Charlie Vergo's Rendezvous in Memphis, TN

 As Good a Rib as You'll Ever Eat

The first thing you notice when approaching Charlie Vergo's Rendezvous is, like all good BBQ restaurants, the aroma of charcoal-cooking meat that wafts to meet you. The next thing is the large number of people waiting in the alley to be seated. Yes, you enter the restaurant from an alley. How can you not love a barbeque joint that has its front door in an alley? 

 I had flown down to Memphis for a week of management training in a former job. Truthfully, I didn't give one whit about the training but knew that I had to eat the famous Memphis barbecue as often as possible.

The first day I told some of my classmates that I was going to eat barbeque that night and they were welcome to join me. Five of my new friends did. 

The restaurant is in the basement of the building. Legend has it that the restaurant was started in 1948 when Charles Vergos discovered a coal chute in the basement of his diner. The chute acted as a vent, enabling him to set up a grill. After he perfected his BBQ the diner closed up and almost sixty years later the barbeque is still smoking. The alley and restaurant were packed on this Tuesday night so we enjoyed beers and that wonderful bbq smell in the bar upstairs for about 45 minutes until we were seated.

The decor can best be described as cluttered, with historical political and entertainment relics spread throughout the rooms. The guests were a mixture of obviously locals and obviously tourists. Most of the waiters looked like they had been around since the restaurant opened.

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