Savannah has Memphis to the west and Nashville to the northeast. You know that particular real estate comes with bigger than life people, whether from the music scene or the food scene. One of the notables related to barbecue is Mr. Carey Bringle, Pitmaster and owner operator of Peg Leg Porker restaurant in Memphis. Why Peg Leg Porker you ask? In high school he lost one of his legs to osteosarcoma. As you can see, he’s kept a good attitude about it, and has fun making up more exotic stories about he lost his leg, like an otter bite gone bad.
Knowing how serious that cancer is though, he helped a young man, also a survivor, who committed to eating in one restaurant in all 50 states during his own first year of remission. Naturally the last destination was the Peg Leg Porker where Mr. Bringle and some restaurateurs he knows put on a great spread.
He’s also helped to elevate barbecue as a recognized cooking style. To the point that he was asked not once, but twice, to participate as a guest chef at the James Beard House in NY. He’s extended the Peg Leg Porker name to include a line of bourbon whiskey. And still, has a good outlook on the important things.
The printed saying on the cups in his joint say “It’s not a requirement for you to hate someone else’s BBQ in order to love mine”. Which is huge…’Best’ isn’t the issue, there’s a whole lot of really great barbecue, bourbon, and people out there and liking a guy like Carey Bringle (or his bbq!) doesn’t make you like anyone else any less.
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