Entry No. 52 — the Memphis file — filed under: vegetarian
RP Tracks
Rick Johns and Peter Moon opened it in December 1987 beside the rail line a block off the University of Memphis campus, and somewhere along the way a student bar in the barbecue capital of America became famous for tofu. The BBQ tofu nachos — extra-firm tofu, fried, sauced, dumped over chips — are $12.50 on the 2025 menu and are the dish the kitchen leads with on its own website. The vegetarian column doesn't stop there: buffalo tofu slices, BBQ and marinated tofu quesadillas, chipotle hummus, and tofu subbed into most of the meat plates on request. The rest of it is honest bar food — wings, loaded fries, pitas, burgers — served until 1 a.m. six nights a week, with brunch on weekends until 2:30. Trains still go past.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Memphis — never the same twice
The story
The R and the P are Rick Johns and Peter Moon, who opened the doors in December 1987 in a low building beside the rail line, less than a block off the University of Memphis campus. What they built is a college bar that behaves like a neighborhood bar: current owner Mary Laws puts it at roughly 75 percent of customers living within walking distance, and the walls have never been refreshed — a photo collage on one side, a row of plaques on another, the accretion of a room that has stayed open for nearly four decades.
Laws and her husband Bernard bought it in June 2015, which sounds like an outside acquisition and isn't. Bernard started at Tracks in 1997 washing dishes and worked his way to the front of the house; Mary started in 2000; both left and came back more than once before their paths finally crossed, and they had been married about three years when Johns and Moon approached them about buying Tracks and RP Billiards across the street. The founders asked them to keep the sale quiet for the first year. Almost nothing changed, including the drink deal Memphis keeps getting wrong: it is not a free shot when a train goes by, and it was never a dollar shot. It is a dollar off, and Mary has had to say so many, many times.
The tofu is the other thing outsiders get wrong — it is not a concession, it is the headline. “World Famous BBQ Tofu” sits on the restaurant's own masthead, and the 2025 menu runs extra-firm tofu fried and sauced over nachos ($12.50), sliced and tossed in Frank's ($11.25), folded into quesadillas with toasted coconut and tomato aioli ($11), and layered onto wheat berry bread as a vegetarian club. Brunch scrambles it with veggie sausage, smoked coconut and Gouda and calls it the Veggie Rooster — all of this in the barbecue capital of America.
What it's like
Walker Avenue is tight and residential, so plan on street parking and a block's walk; the rail line alongside the building is the landmark. Inside is brighter and cleaner than a college bar has any right to be — booths, TVs, a full bar, and an enclosed patio that doubles as the smoking deck. You seat yourself, a server finds you, and there are no reservations, so a Tiger game night is a standing-room proposition. Order nachos first; they take a while and everyone will eat them. When a freight rolls past, the room pauses and drinks go a dollar off — that is the entire ritual, and asking for a free shot marks you instantly. Checks carry an automatic 18 percent gratuity, 20 percent for parties of six or more, and to-go orders add 10 percent, when the kitchen is taking them at all.
The move: The move: roll in around ten, split an order of BBQ tofu nachos against an order of the Famous RP nachos so you can spend the night arguing which one wins, add the buffalo tofu slices, and get a pitcher. Sit near the tracks side and wait for a freight to go by mid-sentence — it will.
📍 Before you go Mon-Sat 11 a.m.-1 a.m.; Sun 10 a.m.-11 p.m., brunch Sat-Sun until 2:30 p.m. (901) 327-1471. Full bar, no reservations, street parking in a dense student neighborhood — plan on walking a block. Loud and packed on Tiger game nights; go on a weeknight if you want to hear each other.
- 📍 Memphis
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 3547 Walker Ave, Memphis, TN 38111
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- AutoZone Sharpe Planetarium — Laser Rock — A mile west on Central Avenue: sit through a Friday laser set under the dome, then drive five minutes east for nachos and a train.
- Bad Timing — The vintage shop on Minor Street sits in the same 38111 zip and closes at 7 p.m., so it slots in before dinner rather than after.
- Flashback — Two miles up Central for 2,800 square feet of vintage department store — a daylight, wander-and-look counterpart to a loud late night by the rails.
More weird in Memphis
Good to know
Where is it, and where do I park?
3547 Walker Ave, at the rail line less than a block from the University of Memphis campus. There is no lot worth counting on — it's street parking in a dense student neighborhood, so budget a block or two of walking, more on game nights. Phone is (901) 327-1471.
What does dinner actually cost?
Cheap by 2025 standards: BBQ tofu nachos $12.50, the Famous RP nachos $12.25, buffalo tofu slices $11.25, most burgers and sandwiches $10–14, vegetarian quesadillas $11. Budget for the extras, though — an 18 percent gratuity is added to every check, 20 percent for parties of six or more, and to-go orders carry a 10 percent service fee.
Is it actually vegan-friendly, or just vegetarian?
Both, with a small conversation. The nachos come with your choice of black bean or meat chili, and the kitchen will leave off cheese and sour cream on request, which makes the signature dish vegan. Burgers take a veggie patty for $2.25, and tofu subs into much of the menu. The vegetarian items are printed as their own sections rather than buried in footnotes.
Do I really get a free drink when the train passes?
No. That is the local myth, and the owner has spent years correcting it: never free shots, never dollar shots. A train going by gets you a dollar off. Freights run through often enough that you will probably catch one mid-sentence.
When should I go, and can I book?
No reservations, ever. Brunch runs Saturday 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. and is dine-in only — no to-go orders off that menu. Closing time is the moving target: the website lists 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, while the printed 2025 menu claims 1 a.m. most nights. Call before a late run.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · choose901.com
last checked: 2026-08-26