We ended the first day of our cross country trip with dinner at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken in Memphis, Tennessee. Since we were arriving at our friend’s house in Little Rock, Arkansas, fairly late we thought it best to make a pit stop before and see whether fried the chicken was worth the hype. Spoiler alert: It was delicious. Apparently, there are 31 locations in 14 states now.

The restaurant was in an area dotted with nondescript, strip malls. Inside the building, the vibe was rustic with walls covered in rusty corrugated metal panels and dim lighting punctuated with white and gingham checked plastic table cloths. The entry is lined with framed reviews from national newspapers raving about the food. After seating ourselves, a server came over to take our orders. The sweet tea came in plastic souvenir cups which Chris eventually made me throw away because I like to save things. (I blame my Mom for that tendency.)

The orders came pretty fast and we dug into the crispy, juicy chicken. I prefer white meat to dark so I had a chicken breast with coleslaw and baked beans as a sides. Everything was tasty. I sampled the fried okra and fried green tomatoes as well. All the items were seasoned well which is key. I could barely finish my ginormous piece of chicken but I did my best. I’d definitely go back to this spot.

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The breading on the chicken reminded me of Leon’s in Charleston. It’s on a whole different level than chicken chains like KFC or Popeyes The only thing that comes close is fried chicken at my grandma’s house on a Sunday afternoon. Nothing beats fried chicken out of a deep fryer.

On to our next food adventure!