It Crawled from the South Part II: More Memphis

We hit the Beauty Shop for brunch the next morning. This is a converted beauty parlor in Team Plumley's old neighborhood, in a stretch of shops that includes Goner Records. Little Phoebe started off her day with some biscuits and the rest of us with some slices of grilled bread slathered with ricotta cheese and drizzled with honey and mint. Delicious.

I went with the country ham plate. I thought the menu said the apples were supposed to be roasted, but they weren't. I was a little underwhelmed by my dish. All the components attracted me to it, but it didn't feel cohesive. Also, there was a lot of saltiness on the plate, in retrospect, too much. Or maybe the dish could have benefited from a side of toast or a biscuit to counterbalance all that sodium chloride.



That evening, or maybe it was the one prior, Dan, Eric and T-Bone (aka Sam) headed over to the Big S for some quarts of High Life and good times. Now I've always wondered why these bottles are called quarts in these parts, when they look like 40 ouncers to me. Anyway, we didn't eat here (having dined on some marinated skirt steak that Eric grilled up) and I have no idea if they even still serve food, but the Big S is where the legendary J. C. Hardaway manned the pits until his death in 2002. Memphians say his was the best barbeque in the city, and maybe beyond. I'm sorry I never got a chance to try it.