Deep Ellum Blog

Business of the Week: Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken

July 29, 2022 | Deep Ellum Team

Deep Ellum is blessed to have plenty of great things: live music, local art, a variety of businesses and hard-working people.

It also has a good number of spots to get excellent fried chicken.

And one of those is Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken on Commerce.

The Memphis-based restaurant opened in 1953 and has been serving its classic fried chicken recipe in Deep Ellum since October 2020.

Don’t be timid about the “hot and spicy fried chicken” that reads at the top of the menu. This isn’t the Nashville variety with strong heat. Just delicious, perfectly fried chicken.

You can get your expected plates of different numbers of pieces — white or dark — wings or tenders, or a half chicken. Each plate comes with baked beans, slaw and white bread.

This fried chicken is just what it’s supposed to be and more: a flavorful, crispy batter surrounding juicy, plump meat. It’s delicious, craveable and somehow not even greasy. But it still holds all that flavor! Magic.

Or, as The Dallas Morning News put it:

“Instead of the instant, blistering heat of Nashville style, Gus’s blend of spices gradually grows on the eater’s palate. Spice is held in the bronze, fried skin as well the juicy, plump meat of hormone-free chickens that are never frozen. Chickens that are eventually fried in peanut oil are hand-cut in the restaurant and prepared behind a locked door.”

While your plate comes with those baked beans and creamy slaw, you can substitute a side for just 50 cents extra, and the fried okra is definitely more than worth that. Another wonderfully breaded, this time vegetable, bite that somehow isn’t greasy but so perfectly tasty.

There’s plenty of seating inside, tables spaced out and topped with green or red checkered tablecloths. Staff is friendly and attentive for a quick and delicious lunch.

But the food also holds up to go, too. Making that meal just as satisfactory if you’re running to your next meeting and need a proper protein pick-me-up.

Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken is located at 2904 Commerce St. and open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.