Belmont Grill: Onion Rings

Belmont Grill
4970 Poplar Ave.
Memphis, TN 38117
(901)767-0305

This was the first stop on our journey to eat the 100 “must haves” of Memphis cuisine.  Just eyeballing the list, many look delectable, and a few look like something I’d typically avoid.  Nonetheless, in an effort to spice up our culinary endeavors and expand past the few usual spots that we always frequent, my husband and I decided to give all 100 a go, and try out some new places in the process.  Fun, right?!

Fun indeed!  Belmont Grill happened to come first on the list, and not least for the fact that it is located so closely to our humble abode in East Memphis.  The item from Belmont on the list was their onion rings – the perfect side to this Belmont burger which I’d heard so much about over the years.  While not a huge meat eater, sometimes I occasionally just all-out crave a good hamburger.  And I was not disappointed. 

Belmont is a little dark on the inside, and it has an “old” feel to it – mostly because it IS old.  The story on the menu, which took up two pages, dated the building back, in one form or another, to the 1920’s.  I liked the historic aspect right away.  The service was also pretty good, if not over the top; it’s what you’d expect in this type of establishment, and I definitely can’t complain.  (I personally do not care for “chatty” or overly friendly servers, having been one myself.)  Since there were three of us, we forewent our usual perch at the bar in favor of a table, which was tucked nicely into a corner, reminiscent of some of the tables at Half Shell.  Ah, and it used to house the Half Shell, according to the menu narrative, so quite fitting really.

My husband got the potato skin appetizers, and I tried a bite.  I really liked them, better than I usually like that dish.  I think this one had more potato on the inside, and he had covered it with a healthy (or unhealthy as the case may be) dose of sour cream.  Additionally, my husband mentioned that these were some of the fresher tasting potato skins he’d had the pleasure of enjoying.  I ordered the burger with onion rings, medium, with swiss cheese.  Order came out quickly and correctly.  The burger may have been cooked more than medium, but that was fine by me, because frankly it tasted delightful.  It was not enormous, but the meet was thick and filled the bun (which looked like half of a sub sandwich bun) nicely, and the condiments (which came on the side) that I added were fresh and delicious. 

The onion rings themselves were thin and measured probably two to three inches in diameter.  The breading was light and reminded me a little of tempura in coloring and density.  I was tempted to get ranch as a dip, but I’m on a (very lax) diet, so that was the one compromise that I made for myself.  Nevertheless, they were good in the ketchup, and had a good mix of breading and onion.  The onion also didn’t slip out of the breading, as often occurs with onion rings (an annoying by-product of an otherwise tasty fried dish).  In summary, I liked the onion rings a lot.  However, I liked the burger even more!

One thing – one the way out, we caught what looked like a once frozen breaded onion ring in the parking lot.  Bummer.  That kind of killed the notion of being freshly breaded and made in the restaurant.  But that’s ok, I’m not sure they’d have tasted much better that way!

Belmont Grill – Wife: 4.5/5 stars; Onion rings – 4/5 stars.

                              Husband: 4.25/5 stars; Onion rings – 4/5 stars.