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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.
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.
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.
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.
Upscale regional food (described as "contemporary Southern") is served at this popular Downtown restaurant where the menu changes every two months.
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