memphis mary's

Janae asked me to go with her to Memphis Mary's in order to do reconnaissance. I'm not clear on why we needed to do reconnaissance, but I take pictures in restaurants all the time so I wasn't too concerned with the details. We told the waitstaff I write a food and travel blog. Misdirection through honesty is a specialty of mine.

The food: surprisingly good. I wasn't expecting much from a lesbian diner known primarily for its happy hour and contemporary dance mix. But it's solid.

We started with the spinach-artichoke dip that comes, unusually, with chips. The chips were outstanding: paper thin, crisp, warm, and lightly salty. The dip itself was well-balanced between creamy and astringent. The portions aren't large, but I only noticed because I wished I had some more dip after it was gone.

I specially requested grilled rather than fried shrimp for my po' boy. While the waitress was reluctant, she got it done. And it was a fine po'boy, this version firmly in the tradition of unfussy food. The bread was soft, not too crusty and grilled, which was a nice touch. Rather than the remoulade most places would serve with a po'boy, Mary's just uses a generous smear of tangy mayo. The fries were what really had me. Wow! Soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, not too oily, lightly salted...and browner, more crisp than others. I liked the size of them, too: thick, but not steak-size. Perfect proportions!

Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken

I'm not much of a fan of fried chicken. To me, it's greasy, soggy, flavorless mush coating overcooked chicken. You can revoke my "Southern" card if you want, but fried food in general just doesn't do much for me. The flavor of the fat tends to overwhelm the flavor of the food. In almost all cases you would do better to prepare it in another way.

This is the opposite of how I feel about Gus's fried chicken.

There's something about how they make it that's alchemical. The crust is crisp and full of the flavor of pepper and spice, while the chicken stays moist and juicy. It's like they condensed the essence of chicken in there. Maybe it's special chickens...I don't know. But they just taste better than ordinary ones.


Other than the superlative chicken, the menu at Gus's is limited. They have enjoyable fried pickles and jalapenos, the pies are uninspired but not bad. Beans and coleslaw come with the chicken meal and are serviceable. I like to scoop up coleslaw with pieces of chicken lightly doused in pepper vinegar. Yum!

I go to the Gus's downtown, on Front & Linden. I'm told the location out east has more variety of vegetables, but I wonder why they bother. People come to Gus's for the chicken. Eating anything else is just a waste of perfectly good tummy space.

Jerry's SnoCones

Jason and I had been planning a trip to Jerry's Sno Cones for months it seems. We finally went the other day! First of all, it's a bit of a trek to get there. Way up in the north part of Memphis - 1657 Wells Station Rd. But it's worth it on a hot day. The place is so pink and yellow and square, like if communist architecture came to Portugal.





And it does feel a little post-apocalyptic with all the people in various stages of summer undress waiting around in the sun or slurping their food out of styrofoam cups. what saves it from being too morbid is the gratuitousness of the combination of sno cone with soft serve ice cream. It's called a "supreme" and it's very good. I tried mine with mango, orchid, and cherry flavors. They were all a bit sickly sweet, and *way* too much for one person to eat, but the texture on my tongue was pretty amazing. I'm told wedding cake is the most popular flavor...but i think next time I'll try lemon or coffee and hope it won't put my teeth on edge!

Jeanne & Thorsten's Wedding Cake

So, I'm back in Memphis now -- teaching some Philosophy, tearing up some floors, baking some wedding cake. This is my second wedding cake, and I was very happy with it. It looked beautiful thanks to Amanda and Jena's artistic touches, but it tasted excellent as well! Let's see...it was an almond cake with raspberry eau-de-vie buttercream filling and fresh raspberries. For the outside I chopped up a bunch of almonds very finely and mixed it with gold dust so that it would remind Jeanne of the sand on the Pacific.

Lemon tart with Raspberries and Rosemary

the lemon filling was loose.... there's something about these creamy-firm textured pies that's difficult for me. but it was delicious anyway!

a gustatory adventure

Maria and I started our day at Beauty’s Luncheonette. It was a little overpriced, but the atmosphere was swell and the food was tasty. I'm told there's usually a crazy wait to get a seat, but Maria and I just breezed on in. My pancakes were lovely, sincere versions and the blueberries were fresh-tasting. The syrup on the other hand...let's say it was more caramel-colored sugar water than maple syrup!

Anyway, Maria's spinach and red pepper omelet with hash browns was hearty and well-seasoned. But what's with all the brown cooked bits on the omelet? This may be a little exigent, but you lose much of the delicacy and softness of the egg when you let it cook so long (or at such a high heat). Brown bits on the potatoes, however...heaven!

Next, we drove up to the Jean-Talon market, one of the most exciting open markets I've visited. First of all, it's huge. Rows and rows of fresh fruit and vegetables - all arranged like bouquets -, then there's booths for honey, maple syrup, cider and ice wine, cheese shops, butcher shops, stands of cured pork and homemade sausage, all surrounded by a sea of flowers. Maria and I got hooked by the mangos, which I wouldn't have expected to be as deliciously floral as they were. One of the nice things about the Jean-Talon market is that the vendors will give you samples of their fresh produce. When we sampled the mango it was so wonderful I bought 6!

We had one more stop to make: Paul Patates. I read this was the best place to get hot dog steamies and the only place to get a homemade spruce beer float.Let me say: Yum! Everything at Paul Patates was delicious! Especially the spruce beer float. Spruce beer itself is very light and refreshing, with that tinny pine tone. What I especially liked about it is how the soft serve ice cream makes thin little ice crystals in the spruce beer. It's almost like eating a little brush of pine needles with snow on top!

Elvis...like a bad penny

Maria and I visited Old Montreal while she was in town. It's really a beautiful neighborhood, right on the water, with a mix of ornate European-style architecture and the rusted remains of port industry.


It's also become a bit of a tourist haven. Complete with a golden Elvis.

And we thought we got away from this guy!

What is it with those giant plastic cups, anyway? When people go on vacation, do they just expect those? Or is it the vendors? I guess they're onto something...it's probably only through drunken eyes that their rows of tiny Canadian flags, spoons, shot glasses and beavers could look good.

Something that did look mighty appealing to me and Maria were these:


Boules au miel, or honey balls. And they taste as good as they look! Some people were ordering them with soft serve ice cream on top, or chocolate syrup. Maria and I decided to go with simplicity. They taste like New Orleans' beignets (and with that almost indefinable vanilla richness that donuts never seem to achieve), but soaked in a very light honey rather than powdered sugar. The shop, le Volcan, also offers another Quebec specialty: beaver tail. I'm not quite sure what that is, but I plan on finding out soon.