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.

If it’s corned beef and cabbage you’re craving, Celtic Crossing has you covered Thursday. You’re also in good shape if it’s whiskey you want or you need to crush a green beer.

Further, there’s Irish music all day, plenty of Guinness, 150 feet of street blocked off at Cooper Street and Oliver Avenue for the big party, and this:

“We’re going to have sun and 73 degrees,” said Celtic owner DJ Naylor.

That’s a big deal, considering that last year’s St. Patrick’s Day party was held during a thunderstorm that included a tornado watch.

DJ Naylor (right) and Seamus Loftus, two natives of West Ireland, toasted at Celtic Crossing in January 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)

“We had the street closed off, but of course, nobody wanted to get out,” he said.

And St. Patrick’s Day 2020 was just as COVID was coming in, so this year, Naylor is expecting a big crowd at 903 Cooper St. as people release their inner Irish, pent up and ready to party.

“We’ll officially open at 11 a.m., though we won’t turn anyone away before that,” Naylor said. “We’ll be crowded at lunch, we’ll thin out a little in the afternoon, then it’ll be bedlam by 6.”

You can enjoy the bedlam until 3 a.m. if that’s your thing; live it up, as long as you’re too young to remember pub crawls. If you remember those, go home earlier; Friday will be so much kinder to you.

Celtic’s Irish menu includes corned beef and cabbage, prepared Reny Alfonso style, so expect it to be exceptionally good: Corned beef made from prime brisket, served on top of shredded cabbage with caraway, with carrots and potatoes. There’s a shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash and a few other Irish dinners, as well as Reny’s burger and a kids’ menu.

There’s face painting for the kids (or anyone, I guess), and at 2 p.m., a $10 admission charge kicks in. If you’re reading this early on Wednesday and want to start your St. Paddy’s week right, click here to see if there are tickets available for tonight’s whiskey dinner at the pub. The last word was that 10 more seats would be released, but that they’d only sell until around 2 p.m. March 16. Give it a try if you see this in time and want a good meal and some good whiskey; tickets are $90.

Karen Carrier (center) greeted friends during the opening night of Back Do / Mi Yard, Carrier’s patio venue behind the Beauty Shop, in October 2019. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian file)

If sushi and sake are more your thing — or if you want it all — you’ll want to be at the Beauty Shop on March 23, for the first Do Sushi popup. Many of you will remember Karen Carrier’s sushi restaurant, which was in the space where Bar DKDC is now.

But do you remember Noodle Doodle Do? You can relive it too when Do comes back 4-10 p.m.

“We got a little write-up in Bon Appetit as one of the best noodle houses in the country. They said you could even find Bobo’s Jewish Chicken Noodle Soup made with lokshen noodles,” Carrier said.

I remember it well and can’t wait for a bowl of it next week.

“Hopefully we’ll start doing it once a month,” Carrier said. “You can get sushi all over town now, which is great, but you can only get these rolls here.”

Some of the favorite rolls back next week include the strawberry roll, the scallop roll, a BLTA (a hand roll that is exactly what you think it is, so bacon lovers can indulge) and the Mindy roll, named after Mindy Son, one of the women who rolled sushi at Do and who is now the general manager of Carrier’s restaurants.

Do was open for 10 years at night; Noodle Doodle Do was open about four years for lunch. Karen closed them to open DKDC.

“They were selling sushi in a gas station by then, plus you know how I am,” she said. “I get bored.”

And we love it when she does. Just show up on Wednesday at 964 Cooper St.; no reservations will be taken.

Alyson Hudson, left, and Joe Cartwright, right, are now both cheffing at McEwen’s. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

It’s been quite a COVID for McEwen’s, which stayed closed 641 days to renovate during the pandemic. When the restaurant’s longtime chef left, another who had kept McEwen’s in his heart for over a decade reappeared. Joe Cartwright, best known for his seven years at Wilson Café, is back, and you can expect your favorites to stay, but he and chef Alyson Hudson plan to work on the menu, to “brighten it up and get it up to date.” 

If you don’t have tickets to see Alton Brown at the Orpheum tonight, it looks like there are still some available and you might want to grab a couple after reading Peggy Burch’s story about the “Good Eats” creator’s farewell tour. He’s funny, he’s smart and it seems like this is your last chance to see this performance.

Lenora Ebule posed for a portrait with her signature Bailan spices, which are sold at Superlo locations. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)

I told you the story of Lenora Ebule, who took her grandmother’s tradition of making her own spice blend and turning it into a business. Her products, Bailan Spice, are in local stores and she was recently featured in a Zulily sale online and told her story on QVC2. Read about her and where to find her spices by clicking here.

Tamra Patterson, aka Chef Tam, will be a contestant on an episode of “Chopped” airing in April. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

And here’s the story of Tamra Patterson, better known to most of us as Chef Tam. She’s a force, a dervish in the kitchen who’s running from her Memphis restaurant to one she recently opened in Texas. Expect more from her as she continues her expansion and know that COVID taught her this if nothing else: The new places will all be takeout only. 

Sad news this week, too: Rizzo’s is closing at the end of the month. Chef/owner Michael Patrick said that he’s given it his best, but that COVID has skewed the numbers and he can’t get ahead. I wish him only the best as he shuts down his business and finds a kitchen where he can be the chef but not the owner. 

Ryan Trimm, who is also closing Sweet Grass in Cooper-Young after Easter brunch, kindly offered his recipe for shrimp and grits, and this is a gift, folks. It’s a super recipe and came from a generous heart. 

But there’s good news: Central BBQ is expanding its original location, and I’ll be darned if Brookhaven Circle isn’t getting a brewery. Hook Point Brewing Co. is taking over the Bangkok Alley space and should be open this summer. I am super excited.

Have a great week! Beware the green beer.

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