Gus's Fried Chicken — a Memphis-based chain known for its locations offering hearses advertising "chicken worth dying for" — has tapped East Nashville for what will be its only local restaurant.
According to a permit application, the future Gus’s will be located at 851 Dickerson Pike. Michael Walker, president of Memphis-based WALKERarch LLC, is handling the design work.
Founded in Mason, Tenn. (near Memphis), Gus's Fried Chicken offers spicy chicken (but unlike Nashville hot chicken) and multiple Southern sides such as coleslaw, potato salad and macaroni-and-cheese.
The Gus's Fried Chicken website notes the chain has a presence in 13 states, with approximately 35 locations. To date, Gus’s has operated in Tennessee, in addition to Memphis and its surrounding areas, in Knoxville.
The future Gus's will operate from a smallish building located at Dickerson Pike’s intersection with Cleveland Street.
In 2012, the Scene reported Gus's Fried Chicken was prepping a local presence. The restaurant operated for about three years near Nippers Corner (at 471 Old Hickory Blvd.) before closing.
Travel Channel once ranked Gus's as the 12th Tastiest Restaurant in America in which to "chow down," while GQ Magazine believes Gus's is one of the top 10 restaurants in the world worth flying to for a meal.
This article first ran via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
