Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [83]
Our waitress explained that the grease is carefully strained every night after closing hour (usually about 4:00 A.M.; this is Beale Street, after all), and besides, the really old grease is always burning off, so the supply that supposedly never changes is, in fact, always changing. Whatever. The fact is that this is one heck of an interesting hamburger. We are especially smitten by the many ways in which it is served: as a double or triple, or as a double or triple combo (with layers of cheese), and with really good hand-cut French fries on the side. The menu boasts that each hamburger is served “Always on a Genuine Wonder Bread bun.”
If hamburgers are not your passion, allow us to suggest another Dyer’s specialty: the Big Rag Baloney sandwich. That’s a half-inch thick slab of bologna that is fried to a crisp in the same skillet, and in the same vintage oil as the burgers.
Eastside Fish
2617 Gallatin Pike
615–227–8388
Nashville, TN
LD | $
The Giant King, signature dish at Eastside Fish, is immense. A pair of whiting fillets, each at least a half-pound, are dredged in seasoned cornmeal and crisp fried, then sandwiched between four slices of soft supermarket white bread. The fish is cream-moist and delicate, its brittle crust mottled with splotches of four-alarm Louisiana hot sauce and enveloped in a harmony of crunchy raw onion, dill pickle chips, and smooth yellow mustard.
Hot fish sandwiches are a staple at soul-food restaurants throughout the South, but the tradition is strongest in Nashville, where they are the specialty of shacks, stands, and drive-throughs. Donald “Bo” Boatright, who started Eastside Fish in 2003, grew up eating them as part of what he calls “summer nights of fun”—evenings when neighbors gather to play cards and to eat hot fish. Standard companions for the fish are white bread, hush puppies, coleslaw, and, strangely enough, meat-sauced spaghetti.
The small storefront tucked back from Gallatin Pike has a single tall table with a couple of stools for those who need a place to eat, but Eastside’s business is virtually all take-out. Whiting is traditional; you also can get catfish, tilapia, or trout. There is no heat lamp to keep fish on hold, so from the time an order is placed, it takes a good ten to fifteen minutes to get it. The brown paper bags in which customers receive their fish from the order window are steaming hot and splotched with oil; the sandwich inside is wrapped in wax paper and held together with toothpicks.
We also recommend Eastside’s hot wings: jumbo drumettes fried so the skin turns luxuriously chewy. They are served sauceless, so they don’t look hot, but they will clear your sinuses.
Ellen’s Soul Food and Bar-B-Q
601 S. Parkway E.
901–942–4888
Memphis, TN
LD | $
“Call your pieces,” says the waitress if you’ve come for fried chicken, meaning tell her which parts you like best. We are especially fond of thighs, an embarrassment of juices packed inside skin that crunches with brio. Favorite side dishes include stewed cabbage flecked with fire-hot pepper, fried corn dotted with bits of green pepper, and a stack of griddle-cooked corn cakes that tear easily into pieces well-suited for mopping gravy.
A south Memphis storefront café with a tired, timeworn appearance, Ellen’s is nothing but energetic when it comes to cooking consummate soul food. Ever since Memphis’s beloved Four Way Grill closed, this is the place we happily go whenever we crave a plate of neck bones, catfish, or fried pork chops sided by candied yams, purple hull peas, and a stack of corn bread. And that fried chicken, which may be the best in town.
“You do want to eat here?” asked the hostess in a friendly sort of way as we entered the dining room for the first time, gazing around at a clientele that was, on this occasion, 100 percent African American. Apparently, we looked a little shocked. We nodded yes, and she said, “You are very welcome,” pointing us to a table where we sat in molded laminate seats and perused the handwritten menus. Yes, that’s right, every