Fried Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon Sandwich (The Elvis)
Photo: AnticoMu90 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Memphis Graceland legend: thick-sliced white bread spread heavily with creamy peanut butter, layered with sliced bananas and crispy bacon, then griddled in butter until golden.

The Fried Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon Sandwich is the canonical Elvis Presley snack, by reliable accounts cooked nightly at Graceland through the 1960s and 1970s by the King's cooks, particularly Mary Jenkins Langston. The recipe is documented in the 1991 cookbook Memories Beyond Graceland Gates by Pauline Nicholson and Mary Jenkins, with Elvis reportedly requesting up to a dozen at a time at his peak. The Memphis Arcade Restaurant (operating since 1919, claimed to be Elvis's regular booth) put a version on its menu in the 1980s and runs it as a tribute sandwich. The modern Memphis version often skips the bacon for the simpler peanut-butter-and-banana original.

2 editor picks for Fried Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon Sandwich (The Elvis) in Memphis, ranked by editorial score. All Memphis signature dishes · Fried Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon Sandwich (The Elvis) across every city.

Alcenia's ★ 4.5

$$Soul FoodPinch District

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.

Arcade Restaurant ★ 4.3

$DinerSouth Main

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.

Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

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