Ranked by TableJourney editorial score.
Memphis banana pudding is vanilla wafer cookies layered with sliced bananas, vanilla custard and whipped cream, a Southern soul food dessert and BBQ joint standard.
Banana pudding entered Southern home cooking in the late 1800s after bananas became affordable. By the 1940s it was a staple of Memphis lunch counters and church suppers. The Four Way Restaurant has served it as a Sunday dessert since 1946, and most Memphis BBQ joints carry it as the closing sweet. Whipped cream caught on as the topping in the 1960s, replacing meringue.
3 editor picks for Memphis banana pudding in Memphis, ranked by editorial score. All Memphis signature dishes · Memphis banana pudding across every city.
The Four Way is Memphis's defining Black-owned soul food room on Mississippi Boulevard since 1946. Martin Luther King Jr. ate here; the walls show the guests.
OrderSmothered turkey wings, collard greens, mac and cheese, sweet potato pie.
TipOpen Wednesday to Saturday for lunch only, 11:00-17:00. Cash and card both fine.
Betty Joyce Chester-Tamayo's Pinch District Memphis soul food room has run fried chicken, collards and a hug at the door since 1997. Priced at $$.
OrderFried chicken plate with greens and yams; ask for a Ghetto Aid.
TipCounter service, cash preferred. B.J. greets every table; the experience is half the meal.
Central BBQ Downtown in Memphis runs the city's most reliable dry-rub ribs and pulled pork from a casual counter across from the National Civil Rights Museum.
OrderHalf slab of dry ribs with a smoked turkey sandwich on the side.
TipLines from noon to 14:00; order online and pick up at the express counter to skip the queue.
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