Jennifer Biggs

Sweet Swine o’ Mine took home the grand prize trophy on Saturday at the 2013 Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

If a stranger to our town gathered the national television footage and press clippings from national publications about food in Memphis, he would likely think that all we eat is barbecue. Folks from other places sure do like to tell ...

Corky’s Don Pelts was a barbecue giant in a barbecue town, but his friends and family remember him as a man with a great appetite for life and a generous and fun spirit.

It’s here. The Super Bowl of Swine. Smoke on the River. When your official name is the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, a nickname or two comes in handy.

If you read early, crowd-sourced reviews of Chiwawa online, clear your mind and start fresh. Restaurants have opening pangs and the ones that are highly anticipated are also the ones that bear the brunt of dashed, though unrealistic, expectations.

Some culinary scents are unmistakable. Blindfolded, you’d know if you were led to a barbecue restaurant. Same for burgers on the grill, onions in a skillet, and just as certainly for Indian food. Bharat International Market & Restaurant is no ...

The food truck scene in Memphis continues to grow, and vendors out at lunch or events are usually blessed with customers standing in line for tacos, grilled cheese or, in Jeremy Denno’s case, pizza. His Rock ’n Dough Pizza food ...

When Pei Wei closed by the Kroger grocery store at Mendenhall and Sanderlin, a little mystery developed about what would go in the space.

The menu at Noodle Star features several selections of pho, along with a few Vietnamese dishes, Thai food and, on the board at least, sushi.

Want something good to eat or drink this week? Consider the following:

With a big smoker going out front, you can find Elwood's, tucked away on the north side of the parking lot of Lowe's, by rolling your car window down.

You've always known not to judge a book by its cover. In this case, we'll say, "Don't judge a restaurant by its tinted windows."

Want something good to eat or drink this week? Consider the following:

Veteran Italian chef puts family favorites on antique mall wish lists

Local opened in October, smack dab on the northeast corner, after a lengthy renovation as part of the revitalization of Overton Square.

It was a year of anniversaries and celebrations for the Memphis restaurant community in 2012. Food writer Jennifer Biggs honors the most memorable establishments.

Go now. If you want wine, take your own. The crepes at Le Crepe du Vin are great and worth the drive.

Cafe Fontana, a charming Cordova spot, serves up Italian favorites with spirit and verve.

Want something good to eat or drink this week? Consider the following.

Theo's, which opened in August under the name Superior Café and is related to the Superior Bar & Grill on Beale through some ownership, is more than just a place to eat.

Want someone else to do the cooking on Thanksgiving? Here's a list of restaurants that will be serving meals on Thursday:

You'll never buy pita bread in a grocery store after you've tasted it fresh-baked from a place like Jerusalem Market on Summer Avenue.

While Cuban restaurants have come and gone and we've dabbled with Colombian and El Salvadoran food, I believe this is the first Venezuelan restaurant to enter our market.

There are two things that puzzle folks about Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman's new restaurant on Brookhaven Circle — but they can explain both.

It was a drizzly, dreary day when we first visited Green Bamboo, a Vietnamese restaurant on Germantown Parkway. It was one of the first of the cool days we've recently experienced, and I had the sniffles. It was a good ...

Few neighborhoods in Memphis are fortunate enough to have a restaurant just down the street or on the next block. Most of us live in houses or apartments surrounded by more of the same, not in strolling distance of a ...

Memphis is full of great food finds in unexpected places; we have gas station sushi, after all. One of these treasures is VGM Market & Deli on Macon Road, just off Sycamore View. It's where — I think it's safe ...

If you're Downtown looking for a lawyer around noon, you might as well have lunch at McEwen's on Monroe. There's a good chance you'll find your lawyer, and so what if you don't? You're sure to have a nice lunch.

Villa Castrioti in Cordova is one of those restaurants you might drive by weekly or even daily. It's on busy Germantown Parkway, in a strip center with a large Kroger, Panera Bread, a golf store and plenty of small shops ...

In 2010, Ryan Trimm partnered with Glenn Hays and opened Sweet Grass in Cooper-Young. The Low Country cuisine resonated with Memphis diners, who quickly learned to make reservations well in advance of a craving for shrimp and grits.

A new acquaintance, who lives in Memphis but is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and was born to parents from New Orleans, made his point with a slow shake of his head, the kind that means mmm, mmm, mmm: "You ...

Memphis Botanic Garden hosts a wine tasting 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, featuring wines presented by Athens Distributing and food from Automatic Slim's. $25 for members, $35 nonmembers. Call 901-636-4131 for reservations; 750 Cherry Road.

Around 1979 or 1980, the building at 590 N. Perkins housed a bar and restaurant known as A Touch of Nostalgia. Eddie Harrison and the Shortcuts frequently played there, and a server — I don't recall her name, but I'll ...

Chef Emmett Bell at L'Ecole Culinaire, 1245 N. Germantown Pkwy., presents a five-course "Big Easy" dinner on Wednesday at 6:30, featuring New Orleans favorites at 6:30 p.m. Each course is paired with wine. $60. Call 901-754-7115 for reservations.Ravine in Oxford, ...

The number 100 is the new benchmark of cultural savvy. It seems unlikely that anyone on Facebook hasn't been asked to reveal their worldliness with the "100 Places to Visit Before You Die" list, how well-read they are with "100 ...

This week, Bhan Thai celebrates its 10th anniversary. A decade of operation is not insignificant for any business, and certainly not for a restaurant. As the many loyal customers of the popular Midtown restaurant know, there are plenty of reasons ...

When Interim Restaurant and Bar opened in 2007, it was so named because the plan was that it would just keep traffic -- and revenue -- flowing through the former Wally Joe restaurant until a permanent tenant was found.

Connor O'Neill, the executive chef at eighty3 in the Madison Hotel, 83 Madison, prepares a five-course menu featuring truffles from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Sunday. Each course features truffles and is ...

The third annual Pig & Pinot Dinner is at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Ravine, 53 CR 321 in Oxford, Miss. Five courses and five wines; $35. Call (662) 234-4555 for reservations; cancellations less than 48 hours in advance, or no-shows, ...

Casablanca Restaurant on Germantown Parkway is an oasis of calm and comfort in a desert of drive-throughs, convenience stores and a vast strip mall collection that includes everything from churches to furniture stores to wig shops.

Veteran restaurateur Ronnie Grisanti has found a new home, just weeks after closing his venture inside Stella Marris.

Veteran restaurateur Ronnie Grisanti has found a new home, just weeks after closing his short-lived venture inside Stella Marris in Cordova. Grisanti will open Ronnie Grisanti’s Italian Restaurant inside Sheffield Antiques Mall in Collierville around the end of June.

Memphian Kimmie Willis is a contestant on the 10th season of "Hell's Kitchen," which airs Monday and Tuesday at 7 p.m. on WHBQ-TV Fox 13.

Reports of the demise of Willie Moore's Family Restaurant have been greatly exaggerated. Apologies. So Willie Moore's, long a soul food institution on Third Street in South Memphis, burned early this year. But in March, Willie Moore's moved to the ...

The Memphis Farmers Market dining series kicks off its 2012 season on Sunday at Bleu Restaurant and Lounge, 221 S. Third. $35. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reservations preferred, but walk-ins welcome. Call (901) 334-5950.

One and Only BBQ & More isn't new, but it has come under new ownership in the past few months, which gives it the bona fides it needs to round out a month of reviewing new or revamped barbecue restaurants ...

Napa Café, 5101 Sanderlin, No. 122, hosts a six-course wine dinner featuring wines from Inman Family Winery in the Russian River Valley at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Winemaker Kathleen Inman is the guest; co-hosts are Southwestern Distributors and Great Wines ...

A little redecorating makes all the difference in a restaurant. It's hard to imagine that just several months ago, the honky tonk-ish Double J Smokehouse & Saloon was home to Beignet Café, which was reminiscent of a French Quarter eatery.

Alessandra Casini, executive manager of Bindi Sergardi winery in Tuscany, presents her wines at the Great Wines & Spirits wine tasting from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Informal drop-by tasting at Circa, next door to Great Wines, 6150 Poplar ...

Memphis Barbecue Co. in Horn Lake is a joint venture between two Memphis in May champions, Melissa Cookston and John Wheeler, she of Yazoo's Delta Q and he of Natural Born Grillers. They're both respected in the barbecue community, and ...