<p>My son’s U-16 soccer team is going to be playing at the Germantown Showcase in Memphis this weekend. Does anyone have any good suggestions for things to do/places to eat?</p>
<p>We don’t have much downtime while we are there. We will be driving to Memphis all day Friday and get in (we hope) before dinner. There will be a team meeting at about 10 pm. We have games on Saturday (midafternoon) and early Saturday evening. Our Sunday schedule depends on the results of our games on Saturday. I wish we had earlier games on Saturday, but that’s the luck of our draw.</p>
<p>Blues City Cafe does ribs right. Rendezvous has its serious fans. Cangel has a great place I keep meaning to try (but the name escapes me. Shorty’s , Pokey’s, something).</p>
<p>Bikes on Beale is an every week impromptu motorcycle show. Heck just walking along Beale any night would be fun for a bunch of teenagers. Lots of blues spilling out in the street, lots of rock and roll everywhere. Lots of cops. It’s safe enough. Great civil rights museum, of course Graceland. And gee, I think I’ll mention that the little LAC there, Rhodes I think it’s called, well their campus may be the prettiest around. ;)</p>
<p>Have you ever visited Graceland? My D and I went back in October and saw everything in about an hour or so. We enjoyed it immensely. If you are interested, they have a website for more information. We went on a weekday so it might be more crowded on a weekend.</p>
<p>In addition to the suggestions above:
The best ribs in town (and the ones I believe Cangel was recommending) are at Corky’s. These are actual Memphis ribs. There are 3, but the most convenient for you would be the one on Germantown Parkway or the one in Collierville (next suburb east of Germantown). </p>
<p>The Rendezvous is in an alley downtown across the street from the Peabody Hotel (and a couple of blocks from Beale Street). Famous for ribs, barbecue and atmosphere. Be prepared to wait on the weekend. That will give you time to see the ducks at the Peabody. They are on display during the day, with the duck walk at 11 and 5. The roof should be visited as you can get a great view of Memphis. A party scene from “The Firm” was filmed on the roof.</p>
<p>Even if you’re not an Elvis fanatic Graceland should be seen once, especially with the Christmas decorations. If you can, go in the late afternoon to take the tour, then see the lights. <a href=“http://www.elvis.com/[/url]”>http://www.elvis.com/</a></p>
<p>And the zoo (while pricey) is wonderful. (If you have a zoo membership in your hometown, they do have some type of reciprocity agreement with a lot of other zoos for tickets.) Don’t miss the polar bears in a natural habitat, three baby bengal tigers, and a new-born giraffe. Check the website to make sure the babies will be on display while you’re there. The zoo opens at 9 a.m. so you could visit before your Saturday game. Or visit at night for the holiday lights. <a href=“http://www.memphiszoo.org/[/url]”>http://www.memphiszoo.org/</a></p>
<p>Corky’s!! That’s it. Hey, I was sort of close. Actual Memphis ribs, is this the famous dry /wet argument again? I hear people have died over this one. ;)</p>
<p>As to that library at the small liberal arts college ( Rhodes did you say?), my D says that when she’s in it she feels “kind of guilty” because it is so nice. So much nicer than it had to be. Just stinkin’ awesome or phrases similar to that.</p>
<p>As a Tennessean who has visited Memphis on several occasions, I highly recommend Blues City Cafe on Beale Street (at the corner of 2nd, I think). The Rendezvous is very popular but, IMO, very overrated. We had looked so forward to going there because of everything we had heard, and when we left after our meal, we were all disappointed. Corky’s is a franchise bbq joint, so you can get that in a lot of other areas. I would stick with something local and I don’t think you’ll be disapointed in Blues City Cafe.</p>
<p>The last time we were in Memphis, our DD met up with some of her old Governor’s School buddies and ran around Memphis while DH and I bounced from establishment to establishment on Beale Street, sampling the live music and the drinks along the way. Fortuntely, our hotel was close by, so we just walked back to our room at the end of the night.</p>
<p>The Rhodes campus is absolutely beautiful … lots of gothic-looking buildings and a beautiful new library. The Memphis Zoo is nice, so you might want to visit there if the weather is nice.</p>
<p>We have family friends who will be going to a championship game this weekend, too. Good luck to your son’s team. Go Ravenwood!</p>
<p>Hot diggity!! We have us a rib feud! Now for the OP to come back and be willing to sample all 3 over the weekend and give us their winner. Blues City, Blues City, Blues City. RAH!</p>
<p>I hope we have time to sample all the ribs recommended (that would mean we made it to the championship round late on Sunday and would stay an extra night because it would be too late to drive back) !!</p>
<p>But could someone explain to me the difference between wet and dry?</p>
<p>If you’re interested in ribs, you might also try the Germantown Commissary, which is close to where you"ll be. There is a small chain called Huey’s which kids like (look for the toothpicks in the ceilings), the closest of which is at Poplar and Houston Levee.</p>
<p>If you haven’t been to the Mike Rose Soccer Complex before, be prepared to be very impressed. My daughter played for the Fury and those were her home fields. The tournament has some pretty competitive teams and a fair number of college coaches.</p>
<p>If you were coming to Franklin, Tennessee, I would have have my DH grill some ribs for you. Since you won’t be coming this way, I will share my rib-cooking experience with y’all. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve never tasted better ribs than the ones my husband cooks. A friend of ours supplies us with a rub made by another friend who wants to open a restaurant and won’t divulge the ingredients of the rub recipe, but you can find recipes online. </p>
<p>One of the secrets to grilling your own ribs is to tear off that fine clear membrane that covers the ribs and then rub them down well on both sides. Place them in a large plastic bag (we use a trash can liner because we usually grill 10-12 racks at a time) and place in the refrigerator overnight … this gives the rub plenty of time to season the ribs. The next day, remove the ribs from the plastic bag and wrap them (individually) in aluminum foil making sure not to puncture the foil. Place them in a rib rack (or just lay them on their sides snuggled up closely to one another) and slow cook them on the grill (about 250 degrees) for five to six hours, using indirect heat. If you want wet ribs, remove the ribs from the foil when they have finished cooking, slap them directly on the grill and slop on some of your favorite bbq sauce … we love Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce. When DD graduated from high school, lots of family members came to town and we grilled the night before graduation. Twenty-two racks of ribs were snapped up and people were begging for more. There wasn’t a bite of meat left on any of the bones. </p>
<p>My nephews are coming to town this weekend … we’re taking them to watch my Titans beat their Colts … hey, stop laughing! It might be a good time to pop some ribs on the grill! I can almost taste them now! Get to grilling, folks!</p>
<p>People in the South get testy when you start talking barbecue (ribs especially, those rib eaters are true iconoclasts… or curmudgeons? ;)).
Corky’s is the place I like, but for the barbecue, I’m not a big rib fan.</p>
<p>Oh and SplashMom’s right. My DH bought one of those indirect smokers a few weeks ago, and made about the best ribs I’ve ever had on it, using a dry rub. The only thing that was wrong with them was the amount - he only made one slab as a test for the 2 of us, definitely needed more ribs.</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone, for all of the recommendations. I’m going to have to save them for our next trip to Memphis in the spring because we got to go nowhere and we got to do nothing.</p>
<p>What a disappointing trip! We didn’t get to see Memphis at all !!!</p>
<p>Memphis is about a 91/2 hour drive from where we live. The drive was easy until about an hour out of Memphis where there was what seemed to be a small accident that led to a major traffic tie-up. We got to the team hotel with just enough time for a fast-food dinner before the mandatory team meeting at 9 pm. The boys had to be in their rooms at 10:30 and in bed at 11, so no going out.</p>
<p>In the morning the boys had a shoot-around practice and practiced their penalty kicks–we left for their first game early so they could scout one of their opponents. They played their first game at 2:00, a tie against a very good team from Texas. They hung around the fields watching other teams play because they had to be back at the fields by 5:15 anyway for an evening game. Their evening game was somewhat delayed (don’t know why) They played horribly but got a tie out of sheer luck. We didn’t get back to our hotel until about 9:45. The boys were in a foul mood and it was late and they were hungry and were facing a morning game and a not-pleased coach.</p>
<p>In the morning the boys played the best they ever have but lost 2-1 against another very, very good team from Texas, a game they felt they should have won but that’s soccer.</p>
<p>Actually, the boys had a great time and really enjoyed the level of competition–it’s how you improve and these boys tend to be serious on the field. The competition was excellent and the boys learned a lot being in a bigger pond (they are supposedly one of the top-ranked teams in Ohio but I think that’s stretching it and I don’t know where a ranking would come from) --last year they played very good competition and reached the finals in 4 of the 5 out of town/out of state tournaments they played in, so maybe they were a bit complacent and spoiled. The parents on the team are wonderful, fun and supportive. The coach understands boys this age–the boys love playing for him even though he is NOT their friend–he is a tough, demanding , colorful curmudgeon.</p>
<p>We’ll be back for a tournament in March so I’m saving this thread! Thanks to all !!</p>
<p>boysx3, Well, dang. How disappointing. You were going to be our tie-breaker on the Rib Feud. But I guess after finding out that you live in Iowa, Ohio, …Idaho? Wherever , some yankee state - I really think you might have had to take remedial barbeque classes anyhow. </p>
<p>Maybe you can work on that before spring? And always remember - McRib McAin’t barbeque. ;)</p>
<p>Around here, ribs are ribs - barbecue is something else. Also, the activity performed in the backyard is generally grilling if you produce hamburgers, hot dogs, steak, etc, barbecue is an entirely different, and much more involved process.</p>