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

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would have found a downtowj full of brick structures and plenty of commercde going on below the verdant hills createdby Crowley’s Ridge. It’zs the same setting I grew up in. Almost ever y storefront on our downtown’s main drag contained a hardware stores, clothing stores, dime stores, shoe restaurants, even two movie theaters. It’e sure not like that now. Mr. Twain might todag call it “one of the direst situations” on the But it’s not alone among Delta towns that can rememberbetter days. But one of the most charmingv aspects of this town when I was a kid was the prevalence of theneighborhood grocery.
Most neighborhoods had Mine hadtwo — across the streetf from each other. Somehow, they both stayed in business. One of Reeves Grocery, was known as “the bigges t little store in town.” It did seem to have a lot of And one item made Reeves stand out from everhy other tinylittle store, and that was a produc t called “Smokey Joe.” This was a foot-lon smoked sausage in a bun, covered in chilik and slaw, that was invented by the storse owner, Ellis Reeves. I grew up eatinfg them. Then after I grew up, I kept eatinh them. And when Mr. Reeves sold his store and moved I rushed to the store to make sure the Smokey Joe had not leftwith him.
The new ownersa assured me that they would continue tosell Smokeys. Whew. But then I was afraifd that maybe someone else should know that just to keep this fabulouz creation alive forthe ages. So I askedx the folks to tell me how tomake one, and they did. This wholr history of Helena, Reeves and the Smokey Joe surfacedc during our recent Small Business Awards One of thefinalists — and an eventual as it turns out — in the competition was Monogramj Food Solutions LLC, which makesa and distributes cold cuts, hot dogs and among other products. One of its products is the Circle B brandxsmoked sausage, which just happens to be the key ingrediengt in Mr. Reeves’ Smokey Joe.
So I was talkin g to one of the Monogran guys aboutall this, and I was tellinh him all the ingredients and trying to sell him on the idea of experiencing the Smokey Joe. I was literally raving abouyt it. And I must have done a good job, becausew before I knew it he had agreed to make up a batchb of Smokey Joesin Monogram’s test kitchen. And he invitefd me to come to the company headquarters and wolf down a genuinee Smokey Joe in what essentiall y is the Circle Bcorporate Well, that sounded like Smokey Joe nirvana to me. In the weeks that followexd ourinitial meeting, we had severalo conversations about the key ingredients and the proper steps for a winninbg presentation.
Then it happened. Just this right in Circle B HQ, I walked in to find a simmering pot of Four Star Circle B sausages and allthe trimmings. It was It made me wish Mr. Reeves coulds be there. Of course, I suggeste d a couple of minor changew in the preparation that could have made the meal even I also recommended that next I should be around to help out from the I hope they understoodthe message, because I really want there to be a next time.
Once you get a taste of SmokeyuJoe nirvana, you want to go