The Here & Now of Memphis

Written by Craig Kaminer

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Memphis, but I jumped at a chance to return and be a guest of Memphis Tourism. For three days, Debbie and I were wined and dined, toured, and pitched on the relevance of Memphis as the perfect travel destination for St. Louis’ sophisticated readers. Considering all of the similarities to St. Louis, we came away convinced this is a perfect road trip destination.

Memphis is just four and a half hours away by car and is a great counterpoint to St. Louis. It has many similarities, yet enough differences to make a long weekend of it, especially if music history, a live music scene, barbecue, craft beer, baseball, and the turning point of civil rights compel you into action.

We were guests of the new Hyatt Centric on Beale Street overlooking the Mississippi waterfront, the two majestically lit bridges at night -- Hernando de Soto and Big River Crossing bridges -- and an easy one or two block walk to many of the attractions at the top of anyone’s list. Hyatt is adding two additional hotels adjacent to the Centric, one to cater to the millennial traveler and a Hyatt Grande catering to the luxury traveler. The Hyatt campus should be completed in the next few years and will cater to all guests in perfect comfort depending on their tastes and budgets. The Centric starts in the mid-to-upper $100 per room night and jumps to the mid $300s for weekends and special events.

With so many metropolitan cities within driving distance, the hotel created a special “Memphis or Bust” road trip package with special perks for those driving from Nashville, Atlanta, St. Louis, Birmingham, and other metropolitan areas. The package included complimentary valet parking for one vehicle, a bottle of wine since travelers won’t need to check a bag, as well as a complimentary “Put it in Park’’ cocktail for when the road trip has come to an end.

Additionally, the resort curated two playlists -- timed at three hours and five hours -- so that guests from these top drive-market cities can amp up the trip with tunes timed for the drive. Playlists feature hits from famed Memphis artists like Elvis, Justin Timberlake, Johnny Cash, and more.

Perhaps most striking about Memphis is that despite its history of segregation similar to St. Louis, it seems to make the most of its past, depict it for what it was, and is taking great strides forward to embrace its diversity. One of its ugliest memories was Martin Luther King’s assassination at The Lorraine Hotel, which now is The Civil Rights Museum, one of the great museums of our time, depicting one of the worst eras in our country’s history. It’s like going to a Holocaust museum, where despite what you know or have heard, the experience will change you forever.

Photo by Andrea Zucker

Just a couple of blocks away, Beale Street, which is Memphis’ Bourbon Street, is where African American shopkeepers were originally located for their clientele. While it was boarded up for many years, it is now a thriving entertainment district which is busy all day and night with tourists and locals singing, dancing, and enjoying the music which epitomizes the Memphis sounds of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and B.B. King.

Photo by Craig Thompson

While I am confident that any St. Louisan will feel the Memphis barbecue scene is no better than Pappy’s or Sugarfire; you can get great barbecue on virtually any street in Memphis. Our first night we went to Central BBQ in Midtown which attracts more locals than tourists, and we feasted on everything from barbecue nachos, wet and dry rub ribs, pulled pork, the obligatory sides, and local craft beer. The food was excellent, the hospitality perfect, and the stories told of Memphis by Kevin Kern of Memphis Tourism were simply mesmerizing.

Some of the other great barbecue places are Rendezvous, Corky’s, and Elwood’s Shack, not to mention the famous Memphis fried chicken joint Gus’s, which now has a spot on Manchester Ave. in Maplewood. This is a city where native Memphians ooze pride -- despite some of its unseemly past -- and are committed to making the present and future the best it can be.

On our first full day of exploring, we started at the famed Arcade Restaurant, where Elvis was known to be a regular and the restaurant still has his booth marked, waiting for his return. Their sweet potato pancakes stole the show, but everything was quite delicious and reflected Memphis’ southern roots from its decor, the clientele, the wait staff, and Southern hospitality. From here we jumped into Ubers and headed to The Metal Museum -- not on most itineraries but exceptionally worthy of a visit.

Because of Memphis’ central location, great logistics, and mighty Mississippi at its doorstep, metal production and distribution has been part of its history. The Metal Museum sits on 3.2 acres, with lavish renovated buildings dating from the late 1800s, and houses a superior collection of fine metalwork, an active blacksmith, foundry, small metals lab, and a design lab that provide educational opportunities for metalsmiths through artistic creation as well as vibrant community education and engagement programming for learners of all ages.

Photo by Brand USA

A highlight is the beautiful metal gates that welcome you to the metal gazebo overlooking the river. This is a world-class venue fit for a wedding and other lavish outdoor events much like Laumeier Sculpture Park is in west St. Louis County.

Photo by Raphael Tenschert

Following our tour and trying our hands at metalwork, a small group of us took a hike across the Mississippi on a bridge called the Big Muddy Crossing to get a great view of downtown Memphis, have one foot in Tennessee and one in Arkansas at the same time, and get in our 10,0000 steps. Everything was just perfect and I would highly recommend this free attraction to anyone willing to walk approximately two miles roundtrip. You can also rent an e-bike or scooter if the barbecue is weighing you down.

Photo by Justin Fox Burks

After burning off some calories, we headed downtown to Huey’s which is just across the street from the Peabody Hotel -- best known for its old world charm and live ducks which parade in its lobby daily -- for some of the best-tasting hamburgers in Memphis and monstrous onion rings. Perhaps the most unique characteristics of its location are the graffiti walls, hometown feel, and local live music. The World Famous Huey burger has been voted Best Burger in Memphis since 1984. Sundays at Huey’s are traditionally known for live music, including jazz, blues, and even a little rock from local and regional groups.

As we each headed in our own directions back to the Hyatt to lounge by the pool, Debbie and I checked out the streetcarlined Main Street. There are some fun shops, a lot of restaurants, and conveniences for the gentrified crowd who live here. There are beautiful buildings which have been renovated, and dozens more which must be on someone’s watch list as the city attracts a new generation of developers and citizenry growing tired of the expensive communities of Nashville.

For dinner, we gathered at CIMAS, a new Latin-inspired restaurant located at the Hyatt, for an exceptional fine dining experience hosted by the Director of Sales and Marketing Nick Janysek. Nick ordered every appetizer on the menu for us to try including salad, cobia carpaccio, and shrimp and grits. Each was outstanding, perfectly prepared, and our waiter, Byram, could not have been nicer, more thorough, or more hospitable. With the beer, wine, and cocktails flowing, the evening was off to a great start. For dinner I ordered their American Wagyu steak with a chimichurri sauce and Debbie ordered the Joyce Farms chicken thigh roulade. For dessert we shared brown butter banana cake with vanilla gelato and a chocolate pot de creme. If we hadn’t imbibed enough (I sense this is part of the Memphis way), we retired to Beck & Call, the first and only rooftop lounge overlooking the Mississippi, for a night cap, lightshow of the two bridges, and conversations with each of the media guests from New York, Houston, Phoenix, and Miami.

We often take for granted rooftop restaurants and lounges with St. Louis now having many, but Beck & Call is not only the first, but it’s first class all the way. With its signature whiskey program, indoor and outdoor seating, live music, and sexy decor, it attracts locals and VIP guests. Its separate elevator, direct from the ground floor to the rooftop, adds to its sophistication and its well-dressed, spirited crowd is as much fun to watch as it is to drink with. After Beale Street, Beck & Call is the perfect spot for a refined night cap.

The next day, we were scheduled for a history walking tour, but the intermittent rain caused us to change our plans. So we headed to the Stax Museum -- where Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Albert King, and many others got their start -- the Mecca of the Memphis Soul Sound and what is now called Soulsville. The Stax and Sun Studio (where Elvis first recorded) are the two must-visit sites on any trip to Memphis. The tours are not long, but they are memorable and you quickly realize that music history can still be made by a few passionate people, sticking with their dreams, cultivating talent, and taking some risk.

After the Stax, we headed to check out some high-end retailers in the Laurelwood Shopping District, particularly Joseph’s. It was what you would expect...sort of an open-air Frontenac Plaza, with beautiful stores, luxury goods galore, a phenomenal bakery and great historic homes surrounding it. I don’t know if I would book a shopping trip to Memphis, but as part of a few days wandering for music, museums, food, and river views, it’s worth the diversion.

After a short respite, we gathered with the others to visit the Grind City Brewing Company on the banks of the Mississippi and met up with the owner, Hopper Seely. Hopper is a graduate of Brewlab in Sunderland, England -- where he was taught the trade of brewing. Once he graduated, he had one goal, and that was to open a brewery in his hometown of Memphis.

Grind City brews a diverse range of great-tasting craft beers, staying true to a process that ensures quality and goodness through and through.

Hopper is extremely affable and led us on a tour of the brewery and offered us samples of anything we wanted. Some of his beers were from recipes he learned in Europe and others from just making mistakes. His Viva Seltzer line is great tasting with zero grams of sugar and under 100 calories. He told us many of the hard seltzers sold nationally are made in Memphis because of their clear water and easy access to transportation. There are a lot of benefits to living in the hometown of FedEx.

For our final night of revelry, we headed to Lafayette’s Music Room, which has been a mainstay of Memphis since it originally opened in the 1970s, for some live music and eclectic Memphis home cooking. Led by Milton Howery III from Memphis Tourism, we drank some more, ate to our heart’s content, and watched a band named Waker, a six-piece ensemble from Nashville, Tenn. The group combined the spirit of classic rock, the pathos of Motown soul, the restless experimentation of jam-band music, and the songwriting acumen of the best indie rock, resulting in a wholly original and stirring aural gumbo. It’s this unique sound that has earned them slots on stages at Bonnaroo, Hangout, and SXSW.

Photo by Philip Parker

The evening ended with some handshakes and hugs, a promise to share each other’s stories about Memphis, and a commitment to return again to catch all the things we didn’t have time to fit into our schedule. While not an Elvis fan, I still want to visit Graceland, watch a minor league Cardinals game, see a couple of other music history museums, and get to know the locals. It’s hard not to respect what Memphis is doing, where it’s come from, and how it has contributed to the new America so many are seeking. Jump in your car, turn on the blues, jazz, and Elvis and in four hours you’ll be in the heart and soul of America.

As they say, if you didn’t have a good time in Memphis, you can’t leave.