped onstage, and Rockstar played the drums for awhile). The next day I saw a younger artist, @goslowtre (IG) at an empty barbecue restaurant, playing and singing his heart out.

  Imagine Cafe

The city felt more Midwestern than Southern in some ways, and there’s an art gallery in the Cooper Young area I’ll avoid (the owner drilled us with questions and launched into a monologue that felt like a verbal assault). But most everyone else, from the Blues HOF to Butterific to the made-in-Memphis store, was friendly and kind.

I hope to go back sometime and spend some time listening to hip hop bands and eat more creatively delicious food.