These Were Elvis Presley's 10 Favorite Restaurants In America

Although he was alive for just 42 years, The King of Rock and Roll became known for many different things during his lifetime: His deep, soulful voice, his astonishing dance moves, and his showmanship were just a few of them. However, Elvis Presley was also well-known for his love of good food. Presley showed deep appreciation for great cuisine, whether he was making it at home or eating out at some of his favorite restaurants — and although he was a dab hand in the kitchen (with a meatloaf recipe that had a pretty unique ingredient), he liked nothing more than a fantastic meal out on the town.

Where did he like to eat, though? As you might expect for a man who spent his adult life travelling from city to city and performing for millions, his favorite restaurants were spread across the country. They were also delightfully varied, with burgers, barbecue, Mexican cuisine, and pastrami sandwiches all on the menu for Presley. If you want a little slice of rock and roll history and to eat like the King himself, the good news is that a lot of these restaurants are still alive and kicking today.

When you think of the places that Elvis Presley is associated with, Palm Springs isn't usually at the top of the list. Memphis, Las Vegas, and Mississippi, sure, but Southern California? Yep: Presley and wife Priscilla had their honeymoon in Palm Springs in 1967 and leased a home in the area to celebrate the first few months of their marriage, and later bought a house in the resort city. While he was in town, he liked to sample the best food that Palm Springs had to offer, and one spot he kept coming back to again and again was Las Casuelas, a family-owned Mexican restaurant.

First opening in 1958, Las Casuelas remains in operation to this day, and serves the same food that Presley himself would have eaten. The singer was partial to the "combo #1" plate at the restaurant, which combined shredded beef tacos with beans and chile relleno. Elvis isn't the only celebrity that's eaten at Las Casuelas through the years, but it's fair to say that he's probably the most famous.

Elvis was a lover of many different types of food, and he was also an early admirer of fusion cuisine. If you needed any proof of this, look no further than his love of Coletta's. This Memphis eatery was founded in 1923 as an ice cream shop, but it quickly became a full-on Italian restaurant, putting pizza on its menu in the 1950s. Upon doing so, it built a pizza with a Southern twist as a way to drive the new item, and its newly minted BBQ pizza became its signature dish — one that Presley was hugely fond of.

Presley regularly ordered this pizza, which was said to be his favorite, when he was in residence at Graceland. Apparently, there was a time when Priscilla Presley would swing by Coletta's every week to pick up the BBQ pizza as takeout, ferrying it back to their home for herself and Elvis to enjoy. She remains a patron of the restaurant, and is known to stop by at Coletta's whenever she's down Memphis-way. If you're ever in the area, you can still pick up one of these pizzas for just $12.50 for a small option.

Few people could forget about Elvis Presley's film career: For a good few years, he was one of the biggest movie stars around, in addition to being an ultra-famous singer. As a result, he spent a lot of time in Los Angeles, and while he was there, he had to eat, right? He did so at The Formosa Cafe, a restaurant that first opened in 1939 and was located right in the heart of Hollywood. Sitting across from the Samuel Goldwyn Studio, where Presley filmed "Frankie and Johnny" and undertook recording sessions, it was a celeb hangout spot and also saw folks like John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean walk through its doors.

Although it's unclear exactly how many times Presley went to the Formosa, he appeared to be a regular patron. He definitely attended enough to have a favorite booth, which was predictably decked out in Elvis memorabilia following his death, becoming a tourist attraction. The Formosa Cafe underwent a large-scale refurbishment in 2019 and reopened its doors looking shinier than ever, and today it remains the place to go if you want a slice of Hollywood history.

There are few stronger associations than between Elvis and Las Vegas. The singer became the emblem of the city with his iconic residency at The International Hotel, where he performed consistently for years. Whenever he was in town, he also liked to sample the extravagant restaurants that Vegas is known for — but one he kept coming back to was the Golden Steer Steakhouse. Presley was known for attending the steakhouse after he had finished performing at the International Hotel, driving just a mile up the road to sample its cuisine.

The steakhouse was established in 1958, and by the time Presley was performing there, it had established itself in the city. As you might expect, other Vegas regulars also ate there, with Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe being just two other famous diners (it was also Dean Martin's favorite steakhouse). Elvis himself preferred to keep things loose with what he ate when he was at the Golden Steer, once asking the kitchen staff to make him a burger from filet trimmings in a story that's now become legend. If you head to the steakhouse today, you can still see, and maybe even sit in, the booth that Presley liked to relax in.

A lot of restaurants across America are proud of the fact that Elvis once ate there, but few of them can actually point towards him being a regular. Well, the Arcade Restaurant can. The Arcade has the distinction of being the oldest restaurant in Memphis, the city that Presley made his home, and when he was at Graceland, he would visit it frequently to take in some of its history. Little did he know that soon he would become part of its marketing strategy: Nowadays, Arcade Restaurant uses the slogan "Eat Like A King" to promote itself, and it's become a tourist destination in its own right.

As for exactly what Elvis ate at the Arcade Restaurant, it seems there was only one thing he liked to try. Presley was a big fan of its fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, a combination that has since gone down in history as "The Elvis." As you've probably guessed, the Arcade Restaurant serves this sandwich today, and if you want to go true Elvis-style, then you can add some extra bacon for $1.50. It may not be the most nutritious thing in the world, but you can guarantee it tastes good.

Elvis Presley was famously a fan of barbecue, which should really come as no surprise: He was from the South, after all. He also knew that to get good barbecue, you have to eat local. One of the places he liked to make a frequent stop at was Leonard's Pit Barbecue, a drive-in joint that started life in South Memphis in 1922 as a five-stool lunch stand operation. By the time Presley had arrived in the city, it was doing a roaring trade, and the singer soon became a regular at Leonard's.

Presley had such a presence and reputation at the restaurant that it was willing to shut its doors to host him privately. While this sounds like the height of a celebrity pulling their weight, he made sure to make it worth their while. Presley would routinely tip $100 for the servers and $50 for the rest of the staff. When you consider that this was the early '60s, it was a huge amount of money to give away in one go, and each server was getting the equivalent of around $1,000. That's not a bad night's work.

Elvis Presley was partial to fast food, but he also had a preference about where he got it from. As a Southern boy, when it came to burgers, there was only one place for it: Krystal. This Tennessee-born chain was founded in Chattanooga in 1932, and it quickly became known for its sliders. By the time Elvis was starting out, it was already well-established — and in 1954 he celebrated his first radio airtime with a huge order from the restaurant, purchasing 100 sliders. A legion of new fans who just heard him on the radio showed up, and he handed out all the burgers to the masses, in a canny PR stunt for both the singer and Krystal.

Presley didn't just use Krystal to promote himself, though: He genuinely liked its food, and continued to as time went on. Priscilla Presley revealed in a 2017 interview with WATN that the size of the sliders was a big part of the appeal for the singer. "The hamburgers were so small! He didn't like big things to eat," she said.

A lot of the restaurants that became famous because Elvis ate there did so because the singer was already in his prime. That's what makes Johnnie's Drive-In different. This mom-and-pop diner is situated in Tupelo, Mississippi, the city where Presley was born and raised. This eatery was founded in 1945, and just a few years later it became a regular haunt of a teenage Elvis, who would head into the diner and eat its cheeseburgers after hanging out at the creek with his friends.

Johnnie's Drive-In hasn't changed much to this day: It still retains that sense of old-school charm and appeal that it likely had back in the '40s. What has changed, though, is that it's become well aware that people visit it because of its association with the King of Rock and Roll. Head to Johnnie's today and you'll find a host of memorabilia that celebrates Elvis, including a picture hanging above what was his favorite booth. If you're lucky, you might just meet someone there who used to know him.

When Elvis was at Graceland, he was a big fan of working his way through Memphis' cuisine, and especially its world-famous barbecue. However, not every restaurant would fall for his famous charms. One of these restaurants was Charlie Vergos Rendezvous, a barbecue joint that specializes in dry rub ribs. Presley was a huge fan of the restaurant's ribs, and would often have them driven over to Graceland to enjoy them there — but when he tried to pull the celebrity card to score a private dining experience, he was declined.

Presley apparently tried to book out Charlie Vergos Rendezvous on several occasions for himself and his friends, but the owner (Charlie Vergos himself) said no due to fears that he would lose customers elsewhere. We've gotta say, we admire the commitment to the people. This didn't stop Elvis from continuing to love Vergos' ribs, though. He was such a fan that when he was performing at the International Hotel, he once had a portion delivered to him over in Sin City. We don't think we've ever loved a food so much that we had it shipped halfway across the country, but then we're not ultra-famous, so.

Elvis Presley's love of burgers and barbecue was pretty legendary, but he was also known to mix it up every now and again. Sometimes, all he wanted was a good old pastrami sandwich. He would order this whenever he was in Palm Springs from Sherman's Deli & Bakery. Founded in 1953, Sherman's quickly became the go-to spot for deli foods in the middle of the desert, and like so many other spots that Elvis liked, it was a magnet for celebrities: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Bob Hope, and Frank Sinatra were all big fans.

Few of them left as much of a lasting mark as Presley, though. Legend has it that when Elvis was in town, he'd bring up to eight of his friends to the restaurant, with the hot pastrami sandwich being the first thing he ordered. That's no mean feat, considering that the best place to get pastrami is in New York, and Palm Springs is on the other side of the country. He was known to sit against the back wall, and his favorite seat is now memorialized with a picture of himself hanging over it.