Godsey's Grill Songbird Smokes Some Excellent Wings.

A trip to Jonesboro could include these excellent, full sized chicken wings, if you find yourself ready to dine on the north side of town. The Godsey's burger is pretty decent, too. I just miss the peanut butter pie.

Lunch Gorgeously at Sue's Kitchen in Jonesboro.

The Old Post Office in Jonesboro is home to a comfortable eatery with a deep history. Sue's Kitchen shines as bright as its airy and light location, with great food and unforgettable pies.

Presley's Drive In in Jonesboro: Last Joint Standing.

In a different time and place, Presley’s Drive In was a place of summer. Started by Harold and Hettie Mae Presley back in the early 1970s, it passed first to their son Terry Presley and then to Gary McGill, a fine dairy diner that has now served western Jonesboro for more than 40 years. The décor has always been simple dairy diner, with a nod to a distant relative born in Tupelo.

My boyfriend and I lived half a mile west of Gee Street in the late 90s, and we’d gather up laundry twice a month and head over to the Magic Touch for a laundry derby… and once the first round of loads were in on a Monday afternoon, I’d walk over to Presley’s and pick up brown derbies for us both.

At the time, Gee Street was much different. There were all sorts of restaurants that lined the streets, like the Milky Way Drive In and Grandpa’s along with the old grocery store, flea markets and low-income motels. And in the summer it was all whitewashed and ancient and out of time.

When Grav and I went back to see Presley’s in March 2014, we went to collect what was left of the restaurant scene between Nettleton and Dan Avenue. We found nothing… the grocery store that still took stamps was now a Hay’s and the little diners, the lunch counters, all of them absorbed into the past -- except Presley’s, almost untouched in the intervening years, somehow escaping the passage of time.


There it stood recently painted, depictions of menu items painted on the window items and a full house of customers. I wanted a brown derby, but I was denied… this particular visit, the ice cream machine was out.

It made no difference. While he scarfed his half of a particularly excellent Reuben sandwich lovingly butter-toasted on both sides, I picked at my offered Oreo cake (light and fluffy!) and at my memories, too – of those laundry days, of very hot summer days when I decided like a fool to take the dog for a walk and puffing the breath out of my lungs while standing at the outside counter with Jeffro, my Great Dane. Not only would I get my burger and fries and a big vanilla Coke, but they’d always offer Jeffro a vanilla cone, and it’d be gone in a swallow.

It’s hard to believe better than 15 years have passed since I moved away, and yet this place is still here. That’s partly thanks to David Stallings, who purchased the restaurant back in October 2012, not long after Gary’s health got a little touchy. The menu hasn’t changed a whole lot – there are still burgers and fries and shakes and the like – and breakfast and good plate lunches, too.

In fact, many of those more unusual dishes remain on the menu – like the Pizza Steak (a traditional Arkansas Delta pizza burger) and the Spanish Burger (with taco sauce). Other dishes could have been taken out of my Tie Dye Travel adventures – like the grilled cheese cheeseburger (The Excaliburger from The Ozark Café, seen on the back of Classic Eateries of the Ozarks and Arkansas River Valley) and the fried cheeseburger (also from The Ozark Café).

And then there’s something new that’s recently shown up on the restaurant’s Facebook page. Presley’s now offers a competition burger called The King. It’s seven pounds – four pounds of beef, a pound of bacon plus toppings and bun that come up to seven pounds total. You can buy it for $25 ($20 on Thursdays) – and if you eat it by yourself in an hour, it’s not only free but Presley’s will give you $100.

From what I’ve seen, no one’s managed to get that Benjamin Franklin yet. But it has brought renewed interest along the west side of town, which is a good thing.

Presley’s has served Jonesboro for more than 40 years, and if Stallings can keep ahold of it, it could go another 40. On Thursday nghts it’s Bike Night, and local motorcycle enthusiasts line up outside the restaurant. Six days a week there’s someone around to order up a burger or some of that fantastic roast beef or Mexican chicken on the specials board.

Next time I go, I hope they have the Brown Derby again. I think, if it’s summer, I’ll sit outside on a curb stop and remember the traffic that used to pass by on Gee Street.

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant - Lazzari Italian Kitchen in Jonesboro.

Lazzari’s Italian Oven (sometimes Lazzari’s Italian Kitchen or Lazzari's Italian Restaurant) is one of my favorite restaurants anywhere.  That’s saying something, ya think?  There are reasons for this that go far deeper than the food.

My favorite breakfasts: The Front Page Cafe

• KAT ROBINSON
• SWEET CHIPS O' CHOCOLATE: Pancakes at Front Page Cafe

I’m not a big fan of having rolls thrown at my head. Fortunately, there are no thrown rolls (or biscuits or even eggs for that matter) at the Front Page Café in Jonesboro during breakfast hours.

I’m a longtime connoisseur of all things Front Page Café. I used to love sitting in the old location on Caraway over by Barnhill’s and passing around veggies and such. I’d always tell the waitress that tips were based on the idea that I not get pegged in the noggin by one of those thrown rolls. That happened more than once.

The restaurant burned down a few years ago. I was sad to hear that, but since it had been years since I’d stepped foot in Jonesboro I really didn’t have an investment in whether or not it came back.

When I started to put together the breakfast article and asked for recommendations, there were a good number of people who told me to come back up and try the new Front Page Café. I’m glad I did.

• KAT ROBINSON

The new building is south of the bypass, built just for the restaurant. It sprawls out a bit — the tables are further apart than in the old place. There are booths, too.

I was quickly seated and handed a menu. And that menu — hey, it was more than reasonable. Most of the plates are in the $4-5 range.

• KAT ROBINSON

• KAT ROBINSON

I settled for the Manager’s Special — a short stack, a couple of eggs and a couple of pieces of breakfast meat. I asked for mine with chocolate chips — one of the add-ins you can get for 69 cents (pecans and blueberries are other options).

• KAT ROBINSON

My plate came out quickly. I hadn’t designated the breakfast meat but the platter came out with a couple of crispy, barely fatty pieces of red bacon. The eggs were nice and runny, the sort that need toast.

Those pancakes, though — nice, ¾ inch thick rounds about seven inches across that appeared to be thicker with flour than cornmeal., They appeared very standard on the outside, but when I cut into them they had that nice chocolately-ooey texture of a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie. I was expecting semi-sweet, but these were milk chocolate chips and they were scrumptious. I’d applied syrup already and it worked just fine.

• KAT ROBINSON

It was a pretty grand breakfast for not a lot of money, and it got me up and on my way for the day. Best part was, it was just as good as I remembered.

You can find the Front Page Café at 2117 East Parker Road in Jonesboro, just south of the bypass. (870) 932-6343.