Southern Hands opens E. Memphis restaurant
Smothered pork chops, fried chicken, blackened catfish and creamy mac-and-cheese are just a few of the dishes you will find at the new Southern Hands Home Style Cooking restaurant in East Memphis.
After a soft opening Thursday and Friday, the new restaurant at 1811 Kirby Parkway celebrated its grand opening Tuesday. It’s located on the northwest corner of Kirby Parkway and Poplar Avenue.
Southern Hands is the Memphis-based restaurant chain Betty Baskin founded with her five children. Baskin died in May 2018, but the restaurant has thrived and expanded as her children have carried on her legacy. This is the fifth restaurant for the family.
The restaurant serves Southern soul food made from scratch following Baskin’s tried and true recipes. The food reminds you of Sunday supper at your grandmother’s house.
The new location is about 1,500 square feet and seats 35 guests.
“This area was in need of a Southern cooking restaurant,” co-owner Sandra Pye said of the decision to open a location in East Memphis. “We thought we would be a great addition to the area.”
The family’s largest and oldest restaurant is on Winchester Road in a freestanding building in the Hickory Ridge Mall parking lot. As they expanded, Pye said they decided to open smaller locations around 1,500 square feet each. There are Southern Hands restaurants on Hacks Cross Road in Olive Branch, on Austin Peay Highway in Raleigh and a location in the University of Tennessee Health Science Center food court.
The menu is the same at all locations.
A sixth location will open at the corner of Millbranch and Holmes Road in the summer.
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.