Fellow Webb Heads, the Hoodoo Witch and I are very excited. At last we are coming to Webbfest! We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Tater Bodine who has already provided so much help, invitations, encouragement and all round kindness. This is a big trip for us and we are staying in the US for a couple of weeks. We've made plans to visit Graceland, Memphis, Nashville and Louiseville while we are there. As well as Bowling Green of course! We know that you cannot beat local knowledge so if you have any suggestions of places for a couple of 'Out of Towners' to visit then please let me know.
Bring it on!

May I suggest a few eating spots that my wife and I enjoyed while travelling through the Volunteer State on the way back from WebbFest IV?


Memphis:

The Four-Way Restaurant. This place is just a couple of blocks from the Stax/Volt museum. Unfortunately, we didn't know that until we were back home and were looking at the map on their carry-out menu. The food was excellent, as was the service. A little while after placing our order, our waiter came over to me and said, "Suh, it'll be five mo' minutes fo' de po'k chop, 'cause it's fried."

The Catfish Cabin. A couple miles from Graceland, just north of the airport. We were going to check out the Catfish Cabin first, since it was closest. If we didn't go there, we were going to go to the Catfish Shack. The Cabin looked fine, and it was. Great catfish, available as filets or whole fish (minus head).


Jackson:

Latham's Meats. A plate-lunch joint that I'm sure is known by Webb. Very good, indeed. We got there about 11:40 and had no trouble getting a table. By noon, the place was just about packed.

BTW - The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is in Jackson. Not quite as elaborate as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland or the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, but still cool and worth checking out.


Nashville:

The Loveless Cafe. Tried to go there on Sunday, just after noon, couldn't get near it. Went back on Tuesday morning. Really great sausage and bacon, which is smoked on-site.


May I ask where you're coming from, please?

I do believe the Tsar is somewhere in the UK.
We look forward to seein' him and everybody else at WebbFest!

Barbecue is King in Memphis...you can't really go wrong, but we especially liked Neely's Interstate BBQ. Stumbled across the place on our Blues pilgrimage south to Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Speaking of Kings, when passing through Memphis it's considered a federal crime to not visit Graceland and the Sun Studio. You've been warned.

Glom,
TommyLee is correct. We are from England, Thank you both for the suggestions.
We certainly wont be breaking any Federal laws although I might be prepared to pay a $40 fine to hear some loud music!

Very cool, Tsar!

Bowling Green is home to the Corvette and the Corvette Museum. Depending on how long you're in Bowling Green, you may be able to tour the Corvette plant and/or visit the museum.

I highly recommend a stop at Mammoth Cave, which is roughly 30 miles north of Bowling Green. They offer various tours: I recommend the Historic Tour, unless you don't like/can't handle a lot of stairs at the end.

Hunter

Our webmaster pointed out that the Corvette assembly plant will stop giving tours in September for a while, so that won't be an option around Webb Fest. However, the Corvette Museum is a separate entity, and it'll be open:

http://www.corvettemuseum.org/

Hunter

Thanks Hunter, Corvette Museum is a definite must see! Great recommendation on the Mammoth Caves too. There is so much choice!

I forgot to mention that there's also Lost River Cave in Bowling Green, Kentucky's only underground boat tour.

http://www.lostrivercave.com/

Hunter

One attraction in the West End of Nashville, that my Wife and I enjoyed, is the Parthenon, which is an exact replica of the original in Athens, complete with a statue of Athena with a golden angel in her hand.
Also, Tootsies and Roberts Western World are bars not to be missed in downtown Nashville. You might be surprised who you may see in those places.
We are looking forward to meeting you and your wife and you may win a prize for coming the furthest to see Webb Fest!

As long as you're going to be visiting Graceland, go ahead and immerse yourselves in All Things Elvis by staying at the Heartbreak Hotel. A friend had suggested it to us, and we enjoyed it. It's not plush like the Union Station Hotel in Nashville where we had spent the previous two nights (really nice), but it was certainly cool. They have various package deals for lodging and Elvisworld tours.

Hunter, Thanks for the link. Looks fantastic! They even have a coupon that supports our 'Economy with Dignity' approach (Where did I learn that?)
Tater, Even more great advice and help, Thanks.
Glom, glad you recommended Heartbreak Hotel, We've already booked it, It was crowded but they still could find a room.......
Keep em coming folks! Its pay dirt for us. you'd be surprised how little we know!

These are all excellent suggestions. My wife and I have very much enjoyed trips to Mammoth Cave (twice!) and the 'Vette Museum during previous Webb Fest weekends.

One other thing about Latham's - We were looking for a cafeteria-style restaurant and had asked the girl at the motel desk where one was. She directed us to Morrison's, which would have been OK, but we'd rather go to a one-off place rather than a chain. We thanked her and proceeded to just ride around and have a look for one. Being unsuccessful, I tried pulling into a gas station/convenience store and asking the guy there if there was a cafeteria other than Morrison's in town.

He replied, in the most wonderful slow, drawn-out, accent, "Welllllllll, there's noooooooo cafeteria, but there's a plate-lunch place riiiiiiiiiight up the street called Latham's. It's reeeeeeaaaaaallllllllllll goooooodddddddd."

I felt like I had just stepped into a Webb Wilder movie. I thanked him, returned to the car, and said, "We're going to Latham's."

Great food and very friendly service.

You people just talk too dang fast.
Must be a bunch of Yankees.

Oh no!
Somebody used the "Y" word.

I always make sure my guests get to visit these cool places. Have fun while you're here! Website links are shown, too.
While in Memphis, visit Charles Vergos' Rendezvous - just across from the famous Peabody Hotel. Go between 1 and 4PM (and see the ducks at 5) when they're not really open to the public, but will serve you the best ribs (baked beans/cole slaw) EVER. Even though you have to go through the alley and down the stairs...it's good.
http://www.hogsfly.com/ .
And, I know you'll visit Beale Street, so savor Miss Polly's Soul Food Cafe and make sure you have the chicken and waffles. It's a soul thing...and a southern thang. http://misspollysmemphis.com/
In Nashville, my fav is Phat Bites, http://phatbites.com/ . The hummus plate is mmmmm good. Your initial impression may not be good...but, go on...it's worth the venture inside.
And, the best "fresh" garden to table dining in Nashville is, IMHO, The Silly Goose...you just can't beat it and it's in an eclectic East Side neighborhood. http://sillygoosenashville.com/
All are locally owned. Bon appetit.

Is that an American thing? When someone asks where they should go and visit, the majority of recommendations are restaurants. Don't get me wrong, I like nothing better than a good feast, but I find it rather amusing that attention seems to centre on food.
If Webb ever makes it to Holland (please!) and any of you good folks make the trip too, I can post an endless list of pancake restaurants for your gastronomic gratification.

Whatever tourist attractions one may be visiting, everybody has to eat. Nobody likes to be surprised by a bad meal, but avoiding that chance by eating at totally predictable, uniform, chain restaurants isn't much fun, either. So we like to inform people of good one-off restaurants that we've visited.


And after that gas-station attendant's suggestion, we HAD to eat at Latham's.

SimonRob,
"Is that an American thing?" (regarding the focus on restaurants) is a very good question. I am American; I was born and raised in Southwest Virginia and now live in East Tennessee. At least in the South, food seems to be the response to many things, good or bad, happy or sad. We celebrate weddings, birthdays, retirements, anniversaries, etc. with meals. When someone passes away, people start showing up at the home of the deceased with all kinds of food for the family. It doesn't matter much whether they might not care for even the first bite of food at the time, but the casseroles, pies, cakes, hams, fried chicken, sandwiches, sodas, salads, etc. start rolling in. And of course when traveling out of town, people usually like to seek out cuisine they wouldn't have back home. I think that Americans do depend a lot on food to send messages about they feel toward others, thus the "wining and dining" on dates, the chocolates on Valentine's Day, the casseroles of sympathy, the celebratory cakes, the congratulatory cookies, etc. Now that I really have given it some thought, the American interest in food is just that, very interesting.

Now it's your turn. Pick a Dutch custom and tell us about it. :)

Susan

A very Dutch custom is the consumption (yep, food again!) of raw herrings garnished with raw onions. The way that this is done is to point one's mouth skywards and drop the entire herring in. Personally I just cannot manage this - the herring stops in my throat while it decides whether to continue its downward journey to my stomach or make an upward bid for freedom. Each year the first barrel of herring is auctioned off and sells for a huge amount. There are also nationwide searches for the best herring vendors. Oily and disgusting, I reckon that the herring can be best left swimming around in the ocean. My apologies to the Dutch Tourist Board if have just deterred thousands of people from visiting the country. Herring aside, Dutch "cuisine" is not of a particularly high order unfortunately. There are other equally weird Dutch customs, including the wearing of clogs. Some folks, typically farmers, still wear clogs as a matter of course, hence "Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard, grow big, wear wooden shoes if you need 'em"

Thanks to everyone for their contributions.

We've travelled to many European Countries including The Netherlands. The food is always one of the most interesting part of the experience.

British Food has a few 'acquired tastes' http://www.aquiziam.com/ten-strange-british-foods.html

I can vouch for a variety of the Raw Herring Dish, It was served in Hamberg with the onions, in a bread roll. it helped balance the oilyness. It tasted better than it looked. Herring seems popular throught the Hanseatic areas,

Wherever we go we try and and follow the local lead. You may never get the chance again. (although I did find the Balls of lard in Budapest a bit challenging!)

Keep those suggestions coming. They are really opening my eyes. BTW what is a Plate Lunch Joint?

SimonRob -

You might want to have a look at the web site www.roadfood.com It originated with the book "Roadfood" by Jane and Michael Stern, which was first published in the late '70's as a guide to good restaurants near Interstate highways, so travellers could avoid the fast-food chains at highway rest stops.

The Sterns published a few more similar books, and with the coming of the internet, went on-line, which allows others to contribute good restaurant finds. I've found their books and the web site to be very useful in my travels. The Four-Way Restaurant that I recommended in my previous post was reviewed in "Roadfood".


When visiting Denmark, I sampled some of their version of pickled herring. Even as a 15-year-old, I was able to appreciate having 150-proof aquavit to wash it down with. One taste was more than enough.

Highway Tsar -

A "plate lunch joint" is similar to a cafeteria. Sometimes known as a "meat-and-three", it will offer a selection usually not quite as wide as a cafeteria, and instead of selecting several dishes and paying for each one separately, the price will be based on having one meat dish and three vegetable dishes. Usually, they will also offer a meat-and-two price, as well as a no meat/four vegetables price.

And I'll mention again that Latham's was, indeed, "reeeeeeeaaaaaallllllll goooooodddd".

Wow - I checked out www.roadfood.com. Thanks for the link, Glom. Some fine places and dishes to be found there. I must say that it reinforced my view that the whole eating experience is ingrained in the American culture in a way that it is not here in Europe. "Recommended eating tours" cracked me up. In my travels I have always found that the food available in foreign lands is one of the most interesting aspects of a visit. Sometimes it borders on the bizarre - being offered the choice between domestic and wild live sea-cucumbers in a metal bucket in an utterly remote village high on the Tibetan plateau (thousands of miles from the nearest ocean and some 2.5 miles above sea level) for instance. Passed on that and went for the yak and noodles! Anyway, if I make plans to visit the States, I now know that it makes good sense to place eateries high on the agenda and plan one's route accordingly.

SimonRob -

If you ever make it to Maryland and you want to try something that might be described as "bizarre" (but not by a Marylander), try a soft crab. If you want to try something genuinely bizarre, try a fried hard crab.


Very cool Mickey Rat avatar. I'm a fan of Mick's, and particularly of Dizzy Ratstein. Being a drummer, I agree with Dizzy's philosophy about sound, that "It's all in my favorite key."

Mick: When you come here for Webb Fest, be prepared to have some biscuits with sausage gravy and bacon and eggs for breakfast.

And genuine sweet iced tea.

and a Diablo sandwich and a Dr. Pepper, and make it quick

One look at our merry posse of Webb fanatics and you'll know how we feel about food!
...I do hear that some folks have managed to drop a few kilos in the past year...not me...

That is part of the problem. Fly from Europe to America, visit WebbFest, go on a couple of recommended eating tours then when it is time to fly back across the pond discover that you are carrying excess baggage or even worse have to pay for two seats per person.

We'll get Highway Tsar and spouse recliners in the front row if we have to!

Soft shell crab Po-boy in New Orleans! In fact, New Orleans is THE place to eat! WW

Mrs Tsar is like a racing snake but I alas have succumbed to culinary pleasure over a long period of time. Diet when I get back :-)
Soft shell crab, sounds interesting.

I visited New Orleans years ago, and agree- it really is the place to eat! I had no idea, until I experienced it.

Yeah SimonRob, I don't get it either! But there's a reason the US has it's nickname., it's sad really! Tsar, what part of England are you coming from? where else in US are you planning to see?

Hi Nese,
We live in Lichfield. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichfield
Our early itinery is in the first post. One things for sure its gonna change!