A friend of mine will be going to Memphis as part of a 25-person group from her work. They will be there 1-2 months working all kinds of crazy hours. Her boss told her to find a bunch of restaurants that will deliver meals (lunch and dinner) for a group of about 25. Since she lives in LA and has never been to Memphis, she considers this to be mission impossible.
She called me in hopes I might know, and I told her I would try to harness the power of the Straight Dope to come to her aid.
So what we need is names of Restaurants that will deliver food for a group of about 25 to downtown Memphis. A phone number would be wonderful, or at least a street so she can track it down through directory assistance.
Memphis is especially famous for barbecue, and I had the best barbecue ribs and pulled pork shoulder of my life there. The restaurant we went to is Corky’s, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they deliver or cater, since they had a few locations around the city. Amazing meat and great sauce as well. We also ate at Huey’s (highly recommended to us for the best burgers in the city), Blues City Cafe, and Rum Boogie Cafe. The above website links to more information about all of those, as well as breaks the city down into areas. Your friend will want to check all that out, and maybe even make some calls in advance. You make their assignment sound like a stressful one, but if they eat food as good as I ate in Memphis, it’ll make the trip that much more pleasant.
Hmm. I know of a few places that are more out Germantown way, but their delivery area doesn’t stretch to downtown.
Honeybaked Ham caters, and their sandwiches are good (I like the honey mustard they put in the box), but if any of them have dietary restrictions of some sort I don’t know how flexible their menu is.
There are a few BBQ places in the area that cater: Pig-n-Whistle does so, along with Corky’s.
For non-catering stuff, I’m not sure who in the downtown area delivers: if another Memphis doper doesn’t chime in, I’ll check with my Mom and see where the stuff that gets delivered to work as bri… er… “thank yous” comes from.
There are a few Chinese places downtown that deliver as well… if your friend is going to be working at an established office they’ve probably got a lot of flyers from local places there. (And a lot of the flyers have coupons.)
More from me: there are plenty of eating places convient to downtown, so if they start getting stir-crazy they’ll be able to pop out to grab something to eat and get back in a reasonable time frame.
Fino’s is a fantastic Italian deli that caters; their number is 272-3466 (Area code is 901, but Memphis is small enough that you only need the 7-digit number if you’re calling from in town). Fino’s closes at 6 p.m. though, and they’re closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Huey’s is a local institution with great burgers; they’ve got a downtown location, and they cater. 527-2700. (Warning: Most of their food is great, but do NOT get the Philly Cheesesteak. Trust me.)
Also downtown, but a bit pricier, is Gordon Biersch; it’s a brewpub with excellent food. 543-3330.
For Thai food, there’s Sawaddii downtown (529-1818), but the food is better (IMO) at Ban Thai on Peabody in Midtown. For some reason, I can’t find Ban Thai’s number; I may be misspelling it.
For good, handmade pizza/calzones, there’s Memphis Pizza Cafe in Midtown: 726-5343.
Midtown is a few miles from downtown, but places should be willing to go that far, especially if it’s a big order.
Those are off the top of my head; downtown is packed with great restaurants. Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you need more specific suggestions.
Oh! How could I forget! The Rendezvous downtown is famous for its barbecue, and the atmosphere simply can’t be beat, but personally I prefer The Bar-B-Que Shop on Madison in Midtown. Best barbecue in the world for my money. When I have out-of-town guests, I make sure they get to eat there.
