Shelby Forest General Store

Shelby Forest General Store
7729 Benjestown Road
Millington, TN
876-5770



I've had the Shelby Forest General Store on my list of places to eat for years. Last Friday, after a nice hike in the forest, we finally got a chance to try the burgers.



Our hike lasted a little longer than we thought, and was a couple of miles further than we intended, so by the time we got to the store, we were hungry, thirsty, and tired. Although they have a fairly extensive menu, we'd all agreed we wanted burgers. I went to the counter to order while the monkeys (Satchel, 9, and Jiro, 7) tugged at my sleeve.



"Can we get a drink? Can we get chips? Can we get candy?" they clamored. "Yes!" I said, exasperated. The monkeys LOVE convenience stores. I headed over to the drinks to try and steer them towards a decent choice.



There really were no healthy choices (other than water), so I just tried to keep them from getting Mountain Dew. Despite harassing Satchel about it, he still managed to sneak one in! I went for a bottle of iced coffee, Warren got Cheerwine, and Jiro got Hawaiian Punch. I know, right? It gets worse.

Next, the monkeys raided the chip & candy aisles. (Warren wanted to raid the Frisbee golf wall!)



It seemed odd that after a lovely hike through nature we would choose to stuff our bodies with junk, but we did! (It did actually take Satchel three days to drink the Mountain Dew and over half of the Hot Fries are in the pantry.)



We did not, however, get a brownie or individually wrapped triangle of cheese. Both of those would have been good mid-hike.



I paid for everything ($33), including 4 burgers and 2 fries which were still cooking, and we went outside to eat at one of the picnic tables. It was such a nice day! And, happily, we came across two other families that we knew who were also dining outside.



We chatted for a bit, and then they yelled, "Stacey!" so I went in for the food. I assumed there'd be a tray or something, but there wasn't. I sent Warren in for what I couldn't carry.



I liked that there was no styrofoam and that the napkins were doing double duty. The burgers totally did not disappoint. They were a good size, very juicy, and topped with fresh ingredients. Well the tomato was nice and red, the iceberg lettuce was a little sad. Isn't it always, though?



Warren got his with grilled onions.



Jiro got his with cheese.



Satchel stayed busy with the fries. We got one regular and one seasoned.




They were both hot & crispy. I don't know that I can choose which I liked best.

We had a lot of junk food leftover, but no burgers or fries. It was great to eat outside and to see friends. I definitely think we'll be back.

Oh, an added perk of eating outside it seeing a giant rooster roaming around!

We never tried the restrooms, so I can't vouch for their cleanliness. There is some quaint seating inside, on stools and in a separate dining room. The people are very friendly and accommodating. My only change would be to add a recycle bin outside. The trash was full of empty bottles.

Los Jarochos (Taco Trailer)

Los Jarochos
Summer & Perkins, most evenings

Last week, I did a story on food trucks for the Commercial Appeal. A lot of research went into the story and we included a list of the 25 trucks that have been certified.

There were several comments on the story (and from my friends on Facebook) about us not listing the Twitter handles for the trucks. Well, I'm sorry to report that the vast majority of them are not using Twitter. @fuelfoodtruck and @bossman901 are the two exceptions. (If you haven't tried the Fuel food truck, you aren't living! I love it. Full post coming soon!)

We called them all, and there isn't any easy way to list where they all are or when they are there or how to find them. Until they get more organized, all anyone can do is drive around and look for them, or do their own reporting! In that vein, I introduce the Los Jarochos taco trailer. As you can see, it technically isn't a truck.



From what I've heard, they park at the corner of Summer & Perkins most evenings. There's an empty Walgreens there and they set up in the parking lot adjacent to Perkins. We went at about 6:30pm on Friday and there was a small group of people there. I asked a few of them if there was a menu, and since there wasn't, I asked what they had. "Tacos," was the answer. With the help of bystanders and the nice woman taking orders, I determined that they had shrimp, lengua, tripa, and carne asada, but no chicken. Jiro, full from our pre-dinner of paletas and elote at La Michoacana, opted out when he heard there was no chicken.

I ordered three tacos--one lengua, one tripa, and one carne asada. The woman thankfully asked if I wanted onions and cilantro on them, and I asked for Satchel's to be plain. They cost $1.75 each and took about 5 seconds to make.

Satchel was totally excited about standing in a dark parking lot and eating a warm tortilla filled with lengua.



Even though it looks pretty plain, it was packed with flavor.



Warren wanted his tacos to be anything but plain. He spent quite a good bit of time fancying them up at the toppings station. There were all sorts of things to add.



He opted to eat his in the car. He even gave me a few bites. (I was nervous about eating from a taco trailer the night before a big run.)



They were very tasty! We failed to get any napkins or drinks, but they had both.

We'll be back!