Welcome! I have lived in Downtown Memphis for over six years now. It's my neighborhood, my home, and I can't imagine living anywhere else. Being a single guy in my 30s, I'm not much of a cook, so I eat out almost every meal, and have tried almost all of the restaurants in Downtown Memphis. I write a blog, Paul Ryburn's Journal, about my life in Downtown Memphis that has gotten pretty popular over the past few years, so I get a lot of e-mail from out-of-towners who plan to travel here. One of the questions I get the most is, "I'll only be here one day, so I'll only have time for one meal. Where should I go?"

My usual answer to that question is The Majestic Grille, located on South Main Street just north of Peabody Place (look for the large patio out front). They feature large portions of fine American cuisine, with very reasonable prices (entrees mostly in the teens, salads and sandwiches mostly in the single digits). I rate their steaks among the best Downtown, better than most steakhouses in the area, and recommend the filet especially highly. The owners are Downtowners themselves and give back to the community, displaying the work of local artists and promoting arts events around town.

If you want to experience real, down-home Memphis and only have time for one meal, Gus's Chicken is the place to go. Their hot and spicy chicken has been featured in magazines and on TV, and people travel from all parts of the US just to get it. Words cannot describe how good their chicken is. However, this is not a place you go for atmosphere - it's a bunch of tables in a big shack with a kitchen, basically. Located on Front Street near Pontotoc Avenue, just south of the Downtown core.

For inexpensive bar food, you can't go wrong with Huey's. This is a Memphis institution, with 7 locations around town; the Downtown one is at Second and Union. Their burgers are quite good, and have won Best Burger in the yearly restaurant poll every year since the 1980s (although, I wouldn't rate them as Downtown's top burger; to name a few, I'd say the burgers at Dyer's, Elliott's, Sauces, Majestic Grille, and Big Foot Lodge are even better than those at Huey's). Other than burgers, top picks include the nachos and chili cheese tamales. You can get any of their specialty burgers made as a turkey or veggie burger for 50 cents extra.

If you're really hungry, the place to go is Texas de Brazil. Waiters come around to your table and offer you cuts of over a dozen different meats. They give you a button which you can turn to green ("please serve me") or red ("I'm stuffed, no more right now"). It's expensive (over $40 for all you can eat) but worth it if you're a carnivore. The picanha (Brazilian specialty steak) is a big hit. They have an incredible salad bar... you can order it as a meal in itself, or you can get it as part of the all-you-can-eat package. On Second Street between Union and Peabody Place. Signing up for their eRewards on their website is a good idea; they e-mail discounts and specials from time to time.

More dinner recommendations in the next section.

Besides my top picks, there are many other restaurants in Downtown Memphis that are excellent. In this section I'll give you my top picks for dinner.

Before I start, I will tell you that Memphis is a very casual place - none of the restaurants I have listed below have a dress code, even the fine dining ones. You won't look out of place in a jacket or cocktail dress, but I've been in just about every place listed below in shorts and been happily served.

There are a few "restaurant rows" that are good places to start. On Monroe Avenue between Main and Second, there are three outstanding fine-dining restaurants within half a block of each other, Stella, McEwen's on Monroe, and LoLo's Table. Can't go wrong with any of them. I'd pick Stella as the best of the three to take a date; McEwen's as the best pairing wine with food; and LoLo's as the friendliest (although, they're all very friendly) and the best value of the three.

Another "restaurant row" is the block of Main Street (it's a pedestrian mall, although they're talking about converting it back to vehicular traffic) between Gayoso and Peabody Place. There you'll find Circa by John Bragg, one of my all-time favorites. Great menu, great bar, incredible wine selection, and chef John Bragg is one of the most down-to-earth people you'll ever meet. Another great place to take a date.

Also on that block you'll find Bluefin, Downtown's best sushi bar. Sushi and a Japanese menu in a very laid-back, chilled-out atmosphere. DJ on some days late at night.

The aforementioned Majestic Grille is also on this block.

Another restaurant row is Union Avenue between Main and Second, and then turn the corner and continue down Second to Peabody Place. In addition to the aforementioned Huey's, you'll also find Rio Loco, a very good Mexican restaurant, and Sawaddii, a top-notch Thai restaurant on Union.

Around the corner on Second you'll find Automatic Slim's Tonga Club, a hipster hangout whose food is as much a work of art as it is delicious. Next door you'll find Cafe 61, a restaurant that combines fine dining with Southern and Cajun influences. Once you see the decor you'll know you're in the home of the blues.

Continuing south on Second, you'll next run into one of my favorite restaurants of all time, Big Foot Lodge. Big Foot offers enormous portions of entrees in the $10-20 range, and they have sandwiches and salads as well. Many of the entrees have a Canadian theme. I particularly recommend the Cornish game hens, the fried ham and cheese sandwich, the poutine (fries and Canadian cheese smothered in gravy), and anything in the dessert column. If you're really hungry, they have a 4 lb. Sasquatch burger that is free if you finish it in an hour. Lots of fun and one of the places I'd recommend most if you have children. However, with 34 oz. beers on tap, it's fun for adults too.

Right down the street from Big Foot is my other recommendation if you have children, The Flying Fish. Huge selection of grilled and fried fish and other seafood. You can bring in your Billy Bass (remember him? The fake mounted bass that sings) and they'll adopt him and put him on the wall with your name. You can also bring in your fishing pictures. 25-cent oysters on Sunday. It's impossible to go to this place and not have a good time.

I'll also mention a place nearby to go for a beer after dinner... The Flying Saucer. Food is so-so but the beer selection can't be beat. 70 drafts on tap, another 125 in bottles, and beer mixers and sampler "flights" as well. If you look around the room there's a good chance you'll see me, perhaps with my laptop (they have Wi-Fi) writing my next lens for Squidoo.

A few more that aren't on a restaurant row but deserve mention... EP Delta Kitchen has one of the best chefs ever to set foot in a kitchen in Memphis, Michael Patrick. His menu offers lots of Southern-influenced cuisine, and his most recent focus is on fresh vegetables. This place turns into a nightclub after dark, so if you're not into the club scene I recommend planning to get out of there by 9. Half-price appetizers 4:30-6:30. On Beale Street at Second.

Another hidden gem is Harry's Detour (sorry, can't find a website for their Downtown location), on GE Patterson just east of Main Street. Spicy, funky, fun entrees in the $15-25 range. It's a descendant of 61 On Teur restaurant in Midtown, as is Cafe 61, so the menus are somewhat similar.

Another one of my all-time favorites is Itta Bena, a true hidden gem Downtown. Tucked away on the third floor of BB King's club at Second and Beale (Itta Bena, MS is BB's hometown), Itta Bena is a fine dining restaurant specializing in seafood, pasta, and steaks. Blue tinting on the windows makes this place absolutely beautiful, and a great way to escape from the wildness of Beale Street. Top recommendation as a place to bring a date.

A lot of visitors come to Memphis for its signature food: barbecue. In the next section you'll learn the best places to go to fill up on 'cue.

The most famous BBQ joint in Downtown Memphis is Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous. I personally wouldn't rate this place as the best - I've had great meals there and I've had average meals there. Hit or miss. It's in an alley that shoots north off Union (across the street from the Peabody Hotel) between Second and Third. If you do go, don't even bother looking at the menu, just order ribs (when someone says "ribs" in Memphis, it's automatically assumed to mean pork ribs, unless specified otherwise). Expect to wait for a table during peak dinner time.

The restaurant that locals tend to say has the best BBQ is a little hole in the wall on the outskirts of Downtown. The Cozy Corner is on North Parkway in a strip mall a couple blocks east of Danny Thomas. Their website (and honestly, I'm shocked that they even have a website) says they're open Tuesday-Saturday, 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM. That's an early closing time, but this isn't a part of town you want to visit after dark anyway. Locals rave about this place. Ribs and BBQ baloney are their specialties.

Another good BBQ place to go for lunch is Leonard's BBQ Buffet (can't find a website) on North Main, inside the Claridge House condo building at Main and Adams. For about 10 bucks you get ribs, smoked sausage, BBQ chicken, spaghetti, BBQ pork sandwiches, vegetables, salad bar, dessert, and more. One of my favorite lunch spots. You better be hungry if you come to Leonard's for lunch.

There are plenty of restaurants on Beale Street that specialize in BBQ/ribs. In my opinion, the pick of the litter is Blues City Cafe, a '50s-style diner (check out the Pink Cadillac set into the wall) at Beale and Second. In addition to the best ribs on Beale, you'll also find huge steaks, gumbo, tamales, chili, crab au gratin, and catfish. They have a band room next door which books bands that will take you back to rock's roots, and if you choose you can eat dinner while watching the band (if a rockabilly band called The Dempseys are playing, I especially recommend you stay and watch the show).

Next up: Breakfast and lunch spots.

Downtown only recently became a full-fledged neighborhood, as buildings in the core were renovated into apartments and condos. As a result, there are still a lot of restaurants down here that serve mainly the people who work Downtown, and generally aren't open after 3 PM or on weekends.

The most well-known breakfast/lunch spot in Downtown Memphis is also its oldest - the Arcade Restaurant at Main and GE Patterson in the South Main Arts District. This diner serves up great breakfasts and lunch entrees and sandwiches as well. My picks are the omelets and the "Pert sandwich" on the breakfast menu.

In Downtown's core, my favorite is Elliott's (can't find a website), which serves breakfast 7 to 10:30 and lunch 10:30 til 2 Monday-Friday, and 8-10:30/10:30-2 Saturday. I love their breakfast menus - their breakfast burritos and specialty sandwiches especially. They have breakfast bowls and omelets too. Their "tribute to Bill Saba" sandwich, consisting of sausage, bacon, ham, egg, and cheese on buttered Texas toast, is a heart attack waiting to happen. Lunches are good too, with outstanding burgers, chicken sandwiches, wraps, a salad bar, and much more. Located on Second between Madison and Monroe.

Blue Plate Cafe, on Court Square just east of Main, offers huge portions for both breakfast and lunch. Pancakes, waffles, omelets are all excellent. For lunch, the meat-and-two or meat-and-three is the way to go, if you ask me. Huge selection of vegetables to order as side dishes. They have a veggie plate if you want to order four sides for your lunch.

Another meat-and-two place is on Monroe just east of Front - The Little Tea Shop. Entrees and sides change day-to-day but are always delicious. Corn sticks (like cornbread but stick-shaped and crunchier) are served with every meal. The owner, Suhair, is a local treasure and a great person to ask about Downtown. She and her restaurant have been featured on The Food Network.

Down the street on Monroe between Second and Third is another breakfast/meat-and-two place - Bon Ton Cafe. Feels like a '50s style diner, and there is 30 years' worth of Memphis memorabilia on the wall. One advantage Bon Ton has over the other meat-and-two places is that they offer free Wi-Fi, so if you want to do a working lunch, you can.

I hope you've found these restaurant recommendations useful. If this lens is well-received, I may add a burger section at a later date, as well as other lenses about Downtown Memphis. You can reach me at the "contact me" link next to my picture at the top of this lens. Feel free to contact me and ask if there's anything you want to know about Downtown Memphis, and you can catch the latest news about Downtown on my blog.

I also have another lens about Downtown Memphis, recommended hotels. Check it out if you're traveling to Memphis and looking for a place to stay. I offer my picks in the luxury, mid-range, and value categories. I also list weeks when it's hard to find a room, and offer advice on what to do if you need a bargain-priced hotel or motel in the area.

www.Buy-Paul-a-Beer.net

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