Best Bar Food
1. Huey’s
2. Bardog Tavern
3. Young Avenue Deli
Justin Fox Burks
Best Burger
1. Huey’s
2. Tops Bar-B-Q
3. Belly Acres
Best Hangover Food
1. Huey’s
2. Slider Inn
3. Young Avenue Deli
Best Service
1. Huey’s
2. Restaurant Iris
3. Catherine & Mary’s — tie — Houston’s
Best Late-Night Dining
1. Huey’s
2. Earnestine & Hazel’s
3. Alex’s Tavern
Who hasn’t heard of a “Huey Burger”? It’s almost like “Band-Aid” or “Kleenex” around these parts. Huey’s dominates these categories because of their consistency. They are a port in this burger, hangover, late-night, service, bar food storm.
Best Barbecue
BOM 1. Central BBQ
2. The Bar-B-Q Shop
3. Germantown Commissary
Best Ribs
1. Central BBQ
2. The Rendezvous
3. The Bar-B-Q Shop
With its new location on Poplar, Central BBQ is winning more and more fans. Whether you’re eating their succulent ribs or their generous portions of pork or chicken or just dining on their homemade chips, you know you’re eating the real thing.
Best Bloody Mary
1. Bayou Bar & Grill
2. The Beauty Shop
3. The Majestic Grille
Flyer readers voted Bayou Bar & Grill’s Bloody Mary as best so it has to be that perfect combination of tomato juice, booze, and other accoutrements to jump start your day.
Best Breakfast
1. Brother Juniper’s
2. Bryant’s Breakfast
3. Sunrise Memphis
Nothing is more relaxing than eating breakfast at Brother Juniper’s. You know you’re going to get a tasty, big meal. And it doesn’t have to just be bacon and eggs.
Best Brunch
1. The Beauty Shop
2. Owen Brennan’s
3. The Majestic Grille
The definition of “chilling” is eating brunch at The Beauty Shop. The food is fabulous, and the people-watching is terrific. The vibe is hip and cool — just like its chef/owner Karen Carrier.
Justin Fox Burks
Best Chef
1. Kelly English, Restaurant Iris, The Second Line
2. Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman, Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Hog & Hominy, Gray Canary, Catherine & Mary’s
3. Josh Steiner, Strano by Chef Josh
Best Cajun/ Creole
1. The Second Line
2. Bayou Bar & Grill
3. Mardi Gras Memphis
Best Fine Dining
1. Restaurant Iris
2. Folk’s Folly Prime Cut Shoppe
3. Flight Restaurant & Wine Bar
Best Restaurant
1. Restaurant Iris
2. The Majestic Grille
3. Flight Restaurant & Wine Bar
England has a king; we have a king — Kelly English — when it comes to food. Not only was English voted Best Chef, but his Restaurant Iris was voted Best Restaurant and Best Fine Dining. And The Second Line — his restaurant next to Iris — was voted Best Cajun/Creole.
Best Chinese
1. Mulan Asian Bistro
2. A-Tan
3. Mosa Asian Bistro
Tasty Asian fare? Our readers voted Mulan Asian Bistro, which offers delicious cuisine in Cooper-Young and in East Memphis.
Best Coffee Roaster
1. French Truck Coffee
2. Ugly Mug
3. J Brooks
French Truck Coffee is a great addition to the Crosstown family of shops and restaurants. Drop by and pick up some beans — and while you’re there, enjoy a cuppa and their excellent pimiento cheese toast.
Best Date-Night Restaurant
1. Flight Restaurant & Wine Bar
2. Restaurant Iris
3. Catherine & Mary’s
Best Wine List
1. Flight Restaurant & Wine Bar
2. Folk’s Folly Prime Cut Shoppe
3. Bari Ristorante e Enoteca
Flight has been a Downtown dining favorite for years, with its innovative flights of paired wine and entrees. Dine in or sit out at a sidewalk table and enjoy the passing trolleys (and scooters) with your main squeeze.
Best Dessert Shop
1. Muddy’s Bake Shop
2. Frost Bake Shop
3. Two Girls and a Whip
Best Bakery
1. Muddy’s Bake Shop
2. Frost Bake Shop
3. La Baguette
Muddy’s Bake Shop has been sweetening the lives of Memphians for several years now. Muddy’s devotees swear by the shop’s cupcakes, red velvet cake, and longtime favorite, oatmeal cream pie.
Best Dog-friendly Restaurant/Bar
1. Loflin Yard
2. Slider Inn
3. Railgarten
Loflin Yard has quickly become a South Main institution. With its generous lawn, family-friendly performance stages, excellent craft cocktails, and the Gayoso Bayou running through it all, dogs like it, too.
Best Donut Shop
BOM 1. Gibson’s Donuts
2. Howard’s Donuts
3. The Dapper Donut
Gibson’s is the Huey’s of Memphis donut shops, standing invincibly atop our Best Donuts category year after year. Try the bacon-glazed donut. It’s so good it will make you slap your pappy.
Best Ethiopian
1. Blue Nile Ethiopian Kitchen
2. Evelyn & Olive
3. Abyssinia
Nestled on Madison Avenue in Midtown, Blue Nile has gained a great reputation for its excellent vegetarian fare, as well as traditional favorites, including steaks, chicken, and eight different varieties of kebabs.
Best Farm to Table
1. Bounty on Broad
2. The Trolley Stop Market
3. Belly Acres
Bounty on Broad, now one of that burgeoning street’s established anchors, serves delicious farm-to-table food on family-style platters — as well as small plates. Specialties include chicken-fried quail and braised pork shank.
Best Food Truck
1. Say Cheese
2. Sushi Jimmi
3. Fuel Cafe
Here’s a great idea: Get you a food truck and drive around Memphis serving the most delicious, savory grilled cheese sandwiches in town. That’s what Say Cheese did, and, boy, are our readers happy about it.
Justin Fox Burks
Best Home Cooking/Soul Food
1. The Arcade Restaurant
2. Four Way Restaurant
3. Regina’s Cajun Restaurant
The city’s oldest cafe is a brand-new winner in this category. Go for the neon and the old-school vibe. Stay for the biscuits, gravy, and endless cups of amazing coffee — all of it served up by the nicest servers in town.
Best Fried Chicken
BOM 1. Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken
2. Jack Pirtle’s Chicken
3. Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken
From a humble chicken joint in Mason, Tennessee, Gus’s Fried Chicken moved on to Front Street Downtown and took over Memphis. And now Gus’s is taking over the country, with new locations all over the U.S. They’re doing something right.
Best Frozen Treat Shop
1. Jerry’s Sno Cones
2. La Michoacana
3. MemPops
Memphians don’t mind Jerry’s off-the-beaten-track locations in northeast Memphis and in way-out Cordova. In fact, that’s part of its charm. Just follow the crowds to one of the city’s most unique treat shops. Sno cones are only the tip of the iceberg.
Best Hibachi
1. Nagasaki Inn
2. Osaka
3. A-Tan
Nagasaki Inn is a new winner in this category, which is great. But over the decades, thousands have already voted with their feet to make Nagasaki a beloved Japanese oasis on Summer.
Best Hot Wings
1. Ching’s Hot Wings
2. Central BBQ
3. Dirty Crow Inn
Eating wings at Ching’s may be the most real-Memphis experience in town. The walls are plastered with photos of customers (famous or not), Memphis memorabilia, and, yes, acres of television screens. Get your wings on the spectrum from seasoned to suicide.
Best Indian
1. India Palace
2. Golden India
3. Bombay House
Palace is right. The massive space, high ceilings, curved archways, and animal murals of India Palace give it regal appeal. It’s a fitting throne room for the food. Yes to the palak paneer, lamb meatballs, and tandoori chicken, and don’t skip the amazing condiment bar.
Justin Fox Burks
Best Italian
1. Pete & Sam’s
2. Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen
3. Bari Ristorante e Enoteca
Pete & Sam’s has been Memphis’ dining room for 60 years. Fire shut it down from December to May, but it came back with a retro facelift to look like an “old Italian restaurant you see in a movie.” It still has your favorites. Fried chicken to T-bones. Tortaloni to pizza.
Best Kid-friendly Restaurant
1. Railgarten
2. Huey’s
3. Belly Acres
Friend to both kids and kids-at-heart, Railgarten is a Memphis mecca for fun-havers. Hard to find a sunny Saturday afternoon without kids having a blast there. Don’t worry, millennials, they clear out later, and the yard’s so big you hardly even notice them anyway.
Best Patio
1. Railgarten
2. Slider Inn
3. The Second Line
Patios are hallowed sanctuaries in Memphis. Railgarten is the city’s Taj Mahal. Dozens of independent parties simmer simultaneously in the yard, the tiki bar, the music venue, or fun nooks and crannies. Go. Seek refuge.
Best Local Brewery
BOM 1. Meddlesome Brewing Company
2. Wiseacre Brewing Co.
3. Memphis Made Brewing Co.
Meddlesome Brewing has arrived with force. Within months of opening its Cordova taproom last year, Meddlesome’s 201 Hoplar won the Memphis Flyer‘s 2018 Beer Bracket Challenge. Our voters have, again, put the first-time category winners at the top of the heap (and by a landslide). Their motto: Never settle. Always meddle.
Best Local Coffeehouse
1. Otherlands Coffee Bar
2. Ugly Mug
3. Cafe Eclectic
Midtown is Otherlands. Work. People watch. Hang out. Study. Do it all in a rebelliously authentic coffee bar. Get coffee, natch. But breakfast and lunch shouldn’t be missed. Pro tip: happy-hour beers are $1.50-$2. You’re welcome.
Justin Fox Burks
Best Lunch
1. Elwood’s Shack
2. Huey’s
3. Soul Fish Cafe
Thousands have found religion in the Lowe’s parking lot, and left as Elwood’s evangelicals. Thanks to its pimento cheese biscuit, or brisket, or wings, or trout taco, or ribs, or … not to get preachy, but you should go.
Best Margarita
1. Molly’s La Casita
2. Las Delicias
3. Babalu Tapas & Tacos
You can’t miss the peach-colored adobe on Madison. And you don’t want to. Molly’s La Casita has been a Midtown mainstay for 35 years. The food and atmosphere keep folks coming back for years, but it’s the margarita that brings ’em through the door. Don’t miss $6 margs on Mondays!
Best Mexican
1. Las Delicias
2. Molly’s La Casitas
3. Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana
Many Memphians probably don’t even need to leave their house to enjoy a taste of Las Delicias. The restaurant’s pillowy tortilla chips and their tangy guac and salsa are available in supermarkets and are rapidly becoming local staples. But if you want those crispy flautas, you’re going to have to visit Las Delicias in person.
Best Middle Eastern
BOM 1. Casablanca
2. Grecian Gourmet Taverna
3. Petra Cafe
Vegans may wish to try the Jerusalem salad. Non-vegans may wish to try the Jerusalem salad with a side of lamb. When it comes to Middle Eastern classics like hummus, falafel, kebabs, couscous, and shawarma, Casablanca has you covered like baba ganoush on a pita wrap.
Best New Restaurant
1. Gray Canary — tie — Liquor Store
2. Sunrise Memphis
3. Maciel’s Highland
It’s so Memphis to be split down the middle on our favorite new restaurant. Are we Gray Canary dapper, visiting the raw bar, while sampling an array of small plates and artisanal cocktails? Or are we classic diner casual, like the Liquor Store on Broad, an all-day breakfast joint with a menu full of fat sandwiches and a sweet potato hash to die for? Screw it, we’re both!
Best Pizza
1. Memphis Pizza Cafe
2. Aldo’s Pizza Pies
3. Broadway Pizza
Some people don’t think Canadian bacon and pineapple belong anywhere near a pizza. Those people haven’t tried Memphis Pizza Cafe’s Hawaiian salad. The Bluff City loves its namesake pizza place, and with hot, generously appointed pies, calzones, subs, and that salad, what’s not to love?
Best Place for People Watching
1. The Peabody Lobby
2. Beale Street
3. Railgarten
The South’s grand hotel earns its reputation over and over again. The lobby with its busy, floral-topped fountain, is a nexus where movers meet shakers and old schoolers mingle. The twice daily duck parade ensures at least a modicum of “only in Memphis” weirdness.
Best Restaurant for Dessert
1. Cheesecake Corner
2. Paulette’s Restaurant
3. The Beauty Shop
Keep it simple is a good philosophy. Cheesecake Corner is a cozy, candle-lit hangout that specializes in wine, quiche, and luxuriously smooth cheesecakes. Try the red velvet. Or the lemon pound. Or the white chocolate raspberry. Oh heck, try them all!
Best Sandwiches
1. Fino’s
2. Young Avenue Deli
3. Elwood’s Shack
The Acquisto sandwich is such an amazing balancing act it should be on The Gong Show. It sounds so simple: ham, mortadella, salami, and provolone. But when you pile it all on Fino’s crusty bread and ladle on the olive dressing, something special happens.
Best Seafood
1. Soul Fish Cafe
2. Tsunami
3. Half Shell
Soul Fish Cafe’s finer diner aesthetic may place grilled and fried catfish center stage. But this new winner in the Best Seafood category also serves blackened salmon, ruby red trout, baskets of crispy shrimp, a terrific oyster po’ boy, tangy fish tacos, and some of the best vegetables in town.
Best Server
1. Calvin Bell, Rendezvous
2. Tony Dortch, Huey’s
3. Meredith Shaw, Aldo’s Pizza Pies
At so many places, the servers come and go. Not so at the Rendezvous, where, like Calvin Bell, they become institutions.
Best Shared/Small Plates Menu
1. Babalu Tapas & Tacos
2. Hog & Hominy
3. Flight Restaurant & Wine Bar
Sharing is caring and what better way to show you care than sharing delectable dishes from Babalu — the meatballs and crab cakes and short ribs? Every dish is a treat.
Justin Fox Burks
Best Smoothies/Juices
1. I Love Juice Bar
2. Smoothie King
3. Raw Girls
Health up your day with one of Juice Bar’s greens- or roots-based juices, enjoy one of their smoothie bowls, and round it out with an essential oil or monster shot.
Best Sushi
1. Sekisui
2. Sakura Japanese Restaurant
3. Sekisui Pacific Rim
Sekisui’s tantalizing selection of staple and specialty rolls never disappoints. Plus, you can wash it all down with a hot sake flight or plum wine.
Justin Fox Burks
Best steaks
BOM 1. Folk’s Folly Prime Cut Shoppe
2. Buckley’s Grill
3. The Butcher Shop Steakhouse
When it comes to steak, getting the right cut can make all the difference. For Memphis beef connoisseurs, it’s folly to skip out on Folk’s offerings.
Best Taco
1. Maciel’s
2. Las Delicias
3. Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana
If you have a hankering for Mexican, Maciel’s provides all the sabor you need. In the mood for something conventional? Snag one of their regular chicken, beef, or chorizo tacos. Otherwise, go out on a limb with the “Tinga” spicy chicken fried taco.
Best Thai
1. Bhan Thai
2. Bangkok Alley
3. Pho Binh
Sizzling golden shrimp, satay slathered in peanut sauce, hot and spicy curry: Those are just a few examples of Bhan Thai’s mouthwatering cuisine. Wash it all down with a specialty Thai iced tea on their beautiful patio.
Justin Fox Burks
Best Vegetarian
1. Fuel Cafe
2. City Silo Table + Pantry
3. Pho Binh
How does mushroom pizza with cashew cream cheese sound? How about delicious olive oil-fried black eyed pea falafel bits? Or, for a change of pace, a walnut loaf? Whatever it is, Fuel Cafe’s diverse vegetarian and vegan-friendly menu has enough variety to keep you coming back to try everything.
Best Vietnamese
1. Pho Binh
2. Pho Saigon
3. Lotus — tie — Phuong Long
The phrase “Pho Binh” is incomplete without including “buffet” at the end. The Vietnamese restaurant’s star lunch attraction is home to the best lemongrass tofu around and supplemented by a never-ending supply of delectable selections. Their main menu items are nothing to sniff at, either.
