Welcome back to Table Talk, where Daily Memphian food and dining editor Jennifer Biggs sends the latest food news (along with a dash of this and that) to your inbox every Wednesday.

Fried chicken. What an emotionally weighted food, and what a challenge. On the one hand, why do I care if I can fry chicken? I know I can buy good fried chicken, and I also know this: Frying it yourself is a lot of trouble.

It makes a big mess, one of those kind of messes in the kitchen that you think you’ve cleaned but you keep discovering remnants in unexpected places. In my house, it blows fuses — resulting about 20 years ago in my first kitchen remodel — or unexplained error codes on the stove, which might mean a new stove (and I’ve already learned that big purchases during the pandemic will try the patience of a saint).

On the other hand, and this is the hand that matters: I feel it’s important I learn how to do it right. In my family, I’m the bridge between fried chicken for Sunday dinner and fried chicken in a bucket. My grandmother and my aunt had the know-how and the patience to cook it — and all the sides — but they’re gone. No one else is going to carry this torch, so if it is to be, it’s up to me.

Don’t judge my chicken by this photo. It has hot spots and I made many mistakes, but as my cousin said when we finally sat down to dinner: “If I ordered this at a restaurant, I’d tell everyone about it.”

For the first time in a couple of decades, Jennifer Biggs tried her hand at home-cooked fried chicken. Her kitchen survived. And the chicken? Pretty good! (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Biggs)

It was good, but I made rookie mistakes. I thought I could combine recipes (why do I do this?). I used an electric skillet, which makes no sense when I have a high-BTU burner on my stove, and I made it more trouble than it had to be. There was no need to finish this chicken in a hot oven.

Chris Herrington and I talk it over on this week’s Sound Bites, if you want to hear more about it. And you will hear more about it in the months to come, because some fine day I’m going to pull this fried chicken photo from the archives and put it against a plate of my still-to-come fried chicken that looks as good as it tastes.

My family deserves it. It matters to me that some day in the future someone else will want to learn how to fry chicken, and that it will be because they remember how good mine was. They’ll remember gathering around my table. I have big shoes to fill and it will take baby steps to get there, but the mission is underway.

And yes, I’ll gladly take tips if you have any to offer. You bet.

Before we recap last week, here are a couple of things coming up.

Starting Feb. 28, Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen will start Pasta Night on Mondays, which is another name for family dinner. About a year ago the restaurant moved No Menu Monday to WTF (What’s the Food?) Wednesday and shut down for Mondays.

Times are better and now it’s time to bring the family out for a Monday meal that might feel like a Sunday meal. We’ll let you know how it goes, and you can make your reservations online if you want to join the fun.

Tonica opens next week and we’ll go in Monday for a sneak peek and let you know about it, too. Sabine Bachmann’s Spanish restaurant is just down the street from her Ecco on Overton Park. I’m excited about this and can’t wait to tell you more.

To clarify: Yes, the corn dog at Sweet Grass I wrote about in last week’s Table Talk is available every Wednesday, so that means that, yes, you can have one this very night if you want. These are available for the foreseeable future on Wednesdays ($8 with homemade chips). 

Sure, the dark days of shuttered dining rooms are over — hopefully for good — but restaurants still have it hard. Right now the struggle is the high cost of takeout packaging. To-go containers, from Styrofoam to high-end, reusable plastic has almost tripled for a variety of reasons that range from COVID to catastrophic weather. Some local restaurateurs are tacking on a surcharge for takeout orders until prices fall; don’t be mad at them if you see it next time you order to-go food. They’re not gouging you, just trying to stay above water. 

This is news to celebrate: When Restaurant Iris reopens in Laurelwood late spring or early summer, Russell Casey will be the executive chef. You might remember him from Local, if your memory is good, but are more likely to know him from Bounty on Broad, where he was for almost six years. He and English will be a great team, and this new Iris, more than five times the size of the old Iris, is going to be super. Meet the rest of the team and find out more about it in this story. 

The Side Porch Steakhouse in Bartlett reopened and besides being better than it was before, it’s also a restaurant wrapped up in a feel-good story. When it closed after more than 40 years, a group of loyal customers came together to buy it and reopen it. They’ve done a bang-up job; read the story and listen to Chris and I talk about it on this week’s Sound Bites.

Finally, there’s a new Mexican restaurant in East Memphis. El Palacio opened on Park at Mt. Moriah, in a former CK’s Coffee Shop, a few weeks ago. I missed the boat on this one: I went for lunch and ate a nice meal, but I should’ve ordered eggs. The restaurant opens at 9 a.m. and by virtue of its location alone, I wish I’d eaten breakfast. Next time, I will. 

I didn’t forget your king cake. Look at these adorable $2 hand-held ones, which are really mini cinnamon buns, at Gibson’s Donuts. If you want ‘em right now, you have to order ahead, but starting Feb. 25, they’re available through Mardi Gras.

King cake mini-cinnamon buns are available daily at Gibson’s Donuts starting Friday and running through Mardi Gras. (Photo courtesy Gibson’s Donuts)

And this: When a Table Talk member posted photos of his king cake frozen drinks in New Orleans, I knew I had to break down and get a bottle of Gambino’s King Cake Rum Cream, which I missed last year. I was warned and now I’m warning you: Careful. This is stronger than you think!

Eat something decadent this week, especially if you start observing Lent next week. Eat with someone you love, cook something you love or even better, cook for someone you love. I might even fry chicken again.

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