The Four Way: The History and Food of Memphis
Food with Soul
From the moment you pull up to the parking lot, you know there’s something special about the place. The Four Way sets unassumingly on Mississippi Blvd in the middle of the Soulsville area of South Memphis in an ancient white brick building with dark green trim. It’s not a bustling area of town. There’s not much traffic. And although Memphis Rox Climbing Gym, Stax, and Soulsville Charter School certainly bring life to the neighborhood, there aren’t too many reasons you might find yourself driving around the area…until you’ve eaten at the legendary Four Way. Then you’ll find yourself drawn like a magnet to the corner of Mississippi Blvd and Walker and the best soul food in the city.
The Stuff of Legends
It’s in that unassuming building with the green trim where movers and shakers from all over the country have found themselves pulling up to plates of steaming vegetables and fried goodness. Framed photographs that line the walls tell stories of Martin Luther King Jr., Aretha Franklin, Rosa Parks, and many others who broke bread at “The Four Way Grill” decades ago when the restaurant was still owned by it’s founder and chef Irene Cleaves. The place was only a fourth of its size back then but because of its excellent food, quickly became one of the first naturally integrated restaurants in Memphis. Founded in 1946 by the personal chauffeur of Memphis mayor E. H. Crump and his wife, the grill immediately garnered lots of attention from local politicians. Anybody who was anybody knew you could privately enter the restaurant via the backdoor by ringing a bell and being approved by the staff, a tradition that lasted up until the 1990s. Dozens of Stax artists dropped in after recording to sit in the private dining room complete with white linen and a formally dressed wait staff. Meanwhile black and white neighbors alike thought nothing of sitting down together in the more casual front dining room, taking refuge in the haven Irene Cleaves created at The Four Way. Civil Rights activists conversed over supper while Memphians themselves built relational bridges over squares of cornbread and platters of shrimp. The food created community and the Four Way established itself as a time honored Memphis tradition.
75 Years of Meat ‘n Two
The best thing about The Four Way is that not much has changed. In its 75 years of existence, the menu still stands as a testament to home cooking, neighborly devotion, famed neck bones, and vegetables that are 99% prepped in the kitchen (the pickled beets are canned). Thanksgiving dinner is served up every day as well as some of the best fried chicken, green tomatoes, and catfish you’ve ever had in your life. Next door sets the Four Way Legacy Building, a recently added event and reception venue open to the community, while the northern exterior wall boasts a gorgeous new mural by local artist Danielle Sierra. Portraits painted on brick depict the history of the restaurants’ owners; a vibrant family tree of sorts.
One step inside the Four Way and you’re greeted by a warm welcome behind the counter. And not surprisingly, there seems to be only happy people in the brimming dining room. Soul food makes you smile, after all. It takes time to make and time to eat, and in that fashion, The Four Way makes space for Memphians to sit, visit, and share a historical piece of the oldest soul food restaurant in the city.