BU N T Y N CO R N E R CAFÉ
BEST FRIED CHICKEN GUS’S WORLD-FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN JACK PIRTLE’S UNCLE LOU’S BEST BRUNCH OWEN BRENNAN’S THE MAJESTIC GRILLE CAFÉ ECLECTIC / PAULETTE’S / THE BEAUTY SHOP (TIE) BEST BREAKFAST BROTHER JUNIPER’S BRYANT’S BREAKFAST BLUE PLATE CAFÉ BEST COFFEEHOUSE (NON-CHAIN) CAFÉ ECLECTIC MUDDY’S COFFEE AND BAKE SHOP / OTHERLANDS COFFEE BAR (TIE) BEST DESSERT SHOP MUDDY’S BAKE SHOP FROST BAKE SHOP CHEESECAKE CORNER
Owner Mike Wiggins reopened the much-missed Buntyn Café in East Memphis this year, serving breakfast and lunch with popular favorites such as pimento cheese sandwiches and meat-and-twos, including beef tips with beets and turnip greens.
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fter his father passed away in 1995, it took Mike Wiggins three years to copy down all the family recipes that had been used since the 1940s in the family eatery on Southern, Buntyn Restaurant, so he could take the helm from his mother. That restaurant, which had become something of a Memphis institution, with customers lined up at the door, closed for good in 2005, but Wiggins’ dedication to his family’s cuisine paid off
in 2015, when he leased a small space in the iBank building at 5050 Poplar. And so in November 2015, the legacy of Buntyn Restaurant and its famed yeast rolls, always delivered steaming hot, continued, this go-round under the moniker Buntyn Corner Cafe and with a somewhat modified menu. “There are no fryers here, so we can’t do our fried chicken, which everybody loved,” Wiggins says. “Only a handful of people have been disappointed.” Instead, they opt for the chicken and
dressing, a recipe that uses chicken stock, cornbread, onions, bell pepper, celery, and other seasonings. Wiggins is able to offer a light breakfast, mostly sandwiches, and the meatand-two type meals that the Buntyn name became known for — meatloaf, hamburger steak, roast beef (the center loin, Wiggins is quick to point out) vegetable soup, and peach cobbler. — Lesley Young 5050 POPLAR, SUITE 107 (901-424-3286)
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