Showcasing the best things to do in Memphis, Tennessee.
Video / Memphis Tourism
Memphis’ diverse food and drink scene is worth loosening a belt notch for, writes Stephanie Holmes
A surefire way to get conversation going with any Memphian is to ask them their favourite barbecue restaurant. They’ll have to pick between any of the estimated 150 dedicated bbq establishments in the city but you can bet they’ll have one that tops their list.
But the city’s food scene isn’t one note. It’s diverse and exciting, and you’re just as likely to find a vegan, Asian-fusion restaurant as you are a meat-heavy barbecue joint. Come hungry, wear an elasticated waistband, and experience a wide range of cuisines and flavours. Here are some of our favourites, experienced on a recent trip.
Arcade Restaurant
This neon-lit corner family-run restaurant has been serving hungry hordes since 1919 and claims the title of Memphis’ oldest cafe. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to take a seat in “Elvis’ booth” – the table at the back of the 50s diner-style restaurant that became a favourite haunt of a young Elvis Presley as his career began. The Arcade’s distinct look makes it a popular filming location, with scenes from movies including Great Balls of Fire, Walk the Line, The Firm, and 21 Grams all shot here.
Fourth-generation owners Jeff and Kelcie Zapatos keep the Arcade’s legacy alive, and it’s still a buzzing place to grab breakfast, brunch or lunch – think bottomless filter coffee, eggs served multiple ways, hash browns, grits, pancakes, pizzas, and more. Walls are covered with memorabilia, and there’s a mural at the back of the restaurant showing Memphis in its heyday.
There’s a full-bar and liquor available at any time of day – how about a Breakfast Shot, made with Irish whiskey, butterscotch schnapps, orange juice and bacon? Or a “Shake it Like the King” spiked milkshake – Irish Cream, banana rum, vanilla icecream and peanut butter. We think Elvis would approve.
Central BBQ
If you only have time to visit one of the 150 barbecue joints in Memphis, you won’t go wrong if you visit Central BBQ. The Downtown restaurant – one of five locations across the city – is just across the road from the National Civil Rights Museum and opens from 11am-9pm, seven days. If you’re visiting for lunch, go early – queues out the door are not unusual and you can’t take a seat until you’ve ordered your food at the counter. Get a table on the covered outdoor terrace to check out the murals showing illustrated maps of the Mississippi blues highway, with portraits of music legends like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Trumpets and guitars hang from the ceilings, and the checked tablecloths add to the vibe.
Make sure you order the ribs, and order them two ways: Dry rub is a Memphis speciality and less messy - but no less tasty - than the sauce-slathered wet version. Hot wings are another favourite – order them naked, wet, jerked, dry, honey gold or sweet heat. Everything is marinated for 24 hours, slow-cooked over hickory and pecan smoke, and comes in generous portions. And remember in America, taking away a doggy bag is the norm, so it’s fine to save some for later.
Memphis is home to approximately 150 barbecue joints, but Central BBQ stands out with its dry rub ribs and marinated meats slow-cooked over hickory and pecan smoke. Photo / Supplied
Gus’ World Famous Fried Chicken
It’s a lofty name but it stacks up – this humble chicken shop’s origins date back more than 60 years. The original location was 64km northeast of Memphis in the small community of Mason, where Napoleon “Na” Vanderbilt and wife Ms Maggie began selling chicken from the back door of a local tavern. They were unable to afford to set up a shop of their own so locals who had grown to love the Vanderbilts’ chicken donated building materials and Na, a trained carpenter, got to work. Maggie’s Short Orders opened in 1973.
The building still stands and still serves the same recipe chicken, but was taken over by the couple’s son, Gus, and his wife, Gertrude, in the 80s, renaming it Gus’ World Famous Chicken. The restaurant’s reputation grew, gaining fans all over the state ... so much so that one Memphis local, who had developed a habit of driving the 64km just to get her chicken fix, worked with the Bonners to launch her own store in Downtown Memphis in 2001. Wendy McCrory has taken Gus’ success and run with it – she has now developed Gus’ into a chain of 31 restaurants in 14 states – but the original recipes still remain.
The Downtown Memphis store is a modest outfit – a red brick exterior with yellow and white striped awning and simple yellow sign above the door. Inside, wobbly tables nestle close to each other and fluorescent strip lighting is certainly not flattering. But the chicken is as good as its “world famous” moniker suggests. The sides are mouth-watering too – fried green tomatoes, mac & cheese, baked beans, slaw, collard greens, fried okra, potato salad ... you’ll never look at KFC the same again. One thing Gus’ does have in common with the Colonel, though: the chicken recipe will never be shared. “This is a dead man’s recipe,” reads a quote from Gus on their website, “and I ain’t telling.”
Originating from a humble chicken shop, Gus’ World Famous Chicken now boasts 31 locations across 14 states, all serving the same original recipe chicken since the 1980s. Photo / Sean Fisher
The Peabody Hotel
This is the most famous hotel in Memphis, thanks to its classic elegance, and its five most famous residents – a flock of mallard ducks who spend their nights in a penthouse on the roof and their days swimming in the pool surrounding the lobby’s travertine marble fountain. Each day at 11am, they’re brought down in the elevator by the hotel’s resident “Duck Master” in a ceremony called the Peabody Duck March. Exiting the lobby to a delighted crowd, the ducks walk (waddle?) the red carpet to the pool, where they stay until 5pm, when the March is done in reverse.
In between, book a traditional afternoon tea at the hotel’s grand French restaurant, Chez Philippe, where waiters in smart suits serve three courses of dainty sandwiches, patisserie and scones on pretty tiered cake stands, accompanied by a selection of black and herbal teas.
Make time before or after for a treatment at the Feathers Spa, a tranquil space located in the hotel’s lower-ground level, away from the hubbub of the lobby. You’ll receive a complimentary mimosa on arrival, then be led to a dark, peaceful treatment room where you can indulge in massages, facials, scrubs, body wraps, and enhancements – bliss to work away any jetlag fog.
Join the daily duck march at The Peabody Hotel. Photo / Supplied
Sunrise
This breakfast spot is another place to arrive early, especially at weekends, as queues begin to snake out the door and around the block not long after opening. The brunch crowd usually make a beeline for the Bloody Mary bar, where you can choose from six kinds of house-infused vodkas. The menu is extensive, featuring homemade “biscuits” (more like a savoury scone to Kiwis) and fried chicken, as well as tacos, sandwiches, omelettes, pancakes and a variety of breakfast bowls, ranging from Korean to Spanish, oatmeal to vegan. I was slightly worse for wear after a late night at some Downtown bars, so I opted for the King Biscuit bowl, made up of fried chicken, country ham, over-easy egg on a biscuit, smothered in sausage gravy, accompanied by a lemon-infused vodka bloody mary. I know, I know, I promise it was a one-off. But it sure did perk me up, ready for a busy day of sightseeing.
This breakfast spot offers an extensive menu including a Bloody Mary bar with six house-infused vodkas and unique breakfast bowls like the King Biscuit bowl, perfect for curing any late-night revelry. Photo / Supplied
South of Beale
Also known as SOB, this restaurant is on South Main St which, unsurprisingly, is a few blocks south of Memphis’ famous music mecca, Beale Street. SOB is in what was once the lobby of a historic hotel, now renovated to a modern, upscale yet casual restaurant with exposed plaster walls, polished concrete floors, contemporary design and a bar that stretches the length of the dining room.
Again, you’ll find fried chicken on the menu, but here it’s given a Korean twist, served with honey and on a bed of kimchi greens. You’ll also find burgers, sandwiches, salads, and speciality dishes like blackened catfish, a Louisiana-style dish served with okra, corn succotash, andouille sausage and spicy crawfish cream sauce.
Good Fortune Co
This Asian fusion restaurant, also on South Main St, is full of eclectic design touches ideal for the Instagram crowd. For example, my cocktail was inexplicably served in a pink ceramic mug in the shape of a pig doing a handstand. There’s a bright mural covering one wall in Gen Z-friendly pastel colours. But the menu is for everyone, no matter your age. Noodles and dumplings are handmade from scratch, and vegans/vegetarians will find much to tempt the tastebuds.
The Memphian is a modern hotel, built as part of a revitalisation project in the Overton Square neighbourhood in Midtown, once a derelict empty space, now home to independent boutiques, cafes, bars and arts venues. From the outside the hotel looks like a renovated heritage building, but it’s only a few years old – it opened in 2021 and comes complete with the essentials for modern travellers, like state-of-the-art gym, electric car charging stations, and – its highlight whether or not you’re staying the night – a rooftop bar with views across the city. Tiger and Peacock has eclectic design features, like oversized ornate chandeliers, cosy booths, and a taxidermied zebra behind the bar. The outdoor terrace is the place to be on sunny days, but even inside, the large windows behind sheer blinds let the golden hour evening glow bathe the room in soft diffused light. As well as classic cocktails, there are also 12 options designed around the signs of the zodiac.
The Second Line
Across the road from The Memphian in midtown, don’t let the casual appearance of this restaurant fool you - dinner at Second Line was one of the best meals I ate in my five days in Memphis.
Owner/executive chef Kelly English grew up in Louisiana and his Southern upbringing heavily influences his cooking both here, and at Restaurant Iris, next door. He describes his Second Line menu as “Memphis-inspired New Orleans” cuisine, and you’ll find favourites like poboys, seafood plates, roasted meats, and gumbos on the large menu. It’s a more casual setting than Iris, with a real community atmosphere – you can watch a game while you eat, and if English is on site, he’ll likely pop over to check how you’re enjoying your meal.
Cocozza
You’ll get some idea of just how much Italian food means to owner Deni Reilly when you see the silver charm on her necklace – it’s in the shape of a piece of macaroni. Reilly and husband Patrick are also the owners of The Majestic Grille, a well-established restaurant in a converted historic movie theatre. But when Covid lockdowns temporarily closed the restaurant in 2020, the Reillys started a pop-up to keep their staff employed and supported. It became so popular with local Memphians, they opened Cocozza in a permanent space in late 2022. It’s an authentic American Italian-style joint – red and white checked tablecloths, checkerboard tiles on the floor, black leather booths, and a huge painting of an imaginary meeting between Elvis Presley and his favourite singer, Mario Lanza, hanging on the wall. It was painted by a former Cocozza chef, Emily Lafource, whose wife’s mother’s partner (keeping up?) was one of Elvis’ step-brothers. The connections continue – Mario Lanzo is Deni’s grandfather’s cousin.
The menu is all your American-Italian food dreams come true – pasta dishes, parmiganas, steaks, seafood, bruschetta and more.
If you try one thing, make it the vodka rigatoni … Patrick made it for Deni when they were dating and she says one bite was it all it took for her to know this was the man she would marry.
