If Jazz if America's great contribution to music, and the Europeans certainly think it is, Barbecue is America's great contribution to the global kitchen. The best pork ribs I have ever tasted in a restaurant were served to me Thursday afternoon at Charles Vergo's Rendezvous Charcoal Ribs, in Memphis Tennessee. Here is my cohort outside the august establishment, down the alley.
And here is my young man with Big Bob, who has been serving the perfect expression of the art of the barbecue to hungry patrons for the last forty-five years.
The Rendezvous Ribs are the result of a Zen simplicity. I don't think there is much more on 'em than paprika, garlic powder, salt, and hours of slow smoking. That, and more than fifty years of alchemical research. I can produce a reasonable facsimile on my Weber grill. But if you find yourself anywhere near Memphis, make it to the Vergo's old haunt. If you can't manage that, you can use the link above to have them delivered. Either way, you'll owe me.
If you want to find the Rendezvous, look for this sign. It is just to one side of the entrance.
General Washburn's Escape Alley is name after Cadwallader Colburn Washburn, who, according to legend, escape down that alley during a daring raid by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forest was, by some accounts, one of the founders of the KKK. Looking at my three images, you will get a better idea of the juices in which the Rendezvous ribs are cookin'.
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