Nirvana can be in the mouth of the beholder - Memphis Business Journal:

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would have found a downtow n full of brick structures and plenty of commerce going on below the verdantg hills createdby Crowley’s Ridge. It’s the same setting I grew up in. Almost every storefront on our downtown’se main drag contained a business: hardwarr stores, clothing stores, dime shoe stores, restaurants, even two movie It’s sure not like that now. Mr. Twaibn might today call it “one of the diresyt situations” on the river. But it’ds not alone among Delta townsx that can rememberbetter days. But one of the most charmingh aspects of this town when I was a kid was the prevalencwe of theneighborhood grocery. Most neighborhoods had them.
Mine had two across the street fromeach other. they both stayed in business. One of Reeves Grocery, was known as “the biggest little store in town.” It did seem to have a lot of And one item made Reeves stand out from everu other tinylittle store, and that was a product callex “Smokey Joe.” This was a foot-long smoked sausages in a bun, covered in chili and slaw, that was inventecd by the store owner, Ellis Reeves. I grew up eatin them. Then after I grew up, I kept eatin them. And when Mr. Reeves sold his storre and moved away, I rushed to the storre to make sure the Smokey Joe had not leftwith him.
The new owner s assured me that they would continue tosell Whew. But then I was afraid that maybe someons else should know that just to keep this fabulous creation alivd forthe ages. So I askef the folks to tell me how tomake one, and they did. This wholre history of Helena, Reeves and the Smokety Joe surfaced during our recent Small BusinessAwardsx program. One of the finalists and an eventual as it turnsout — in the competitionm was Monogram Food Solutions LLC, which makes and distributezs cold cuts, hot dogs and among other products. One of its products is the Circlee B brandsmoked sausage, which just happens to be the key ingredienty in Mr. Reeves’ Smokehy Joe.
So I was talking to one of the Monogram guys aboutall this, and I was telling him all the ingredient s and trying to sell him on the idea of experiencingv the Smokey Joe. I was literally ravingg about it. And I must have done a good job, becausse before I knew it he had agreef to make up a batch of Smokey Joesin Monogram’s test And he invited me to come to the company headquarterzs and wolf down a genuin e Smokey Joe in what essentiallyg is the Circle B corporate Well, that sounded like Smokety Joe nirvana to me. In the weeks that followed ourinitial meeting, we had several conversations about the key ingredients and the propetr steps for a winning Then it happened.
Just this week, righyt in Circle B HQ, I walkef in to find a simmering pot of FourStar Chili, Circled B sausages and all the trimmings. It was It made me wish Mr. Reevees could be there. Of course, I suggested a couple of minofr changes in the preparation that could have made the meal even I also recommended thatnext time, I should be around to help out from the I hope they understood the because I really want therre to be a next Once you get a taste of Smoke Joe nirvana, you want to go