Breakfast in Memphis can be a delight or a nightmare, depending on where you find yourself. Here are some places to enjoy, and a couple two avoid.
The Blue Plate Café offers one of the most delicious menus in town, and they offer it in a smoke free environment. They have a traditional southern cuisine including buttermilk pancakes and sausage, but these pancakes are truly the best in town. They have a homemade fluffiness to them yet a thick and filling texture. The service is excellent, with the exception of the woman who generally works as the cashier/hostess.
She seems to think that smiling and any friendliness is going to give her angina or something. If you want a nice home cooked meal outside the home, and you don’t need alcohol or cigarettes to go along with your meal, then check out the Blue Plate Café at 5469 Poplar Ave, Memphis, 38119 – the phone number is (901) 761-9696. There are two other locations at 2921 Kirby Whitten Rd, Memphis, 38134 – (901) 213-1066 and downtown at 113 S Court Ave, Memphis, 38103 – (901) 523-2050.
Another great place for a pancake breakfast is the Pancake Shop. A favorite of local police officers, this place lets you smoke cigarettes and cigars in the dining room, so this is not the place for those of you who are looking to avoid second hand smoke. However, the food is delicious, and the menu is extensive and low priced if you can handle the smoke. They do have a non-smoking section, but it does not actually keep the smoke out because all that separates the two sections is an invisible line in the center of about three feet of space.
The pancakes are great, but the waffles are often cold and flavorless, so stick with pancakes or French toast. Their biscuits are delicious and rich, and you can ask the server if there are any fresh hot biscuits before you order to know what to expect. Usually only the late night hours don’t offer fresh hot biscuits. This place is open twenty-four hours, and the service is always friendly and efficient. They are located at 4838 Summer Avenue, Memphis, TN, 38122. The phone number is 901-767-0206.
Buns on the Run is a charming little place in the ever so hip part of town we know as Midtown Memphis. It has all homemade food as well, and is actually located in a converted bungalow in the Cooper Young district of Midtown. You can get French toast or cream cheese filled crepes here. There is even a bakery display case that you can get on the run if you don’t have time for a full service breakfast.
The dining area is what was probably once a living room, and the space is a little cramped, so if you are claustrophobic, this is not an ideal place to dine. However, the food is both creative and delicious. This restaurant is only open from 7 am until 2 pm Tuesday through Friday and from 7 am until 12:30 pm on Saturday. If you want some of those yummy crepes smothered in fruit, you have to be there during their limited hours of operation. They are located off of Cooper Street at 2150 Elzey Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104. The phone number is 901-278-2867.
One of the worst places in town to eat breakfast is a restaurant that’s been open for a long time, and the fact that it remains open says much about the loyalty of people in the neighborhood. This place is Barksdale’s Restaurant. The pancakes are disgusting grease patties that have no fluff and the flavor is what one might imagine licking an old crusty griddle might taste like. The vegetables and lunch items are not too bad, but you are likely to witness the owner screaming and berating his staff.
Unless you enjoy such a spectacle, this is not a good place to try to have a relaxing meal. They are open at 7 am seven days a week and they close at 3 pm Monday through Friday and at 2 pm on weekends. Barksdale’s is located in Midtown Memphis near the corner of Peabody Avenue and Cooper Street. The address is 237 South Cooper Street, Memphis, TN, 38104. The phone number is 901-722-2193.
The International House of Pancakes in Midtown on Union Avenue is without a doubt the worst place to eat at any time of day. If you are seated in a prompt fashion, you will wait anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour for someone to take your drink order. The food tastes like plastic, and it is rarely satisfying. You are also facing the possibility of witnessing the management team berating the staff.
However, if you complain, it is possible to get a discount on your food, but you will still feel like you have overpaid because the food and the service are rotten. IHOP is open twenty-four hours a day. This culinary monstrosity is located at 2060 Union Avenue in Memphis, TN, 38104. The phone number is 901-725-4448
If you plan on breakfast in Memphis, these are some suggestions for where to go and where not to go.
