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Although Memphis has a satisfying variety of restaurants, the local passion is barbecue; the city has 70-odd barbecue places. Popular "meat-and-twos" and "meat-and-threes" (diners serving meat with two or three vegetable side dishes) specialize in fried chicken, turnip greens, corn bread, and other southern specialties. Numerous soul-food restaurants, offering country specialties like fried chicken and pork chops, can be found outside of Downtown.
The food at this hole-in-the-wall lunch spot just north of downtown is as down-home and funky as the decor—walls lined with eclectic artwork and a jukebox stocked with Memphis hits. The kitchen turns out its own versions of "meat and two," including fried chicken and pork chops served alongside sweet-potato fries, fried green tomatoes, and other vegetables. Desserts, including pecan pie and sweet potato pie, bread pudding, and pound cake, are as sinfully rich as the sweet tea Alcenia's serves up in tall glasses.
Not surprisingly, music is the theme at this busy restaurant on Beale Street, the city's bluesy entertainment district. Up to 500 people can be accommodated inside and on the two-story outdoor patio. Southern plate lunches, burgers, pork chops, pasta, catfish, and barbecued ribs make up the comforting menu. The kitchen is open until 3 am; on weekends the bar serves until 5 am. Bands play Thursday through Sunday, and there's karaoke Monday through Wednesday.
Deft knife-juggling chefs prepare steaks, shrimp, scallops, and lobsters on a steel cooking table surrounded by diners. Known for the Benihana special (grilled lobster with house dressing of mustard and ginger sauce), this lively place, complete with karaoke, also has a sushi bar. The restaurant is housed in a stunning Japanese-style building near the Memphis Hilton in East Memphis. There's a children's menu and an early-bird supper deal.
This popular midtown hangout offers a healthy version of Mexican cuisine (no animal fats are used), including spinach enchiladas, vegetarian burritos, and chile rellenos (cheese-stuffed fried green chilies).
They sell plenty of dry-style barbecued ribs in this downtown restaurant in an 1890 building, in an alley just north of the Peabody Hotel. A diverse group chows down in the antiques- and collectibles-filled basement dining room, and the service is among the most efficient in town. The menu also includes shoulder sandwiches, pork loin, chicken, and a shrimp skillet.
This Memphis institution serves sophisticated dishes from a multi-course tasting menu in an ornately decorated dining room Downtown. Nightly creations might include beef tenderloin, or Chilean snapper with portobello mushrooms on a horseradish reduction. Desserts include baked Alaska (sponge cake topped with ice cream and meringue, then baked) and crème brûlée. Afternoon tea is served Tuesday through Saturday from 2 to 3, but you'll need to make a reservation 24 hours in advance.
There's always a line at this no-frills barbecue restaurant in East Memphis. Once you taste the ribs (or sandwiches, or beef, or pork platters …), you'll understand why.
Jensen first earned a loyal following as the chef at La Tourelle. The cuisine at his East Memphis restaurant is French; most noteworthy is the rack of lamb.
Folks flock to this busy restaurant in the heart of East Memphis for the USDA prime steaks served with sizzle and a pat of herb butter. If beef isn't your thing, they also serve salad and seafood. Either way, be sure to save room for bread pudding. There are five separate dining rooms, plus eight private rooms for small parties. A pianist plays Monday through Saturday in the Cellar Lounge, and a retail store sells meat and other items.
Upscale regional food (described as "contemporary Southern") is served at this popular Downtown restaurant where the menu changes every two months.
This Overton Square classic, located in a half-timbered house with an elegantly appointed dining room, serves delicious crepes (try the hot chocolate dessert crepe) and salads and excellent grilled chicken, salmon, and swordfish.
An informal but artsy bistro in the eclectic Cooper-Young neighborhood in midtown, Tsunami fuses Pacific Rim cuisines. Don't miss the rack of lamb, crisp duck breast, and, if it's on the menu, the sublime seared sea bass with soy beurre blanc on black Thai rice. Local art livens up the casual atmosphere.
This unpretentious bar and grill, which sits in the shadow of the Pyramid alongside the Mississippi River, dishes out large portions of steak and seafood, excellent burgers, and a full selection of rice-based dishes, including several vegetarian options. A weekday "Meat and two" lunch special includes features entrees like country-fried steak and catfish, accompanied by sides like macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, and other vegetables. The kitchen stays open until 3 am, seven nights a week.
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