Payne’s charcoal-smoked fare is a standout example of Memphis barbecue, and no trip would be complete without it. And visiting Payne’s is a trip in itself.
In our adopted neighborhood of East Somerville dining locally means enjoying cuisine from all over the globe. The restaurants show influences from El Salvador to Ethiopia, from Sicily to Sichuan, from Brazil back to New England.
Over Memorial Day 2013 we passed on the hospitality and generosity that we’ve been shown during our barbecue travels by inviting a few dozen friends over for an all-day barbecue party.
With over 50 trees, a three-story water sprinkler that can also hold a movie screen, and tons of play features, Somerville’s locally-designed Chuckie Harris Park represents a truly innovative reclamation of urban space for public use.
We love Revere Beach. The first public beach in North America, it’s right outside of Boston at the end of the MBTA Blue Line. This weekend, there was an added attraction: a traveling carnival. We stumbled upon the party and shot some of the action:
We thought A&R’s had served us the best ribs in Memphis, but the pitmaster thought he could do better. That craftsmanlike drive toward quality made him want his customers to experience the best his restaurant had to offer.
Memphis is a city with a rich musical tradition and Eric Gales both acknowledged and embraced that tradition when he came home to play Minglewood Hall.
We know that the area around Memphis is rich with barbecue and music and this time we’ll be staying there for close to a full week to find as much of it as we can.