SURFIN’ ‘CUE - S - A

Every so often I’ll search Memphis barbecue images online to see what’s out there. My latest excursion found this photo, and a name I wasn’t familiar with.











By the picture, it was an old Loeb’s, in one of their trademark convenience store/laundromat/barbecue shop developments of the 1960s. This one was across from Graceland, and is long gone. So, it was off to the Central Library for another dive into the Loeb’s chain and its aftermath.

The Graceland Loeb’s (3795 Elvis Presley Boulevard) first appears in the 1974 phone book, toward the end of the Loeb’s barbecue run. It’s still a Loeb’s in the 1976 city directory, but there is also a Hickory Log on Knight Arnold.















A year later, the city directory reflects the change of the Loeb’s to Hickory Log, as Loeb’s is beginning to move out of the barbecue business.











Bonnie Burnett and Steve Marion continue to be listed as the owners or managers of the Hickory Log shops through to the 1979 city directory, but Marion has branched out into a new business.











A digression: The Hickory House listed on North Graham is also an old Loeb’s, and part of the Lois Pit Bar-B-Q story that I put up here a few years back. And the Tasty Burger Inn on McLemore, just down from Stax, has also been discussed here.











Alphonia Alexander, who ran the Tasty Burger Inn, later moved into a former Loeb’s on E.H. Crump. I didn’t eat any of his barbecue, but his burgers were as advertised. Last year I found a revived Tasty Burger Inn on Brooks Road.











The owner said he acquired the name and recipes from Mr. Alexander. Still a tasty burger. A guy at an adjacent table said it was the second-best hamburger in the city. I asked him what the best one was, and he said it was the one he just ate. Some serious fans.

Anyway, my camera died on me in the 1979 city directory, so it’s narrative from here on out. By 1981, the EPB Hickory Log had a new manager, Kathy Burnett (don’t know if she was related to Bonnie Burnett; the city directories had no addresses listed for either Burnett or Steve Marion) and the Knight Arnold Hickory Log had morphed into the Hickory Chip. Both were gone after another year. By 1982, Steve Marion continued in the doughnut business, and had added a bar – Steve’s Place, on North White Station in a Loeb’s complex, next door to the old Loeb’s ‘cue shop at 793 N. White Station – and was also listed with Tiny’s Family Restaurant on Winchester (another Tiny’s was at 3465 Cazassa, in – yes – a former Loeb’s barbecue restaurant. Lacking any information to look for Steve Marion or Bonnie Burnett, I didn’t look past 1982.







TWO BIGS











Earlier this month I finally walked the Big River Crossing, and it’s simply terrific. The distance suits me just fine, and the views are spectacular. Yes, you’ll probably have a freight train or two pass by less than 10 feet away, but it’s over soon enough. The power of the barge tow was more impressive. It passed beneath me at a deceptively fast pace.

So, having worked up an appetite, I decided to visit a new restaurant in an old ghost pit –









It is one of the former Neely’s that were run by the TV Neelys, and the new owners (among them the Central BBQ folks) have done a great job transforming the place on Jefferson. It’s a night-and-day difference literally, with the front windows (actually, a garage door) letting sunlight finally come inside.











The menu is varied, to say the least, with such things as breakfast tacos and an Asian rice bowl that is apparently quite popular, plus pancakes and an omelet. They also have a long list of biscuit “sammies.”

I’m pretty much a traditional breakfast person – not into breakfast sandwiches and definitely not “sammies” – and the menu serves up tradition as “the kitchen sink.” It’s one of about every option you would find on a regular breakfast menu – eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, hash browns the size of the dinner plate they come on, and a biscuit. I couldn’t finish it; the sausage and hash browns, which I never order if I don’t have to, were too much. It was OK, but I have two or three other places I like better, and for less $$. Coffee is self-serve, and good. And good for them for opening at 5 a.m.

The best part of the visit came as I crossed the parking lot to my car. I saw a guy working on the old barbecue pit,











so I went over to see what was going on. Turns out, it’s pits, as I saw a second one on the back that I didn’t know was there. The pits are gas-fired. He was cleaning them out, and didn’t know what the plans might be for them.









ANOTHER YEAR

Thank you to everyone who has found this site and deemed it worthy of following. May your holiday and new year be filled with peace and joy. Two of our food traditions – Dino’s ravs and gravy and a Showboat Barbecue smoked turkey—are in the house.

Merry Christmas from the GPC home office (David Barrett, I’m still waiting to hear from you).



