Golfers heading to Memphis will have easy access to a variety of top courses, like the T.D. Fuller State Park Golf Course, Links at Whitehaven, Riverside Golf Course and Irene Golf and Country Club. You'll have plenty to do off the course, too. Memphis is well known for its thriving music scene and top attractions, like Graceland, Sun Studio (where Elvis Presley recorded his first song) and the National Civil Rights Museum. Bustling Beale Street, dubbed the "Home of the Blues," is chock-a-block with nightclubs and restaurants. The city is renowned for its barbecue and southern soul food, but if you're craving traditional Cajun fare, you're in luck.
Bayou Bar and Grill
This lively and casual bar and grill, tucked behind Overton Square, offers wallet-pleasing, happy hour and game-day specials ($1 off all drinks and appetizers) as well as daily lunch and dinner menu items. There are more than 15 selections on the snack menu, including Cajun specialties like the Bayou hot wings, fried oyster basket, popcorn crayfish, alligator nachos, barbecue andouille sausage, fried pickle spears and alligator cheese fries. The po-boy menu includes traditional Cajun fare, including shrimp, catfish, crawfish, fried chicken and oyster po-boys, served with Cajun fries. There are burgers, sandwiches and grill entrees, like blackened prime rib, grouper and salmon, but top-sellers are the spicy, fried Cajun catfish and ancho pepper and crab sauce grouper.
Bayou Bar and Grill
2094 Madison Ave.
Memphis, TN 38108
(901) 278-8626
bayoumemphis.com
Deja Vu: New Orleans
This small eatery in downtown Memphis is the collaboration of Basket Ivery and Gary Williams, blending traditional Creole food with vegan offerings. If you're traveling with a mixed group of vegetarians and carnivores, you'll find menu selections for both culinary inclinations. The come-as-you-are restaurant, housed in a former church, has a wide selection of Cajun dishes, like the shrimp etouffee, gumbo and po-boy sandwiches, along with daily offerings, which might include grilled tilapia or shrimp and sausage pasta. Vegan dishes change daily and include specialties like the tofu pizza, (fake) chicken salad, mushroom po-boy and vegan crab cakes.
Déjà Vu: New Orleans
936 Florida St.
Memphis, TN 38108
(901) 942-1400
dejavumempphis.com
Owen Brennan's Restaurant
This long-standing, family-owned restaurant is located in East Memphis and features upscale Creole and Cajun fare. The main dining room has high ceilings, white-paneled walls, wrought-iron accents, ceiling fans and linen-topped tables. If the weather is good, you can snag a table on the outdoor patio, beneath white canvas umbrellas and twinkling lights. Start with an appetizer, like the fried green tomatoes, oysters Rockefeller or the Cajun fried popcorn crawfish tails. Soups include the Creole gumbo, red beans and rice or turtle soup. Cajun specialties are the shrimp and grits, crawfish etouffee and fried catfish fillet with crawfish cream sauce. Dinner entrees also include non-Cajun fare like the beef tournadoes with wild mushroom and blue cheese stuffing, pan-seared scallops, pork tenderloin and seafood Newburg.
Owen Brennan's Restaurant
6150 Poplar Ave. #150
Memphis, TN 38119
(901) 761-0990
brennansmemphis.com
About The Author
Pamela Wright is a freelance writer, author of more than two dozen guidebooks, and hundreds of articles. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including "National Geographic Traveler," "Family Circle," "Family Fun," "Backpacker," "Hemispheres," "Cooking Light," "Yankee" and more. An active member of the Society of American Travel Writers, she holds a Bachelor's from Michigan State University
