Oftentimes it's a word of mouth recommendation or an article in Mid-South magazine or Memphis Magazine.
These days it is likely an on-line review. Think YELP!
This time it was an eye-catching, memory jogging name seen as I drove by the SW corner of Poplar and Mendenhall. Southhall Cafe.
The name took me back to my hometown where our neighbors, the Southalls, two-doors down from 2211 intrigued us by their reclusiveness. Brother, Buddy, & his chum, Barry Coleman, would climb the tree at the front corner of the yard and "spy" for hours hoping to catch a glimpse of the "old" couple. (They were probably in their 60s but they "aged" in our stories by the day.) Winslow and I would try to peek in windows or look over the fence, when we traversed the alley between my home, and her street that bordered the back of their yard. Oh, how our imaginations would run wild.
Those flashbacks were what drew me to the restaurant as a "must" restaurant to visit when my brother and his wife Charlotte visited us this week from Louisville.
The nostalgia may have gotten us there but the delicious food and wait staff will be the reason we return.
