At first glance, the menu at eighty3 food & drink is as dazzling as the room itself, which glows under halogen lights. There are 11 categories on the dinner list -- starting with bar snacks of nuts and bacon, progressing ...

The King Cake, with its spring-like colors of purple, yellow and green, probably is my favorite cake. Many King Cakes are just coffee cakes with icing and a plastic baby stuck inside. They make me feel good because it's Mardi ...

At 7 p.m. Saturday night, we were among a couple of dozen people queued up at Ciao Bella near the commercial heart of the Poplar corridor. A man and woman who arrived at the front desk ahead of us heard ...

There's something about quiche and the 1980s. I remember covering an REO Speedwagon concert in the late 1980s at the Mid-South Coliseum. I was backstage after the show when Gary Richrath, the lead guitarist at that time, asked me, "Do ...

More piri piri has come to town with the opening of Boneheads in East Memphis. The menu looks very much like Humdingers, so let's get all that sorted out before we proceed.

If you're at Java Cabana on Thursday evening, you might catch Nicholas Gwinn playing guitar during singer/songwriter night. If you're at Mama Mia's Pizzeria on other nights, you might catch Gwinn tossing large circular slabs of dough into the air ...

Usually, soul food, home cooking, country cooking -- there's barely a nickel's difference between them -- is hearty workman's food. At Southern Hands Family Dining, you'll be served plenty, but some of the family favorites are almost dainty.

A co-worker recently brought some hummus -- a dip made from chickpeas -- to the office. It was from Sean's Café. After the first bite, I had to keep going back for more because it was so good. I went ...

It's safe to call Molly's La Casita an institution; 2012 marks the restaurant's 30th year in its Madison Avenue location, where it moved when the late Robert Chapman purchased it from Molly Gonzales. Such institutions see good days and days ...

I was at the Central location of Central BBQ to order a jumbo barbecue sandwich when I noticed a sign that read "Brunswick Stew $2." The "Brunswick Stew" stood out, but not as much as the "$2." I liked that ...

When the bookstore now known as The Booksellers at Laurelwood was saved last year, book lovers rejoiced. Food lovers had less to celebrate, as Brontë Bistro had become tired and all but irrelevant to anyone who cared about food instead ...

Duncan Aiken has pretty much reopened Overton Park Pizze Stone in Cooper-Young, though under the name Skunx Chef Pub. The menu is largely the same, with some variation. The tradeoff Aiken had to make, moving from a thoroughly charming space ...

When someone says they "adored/loved/craved" and are "addicted" to a particular dessert, I need to check out what they're talking about. That's how Leslie Pretsch described via e-mail the house-made ginger doughnuts with coconut sorbet at Tsunami Restaurant.

A year-end dining story is always filled with comings and goings, and we had our share in Memphis in 2011. But this year also saw movement and expansion of existing restaurants.

Instead of focusing on one "Best Bets" item, this week I'm listing five of the best of the Best Bets featured in this space during 2011. These are some of my favorites. Note: They aren't listed in order of importance.