Food & Drink

Standout Southern Meat-and-Threes

Let someone else do the cooking

Photo: Terry Manier


A meat-and-three restaurant meal is the next best thing to homemade. Here are seven Southern standouts:

Antlers Restaurant & Bar
Lafayette, LA

Though few in Acadiana may refer to it as a “meat-and-three,” Antlers embodies the similar Lafayette plate-lunch tradition of a hearty midday meal of meats, rice and gravy, and two vegetables. Plus you can get a cocktail. Think of it as the genre’s good-times-rollin’ French cousin.
Must-Eat: Pan-browned chicken smothered in grilled onions.

Arnold’s Country Kitchen
Nashville, TN

In this meat-and-three capital, Arnold’s is king. For over three decades, this family-run restaurant has served a rotating from-scratch spread of five meats and eight or nine sides to a steady queue of steam-table supplicants.
Must-Eat: Meat loaf ladled with rich tomato gravy.

Bertha’s Kitchen
Charleston, SC

At this robin’s-egg-blue mainstay, regulars and in-the-know tourists line up for Styrofoam clamshells loaded with fried whiting, red rice, purloo, and limas stewed with turkey necks.
Must-Eat: Okra soup, a Lowcountry staple.

H&H Restaurant
Macon, GA

“Mama Louise” Hudson made sure the not-yet-famous Allman Brothers stayed fed by letting them pay whatever they could afford. Years later, H&H still turns out rock-star comfort food, though Mama Louise is no
longer behind the stove.
Must-Eat: Extra-juicy slices of roasted turkey over cornbread dressing with chicken gravy.

Johnny’s
Homewood, AL

This tidy, lunch-only spot serves a mixture of Hellenic and Southern staples: fried catfish, purple hull peas, lasagna-like pastitsio, and
meatballs called keftedes. A cousin to the clan that operates Birmingham’s famous Niki’s West, Timothy Hontzas rotates his chalkboard menu according to what local farmers deliver.
Must-Eat: Squash casserole, a glorious combo of crooknecks, caramelized onions, rice, and cheese under a buttery blanket of Ritz crackers and Parmesan.

Little Easy Express Lunches
Oxford, MS

“Big Tim” Woodard runs Little Easy in a BP station on Highway 30. And he takes local to the extreme, sourcing produce from Woodson Ridge Farms, just two miles down
the road.
Must-Eat: Perfectly spiced sweet potato pie.

Martin’s Restaurant
Montgomery, AL

Martin’s has filled plates for Alabama politicos since the 1930s. In addition to excellent meat loaf, fried green tomatoes, and cornbread, you’ll find surprises, too—fried oysters or pineapple and cheese casserole.
Must-Eat: Fried pulley bones, a cut of chicken that includes meat from both breasts.


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