Justin Fox Burkes
Kelly English's new restaurant The Second Line is one of nine new hot spots featured on the Eater heat map for Memphis.
For food writers, selecting favorite restaurants is tricky business. Inevitably, deserving contenders get overlooked.
At Memphis magazine, we shift the responsibility for selecting best restaurants to our readers, who select a long list of favorites in dozens of categories for our annual February dining guide. Look for the poll’s publication in print and online within the next few days.
At Eater National, a popular food blog on trends, bars, and restaurants, writers compile “heat maps” of new bars and restaurants that have opened within the past 12 months. I agreed to write the current heatmap for Memphis and was reminded again about the variety of new restaurants in our city and their casual food focus.
Even Southward Fare & Libations, the most upscale restaurant on the list, is serving Southern staples “dressed up” for Saturday night. Elsewhere, from downtown to East Memphis, new bars and restaurants are keeping it simple with po'boys, craft beer, and global street food served as small plates.
For an alphabetical look at the city’s new hot spots, click here for the Eater Memphis Heatmap. And if I missed your favorite new restaurant, please send me its name and location.
