Downtown Dining Week: The restaurants, the $20.22 specials and a few of our top picks

Jennifer Chandler, Memphis Commercial Appeal

November 2, 2022 at 10:00 PM·5 min read

The phones are ringing off the hook at several Downtown Memphis restaurants. The reason? Memphis’ annual Downtown Dining Week is Nov. 7-13.

It’s the one time of year you can enjoy a two- or three-course meal at some of Memphis’ top restaurants for as little as $20.22. At many restaurants, $20.22 two-for-one lunches along with special lunch menus are also offered.

The annual event brings together more than 50 Downtown restaurants offering special lunch and dinner menus. Many of the items are at a discount, designed to show new diners the best of what they offer.

Some menus feature the most popular dishes, while others are specials created just for the week. They all sound so good that it can be hard to choose where to make a reservation when you have more than 50 options.

And don’t overlook the drink specials.

The generosity of sponsors Coppola Winery, Old Dominick Distillery and Grind City Brewing Co. has enabled participating Downtown restaurants to offer some fun drink specials for the week. Here are two not to miss: The Gray Canary (301 S. Front St.) is offering a Punch Bowl that serves four to six guests for $20.22, and Bar Ware (276 S. Front St.) is serving $10 Old Dominick Gin Gimlets and Vodka Ice Picks.

Downtown Dining Week is an excellent opportunity to try a new restaurant or revisit an old favorite.

Wondering where to go? Here are three of our top picks for lunch and dinner.

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Top $20.22 Dinner Picks

The Majestic Grille

145 S. Main St.; majesticgrille.com

Downtown Dining Week may not exist if it wasn’t for co-founders Deni and Patrick Reilly of The Majestic Grille. The couple, along with Felicia Willett of Felicia Suzanne’s and Bert Smythe of McEwen’s, founded the week-long dining event in 2008.

Owners Patrick and Deni Reilly pose for a portrait inside the Majestic Grille as the restaurant prepares to reopen, Friday, March 26, 2021, in Memphis, TN.

Chef Patrick Reilly has several options on his Downtown Dining Week menu this year. For the first course, choose between a house-made Country Pate with Cumberland Sauce or a Mixed Greens Salad. Entrée selections include Grilled Trout with Roasted Tomatoes and a Saffron Ginger Sauce served over orzo tossed with spinach, asparagus and peas and a Panko-crusted Pork Cutlet with a Mushroom Marsala Sauce served over Sweet Potato Hash.

SOB

314 S. Main St.; www.southofbeale.com

SOB, a regular Downtown Dining Week participant, is offering a three-course meal this year. For your first round, start with its popular General Tso's Cauliflower or a Mixed Greens Salad with roasted grapes, bleu cheese crumbles, toasted almonds and a maple tahini vinaigrette. Main course options include the Zaka Bowl with rice, pickled vegetables, Korean marinated mushrooms, carrots, green beans, a sunny-side egg and kimchi vinaigrette, a Carnitas Bowl or Curry Chicken. Dessert is a Jack & Coke Bread Pudding with whiskey caramel and whipped cream.

Supper Club on 2nd

85 S. Second St.; supperclubmemphis.com

One of the things we love about Downtown Dining Week is the chance to try something new. Supper Club on 2nd, which opened this summer, will be participating in Downtown Dining Week for the first time. The restaurant will be serving its signature "Shawt Rib and Grits" dish for $20.22. A generous portion of coriander braised short ribs is served with a jus red wine reduction and crispy onions over homemade cheese grits.

Top $20.22 Lunch Picks

By the Brewery

496 Tennessee St.; bythebrewery.com

Want to take a friend to lunch? Head to By the Brewery. The restaurant is offering a special lunch menu for two. Choose from two grilled cheese sandwiches with cups of soup, or two salads. Both options come with drinks.

By the Brewery is also offering a breakfast special for three: three of its popular biscuit sandwiches with three cups of coffee. Bring one of these biscuits and coffee back to your office and you will be very popular.

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Stix Downtown Express

150 Peabody Place, entrance on Second Street; stixonline.com

Stix Downtown Express is offering a three-course meal for lunch or dinner, either to dine-in or to take back to your office. Start with a Ginger Salad. Then the second course is your choice between the Downtown Roll (a spicy crawfish, cream cheese, and crab roll flash-fried and topped with sweet soy) and the Riverside Roll (fried shrimp and cucumber roll topped with sweet soy). The entrée selection includes an order of Teriyaki Chicken or Hibachi Shrimp.

Wayne Yeh, owner of STIX Collierville and STIX Express Downtown

Bishop

545 S. Main St.; bishopmemphis.com

Stop by Bishop to have a taste of France for lunch. This restaurant in Central Station Hotel is offering a lunch special that includes a bowl of their French Onion Soup topped with a Sourdough Crouton and Melted Gruyere Cheese and a Croque Madame, an open-face ham sandwich topped with Comte cheese mornay sauce, a sunny-side up egg and fries.

Chefs Andy Ticer (left) and Michael Hudman are at the helm of Bishop, a French restaurant on South Main Street. Photographed Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, at the restaurant in downtown Memphis.

Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercialappeal.com, and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.