photo courtesy Memphis Room, Benjamin Hooks Central Library
Come on in, and take a seat. Plug a nickel in the jukebox, and order yourself a steaming bowl of chili, maybe a steak — medium rare — if you're really hungry.
You've just stepped into Joe Foppiano's Grill, a cozy little place on South Main. Nothing fancy about it, pretty basic really, but it had a reputation for good food at good prices. And Joe was always good for a story.
Oh yeah, and it was mainly famous as the scene of one of the most sensational murders in our city's history.
You see, it was just after midnight, on a quiet May evening in 1940, when a man known as the "King of the Gamblers" stepped into the little cafe and ...
Wait a minute. I'm not telling this story again. I've already told it once before.
In my "Ask Vance" column in the February issue of Memphis magazine. It's on newsstands right now, or (even better) in your mailbox or sitting on your dining room table, just begging to be read. And it's also got the winners of our annual Readers' Restaurant Poll, so what are you waiting for?
Pick it up, turn to pages 112 and 113, and you'll learn what happens when tough guys get in the way of Bob Berryman.
There, I've said enough.
