Note

Memphis Minnie's has been visited twice, once on 2005-06-30 and once on 2007-08-08.

Memphis Minnie's 2005-06-30 Review

Memphis Minnie's, a very down-to-earth cafeteria-style joint in the Haight, was very good. We followed the advice of other reviewers and stuck with the pork ribs, (beef) brisket, and pulled (sweet) pork, accompanied by a few sides and leaving room for a few particular desserts. (Apologies if I my description seem weak; I have little practice/knowledge of how to describe barbecue well. Advice always appreciated.)

• Our pulled pork was in the form of sandwiches; it was very tasty. This was the biggest hit of our entree items. Greatly flavor; BBQ sauce was unnecessary (though some added a little because sometimes it was little dry).

• Pork ribs. Quite good. The meat wasn't overcooked/falling off the bone, but was still tender and easy to rip off with one's teeth or with knife and fork. Pretty decent flavor, though most did use these as an opportunity to try the BBQ sauces.

• Brisket. Quite good also. Very juicy and a nice amount of fat, so there wasn't much desire to add any sort of BBQ sauce to it.

• Cornbread. Decent.

• Macaroni & Cheese. Decent.

• Coleslaw. The coleslaw, non-mayonnaise-based and therefore much lighter than traditional coleslaw, was a big hit among many (though I found it, while a refreshing change, a bit vinegary).

• Banana pudding. Excellent. To die for. Rich and creamy and oh so banana-y.

• Fried peach pie. Very good. (I tried and tried to figure out how to describe a fried pie. It's really what you would expect from the name. The best description I found -admittedly not great- is Nothin’ Says Lovin’ Like A Warm Fried Pie.

They had three Memphis Minnie's BBQ sauces on the table: a red "Texas" tomato-based one that some complained had too much cumin; a yellow "South Carolina" mustard sauce; a brown "North Carolina" vinegar sauce. None of these were appreciated by any of us -each was too strong with its individual flavor- but some found that mixing them together made a pretty good BBQ sauce.

The amount of food we ordered for the eight (!) of us was about right (2 pounds ribs, 1 pound brisket, 4 pork sandwiches, 1 pint mac & cheese, 1 pint coleslaw, 8 cornbreads, 2 banana puddings, and 2 fried pies), and for a total of $15-20/person, this was one of the best value-to-price restaurants we've been to yet on our tour.

Original 2005-06-30 Announcement

Welcome to the summer! In honor of occasion, we'll celebrate at Memphis Minnie's, supposedly one of the best BBQ joints in the city. We'll be trying it on Thursday at 8:30pm, as an experiment to see how many people can come on that night of the week. It's less expensive than most of these outings and very informal. Located in the Haight district.

http://www.memphisminnies.com/

Please tell me if you are coming!

Comments from Other Attendees on 2005-06-30 Visit

Seth's Recollection:

This was a very solid barbeque restaurant. I found it ironic that Height Asbury, the bluest of blue locations, would have such good barbeque, but alas, we all love good cooked meat at the end of the day.

I really liked the banana dessert, and the ribs were superb. I thought the vinegar Carolina sauce, while authentic, wasn't as good as the other sauces though. This is the best barbeque restaurant I ever ate at in California.

Compared to the best barbeque restaurant I ever at at in period, Sonny Bryan's restaurant in Dallas, I'd say it's not as good though. The sides weren't as interesting, like the okra at Sonny's, or the heavenly rolls. It was however, unusual for its pan-barbeque coverage of both Texas and Carolina style barbeque.

It also finally gave me a chance to try Carolina iced tea, which I thought was slightly too sweet.

-Seth

Feel free to add remarks here.

Memphis Minnie's 2007-08-08 Review

Memphis Minnie's served us good fries, coleslaw, and desserts, but thoroughly dry, unexciting pieces of meat. That's quite a surprise for a barbecue joint and a significant contrast with our previous visit.

The details: 

• BBQ Seasoned Fries. Very good. Addictive. I ordered a large appetizer of these near the end of the meal. When I saw the size of the plate, I assumed we wouldn't finish them. I was wrong. These fries, nicely spiced and therefore needing no ketchup, were soft, reminded us a bit of McDonald's. We talked a bit about the temperature of oil they must have been fried in. Also, one person hypothesized that the type of oil used must be similar to that McDonald's uses.

• Pulled Pork Sandwich. Pretty dry. Unlike our previous visit, we found ourselves resorting to one of the three bottled sauces on the table. Actually, this happened for nearly all the meats.

• Pork Ribs. Also dry but not quite as much. Possibly decent.

• Tri-Tip Steak Plate. Pretty tasteless, overcooked pieces of meat.

• Beef Brisket. Best of the meat dishes, though that's not much of an endorsement. It actually had flavor and some parts weren't dry.

• Corn muffin. Fine. Not particularly good, but nothing really going for it.

• Coleslaw. Tangy, mayo-less, and with large enough pieces of cabbage and other ingredients to give it texture and personality, this uniformly got raves.

• Smoked Beans. Although I liked them, others said they were unremarkable and complained (correctly) about their being pasty.

All the desserts were good. And all were sweet. 

• Pecan Pie. A pretty respectable pecan pie. As sweet as pecan pies are supposed to be (which is pretty sweet), but certainly not overpoweringly so. Still, I'm glad we shared it.

• Fried Peach Pie. Like a peach turnover or peach strudel, served piping hot, everyone enjoyed it.

• Banana Puddin. Good. Served with a bit of pastry at the bottom and two cookies on top. All added nice texture to the dish. One person remarked (positively) that the pudding seemed home made, like a basic, satisfying, comfort food. I in particular enjoyed that the banana flavor came through so strongly -- often I find banana flavored dishes more mild than I'd prefer.

We also shared a pitcher of Sierra Nevada.

The total was $20/person including tax and tip but not including drinks. Since Memphis Minnie's is a counter place we didn't gave much of a tip.

Original 2007-08-08 Announcement

Since Memphis Minnie's was the result of a last minute change of venue, there was no original announcement. Our original destination turned out to be closed for renovations. We chose a secondary destination in the Haight. When we arrived, we discovered it was a counter joint with no seating. We then chose Memphis Minnie's because we'd spotted it while walking to our second destination, some of us had been there before and had fond memories, and others hadn't yet been.

Comments from Other Attendees on 2007-08-08 Visit

I went with the consensus and gave this visit to Memphis Minnie's a 2+. However, because I had a more negative reaction than the rest of the attendees, the review doesn't read as if it should be that good. It'd really help if the other attendees could add a positive sentence or two to the review to balance what I wrote. -mark