fried dill pickles – Memphis Flyer

In a pickle trying to decide what to do this weekend?

Check out Pickle Fest at Hollywood Cafe in Robinsonville, Mississippi. The free event, which will be held between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. August 17th at the restaurant at 1585 Old Robinsonville Road, will feature fried pickles served all day, a pickle contest, a scavenger hunt, and arts and crafts vendors.

Pickle Festival will commemorate the restaurant’s 50th anniversary. This is the place Marc Cohn immortalized in his 1991 song, “Walking in Memphis.”

The original Hollywood Cafe, which was opened by Bard Selden in 1969, was in Hollywood, Mississippi before it was destroyed in 1983.

One of my fondest Mississippi memories — if I’m remembering it correctly — was driving up to “The Hollywood” one night and hearing Muriel Wilkins singing the words, “When it’s moonlight on the Delta,” while playing an upright piano in the window. To make it even more wonderful, I remember there was a full moon.

I interviewed Wilkins decades ago at her home in Helena, Arkansas for a feature story. She was very strong in her faith. So, the Cohn line, “Tell me. Are you a Christian, child,” was right on.

Hollywood Cafe also is the first place I tried a fried dill pickle. It’s still the standard — for me — for fried dill pickles.

The PIckle Fest 2019 Scavenger Hunt will be held between 9 a.m. and noon at the Tunica Museum. Cameras are required.

Winners can compete for “Best Cucumber Pickle” and “Best Unique Pickle Item” in the Pickle Contest. All entries must be submitted by 9 a.m. August 17th on the back porch of Hollywood Cafe.

For $50 per person, guests can take part in a VIP celebration, which will be held from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. It will include a food buffet, coffee, tea, soft drinks, and water. Mark “The Mule Man” Massey will provide the music.

MIchael Donahue

The Sippi at Clancy’s Cafe in Red Banks, Mississippi.

While I recently was on vacation, I tried a fabulous Southern culinary item.

Barbecue? Fried dill pickles? Pimento cheese?

Yes.

The Sippi is all of that. And it’s delicious. But you have to travel about 20 minutes from Memphis to try one. Tyler Clancy put this sandwich together at his restaurant, Clancy’s Cafe in Red Banks, Mississippi.

They run The Sippi as a special, but it’s going on the menu in September, Clancy says.

He describes The Sippi as “everything that is Mississippi in a bun, basically. Pimento cheese — the unofficial state dish. Fried dill pickles, being created at The Hollywood in Robinsonville, Mississippi. Pulled pork barbecue.”

These were all items Clancy already had on hand. “We’ve always done barbecue. We had fried dill pickles on the menu since day one. Pimento cheese from catering events.”

He originally made The Sippi as a special two years ago. “The flavors all worked well. It took off,” Clancy says.

Clancy smokes his own pork, he says: “We smoke all our meats on site.”

He uses extra sharp white and extra sharp yellow in his pimento cheese. He grates his own cheese. “We get 10 pound blocks,” Clancy says.

And, he says, “Instead of pimentos, we use roasted red peppers.”

Also, “Our blackening season for our fish. We put that in there.”

And Clancy adds, “Texas Pete hot sauce. It’s the best hot sauce you can get.”

Clancy uses Clausen pickles for his fried dill pickles, which are hand battered in house.

To top off the sandwich, Clancy uses his “sweet Sippi” barbecue sauce, which is tomato-based and includes brown sugar.

Everything just comes together. “The saltiness of the pickles, the sweetness of the sauce, the smokiness from the meat, and the crispy texture of the fried pickles,” Clancy says.

The only thing missing in The Sippi is fried chicken.

Clancy’s Cafe is at 4078 MS-178, Red Banks, Mississippi; (662)-252-7502