Texas-Style From a Memphis Institution - More Corky's

In most people's minds Corky's is synonymous with Memphis-style barbecue. It may not serve the best pulled pork and dry ribs in the city, but ask anyone in town to name some restaurants that specialize in either of those and Corky's will probably be on the list they rattle off. 

But about a week ago I was talking to a friend who mentioned that while he thought that Corky's ribs were just okay, he thought the restaurant had some of the best beef brisket in town. While my favorite barbecue will always be pork-based, I certainly appreciate the art it takes to make something tender and delicious from a tough fatty cut of meat like beef brisket. Since I've already posted about the ribs at the East Memphis Corky's and the pulled pork at the Cordova location I decided to sample the beef brisket at the Collierville store, which was the only Corky's restaurant I hadn't been to yet. 

The thick sliced brisket was tender and delicious. All the fat in it was perfectly rendered to a melt-in-your-mouth consistency. If I'd known that it came with the regular Corky's babrecue sauce on it I would have asked for the spicy hot instead, but the regular still provided a nice compliment to the smoky meat. The portion was also extremely generous. I wasn't able to completely finish the brisket but it was so good that I found myself still taking occasional bites from the remaining slice while waiting for my check after I'd already declared myself completely full. I've come to expect consistently good beans and slaw at Corky's and the sides on this trip were no exception.

Another nice thing I've come to consistently expect from Corky's is excellent service. The Collierville location was no different. My server was ultra friendly and came by enough to make sure I always had anything I needed like a water refill without ever seeming intrusive. Right now Corky's and Neely's are arguably the two biggest names in Memphis barbecue, and from my experience, Corky's definitely has the best customer service and real smoke flavor if anyone is determined to eat at one of the Memphis's household name barbecue restaurants.