Jennifer Biggs

The Commercial Appeal

Four years ago we launched Eat the Street, an occasional series exploring roads heavy with interesting foods. We started with Summer Avenue, the city's most diverse destination. We've since moseyed down Madison, journeyed Germantown Parkway, boogied along Beale, meandered down Main Street and conquered the Crosstown Concourse.

And while we were doing all that, more places opened on Summer. Some closed. A month or two ago I realized that the ever-changing Summer is an near endless source of ethnic cuisine and various sorts of lip-smackin' good stuff that needed another look.

So here it is, some old, some new and as they're all local, all ours.

Eat the Street: Beale serves up good grub with real blues

Eat the Street:Crosstown Concourse dining offers pizza and tofu, wings and quinoa

Summer Avenue stretches 10 miles, starting at East Parkway to the west and extending east to Stage Road, to the intersection known to locals as Four-Way. It’s a tiny portion of U.S. 70, which picks up at Stage and in its entirety spans 2,385 miles from Arizona to North Carolina.



In that 10-mile sliver there about 50 places to eat. There’s miniature golf (with food trucks), a drive-in and a cinema, a pool hall, two adult theaters and three restaurant supply stores. Numerous carwashes and laundromats, often labeled “lavanderia,” dot the landscape. You can buy a used car — easy terms — shop for antiques or groceries, buy a load of mulch and spend a day browsing dollar stores, discount stores and thrift stores. It’s where Tom’s Tiny Kitchen turns out that fine pimento cheese and those caramel cakes sold at Easy Way (and at restaurants, including Central BBQ) are baked.



Want to take a guess how Summer came by its name? Good money says it was named for the season, as there’s an Autumn just a stone’s throw away and Winter and Spring were also neighboring streets. Winter is now Faxon; Spring is now Forrest.



Go stand on the spot where Kemmons Wilson built the first Holiday Inn at the corner of Mendenhall, take a gander at what’s left of Leahy Trailer Park, where James Jones wrote From Here to Eternity (and Google it, to read an interesting account of the story by Memphis magazine’s Vance Lauderdale). The first McDonald’s in town was on Summer, an early (maybe the first) Taco Bell has since housed Mexican restaurants and might soon be home to Pupuseria Anitas (also might not; that's iffy), all huddled close to where Pop Tunes stood for years. Memphians ages 40 to 60 are sure to remember skating at Skateland, eating at the Food Fare, bowling at Imperial Lanes (gone; Planet Fitness will be open there soon) and warm summer nights spent at the Summer Twin.

Mexican mecca

New to the street is La Llamarada (2877 Summer; 901-262-4132), where Mexican home cooking is served up from behind a counter from a changing selection ranging from moles to tamales to carnitas and all the sides. Tortillas are made right there, and you can also order street food such as tacos and the like. It's the first of the Mexican restaurants, if you're driving in from the west, but there are plenty.

You say you want a taco? A burrito? Tamale? Well, Summer Avenue has the whole enchilada. Smack dab in the middle, in Cloverleaf Shopping Center, is a Memphis institution: Pancho’s (717 N. White Station; 901-685-5404) opened in 1956 in West Memphis and has since served its famous cheese dip at various spots around Memphis, including this one at the corner of Summer and White Station. Something more authentic to your taste?

You’re in luck. Taqueria la Guadalupana (4818 Summer; 901-685-6857) is simple, but who needs frills when you have frijoles? Goat and tongue are available, but beef, pork and chicken, too, for those who want authenticity without getting, you know, too real about it. Tortas, Mexican sandwiches, are excellent; chicken diablo is hot. Since our last story, Guadalupana has doubled in size and added beer to the menu.

A stone's throw away is Los Comales (4774 Summer; 901-683-9530). While still keeping it honest, it has a touch more of a Tex-Mex feel to it. It's also only gotten better over the years; I find myself choosing it over Guadalupana sometimes, something I wouldn't have done when we first traveled down Summer.

A favorite of many (and one of those Mexican places once housed in the old Taco Bell), Los Picosos has moved. A great benefit of the move was that in the few months it was closed, people called begging for smoked chickens, which had been offered only on weekends. Now you can get them every day and they come with all the stuff, you know, the rice, the beans, the tortillas, french fries. Yep. French fries. Don't ask me; just visit Los Picosos (3937 Summer; 901-323-7003).

More:Los Picosos re-opens on Summer Avenue

More:Taqueria La Guadalupana doubles Summer Ave. space

More:La Unica does right with simple Mexican fare

Throw a rock and you'll come to La Espiga (3967 Summer; 454-9220), where you can pick up all kinds of pastries or have a meal. La Michoacana (4091 Summer; 901-555-1234) is in new digs, too, just a few doors down from the old place, probably four times as big and still the coolest ticket in town for paletas and Mexican ice cream. Before you take in your sweets, walk down a few shops in the same center and eat a pumpkin flower quesadilla at Palmar (4069 Summer; 901-323-0363). Have a mighty good michelada while you’re there.

Just across the street from La Michoacana, the new kid on the block is a solid favorite. La Herradura (4090 Summer; 901-249-7817) doesn't just have good food — the carnitas are often excellent and they make a great bowl of posole — but a full bar and that means margaritas (as well as one of the best micheladas in town, but you can get that most any place along Summer that has beer). You can also shop, as it's a small marketplace for Mexican imports from pottery to fancy boots. (The twice-mentioned michelada is a beer mixed with a bit of tomato juice, lime juice, hot sauce and served over ice in a mug with a spicy salted rim.)

Tortilleria La Unica (5040 Summer; 901-685-0097) serves up tamales, tacos, huaraches and so on with great salsa, fresh chicharrones (fried pork skin) at least on weekends and sometimes during the week. It's a plain place; the food is great. The old Wendy's on Summer is slated to become a big La Unica with a full menu and a bar, but not much is happening there right now.

Want more familiar fare? Hit up El Molino (6496 Summer; 901-380-9523), the easternmost restaurant officially on Summer, for Mexican combo meals and margaritas in various flavors, by the glass or pitcher. More Mexican food: Coming back west, you could stop at Elena’s Taco Shop (6105 Summer; 901-417-7915) for the carne asada fries (nachos on french fries!) or a great beef torta. It's hailed as California style and the fish tacos and multiple salsas keep it fresh.

Asian Oasis

There's some crossover with the Highland Super Submarine Sandwich Shop and Yang's, which both serve American-Chinese dishes but are essentially sandwich shops, so we'll come back to them. First you'll find tiny Kim Chai Chinese (3307 Summer; 901-452-7004); you can buy lunch for just a bit more than $4 and dinner is about $5.

You can eat Japanese food at three places now, sadly down from four with the closing of Edo. Nagasaki Inn (3951 Summer; 901-454-0320) is great fun for anyone, from old-timers to hipsters. Take a group of eight or be prepared to share a table; When I went for the first story, we shared a table with Nick Scott and his family, new to my neighborhood at the time and now the co-owner of Alchemy and Interim. It turned out we were with nice folks who just moved into our neighborhood; maybe you’ll make new friends. And there’s a buy-one, get-one-free coupon in GoMemphis every week. I don't think they'd know what to do if you went without a coupon. I really don't. Take it.

Tokyo Grill (4514 Summer; 901-682-8028) is no Edo, but it's far better than I expected, with a huge menu that includes noodle soups, bento box lunch and dinners, hibachi and from the large selections of sushi, a Memphis roll. It's one of those decadent rolls that we all love to dis before we eat: Tempura shrimp, avocado, spicy crawfish, cream cheese and crabmeat rolled in a massive roll and tops with crisp shreds of sweet potato and a sweet white sauce.



Ryu Sushi Bar (5137 Summer; 901-766-7599) has a full Japanese menu, but when we go, it’s for sushi. Panda Garden (3735 Summer; 901-323-4819) was accidentally left out of the last story in print, though it made it online. It's a great little place that serves up your favorite old-fashioned Chinese dishes — lo mein, mu-shu pork, kung pao anything — and great hot and sour dumpling that are on the appetizer menu but sometimes are a to-go dinner for me. Six fat dumplings in a peppery soy sauce — yum.

You can eat Chinese and Vietnamese food at Lotus (4970 Summer; 901-682-1151). Talk to Mr. Bach, tell him what you want, how spicy you want it and watch how he gauges your sincerity. He’s likely to start you out with small dishes until he knows you mean it when you say you want it hot. At Asian Palace (5266 Summer; 901-766-0831) you can order dim sum every day, but on Saturday and Sunday you can order from the cart. The menu changes, but the small plates are inexpensive and you can go from one dumpling to another. Turnip cake is a favorite, bland patties that you spice up with a mix of soy sauce, vinegar and hot peppers or sauce. Chive dumplings, pork dumplings — honestly, try any of it. The standard menu is massive, almost as big as the place that seats 300, 400, maybe even more.

At Great China Market (5137 Summer; 901-682-8220) you can find prepared food to go on weekends, things from dumplings to savory buns to small plates. Walk past the cash register and turn left — you'll see what's available on shelves right there.

The newest Asian restaurant on the street? Sit down for this one: The Cottage (4085 Summer; 901-324-4447). I kid you not. First, The Cottage has moved from its old digs at Summer and Holmes. It still serves breakfast, including the weekend buffet, and still has home cooking for lunch (also including but not limited to a buffet). But at night, the new owners serve up Thai food. They need a little time to get it together--in fact, they're still serving from a printed menu of Leelavadee, a place that went out of business in Southaven a few years ago. It's a little funny, because I thought they were the same folks. No, I was told, just friends. Whatever. I ordered a dish or two I remembered but they weren't the same--good, but very different from the descriptions. "It's how I make," is how the owner explained it. The carrot cake, made by the couple's daughter, is the best I've ever eaten in a restaurant.

Colombian Corridor

With three Colombian restaurants and two new since our last trip, you get your own category. From the west, there's Arepas Delicosos (3698 Summer; 901-409-2296), owned by Blanca Simpson, who operates her restaurant so she can make money for her ministry to house and teach work skills to young girls back home. The staples are similar at all places, but they're different. At Blanca's, be sure to get the beans, her fried plantains with salty cheese, the housemade chorizo, and pour the green sauce she just called Blanca sauce on anything.

More:Cachapas and more arepas on Summer Avenue

El Sabor Latino (665 Avon; 901-207-1818) also offers up arepas, big meat platters and a mean bowl of beans, though in a simple room unlike the homey comfort of Blanca's or the wild Mi Tierra (5883 Summer; 901-371-9990), decorated with every kind of colorful plastic parrot and fruit you can imagine. The picado, a meat platter with sausages, pork, plantains, yuca and all kinds of little thises and thats tucked in, is huge and delicious. And for those who want Mexican food, it's good. There's a menu for that here. For those who just want cheese dip with their picado, you're in luck too.

It's not Colombian, but as it's a one-off we're going to slide Caiman Venezuelan Restaurant (4509 Summer; 901-746-8666) in right here. Again — meats, beans, all good. But here the pastelitos are light and cheesy, fried in pastry similar to a pie crust; you can get a cachapa, something between a quesadilla and an omelet, filled with oozing cheese (or meat, if you prefer). The beef stew — man, yeah. Winter is coming.

Breakfast and barbecue

Ah, Bryant’s (3965 Summer; 901-324-7494). It’s the breakfast spot that makes folks swoon, from the immensely popular biscuits to the cinnamon roll French toast to the omelets to the assorted breakfast meats to the latest item, pancakes. It started as a Loeb’s Bar-B-Q back in 1968, but has been known for its breakfast for years.



And speaking of barbecue ... At Tops, the cheeseburger rules, which certainly shouldn’t dissuade you from ordering the fine barbecue. But if you can’t decide, don’t fret: Order a double cheeseburger with two ounces of pork. Dress it like you want. Put the cardiologist on speed dial and dig in. Share with a friend. Pork up an order of beans by adding two ounces of barbecue to them. Yum. Nine times out of 10, I’ll order a cheeseburger at Tops. On the tenth time, barbecue. When I’m food touring, it’s the double with the pork. And yes, Tops is a chain. But it’s local and beloved for a good reason. The Tops to the east (4183 Summer; 901-324-4325) is where I usually go there; others prefer the shop to the west at (3353 Summer; 901-452-9616) Try both.

And it’s all good at Central BBQ (4375 Summer; 901-767-4672), but if you want a real treat, order the barbecue nachos and fix 'em like this: Forget the tortilla chips — ask for the homemade potato chips. Top with pork, hot sauce, cheese, jalapeño peppers and a big dollop of coleslaw; you’re welcome.

At Elwood’s Shack (4523 Summer; 901-761-9898), you can start your day with breakfast or weekend brunch, fill up at lunch and come back for dinner. Long known for its fish tacos, Elwood's had already branched out but when it reopened in March after a fire. Owner Tim Bednarski added house smoked and cured pastrami and corned beef to the menu. Want to try it New York style? It's all yours, one pound of sliced and piled meat for $18. Double dog dare ya.

Just a month old, Big Will's BBQ, Soul Food and Hot Wings (698 Waring; 901-275-6889) does what his name says. Soul food even includes chitterlings on weekends, maybe the only place in East Memphis for them, and pork necks and oxtails during the week. I'll be back, and I might even make it to the barbecue eventually.

Want a doughnut? Howard’s (4348 Summer; 901-683-2985). And remember, there's breakfast at The Cottage. And at the beloved Pancake Shop (4838 Summer; 901-767-0206) you can get breakfast 24 hours a day, from the Everyday Special — that's my jam — to all kind of pancakes to French toast to omelets. There's home-style if not exactly actual home cooking for lunch through early dinner.

Sandwich Central

Highland Super Submarine Sandwich Shop (3318 Summer; 901-324-3728), a favorite for more than four decades on Highland (and always called the Chinese Sub Shop because it also sells Chinese food) moved to Summer in 2013 and is still as popular for its huge sub sandwiches. The question is: Soft sweet bread or do you want it hard and crunchy?

Don’t forget the sandwiches at Yang’s (4985 Summer; 901-682-5309); some swear by the muffuletta but I took a reader tip and went with the cheesesteak. Like the Chinese Sub Shop, you can get Chinese food here, too. There's a Yum's (3582 Summer; 901-327-8989), which also serves a cheesesteak and plenty of other sandwiches and the new Habee's Wings & Deli (3670 Summer; 901-452-2300) where you can get wings, yes, but also sandwiches like gyros, salads and even catfish.

Lordy. Sam's Deli (605 N. Perkins; 901-683-8278) has all kinds of sandwiches, but the muffuletta is a favorite (but with lettuce, tomato and onion, so purists speak up if you don't want it). The Chicken 65 sub is elusive, as you have to get lucky to be there on the day the tender morsels of Indian-spiced chicken is piled high on a hoagie roll and topped with mint chutney, lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese. Yes, cheese. Eat it.

Hubba-hubba Hummus

At Jerusalem Market (4794 Summer; 901-767-6960), you’ll find halal meat, addictive maamoul (date-stuffed cookies) and maybe the best hummus in town in the attached restaurant. Pita is also made fresh there every day. Want a huge fresh round of bread they call na'an but seems more like pita? Go next door to Queen of Sheba (4792 Summer; 901-207-4174). It took the space that used to belong to Edo and you might get your olive oil in a repurposed soy sauce bottle, but go with it. The bread, the size of a family pizza, is crackly with soft spots, made to order by slapping against hot clay. The toum, or garlic sauce, will keep the vampires away. Hummus? Of course, but also grilled chicken and lots of other good food.

At Balqee's Grill (4514 Summer; 901-552-5296 and formerly Mediterranean Pita Sandwich & Grill), you can get the same bread. And hummus, baba ghanoush, falafel and labneh. It's one of the few places in town that serves the thick sour cream mixed with spices and topped with olive oil. Good stuff, though it was different on my most recent visit than it was before.

Food Truck Alley

Taqueria Express #5 in the parking lot of the Superman Market at the corner of Perkins and Summer (4590 Summer) sells tacos for 99 cents. Pocket change, and here’s the thing: They are delicious. My favorite is the plain pork, simply adorned with onion and cilantro, topped with a dollop of the hot salsa verde. But you might prefer the spicy pork, or maybe the chorizo. Spend a buck and find out. The small quesadilla-ish mulita, a crisp round made from two corn tortillas grilled with cheese and the meat of your choice will set you back $2. Splurge. No seating.



Want a taco truck with some seating and an attached ice cream shop, where you can also buy agua frescas? It’s Tacos Los Jarochos (4894 Summer; 901-314-5735). Can’t decide? Do what we do and eat a taco at both, with an agua fresca from here. Better learn your numbers beyond uno, dos, tres before you visit either truck, because they call out the orders in Spanish.

Pupuseria Anitas (3320 Summer) is set up in the parking lot of O'Reilly Auto Parts. There's a sign in the old Los Picosos building saying it's moving there, but a visit to the truck is met with a shrug: Maybe, maybe not. But you can get your pupusas, El Salvadoran corn cakes filled with cheese and chicken, beef or beans, from the truck.

Y'all. King DJ's (2992 Summer; 901-308-2046) is for sure a tamale stop, but these folks smoke all kinds of things, from turkey legs to ribs to pork steaks that are the size of both your hands — spread out.

Wings and things

At Best Wings of Memphis (2390 Summer; 901-458-7711) we flaunted the endorsement and went with the catfish, a huuuuge basket of five strips, fries, slaw and toast with a drink for about $9. I can't tell you anything about the wing, but I sure did like their catfish. There's also All Star WIngs (4091 Summer; 901-729-7923), Habee's (see above under sandwiches), two of the best in town at Central BBQ and Elwood's Shack, and Wing House (630 N. Highland; 901-458-3700).

Also under things but definitely not wings, let's not forget Two Vegan Sistas (6343 Summer; 800-984-0379), which makes a great barbecue-ish cashew spread and a nice nut loaf. And there's Hadley's Pub (2779 Whitten; 901-266-5006), where you can get a 10-ounce ribeye with fries on Thursday nights for $5.99. I'll bet you it's the best $6 steak you've ever had. And don't forget nuts, nostalgia candy and snow cones at The Peanut Shoppe (4305 Summer; 901-682-1404) or cakes and cookies, including the bite-size chocolate turtles (tiny and not exactly the same, but as close as you'll find to the full-size ones at Seessel's), at Kay Bakery (667 Avon; 901-767-0780).