Memphis is a Place I Don't Want to Go, Again

A friend and I went to the Memphis Taproom for brunch over the weekend.

The place has a nice pubby neighborhood feel, and our waitress was pleasant in a gruff-talkative-friendly-diner-waitressey sort of way.



In regards to the food... I truly feel bad even saying it because the owners/chef just seem so damn sweet and enthusiastic... it was mostly down right bad.

To be fair, I didn't order a ton of things from the menu... for example a friend swears by the Beef & Onion Pasties which I didn't try... so maybe I need to go again.

The Pasties that I did not have.... Hmmm... don't look bad:


We started off on the right foot. We got the soup du jour - chilled cucumber soup. This was very good. Heavy on the garlic, with a kick of spice, and garnished with balsamic. Very good and very refreshing.

Then we started going downhill. I got the Jersey Tomato Salad. My dining partner was very upset to find that we had to choose EITHER the mozzarella OR the olive oil marinated tofu to go with the tomato, basil and pesto. I went with the tofu.

In theory this dish would have been good (it was beautiful, and the ingredients all seemed to work well together) but Jebus was working against us. It was July 6th, and unfortunately tomatoes just aren't good yet.

I want no excuses. NO ONE. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES should have a dish featuring fresh tomatoes on their menu unless the tomatoes are good. There are good tomatoes and there are bad tomatoes. There is good food and there is bad food. Do the math.

Next came the Alt. "Avocado “bacon”, lettuce & tomato on toast, roasted tomato brown sugar mayo".

There were four pieces. We ate one... collectively. There was no bacon (even though both of us expected fake-bacon). Now that I re-read the description I see this, but it wasn't so clear to either of us when we ordered). The avocado was old (looked and tasted so). Again with the shitty tomato. The bread was gross. It was dry. Yuck. My friend ate the fries. They seemed good.



So that was that.

Again, the owners are so damn cute that you should ignore everything I just said and go there anyway. Support a local Mom and Pop Shop... maybe just order a beer and some Pasties instead.


Memphis Taproom - 2331 East Cumberland Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-425-4460
www.memphistaproom.com