The original Poplar Avenue location of the Blue Plate Cafe occupies a circa-1950s suburban home built by Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson. With its crisp yellow walls and cheery gingham tablecloths, the Blue Plate Cafe is reminiscent of Grandmother’s house — if Grandma could flip pancakes with one hand, whip omelets with the other, and simultaneously serve bottomless mugs of hot coffee to 100 hungry diners. In the early morning hours, the scene at the Blue Plate is daunting, but a legion of sweet Southern waitresses quickly soothes the frenzied rush hour regulars, assuaging them with plates of syrup-drenched waffles, salty country ham, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy that seem to shoot from the kitchen with machine gun accuracy. Lunchtime means a bountiful bevy of meat-and-three specials — look for homey daily offerings such as pork chops, meat loaf, and chicken and dumplings, served alongside such south-of-the-Mason-Dixon delicacies as creamed corn, turnip greens and fruit cobbler. The daily rotating menu seems endless: fried shrimp, BLTs and even Elvis’ favorite, the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. But if you poll the regulars, they’ll sing the praises of the Blue Plate’s breakfast the loudest. So brave the crowd, and point your car west toward this humble holdover of times gone by. Your boss can wait.
Reservations not accepted. No alcohol available. Serving breakfast and lunch daily.
"In this cheery café that was once a private home, the menu includes great breakfast of crisp waffles, pancakes, omelets with hash browns or grits on the side, and flavorful knobby-top biscuits served with silky cream gravy dotted with bits of sausage."
— Michael Stern, RoadFood.com
The original Poplar Avenue location of the Blue Plate Cafe occupies a circa-1950s suburban home built by Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson. With its crisp yellow walls and cheery gingham tablecloths, the Blue Plate Cafe is reminiscent of Grandmother’s house — if Grandma could flip pancakes with one hand, whip omelets with the other, and simultaneously serve bottomless mugs of hot coffee to 100 hungry diners. In the early morning hours, the scene at the Blue Plate is daunting, but a legion of sweet Southern waitresses quickly soothes the frenzied rush hour regulars, assuaging them with plates of syrup-drenched waffles, salty country ham, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy that seem to shoot from the kitchen with machine gun accuracy. Lunchtime means a bountiful bevy of meat-and-three specials — look for homey daily offerings such as pork chops, meat loaf, and chicken and dumplings, served alongside such south-of-the-Mason-Dixon delicacies as creamed corn, turnip greens and fruit cobbler. The daily rotating menu seems endless: fried shrimp, BLTs and even Elvis’ favorite, the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. But if you poll the regulars, they’ll sing the praises of the Blue Plate’s breakfast the loudest. So brave the crowd, and point your car west toward this humble holdover of times gone by. Your boss can wait.
Reservations not accepted. No alcohol available. Serving breakfast and lunch daily.
"In this cheery café that was once a private home, the menu includes great breakfast of crisp waffles, pancakes, omelets with hash browns or grits on the side, and flavorful knobby-top biscuits served with silky cream gravy dotted with bits of sausage."
— Michael Stern, RoadFood.com