Alton Brown's #1 Favorite Food City In The United States
Alton Brown has eaten a lot. The celebrity chef, food scientist, and cooking competition host has spent a fair amount of time traveling on the roads of America and sampling all the culinary gifts the country has to offer. He's spent time on the coasts, in the South, and smack dab in the Midwest, but out of all the cities he's visited, it's Memphis that Brown said has the best eats.
Brown, who became a cooking icon after his landmark television series "Good Eats" brought a fresh dose of energy, humor, and education to the usual Food Network formula, has also starred in his own travel show, "Feasting on Asphalt." That's where he had his first publicized encounter with Memphis and its street food. He returned to the Home of the Blues during the tour for his live show "Eat Your Science" and his recent "Beyond the Eats" tour. The travel allowed AB to feast on America's roadside specialties once again, making it clear that the state of Tennessee is one of his favorite locales.
Why AB says Memphis, TN is best
Although Memphis is a city most known for its barbecue, Brown cited donuts, chicken, and hamburgers as the reasons he loves the birthplace of rock 'n' roll so much. Gibson's Donuts in East Memphis "makes not just the best doughnut in the United States but, as far as I'm concerned, if all the other doughnuts went away and I still had Gibson's, I'd be okay," according to Brown in an interview with the Eater Upsell podcast.
Next door, you can also grab a bite at his top pick for fried chicken, Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken. The chicken restaurant chain also has a spot downtown closer to the Mississippi Riverfront and locations across the Memphis metro area. Brown also expressed that Memphis has "maybe the best hamburger in the United States," which would be Dyer's on the historic Beale Street. The burger joint famously fries its patties in grease dating from 1912, although the chefs strain the concoction to keep it fresh.
Alton's history with the Home of the Blues
Besides Gibson's, Gus's, and Dyer's, Brown has also visited other Memphis hot spots in his travels across the U.S. His Tennessee-focused episode on "Feasting on Asphalt" brought him to "Jim Neely's Interstate Bar-B-Que," arguably the most famous example of Memphis-style barbecue. Jim Neely, a former insurance salesman, modeled the joint after the pits he grew up near and opened up the now-legendary restaurant in a rundown supermarket in South Memphis.
Brown also visited Melanie's Soul Food to taste the city's other primary type of grub. Tragically, the restaurant is permanently closed, but Memphis offers a host of other soul food spots. Memphis' contributions to culinary history is vital; it's also the home to the first Piggly Wiggly grocery store, which revolutionized the supermarket industry with checkout counters and shopping carts. You can visit a replica of this landmark store at the city's Pink Palace Museum, but make sure not to skip out on the burgers, fried chicken, or donuts, either.