# I Pit Thee, Memphis, and Your Strange Culinary Ways **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 5, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156 "2004-12-05T02:52:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/21 "2004-12-05T07:13:31Z")
The only thing better is Coleslaw on a Chick-Fil-A sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Wrong\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@The\_Wrong\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Wrong_Girl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/22 "2004-12-05T07:17:28Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Dude, if you’re ever in Pittsburgh-don’t eat at Primanti’s. Oh man, exactly what I’m eating right this very minute. Coleslaw on a sandwich (especiailly with kolbassi) is divine. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/23 "2004-12-05T07:47:51Z")
And here I am on the whole other coast, and you people have made me all hungry! Not a decent Carolina-style BBQ place for hundreds of miles. \ Guess I better fire up the smoker tomorrow… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/24 "2004-12-05T08:14:36Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > Screw that. I’m going for honest-to-god Western KY BBQ, as in a pork shoulder sammich. > > Also, I found the website, and it looks like it’s actually on the same route I sometimes take to work, only I’d go straight instead of turning onto Marquis. > > You have no idea how happy I am to have found this. Corky’s and Ol’ Happy Days just aren’t right, and I’d heard rumors about this place from people back home. Now I don’t have to bring Q back from Hill’s. Actually, to me, real honest-to-god Western KY BBQ is mutton. From the Moonlite Inn, in Owensboro. Mmm. And real honest-to-god KY burgoo. As for slaw, a few places here in Nashville do this. Whitt’s, which I consider the best of the local barbecue sandwich places, do this. Damn fine sandwich. Oh, and a recommendation? For ribs in Memphis, go down to Beale Street to Kings Palace. Just stunning ribs. And not bad music. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/25 "2004-12-05T08:32:27Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I knew that my mother always put sugar in her coleslaw, but I didn’t realize that it was common. Everyone else’s coleslaw always seemed too tangy or sour to me. She also put _Kraft_ mayo. I add a little Vegetable Delight. [hijack]What’s Vegetable Delight?[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/26 "2004-12-05T08:45:38Z")
Man. I hate BBQ (well, 99 percent of it) _and_ coleslaw (100 percent of samples encountered). A BBQ sandwich with coleslaw on it, to me, would be the closest thing to a turd sandwich you could get without actually using poo. Either that or a meatloaf sandwich, but that’s neither here nor there. ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/27 "2004-12-05T11:27:20Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > …your BBQ sandwiches are just a lump of meat and sauce on a bun? How boring! Good BBQ is never boring. It’s got the hot, sweet and smoky flavors going on already. No need for anything else. Like I said, I eventually tried slaw on BBQ, and while good, it just got in my way of enjoing the quality Memphis BBQ. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/28 "2004-12-05T11:46:17Z")
This thread has presented many mysteries for me: BBQ slaw - has some latter day Leonardo Da Vinci worked out how to imbue coleslaw with smoky BBQ flavours? Mayo - do you guys use ordinary Mayo for coleslaw dressing? Lettuce - don’t you mean cabbage? ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/29 "2004-12-05T17:53:24Z")
Oh, baby. I knew about slaw on BBQ sandwiches when I went to Chattanooga earlier this year. And it was my mission to have one. It was GOOOOOOD. However, I can imagine being surprised that it comes ON the sandwich, not NEXT to it. Generally when you ask for something that is typically a side, that’s where it showed up. But I say again…it was GOOOOOOD. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/30 "2004-12-05T18:00:00Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > Man. I hate BBQ (well, 99 percent of it) _and_ coleslaw (100 percent of samples encountered). A BBQ sandwich with coleslaw on it, to me, would be the closest thing to a turd sandwich you could get without actually using poo. Either that or a meatloaf sandwich, but that’s neither here nor there. I like Texas BBQ, but am not into other varieties. I prefer beef to pork. I loathe coleslaw – well, to be fair, I wouldn’t trust one that said it was non-mayo because I don’t trust anything that might be mayo-contaminated. Together…ewwww. Ribs come from COWS in my little world, and nowhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Flipstrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f6c823/32.png) [@Flipstrip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipstrip)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/31 "2004-12-05T18:20:39Z")
I had this happen to me in Memphis too. Not all places specify that the coleslaw is on the sandwich, so imagine my surprise when I got my order and there was a scoop of ice cold slaw on my steaming hot BBQ. I scraped it off to the side and I didn’t think the guy I was with was ever going to stop laughing at me. And Union City Cafe in Memphis (on or near Beale St., I forget which) had some damn good ribs too. Don’t know if it’s still there or not, haven’t been to Memphis in nearly ten years. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/32 "2004-12-05T18:42:13Z")
> [@diku](#): > > Actually, to me, real honest-to-god Western KY BBQ is mutton. From the Moonlite Inn, in Owensboro. Mmm. And real honest-to-god KY burgoo. > > As for slaw, a few places here in Nashville do this. Whitt’s, which I consider the best of the local barbecue sandwich places, do this. Damn fine sandwich. > > Oh, and a recommendation? For ribs in Memphis, go down to Beale Street to Kings Palace. Just stunning ribs. And not bad music. I’m from west of Owensboro. We mainly do pork. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/33 "2004-12-05T19:21:27Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > This thread has presented many mysteries for me: > > BBQ slaw - has some latter day Leonardo Da Vinci worked out how to imbue coleslaw with smoky BBQ flavours? > > Mayo - do you guys use ordinary Mayo for coleslaw dressing? > > Lettuce - don’t you mean cabbage? [BBQ slaw](http://bbq.about.com/od/miscellaneousrecipes/r/ble40604e.htm)😃 ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/34 "2004-12-05T22:45:24Z")
**usar\_jag** , you are an uncivilized heathen who doesn’t know shit about good barbecue. ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156/35 "2004-12-06T00:25:31Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > **usar\_jag** , you are an uncivilized heathen who doesn’t know shit about good barbecue. I beg to differ. The gist of my rant is that Memphis has great BBQ that stands alone. No slaw needed. If I was still in Memphis, and had a pit, I’d challenge you to a Q-off. Anyways, I did enjoy your fair city, and look forward to visiting again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-thee-memphis-and-your-strange-culinary-ways/278156.md?page=1)