Beyond Beale Street: A guide to undersung Memphis (2024)

Jess Miller

Let’s start with full disclosure: I love Memphis. If I were making a list of my five favorite cities in America, it would be on there (and it wouldn’t be number five). So, when my editor said Memphis was an option for our annual road trip issue, there was simply no chance that I would choose to go anywhere else.

Though Memphis is barely two hours from Little Rock, it seems most of my friends in Central Arkansas have been there a couple of times and feel roughly the same way about Memphis as they do about Branson. On some level, I get it: If your only experience with Memphis is Beale Street, Graceland, the Bass Pro Shop, the National Civil Rights Museum, and maybe Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous, Memphis probably does feel like little more than your standard tourist trap.

There’s nothing wrong with experiencing every one of those things, either. If it’s your first or second visit to Bluff City, I would even argue that you should focus on those cultural big-ticket items.

That’s not the Memphis in this story, however. This story is about the Memphis you discover once you’ve done the touristy things and you start looking for what else the Home of the Blues has to offer.

Jess Miller

My photographer/co-pilot/fiancée Jess and I pulled out of the driveway a bit before 8 a.m. on a sunny Tuesday morning in May. After a quick stop at Rosie’s Pot & Kettle for some of the best breakfast food on either side of the Mississippi River, we cranked up the Big Star and pointed the Hyundai eastward.

Being a couple of music nerds, our first stop was Shangri-La Records (1916 Madison Ave.). Despite a small commercial parking lot in front, the shop looked to be in an old converted house, which the floor plan confirmed. Through the front door and immediately to the left is the main room with the majority of the records, though the entire space is packed to the gills, including a room in the back full of rare albums. Posters adorn most of the wall space and act as a time capsule of sorts, spanning a period loosely described as “mid-’70s through late-’90s niche pop culture.” Jess appreciated the breadth and depth of Shangri-La’s collection of local artists in particular; as a Southwest Arkansas kid who started coming to Little Rock to see Cory Branan and Lucero play before she was even old enough to drive, she loved being in a record store that celebrated so many of the bands she grew up on.

Seventy-ish dollars later, we’d added a 2023 remastered version of Lucero’s “That Much Further West” and the Record Store Day version of Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit’s “Weathervanes” to our collection. We strolled out into the noontime sun already wondering aloud how soon we could return with more time to dig.

Next up was lunch. At Jess’ urging — “Remember, not everyone wants to eat BBQ for every meal over a two-day span!” — we decided to seek out something unique to Memphis that wasn’t dry-rubbed and smoked for hours. The Beauty Shop (966 Cooper St.) fit the bill perfectly.

The Beauty Shop fills a space that formerly housed Atkins Beauty Salon, a now-defunct curl-and-dye boutique dating from the 1940s that used to count Priscilla Presley among its regular customers. As you might expect from the name, The Beauty Shop doesn’t hide the location’s fabulously bouffant past. They lean into it. Hard.

A half-dozen or so two-top tables feature one oversized vinyl chair, where diners can eat while sitting under Belvedere hair dryers. Booths for larger dining groups fill the glass brick-lined stalls where barbers’ chairs used to be, though the mirrors and cabinets on the wall of each stall remain. Mid-century green sinks formerly used for washing hair have found a second life behind the hand-built tiger maple bar. Barbicide jars now function as straw dispensers.

It would be easy to assume the retro coolness of The Beauty Shop is designed to mask a boring, tourist-trap menu. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We started with an appetizer of crispy, Thai-style pork “dumplins” ($9 for four) and co*cktails. I got the Bootsy Collins ($13), a bourbon-based rocks drink with Appleton rum, lemon and cucumber, while Jess ordered the Cognac 75 ($14), a classic variation on the famous French 75. Both drinks were excellent, if a touch booze-forward.

The dumplins arrived not long after the drinks, and they were insanely good. Resembling a fried empanada as much as a true Asian-inspired dumpling at first glance, the four golden pockets were filled with perfectly cooked pork, pea shoots and sambal-and-ginger oil. The filling was done with a masterful touch, too.

We both opted for sandwiches for our entrées. I got the Hazel’s Mazel ($15), a “NYC-style pastrami & deli mustard” served on Jewish rye, and truffle fries ($6). To be completely honest, the amount of pastrami on the sandwich seemed a little skimpy for the price, but that sin was forgiven as soon as I took a bite. The pastrami was absolutely perfect, from the seasoning to the amount of smoke, and fork tender, while the deli mustard provided much-needed acidity to cut through the umami bomb from the meat. The truffle fries were done exactly how one would hope — crunchy exterior, pillowy interior, not overpowered by the truffle oil and with just enough parmesan to be noticeable without being overpowering.

Jess Miller

Jess ordered the Steakwich ($14), which featured a seared ribeye paillard on rye with cheese, avocado, pickles, scallions, potato chips, greens, grilled onions and peach purée. The steak was tender and seasoned perfectly, she said, and the greens and avocado were absurdly fresh. Her only complaint was structural integrity — “the bread never stood a chance!” — but the bread was fresh and delicious, “so call that a wash,” she said. And, in the most first-world problem anyone has ever had, she also mentioned that while she loves avocado, “there was legitimately half an avocado on my sandwich, and that’s just too much.” Still, she’d order it again.

Lunch at The Beauty Shop runs from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. There was no wait when we arrived around 12:15 p.m. on a Tuesday, but the place was packed by the time we left, so your best lunch bet appears to be getting there as early as you can.

Following lunch, we hit a couple of our favorite spots in the Cooper-Young neighborhood. Burke’s Books (936 Cooper St.), a new and vintage bookstore, always reminds me of a hipster-y, smaller version of Dickson Street Bookshop in Fayetteville. They have a wonderful selection of books on Memphis, too, covering everything from history and politics to sports and music.

A block or so north of Burke’s is Cooper-Young Gallery + Gift Shop (889 Cooper St.). Owned by local artists Jenean Morrison and Joel Rose, the gallery is a feast for your eyes, as shelves full of colorful, kitschy decor and Memphis-centric prints and photographs fill every nook and cranny. In the back, you can peruse their eclectic selection of books for sale. The staff is friendly and unobtrusive, letting you browse to your heart’s content but available to answer any questions you might have about specific items.

After leaving the gallery, we made our way downtown to check in to our hotel, The Hotel Napoleon (179 Madison Ave.). Located in the historic 1902 Scimitar building, home to a forerunner of the old Memphis Press-Scimitar newspaper, the hotel opened in 2016 following a major renovation that added modern amenities such as 50-inch TVs and Bluetooth-enabled alarm clocks to classically styled rooms.

While our room was great, with high ceilings and a bay window plus a king-size bed, the customer service was even better. When I went to the hotel website from Google, I didn’t notice their website had changed my travel dates from May 7-8 to August 7-8. After we arrived and the front desk clerk noticed the incorrect dates, I assumed we were out of luck. Nevertheless, we hopefully asked if they could change our nonrefundable reservation to the correct dates.

Monte, the hotel’s assistant general manager handled the mix-up masterfully. He apologized profusely for the hotel’s elevator being under repair, then moved our reservation to the right day at no extra cost to us. He even gave us the same kind of suite I had accidentally reserved for August.

***

Wednesday morning rolled around and demanded a quality breakfast. In my book, this can only mean Memphis’ oldest cafe, The Arcade Restaurant (540 S. Main St.).

From the slightly sticky seat of a booth so old the pattern has largely worn off of the Formica table, I ordered the #9 combo ($13): country fried steak, two eggs over medium, hash browns cooked extra crunchy and two biscuits with gravy just for good measure. It was exactly what it is supposed to be: savory, hot and crunchy in the right places. Throw in a bottomless cup of surprisingly good diner coffee and you have God’s own perfect way to bounce back from the night before.

Jess picked the #8 combo ($11): a short stack of pancakes, two eggs over medium, hash browns and bacon. Plus coffee, of course. “Perfect breakfast,” she said. “No notes.”

With an almost embarrassing level of fullness, we headed east to Memorial Park Cemetery (5668 Poplar Ave.) to see the Crystal Shrine Grotto.

The grotto is a concrete cavern built in the 1930s by artist Dionicio Rodriguez, who had been hired to beautify the cemetery grounds. The cave extends nearly 60 feet into a hill, and concrete was used to make the interior feel like a natural cavern. The concrete crags are covered with five tons of quartz crystals, all of which were shipped in from Jasper, Arkansas. The whole experience feels like it’s taking place in a geode.

Inside the cave, Rodriguez created 10 tableaus depicting the life of Jesus, plus a number of smaller, more obscure biblical scenes. One, about Zacchaeus the tax collector, triggered a core memory for Jess that made her sing a song she hadn’t thought about in decades.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see

She’s not religious by any stretch these days. The grotto still had her singing from the back of the Heavenly Highway Hymnal. I’m not saying the place is magical or anything, but I am saying it’s absolutely worth checking out.
Memorial Park Cemetery is also the final resting place of a number of famous Memphians, including musician and actor Isaac Hayes, whose grave is directly across from the grotto.

The grotto is free, and both the grotto and the cemetery are open to the public 24 hours a day.

Before heading home, we decided to get lunch. It was time for barbecue.

Normally, we would have gone to Cozy Corner (735 North Parkway). It is in my personal top three favorite barbecue places anywhere. Jess was angling for the Rendezvous (52 S. Second St.). But personal growth is important, so we decided to try a new-to-us Memphis barbecue legend, The Bar-B-Q Shop (1782 Madison Ave.).

When we walked in, the waiter/host informed us that “part of the power” was out. They had electricity in the kitchen and some other outlets, but the dining room lights were out, as was the air conditioning. Still, he said, we were welcome to dine in if we didn’t mind it being a little dark and stuffy.

Jess Miller

We didn’t mind, though we quickly ordered iced tea ($3) to fight the warmth of the dining room. Jess got the Regular Rib Order ($19), half dry and half glazed. The meal came with barbecue beans, cole slaw and Texas toast.

The ribs were excellent, requiring just the slightest tug to pull the meat from the bone. The glaze was reminiscent of Sims Bar-B-Que, though less citrussy. The sides were surprisingly good as well. Where so many barbecue places treat the beans and slaw as afterthoughts, these were delicious on their own and a complement to the barbecue.

I ordered the large barbecue pork sandwich plate ($13) with beans and potato salad, plus slaw on the sandwich because I am a man of culture and sophistication. A liberal application of their hot barbecue sauce took the sandwich from good to great. The potato salad was just as good as the beans and slaw.

We staggered out into the blinding sunlight, hopped in the car, cranked the A/C and headed for Little Rock.