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Best Dining Bets

by Frommers Travel Guides
wiley
Content provided by Frommers

    Best Dining Bets

  • Best Spot for a Romantic Dinner: If you feel like playing prince or princess for a night, there's no more romantic place to do so than amid the palatial surroundings of Chez Philippe, 149 Union Ave. (tel. 901/529-4188), at the opulent Peabody hotel.

  • Best Spot for a Celebration: Amusing decor and food as creative as the atmosphere make Automatic Slim's Tonga Club, 83 S. Second St. (tel. 901/525-7948), a good spot for a casual celebration.

  • Best for Kids: Like Nashville, downtown Memphis has a cavernous Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant that's been a longtime favorite for young children. They can dine in an old trolley car while deciding whether to order the burger or a plate of pasta and meatballs. Spaghetti Warehouse, 40 W. Huling. tel. 901/521-0907. www.meatballs.com.

  • Best Nostalgic Diner: Grab a booth at The Arcade, a last-of-its-kind downtown institution, if you want to feel as if you've gone back in time. Home-style breakfasts, burgers, and pizzas are best bets at this old-school eatery that's anchored this corner since 1919. The Arcade, 540 S. Main St. tel. 901/526-5757. www.arcaderestaurant.com.

  • Best Soul Food: What Swett's Restaurant is to Nashville, the Fourway is to Memphis -- a historic, minority-owned restaurant that makes the best sweet-potato pie, fried catfish, and black-eyed peas you're ever likely to encounter. Always busy, it's a spacious, family-friendly restaurant offering full service (as opposed to Swetts' cafeteria format). Fourway Restaurant, 998 Mississippi Blvd. tel. 901/507-1519.

    The Most Unforgettable Dining Experiences

  • Chomping on Dry Ribs at The Rendezvous, 52 S. Second St. (tel. 901/523-2746): It's dark, it's noisy, and the waiters are intentionally surly, but oh, those barbecued ribs! "Wet" (cooked with liquid sauce) or "dry" (rubbed with a dry blend), the spice-slathered, succulent pork won't disappoint. This place is an institution.

  • Indulging in a Full-Course Gourmet Meal at Erling Jensen -- The Restaurant, 1044 S. Yates (tel. 901/763-3700): Food and wine connoisseurs can expect to be coddled at this pricey bastion of fine dining in East Memphis. Danish-born chef Jensen is a true artist whose culinary creations never fail to delight discerning diners.

  • "Lookin' Good and Eatin' Good" (as goes their slogan) at the Beauty Shop, 966 S. Cooper (tel. 901/272-7111): Be it a basic burger and pepper-dusted spicy fries or more inventive Thai Cobb Salad, this Cooper-Young beauty parlor turned restaurant is a hoot. And yes, you can nosh under an honest-to-gosh, '60s-style hair dryer seat.

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