Vegan Travel Guide: Memphis, TN
Stellar blueberry pancakes + Graceland = the perfect trip
This feels insane to admit now, but until a couple years ago, I was a little icked out by Elvis. Sure, I knew and appreciated his biggest hit songs, but I had an image in my head of him as a sweaty, washed up Vegas entertainer who, very unfortunately, looked in these later years an awful lot like a creepy uncle of mine, which didn’t help. Neither of my parents were big Elvis fans, so I just didn’t know what I was missing until I saw the love-it-or-hate-it 2022 Baz Luhrmann Elvis film. Now, I know the movie is polarizing, but speaking for myself, by halfway through the film, I was obsessed.
You can’t even solely blame it on the Austin Butler of it all, or the absolute kaleidoscope, larger-than-life spectacle that Elvis — and all Luhrmann films are. (A movie style that couldn’t appeal more to my Pisces self if it was made in a lab for me.) Though those factors certainly helped. I fell down a rabbit hole that would last a half year, reading, watching, absorbing every book, documentary, and article I could find on the man and the music. All to say, taking an Elvis tour of Memphis has been on my vision board for years. And we saw cheap tickets for the Riverbeat Memphis music festival with The Killers, Cage the Elephant, anddd Benson Boone headlining, I jumped on the chance. And because I’m me, the Elvis slash musical festival themed Memphis trip was, of course, also a chance to eat our way through the city, because I never take a trip without a stacked culinary itinerary, first and foremost.
I’d been to Memphis once before nearly a decade ago, just passing through when I was traveling cross-country in my RV. But I was a baby vegan back then, and mostly ate wherever a friend I was staying with took me. This time, I went with a plan and an Instagram folder of spots to hit up, in between all the Elvis sights and festival-ing. As is often the case on trips though — and really, one of the things I love best about travel — we ended up going rogue — pretty much abandoning our curated list in favor of places we stumbled upon by happenstance.
Between Graceland (which, wow — was far more epic and worth the ticket price than words can describe), some of the better live music performances of my life, the rich history and culture of the city, gorgeous sunsets along the Mississippi, and too much good food to cover in a long weekend, it was a trip for the books. Memphis might not typically make the best vegan city” lists — but I’m not sure why. Here’s a roundup of everything we ate in the city, plus our pit stops along our drive to and from.
Graze (Nashville)
If you’re driving from the East into Tennessee, especially from Western North Carolina like we were, odds are good you’re passing through Nashville. Though not exactly known for its vegan food, I’ve been incredibly impressed with the Nashville plant-based offerings each of the three times I’ve visited.
On our way into Memphis, we stopped for a late lunch at Graze — a vegetarian and vegan restaurant, where we shared an order of the biscuits and gravy brunch plate, a single side blueberry pancake, and the breakfast burrito — pictured above, which was spicy, creamy, zesty, flavorful, and everything you want in a burrito. The pancake tasted like the most classic dinner-vibe non-vegan pancake I could imagine — Bisquick-y and buttery and divine. I’m not sure how they did it. All in all, an incredibly strong start, with a menu of things I hope to try next time we’re in the area.
Good Fortune
After checking into our hotel and snacking throughout the afternoon on our leftovers from lunch, we headed downtown to Beale street for our first night in the city. We wandered, took in the history, caught snippets of live music trickling out from B.B. King’s Blues club, and decided to find dinner within walking distance. Since none of the spots I’d bookmarked were near Beale Street, I fell back on my old reliable hack of simply Googling ‘vegan near me,” which brought up Good Fortune. The sake bar + noodle and dumpling shop has a kitschy colorful anime vibe and a menu that’s at least half vegan — including multiple noodle bowls, tofu and rice entrees, dumplings, and apps like spicy cucumbers and fried tofu. We actually ended up coming here again the very next night, which says it all. On night one we ordered and shared the Impossible beef wontons, the Kung Pao tofu, which we agreed was one of the best meals of the trip, and the tofu bites, (which made a mean midnight snack later in our hotel room.)
On our return trip I ordered the coconut curry noodle bowl (ask for their homemade garlic hot sauce and chili crisps to add some kick!) and Cameron got the potato dumplings — which tasted like latkes and sour cream, turned into dumplings. No notes.
Cafe Eclectic
To kick off our first full day in the city — a jammed packed one, with a Graceland tour, a visit to the iconic Bass Pro pyramid (IYKYK), and then an evening at the music fest, we needed carbs. Specifically, pancakes. I was the lead agenda maker for this trip, but Cameron’s one real request — other than seeing The Killers — was good vegan pancakes, and we took the quest seriously. Tossing my list aside yet again, we wound up at Cafe Eclectic, which late night Googling the night before revealed to have the best pancakes. This coffee shop + sit down restaurant offeres non vegan options too, but almost everything could be made plant-based with substitutions, if it wasn’t already. I ordered the Delta grind grit bowl — veganized by leaving off the egg, but Cameron’s stack of berry pancakes was the clear winner of the meal. Some of the best vegan pancakes he’s ever had, was the official review, and I’d have to agree.
So good that we pulled yet another restaurant repeat move and came here for our final day’s breakfast as well. Sue us. It was just that good! Cameron couldn’t stop yapping about the (legimtiately incredible) pancakes and it was so centrally located to the East Memphis/Overton Park area which we planned to peruse anyway…it just made sense. This time, we shared a Creme Brulatte with oat milk plus of course another round of pancakes, and I ordered the Sunny tater hash made vegan. Finely cubed perfectly crispy fried potatoes smothered in melty cheese, peppers, onions, perfectly sauteed mushrooms…it was my dream breakfast. We’d be here every weekend if we were locals.
Gladys’ Diner at Graceland
A surprising little lunch slash snack we didn’t plan on was a plant-based burger and side of fries (plus a Coke icee — obviously!) smack in the middle of the Graceland museum experience, at “Gladys’s Diner.” I was expecting to only find fries for us, and for even those to be your standard theme-park-esque overpriced fare, so we were pleasantly surprised a. to see a vegan option, and b. at how good it was. Maybe we wre just starving after several hours of viewing museum exhibits and the house tour, but I honestly think it was a pretty decent plant-based burger. I also appreciated the self serve station of toppings and sauces.
Kwik Chek
Literally the one spot from my original list that we did actually make it to was Kwik Chek, a local legend! I ate here when I first visited Memphis nearly a decade ago, and I’d been thinking about it ever since. Tucked away in a very unassuming convenience store off a busy street, Kwik Chek offers a very diverse menu of everything from pastas to sandwiches, and their iconic bi bim bop, which you can make vegan by ordering with tofu, hold the egg. It was every bit as flavorful, crispy, spicy, and delicious as I remembered. They also have a fun assortment of Korean and Japanese snacks, chips, and drinks you don’t often see stateside, so it’s a whole event.
Slider Inn
After seeing Benson Boone close out the festival, we were hungry but facing limited options of something both nearby and open late…and with vegan food. Another not on my list spot that some strategic Googling uncovered was Slider Inn, which checked those exact boxes. Tucked away in a sports bar with an outdoor beer garden-y area and cornhole, this wasn’t a place that screamed vegan friendly at first glance…but it might have ended up being my favorite meal of the trip. We shared three sliders — a vegan chicken sammie, a burger, and a PB&J, plus a side salad and this platter of wings with a killer homemade vegan ranch. The vibes plus the meal — it just took me back to college in the best way. Sometimes a girl just needs to enjoy crispy diet coke, four plastic containers of ranch, and some saucy wings while surrounded by ten flat screen TVs, you know?
Landing House (Knoxville)
On the way home, we ended up in Knoxville for a late lunch/pit stop. I was beginning to feel like I was coming down with something (spoiler: I was), and some spicy brothy pho was medically required. Google came through once again and found us this quite little spot, at the end of a street in an old victorian house, with honestly, the pho of my life. It’s not an exclusively vegan restaurant but does specifically have a vegan pho and vegan kimchi marked as such — which if you know you know, can be tough to find. Knoxville is a short drive from us, and I’ll be making sure we visit this place anytime we’re in the vicinity. If you’re in the area, add it on your list!
All in all, I’d give Memphis a very solid 8.5/10 for vegan options — with the full knowledge that we failed to try so many amazing gems on my original list, such as Imagine Vegan Cafe, Plant Based Heat, Bala Bistro, and many others. We’re already planning on making this an annual trip. Memphis is really something special, and if you haven’t been, it’s an absolute must — easily one of my favorite cities in the country. Until next time, Memphis!