Bistros, trattorias and the everyday places where Memphis actually eats.
Bistros, trattorias, taverns and neighbourhood rooms: the mid-tier places where Memphis actually eats.
Speros Zepatos's South Main Memphis diner is the city's oldest restaurant, open since 1919 and once Elvis Presley's regular booth. Breakfast and lunch daily.
OrderFried peanut butter and banana sandwich; sit at Elvis's marked booth.
TipCounter service from 07:00-15:00 daily. Cash and card both fine; no reservations.
Hattie B's Cooper-Young Memphis hot chicken counter, the Nashville import on South Cooper Street, runs heat levels from Southern to Shut the Cluck Up.
OrderHot quarter, dark; pimento mac and cheese on the side.
TipCounter service, no reservations. Lunch lines move; Saturdays can run thirty minutes after 12:30.
Pete and Sam's East Memphis Park Avenue room has run red-sauce Italian for the Bomarito family since 1948. Priced at $$. Booking recommended.
OrderSpaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, a pitcher of house red.
TipOpen Tuesday to Sunday for dinner; closed Mondays. Reservations advised on Friday and Saturday.
Coletta's is Memphis's oldest restaurant on South Parkway since 1923, Elvis Presley's South Parkway haunt and the home of Memphis BBQ pizza topped with pork.
OrderBBQ pizza with the side spaghetti.
TipAsk for the Elvis Room dining area. Closed Sundays and Mondays. The Appling Road location runs the same menu.
Young Avenue Deli has anchored the Cooper-Young Memphis corner since 1995 with cold beer, deli sandwiches and the city's deepest tap lists, plus live music.
OrderDeli Club on sourdough with a cold pint of Wiseacre Tiny Bomb.
TipCounter service for food, table service for drinks. The patio fills first on game days.
Babalu in Overton Square Memphis runs Southern cooking with Latin flair from a Madison Avenue patio, with tableside guacamole, tacos and craft cocktails.
OrderTableside guacamole, then the carnitas tacos.
TipThe patio is the seat in spring; Sunday brunch is the easier seat than weekend dinner.
Mosa Asian Bistro on White Station Road in East Memphis runs a Chinese, Thai, Korean and Vietnamese menu from a strip-mall favoured by chefs on their nights.
OrderBeef pho and spicy Korean noodles.
TipLunch is the easier seat; the room fills with regulars after 18:00. Closed Mondays.
Sage Restaurant is a soul fusion room on South Main in Memphis from Chef Eli Townsend, with globally influenced Southern comfort food and a downtown rooftop.
OrderChicken and waffles; the catfish if it is on the night's menu.
TipWednesday to Sunday dinner; the rooftop opens earlier than the dining room on weekends.
Hen House on South Mendenhall in East Memphis runs an eclectic wine-bar-and-eatery menu with charcuterie, salads, pastas and the crispy chicken sandwich.
OrderCrispy chicken sandwich or the Hen House burger.
TipOpen Sun-Thu evenings, with weekend lunch service Sat-Sun 11:00-14:00.
Owen Brennan's in Regalia on Poplar Avenue is a long-running East Memphis Creole-Cajun room with French Quarter styling, baked oysters and tableside bananas.
OrderOysters Brennan to start and bananas Foster prepared tableside for dessert.
TipReserve online; the Sunday jazz brunch and the tableside bananas Foster are the marquee orders.
Memphis Pizza Cafe's Madison Avenue midtown room has run thin-crust by the slice and house specialty pies since 1991, a casual midtown standby with a side.
OrderThe Hippie pizza with feta and pesto.
TipOpen daily for lunch and dinner; the patio is the seat in spring. Multiple locations across Memphis run the same menu.
Central BBQ's Midtown Memphis room on Central Avenue is the chain's original, opened in 2002 with dry-rub ribs, pulled pork sandwiches and BBQ nachos.
OrderPulled pork sandwich with BBQ nachos to share.
TipThe patio is the seat; the dining room fills fast at lunch. Online ordering skips the line.
Germantown Commissary on South Germantown Road has slow-smoked Memphis BBQ from a converted general store east of the city since 1981. A long porch out front.
OrderPulled pork plate with the smoked chicken and slaw.
TipOpen daily; the porch fills first. Drive from downtown takes 20 minutes via Poplar Avenue.
A&R Bar-B-Que on Elvis Presley Boulevard in South Memphis has run Black-owned hickory-smoke BBQ from a converted gas station since 1983: pulled pork, ribs.
OrderPulled pork sandwich with smoked bologna on the side.
TipCounter service. The Hickory Hill branch at 3721 Hickory Hill Rd runs the same menu.
Tops Bar-B-Q is a Memphis chain of drive-in BBQ counters since 1952, with chopped pork sandwiches, onion rings and the city's signature cheap drive-thru BBQ.
OrderChopped pork sandwich, onion rings, sweet tea.
TipDrive-thru and counter only, no dining room. The Summer Avenue branch is one of the oldest still standing.
Pyro's Fire Fresh Pizza in Cordova runs Memphis-born fast-casual pizza, blistered in 90 seconds in a wood-fired oven with build-your-own toppings east.
OrderWood-fired Margherita with house red sauce and fresh basil.
TipCounter service; ready in under five minutes. The Collierville branch on Houston Levee runs the same menu.
Central BBQ's Poplar Avenue East Memphis room runs the same dry-rub ribs and pulled pork as the original Midtown branch in a larger dining room with easy.
OrderHalf slab of dry ribs and a basket of pulled pork nachos.
TipEasier seat than Midtown or Downtown locations; Sunday lunches fill the room first.
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