About to dig in at Memphis Blues
If there’s one thing that Vancouver isn’t lacking, it’s foodies. Last night, Ang, Morten, Phil, Kenny, and I went to Memphis Blues for several celebratory reasons including the conclusion of another successful 12x12 Vancouver Photo Marathon Exhibit, Morten’s Birthday, and Kenny’s win for Best Series at the 12x12 Vancouver Photo Marathon. Amidst the celebrations, we decided to make this a regular thing (monthly) by declaring the night the first official Dinner Club meeting. Our review system is simple: thumbs up, thumbs down, or somewhere inbetween (counted as half a thumb).
Memphis Blues
Memphis Blues on Commercial Drive is well known for their BBQ ribs and large meaty portions. I went there once several years ago and didn’t think much of it. I still don’t. In the spirit of full disclosure I’ll tell you right off the bat that I’m not a fan of ribs, and I’m also not a fan of the town of Memphis. Even so though, I thought the food was at best, barely edible.
We ordered two Memphis Feast platters to share. Each platter comes with every type of meat they serve, “plus all the fixins’.” It’s huge and includes pulled pork, BBQ chicken, BBQ dry ribs, sausage, sliced beef brisket, coleslaw, BBQ sauce, potato salad, corn bread, and fries.
Apart from the beef brisket and sausage, the meat was overcooked, dry, and boring. The only taste you could get was from the mini tub of BBQ sauce that it comes with and I don’t really like BBQ sauce so that didn’t help much. The sausage was alright, but nothing special. The beef brisket was moist, but tasteless. The dry ribs though, were the absolute worst. There’s only one way to describe meat like that: PLASTIC. Ang usually likes ribs (and she makes fantastic ribs that just fall off the bone) but even she didn’t want a second piece.
Overall Rating: 1.5 / 5
The best part of the platter was the fries but that really doesn’t say much for the dish either because they weren’t anything special. The corn bread was ordinary and served its purpose as a bland side dish, as did the coleslaw and potato salad.
Overall Group Food Rating: 1.5 out of 5
The Good: Large portions, good atmosphere, decent service, and the group gave it a higher rating for value (I still had my thumb down — if the food is bad, it’s not good value).
The Bad: Dry tasteless meat, and plastic ribs.
The Ugly: My gawd did that take-out bag STINK!!! We all agreed, the leftovers smell like the worst flatulence imaginable and when we opened Phil’s trunk to retrieve it after dessert at True Confections, we all had to take a step back. It was THAT BAD.
This rating system is going to be brutal. To be honest the meat wasn’t bad as our overall rating would suggest. I read beforehand that the ribs were definitely not their forte and that the brisket was the way to go. On their own the pulled pork and the brisket (with the BBQ sauce that you didn’t like) actually make for some pretty good sandwiches.
The brisket wasn’t as awful as the ribs, but they were pretty bland (as was the pulled pork). The leftover sandwiches were also BLAH.
I like the simple rating system actually. If it’s indicative of the likelihood of a return visit, I’d say it’s pretty accurate. It is therefore effective. Woohoo!
My poor trunk still smells like feet and barbecue duck! I would however, rate the evening a thumbs up as I got to spend it with people I like — and I do remember liking the pulled pork sandwich on a previous visit.
Aww
Phil: wait a sec I thought you said it was good the first time you tried it??
Angela: This is where things get complicated. Despite the poor rating, I would not disqualify the place from a second visit. There were elements that I enjoyed enough for me to go back, but next time I will know not to get te “Feast”.