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

It’s time for one heck of a birthday party — or, more accurately, three of them. 

Cooper-Young stalwart Tsunami is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month with three guest chef dinners. The first will be held Monday, July 10, with Tsunami alum Travis McConnell, currently the executive chef with Ropeswing Hospitality Group in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Jennifer Biggs counts Tsunami chef and owner Ben Smith’s, above, Chilean sea bass as her all-time favorite fish dish. (The Daily Memphian file)

Each of Tsunami’s three 25th anniversary dinners will begin with an hors d’oeuvres and cocktail hour at 6 p.m. followed by a three-course sit-down dinner with wine pairings at 7 p.m. The cost for each is $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and reservations can be made by calling the restaurant at 901-274-2556. 

To help celebrate, I’ve gone into The Daily Memphian’s archives of all things Tsunami. 

Most importantly, food editor Jennifer Biggs counts Tsunami chef and owner Ben Smith’s Chilean sea bass as her all-time favorite fish dish. (She said so herself, right here.) If it’s me, I would order it at the restaurant, but if you’re feeling adventurous, you can also make it at home because we have Smith’s very own recipe. 

Biggs interviewed Smith and Jason Severs of Bari during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic about the business side of being a restaurateur and the benefits of early dinner reservations.

And here’s one more that might be ripe for a look (it involves fresh watermelon, and watermelon is very much in season right now): a video tutorial with Biggs, Smith and Tsunami bartender Ben McWhorter on how to make a Gardener’s Daughter cocktail.

Each of Tsunami’s three 25th anniversary dinners will begin with an hors d’oeuvres and cocktail hour at 6 p.m. followed by a three-course sit-down dinner with wine pairings at 7 p.m. (The Daily Memphian file)

Congrats to Smith and his entire team on hitting an impressive milestone. 

The Memphis Zoo is also looking back about 25 years. The Zoo recently announced that its 38th Zoo Rendezvous, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 9, will be a return to the 1990s. About 30 restaurants and eateries will be in attendance — including Dough Rye Mi, Folk’s Folly, Mahogany Memphis, Riko’s Kickin Chicken and more — and attendees are encouraged to wear ‘90s attire. Think slip dresses, big baggy jeans and plaid.

Almost Famous, The Yams and one yet-to-be announced group will perform music from the era. 

Back to the present day, The Lobbyist has been open for about six months now and is settling into its new Downtown digs. It recently built out a very nice patio — though, yes, you may want to wait a bit to experience it — and is taking reservations for its chef’s table beginning this month. 

Midtown’s Cafe Society has been sold because owner Cullen Kent wants to pursue other interests. We don’t know who the new owner is yet, but Kent said it’s somebody already in the local restaurant industry who is “going to come in and do a reboot, and (it will be) something not too terribly different.”

The Lobbyist has been open for about six months now and is settling into its new Downtown digs. (Elly Hazelrig/Courtesy The Lobbyist)

We’ve also reported on a spate of new food businesses opening. Bria Walls, owner of Elise Dessert Co., has been selling her banana pudding — it comes in five flavors — at area grocery stores for some time. But over the weekend, Walls hosted the grand opening of her new brick-and-mortar store in the University District. 

In Raleigh, For The Kingdom also opened its new micro-grocery, Exodus Marketplace, over the weekend. The store is an outgrowth of For The Kingdom’s merger last year with Memphis Tilth and was created to combat Raleigh’s food desert. And depending on the store’s success, For The Kingdom could open other locations in other areas of Memphis. 

There’s also a new Promise on South Main Street, so to speak. Dionne Lambert wanted to bring “a safe warm place to eat and soul food back to Main Street” and has done so with Promise Restaurant.

“The food takes you back to that life when people picked those fresh vegetables and everything was fresh and not so microwaveable. It took time and hours to cook, and you could smell it simmering all day,” Lambert told The Daily Memphian’s Christin Yates. 

Speaking of Yates, she also recently took a look at three new brunch spots in the area: Ashtar Garden in Cooper-Young, Garden Brunch Cafe, also on South Main Street, and Mo’Bay Beignet Co. on S. Cooper Street.

If you’re looking for where to eat this weekend, you might start with that story. 

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