Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Simple, Unpretentious Good Food - Patrick's

I've driven past Patrick's on Park near Mt. Moriah at least hundreds, and possibly thousands, of times without ever stopping there. Last spring at the Memphis Italian Festival across the street from the restaurant in Marquette Park someone asked about the place and it turned out that nobody in the group of friends I was with had been inside the building, but a few people thought barbecue was on the menu.
 

Since then I'd been determined to drop in and try lunch there. But I still kept putting it off. The parking lot was usually full enough at lunchtime to indicate satisfied repeat customers. The biggest issue keeping me from stopping there was Patrick's location. If I am nearby at lunchtime it means I am working on Mt. Moriah that day, which means I am also near some of the best pulled pork in Memphis at Three Little Pigs and some of the best ribs in Memphis at Leonard's.

I was actually headed to Leonard's last Friday with an intense craving for the ribs there when I noticed Patrick's as I was driving past and decided on impulse that it was time to give it a try. When I got seated and got a menu from my friendly server I realized that barbecue nachos were the only barbecue item on the menu. But along with all the standard pub food I'd assumed the place served based on its appearance  there was a wide selection of country cooking on the menu. So I ordered a plate of meatloaf, turnip greens and sauteed mushrooms.

Granted I could have looked at a menu online before visiting but where is the adventure in doing that? I still got a great meal.

Patrick's automatically got points with me for having healthy and delicious real butter at the table instead of the nasty heart-damaging margarine spreads that so many restaurants try to pass off on their customers.

I was even more impressed when my massive plate of food came out. The kitchen at Patrick's believes in generous servings. The tasty meatloaf was loaded with peppers and onions and light on the ketchup. The greens and mushrooms were also simple in their flavoring but done right and tasty. The entire meal featured plentiful portions of simple, unfussy but well-cooked food, which explains the parking lot full of cars that is routinely outside and which will draw me back for future visits.


Patrick's on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. Either some of the cooks stayed on, or some of the recipes stayed...because that place used to be Buntyn Cafe...

    I used to play trivia there all the time and the food has always been pretty good

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  2. Thanks regarding the post. Please keep up the nice work as I'm definitely going again to read more.

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