Where are the Three Best Baby Back Rib Joints in the U.S.?
On the way back from Greenwood, Mississippi, we stayed in Memphis. We arrived in downtown Memphis at 10 p.m. to find ourselves in a sea of Elvis impersonators. They were having a huge Elvis impersonator concert and contest. I'm not kidding. There were two Elvis impersonators checking in ahead of us at the Peabody Hotel. We were not there to see faux kings, we were there to eat barbecue.
In the name of research, because Bon Appétit had named Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous one of its three finalists in its search for the best baby back ribs in the country, and also because it was a two-minute walk from our hotel and it was too late to eat at someplace like Cozy Corner (the best all-around barbecue joint in Memphis), we had a couple of racks of Rendezvous Room ribs. Now I have eaten these ribs many times, and maybe at one point they were really good.
But last Saturday night the Rendezvous Room ribs were not even worthy of a top three designation in downtown Memphis, much less the nation.
