The Reluctant Road Tripper: Day 10

Maryland→Virginia→Tennessee

It was a pretty pleasant drive through Virginia, seeing lots of green grass, bright red barns and farm houses again.

Our next stop is Memphis, Tennessee…

Tennessee, Tennessee...Take me to another place, take me to another land, make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan. Arrested Development, baby.

Arrested Development - Tennessee

Elvis’ Graceland mansion is located in Memphis but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for us to visit. Since we couldn't go to Graceland, we decided to drown our sorrows on something else that this state is well-known for… BARBECUE!

For years, I've been talking about wanting to go to the Southern states so I could lay my hands on some legit BBQ and chill at some legit BBQ place with some legit Southern peeps. Yes, everything needs to be legit.

And here I am. In Memphis. At Central BBQ. Oh my yum.

I love the set-up of the place with a huge patio out front and how they have a no-fuss service and food presentation. When you come in, you line up to order and sometimes the line can be very long. Luckily, we kinda beat the crowd by like 15 minutes and got to order quickly and snagged a table inside.

Their Southern twang is adorable, “Would you like some slaw with that?”

You can order your ribs dry or wet so I ordered half wet, half dry just to taste the difference. Was there a difference? I don’t know, I was too busy stuffing my face. Oh, and did I mention that you can pick some yummy sides with your order like mac 'n' cheese, slaw, potato salad and so on?

This was the dry one.

And the wet one.

I tried the pulled pork sandwich (with slaw) and the BBQ nachos as well. I’m not really a nachos person but I just wanted to give it a shot anyway. Thanks to my brother for murdering the heck out of those nachos.

I came in like a wrecking ballllll...'coz my food was all gobbled up in 20 minutes. Is this the look of guilt?

Obviously not.

I wish I stayed outside 'coz they had live music on the patio despite the crazy heat and humidity.

Bye, Piggy! See you next time!

I wish we had more time to go around different BBQ spots (BBQ hopping?) but I can’t complain about Central BBQ, in fact, they are known for being one of the best in Memphis. If you really want to know what American BBQ is all about, you have to make the trip to the Southern states. But if you’re a Californian like me who’s stuck with the franchise options, Lucille’s or Famous Dave’s isn’t too bad at all.

We headed down to our hotel, where we had a nice view from the window of both the Mississippi River and their downtown area.