Arcade Restaurant, Memphis 

Eat like a king—or rather, the King—in the Memphis diner (above) once frequented by Elvis Presley himself. Opened in 1919, the Arcade is Memphis’ oldest café and is situated in the South Main Arts District right along the trolley line. It’s known for its healthy portion sizes of country fried steak with eggs and biscuits and gravy.

Elliston Place Soda Shop, Nashville 

While Elliston Place Soda Shop (above) has been a staple for meat-and-threes in Nashville since 1939, it got a facelift a few years ago with a brand-new location in the building next door to the original. The menu, however, has stayed the same—homemade recipes with a hearty selection of shakes, sodas, malts and floats—as has the signature red-and-white color scheme.

Pats Cafe (The Corner Cafe), Selmer

The town of Selmer is not just home to the Rockabilly Highway, but also the slugburger—a patty made from ground meat (beef or pork) and flour or soy grits and served on a bun with mustard, pickles and onions—that was born during the Depression. Downhome diner Pats Cafe, credited with the origin of the slugburger, still sells them for $1.75 a pop.