1341 Airways
901-323-6200
Look out Lamar Avenue! Airways now has the best "Only in Memphis" restaurant, Speedy's Donut and Deli. Despite the name, I dare say it is the only place that serves sushi side by side with pigs feet.
My running buddy, Ashley, alerted me to the existence of this place a week or so ago, and I spotted it early last Sunday morning when I took Warren to the airport for Spring Break. He had noticed it before and we decided that we would definitely check it out. Donuts? Deli? Sushi? That has Dining with Monkeys written all over it!
The monkeys and I did a lot of dining over Spring Break and I have tons of reviews to share, but I have to share this one first.
On Friday, when it was time to pick Warren up from the airport, he texted me and asked if we'd eaten dinner. It was 10:00pm, so of course we had...not that we couldn't eat again. However, I told him that dining options would be very limited at that hour. Lucky for him, I noticed that Donut and Deli was open on my way to pick him up.
Ok, yes. Airways, 10:30pm on Friday night, kids...probably not the best time to check out this place, but we did it anyway.
Inside, Speedy's is all bulletproof windows, 40s and cigs, Jesus paraphernalia, and donuts. "This place is awesome," cooed Warren.
Naturally we flocked to the donuts first.
Now we all know that 10:30pm is not the time to order donuts unless you are at Gibson's, but Jiro (age 8) doesn't want to hear that. He went right for an apple fritter, warmed up a bit in the micro.
The rest of us couldn't help exploring the more exciting items on the menu.
Naturally, Satchel (age 10) went for chicken wings. I steered Warren towards the burger served on a donut. I wasn't planning on ordering anything, but when I noticed bi bim bop on the secondary menu, I had to try it. (Sorry, I may ok a stale donut, but no way was I going to let anyone order sushi at 10:30pm.)
We placed our order with the nice woman behind the counter, and took a seat. Seating is limited to a high bar with stools in an odd T shape. A couple was sitting there when we arrived, but finished up just as we were ready to sit. Warren opted to sit where he could see our car in the parking lot. I was more scared of getting food poisoning than getting the car stolen.
"If we were in Cameroon, this would be a really nice restaurant," Warren reassured me.
We settled in, and the nice woman brought us some (very stale) complimentary donut holes. It was a sweet gesture. While we waited for our food, we enjoyed the Psy concert on TV.
It took about ten or fifteen minutes for our food to come out, which was awesome, because it meant that they were making it to order. Once it was ready, a Korean man in a full blown chef's hat happily delivered the food to our table. Despite being served in styrofoam clamshells, everything looked great.
Behold the donut burger. The donut bun was turned inside out to reduce the sticky factor.
Satchel was pleased with his wings, which we ordered naked.
Here he is sucking on a bone, happy as can be.
In fact all the dudes were happily stuffing their faces.
But in reality they were all jealous of my bi bim bop! Well, at least Warren was.
I definitely prefer it served in a hot lava bowl, but it was right on. I let Warren have half of it since it was technically my second dinner.
The woman was very friendly and chatty and checked on us a few times. She told us all about Psy and made sure to tell us to come back for breakfast and have a kolache, which she called a jalapeno dog.
Our total bill was a very reasonable $23.
I definitely think we will be back, although probably during daylight hours. Warren was so pleased when we left, he said, "I even want to try pigs feet just for the hell of it."
As we loaded up into the car, he had one more suggestion for the already jam packed menu. "They should sell ice cream. The sign looks like ice cream."
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