The Rendezvous downtown Memphis serves a cheese and sausage starter that locals order before the dry-rub ribs. Crackers, smoked sausage rounds and sharp cheddar.
Tip: Order it as a pre-meal snack at the bar while you wait for a table downstairs.
Address: 52 S 2nd St, Memphis, TN 38103
Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken on South Front Street is the city's defining counter-service fried chicken, a Mason-born spice-crusted bird on butcher paper.
Try: Spicy fried chicken plate
Tip: Lunch line moves; dinner can be an hour on weekends. Three-piece dark plate is the order.
Memphis hot tamales are a Delta street-food tradition: cornmeal-wrapped beef tied with twine, simmered in spicy broth. Often sold from roadside stands and BBQ shops.
Try: Hot tamales
Tip: Found at Cozy Corner and A&R BBQ as a side. Ask at any Memphis BBQ joint with Delta roots.
Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken on South Front Street is the city's defining counter-service fried chicken, a Mason-born spice-crusted bird on butcher paper.
Try: Spicy fried chicken plate
Tip: Lunch line moves; dinner can be an hour on weekends. Three-piece dark plate is the order.
The Soul Burger at Earnestine and Hazel's on South Main is a griddled patty with caramelised onions, pickles and the bar's mysterious Soul Sauce on a soft bun.
Try: Soul Burger
Tip: Walk upstairs to the old brothel rooms while waiting for your burger. Cash works fastest.
Payne's chopped pork sandwich on Lamar Avenue South Memphis is wrapped in mustard slaw and white-bread bun, the city's defining cheap BBQ sandwich for over 50 years.
Try: Chopped pork sandwich
Tip: Lunch only, Tuesday to Saturday. Cash preferred and the line moves quickly.
The smoked Cornish hen at Cozy Corner on North Parkway Memphis is the city's most singular BBQ plate, hickory-smoked whole and mahogany-skinned in sauce.
Try: Smoked Cornish hen
Tip: Tuesday to Saturday only. The bologna sandwich on white bread is the second-best order.
The Bar-B-Q Shop on Madison Avenue in Memphis invented BBQ spaghetti: pulled pork and BBQ sauce tossed over noodles. The signature side that put the room on the map.
Try: BBQ spaghetti
Tip: Order a small spaghetti as a side; the full plate is enormous. The Dancing Pigs sauce ships.
