Welcome to Table Talk, The Daily Memphian’s weekly food and dining newsletter for subscribers only.

Chicken Parmesan is one of my favorite dishes and an absolute go-to for me when I see it on a restaurant menu. 

I fell in love with the classic Italian dish as a child at my local Olive Garden in Trussville, Alabama. Ever since then, if it’s on a menu, I’m ordering it, and it’s usually a golden, pan-fried, breaded chicken breast topped with marinara and loads of cheese. 

When I recently went to Josephine Estelle, Andrew Ticer’s and Michael Hudman’s newest restaurant, my order was no exception. 

The two local chefs’ take on chicken Parm was delicious and used an interesting cut of poultry — an “airline chicken.” The cut is of a whole chicken breast but the wing joint is still attached, making the whole thing resemble an airplane wing. 

Fellow food writer Jennifer Chandler had more to say on the elevated choice of the airline chicken and other dishes she tried at Josephine Estelle recently.

Josephine Estelle is located at 6695 Poplar Ave. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)

But the restaurant’s chicken Parm deserves special recognition for its thick cut of chicken, which was juicy and tender, and the crisp crust of the breading.

Ticer and Hudman’s restaurants serve homemade marinara with a sweet acidity, which pairs nicely with the chicken and the cheeses. 

Speaking of cheese, I’ve said before that I have an unnecessary love of it, and the restaurant’s fried cheese is a must-order, as well. Diners get two deep-fried, four-cheese-blend sticks, dusted with grated Parmesan and served with a mini boat of marinara and a lemon wedge. I can’t explain the joy this dish brought me. 

Biting into it, you get the crunch of the breading, followed by a soft bite of the cheese on the inside. And, yes, you can achieve a satisfying cheese pull.

This week on the Memphis food scene

Shari Haley founded Bob’s Bakery. (Courtesy Shari Haley)

Longtime Tonica employee Shari Haley will soon open a pie-focused bakery in Tonica’s Downtown location. I spoke with Haley about how the bakery, which is named after her late father, has been a dream of hers for more than a decade.

Customers of Chef Flavas don’t have to wait until the Bartlett location reopens later this year after the recent fire. They can now place takeout orders from Chef Flavas' new Downtown location, while owners Chris and Regina Moore continue with the interior buildout. They hope to be fully open Downtown by the end of June.

For those without plans on Thursday nights, I wrote about a $15 deal at Harry’s Italian Restaurant in Millington. The deal includes a large, three-topping pizza — I got mushroom, sausage and tomato.

Robert Higgins, Adrian Granderson and Joe Johnson opened the first WKND Hang Suite in Nashville. (The Daily Memphian file)

In my weekly Food Files column, I wrote about the area’s third Insomnia Cookies location opening on Winchester Road; a new open-air patio in South Main awaiting permit approval; and the closing of the WKND Hang Suite, which was rebranded as Taste by WKND last year.

Lastly, Jennifer Chandler let readers in on the recipe for Brookhaven Pub’s keto-friendly “Grill and Grind” blackened chicken-and-veggie plate. It was formerly known as the Sandy Special, named after co-owner Sandy Spell.

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