We left Atlanta early on Wednesday morning, starting our great west-bound adventure.   Courtesy of an hour time change, we cruised into Memphis for a late lunch, at 12:30 Central.  There are many places known for barbecue in Memphis, but the field narrows, considerably, when it comes to the discussion of sandwiches.  One of the consensus favorites is Payne’s Bar-B-Q.  Open since the early 70s, it is a no-frills place in a concrete building with the name painted on TWO sides – how can you go wrong with that?.  The day was heating up as we arrived and they were doing everything they could to keep the heat down in the kitchen.

We took a seat at one of the tables and, in the middle of our meal, I took advantage of the infrequently empty counter to snap the photo below.   The menu was concise – chopped or sliced pork, ribs, smoked sausage and bologna, or a hot dog.  With beans and slaw as the side choices.

Everyone says the thing to order is their house sandwich, covered in the mustard-based slaw.  Not being the biggest slaw fan, I ordered one with and one without, just to be safe.

The pork was smoked well and both sandwiches were smothered (literally swimming) in their sauce.  I had the non-slaw version with the hot sauce, the slaw version with the regular sauce.  I don’t really like mustard, or slaw, but I gave that sandwich a valiant try.  My official slaw taster (who I happen to be married to) rated the slaw a solid “A”, so it passed the mustard…   

On to Arkansas for dinner.