10
In my hometown of Holly Springs (about 40 miles outside of Memphis) we have Phillips Grocery... a small, very old joint next to the old, abandoned railroad station. The burgers are very fresh & greasy, made in front of your eyes. If you are in a hurry, don't bother stopping here... McDonalds is on the other side of town. My preference is the double, loaded with everything, including ham. First place I have ever seen ham go on a burger. Here is a review written by a patron.
Located in a two-story wood-frame house built as a saloon in 1882, Phillips became a grocery store in 1919, and has built a reputation on hamburgers since the 1940s. Some customers buy them to go, but there are comfy seats here, too: a short counter with stools, a handful of old wooden school desks, and a few odd tables (including one really odd one made from the cross section of a huge tree trunk); outside on the front porch, a couple of picnic tables provide a view of the railroad depot.
The menu is written on a blackboard that lists side dishes including fresh-from-the-freezer Tater Tots and morsels of deep fried, bright green okra enveloped in a golden crust. Corn nuggets are something special -- bite-size fritters with lots of kernels packed inside a sweet hushpuppy-like jacket. You can get spicy or regular French fries. And if a Moon Pie off the grocery shelf isn’t your dish for dessert, Phillips also offers fried pies for a dollar apiece. A fried pie is a folded over half-circle of dough fried until reddish brown and chewy, enclosing a heavy dollop of sugary peach or apple filling.
Hamburgers are presented wrapped in yellow wax paper inside a bag for easy toting; and when you peel back the wrapping, particularly on a half-pound Super-Deluxe, you behold a vision of beauty-in-a-bun. It is a thick patty with a wickedly good crunch to its nearly blackened skin. Inside, the meat is smooth-textured and moist enough to ooze juice when you gently squeeze the soft bun wrapped around it. The flavor is fresh, beefy, and sumptuous: an American classic.
