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.

On Saturday, 38 esteemed and multi-awarded local and national chefs will be in our backyard for a big party that will leave us full of good food, good wine and good memories to carry with us.

Memphis Food & Wine Festival 2022 is Oct. 15 at Radians Amphitheater on the grounds of Memphis Botanic Garden. If you already have tickets, here are tips for you. If you still need tickets, there’s a link below.

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The festival started in 2016 (you can hear Wally Joe correct me on the year in this Sound Bites podcast with him and Jose Gutierrez, the festival chef co-hosts), held a series of dinners one year and skipped 2020, came back with a stellar sell-out in 2021 and that brings us to where we are.

The festival is a walk-around. You enter (21+; don’t forget your identification), get a nice Riedel wine glass and a map of where to find the food and the wine. Now the first thing you do is this: Stop. Find a nice spot and take a pause. Get out a pen and start making your list.

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Representatives from about 30 wineries will be pouring more than 100 wines and you’ll have more than 38 dishes to sample; don’t even try to get to all of them; you’re there to savor, not to make yourself miserable. And there’s a QR code on that brochure that will tell you who’s got what and where it is.

You can bet I’ll be headed for Michael Ginor’s tent, because he’s the Hudson Valley Foie Gras guy and he’s serving a torchon of foie gras with duck prosciutto. He’s in tent 36, so maybe I’ll mosey that way first. It’s a few down from Rombauer wines, so I’ll get a little something in my glass, then maybe stop by the Acre tent and get the lobster-cauliflower panna cotta with apple and truffle salad.

I’ll look for caviar, because I want to be where it is (Michael Kramer; Jianna, tent 40). Those indulgences handled (foie gras, caviar and truffles is the trifecta), it then comes down to what appeals to me. I like the sound of Ryan Trimm’s tuna nachos with green papaya salad, Reny Alfonso’s Scotch eggs (love Scotch eggs), and no matter what I do, I never miss Andreas Kisler’s tent. He’s the executive chef at The Peabody (where most of these chefs will prepare their meals), and he unfailingly delivers. This year it’s a smoked salmon and smoked trout rillette with carbonated horseradish crema. I have no idea what the carbonated horseradish crema is, but I’ll find out Saturday.

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Take my advice and don’t go in willy-nilly. Sure, walk around and visit, say hi to our local chefs, make the out-of-town ones welcome and visit with the friends you’ll come upon. Listen to the music, drink the wine and have a great time. But with a plan, even one thrown together in 5 or 10 minutes, you’ll have the best experience.

Still need tickets? Go to memphisfoodwinefestival.org and get ‘em. They’re $200 for general admission, the festival is 6-10 p.m., and proceeds benefit the Mid-South Food Bank. 

Speaking of Reny Alfonso: He’ll be cooking lunch for us on Oct. 21 at Celtic Crossing. Alfonso was the chef at Chez Philippe for about six years before taking off on a career that took him to Philadelphia and Miami before he came back to Memphis. He’s here to open Bog & Barley, the upscale Irish pub Celtic owner DJ Naylor is bringing to Regalia next year.

Reny Alfonso prepares a beet salad at Celtic Crossing. Alfonso, the former chef at Chez Philippe before leaving Memphis 12 years ago, is back working on updating Celtic Crossing’s menu and will soon be the chef at the new Bog & Barley. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

Meanwhile, we get to enjoy his great food at Celtic. He’s updated the menu but goes off it once a month for the whiskey dinners and is departing from it for us next week. We’ll start with roasted pumpkin bisque with a sweet corn and bacon succotash and fried sage, have roasted pork tenderloin with mushroom green pea risotto and a fig-pork reduction for our entrée and Irish chocolate pot du creme for dessert. It’s $25 for Daily Memphian subscribers and $30 for non-subscribers, plus tax and tip, and includes a soft drink.

Lunch begins at noon, and we’re having a pre-lunch mingle again at 11:30 a.m. Get your tickets now to join us at 903 Cooper St. Seating is limited and delightful; weather permitting, we’ll be on the covered patio.

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Y’all. I knew when I went to interview Pamela and Maurice Hill that I would be glad to see them; it’s been years and I instantly liked them the first time I met them. But this time, 17 years after I first met them, I found out so much I didn’t know and learned what a struggle and a blessing Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies has been for them, long before the tragic shooting of Young Dolph in the bakery last November. Read their story, then go by and introduce yourself. The Hills are inspirational, true Memphians in heart and soul, and a brief visit with them will make you feel good. So will a cookie. 

Maurice and Pamela Hill, owners of Makeda's on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022 at their store on Airways Blvd. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

The success of Inspire Community Café is another Memphis story that should make you proud of our town, and it’s easy on your wallet too. Jordan Arellano brings us a $10 Deal from the Binghampton restaurant and spoiler: It’s all a $10 Deal. 

There was a beer party last weekend at Hampline, another in two weeks at Cooper Young Suds Fest (story on that to come), but on Saturday, it’s Memphis Brewfest at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. Funny note: Last year Brewfest was followed the next day with Brunchfest, but, um, no one felt like showing up. So this year, it stands alone. 

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Last but definitely not least, Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken is officially the best fried chicken in the country, so named at the National Fried Chicken Festival in New Orleans earlier this month. Congratulations to Wendy McCrory and all the folks at all the Gus’s around the country. 

Servers carry out plates of food at the Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken’s location in Germantown Jan. 22, 2022. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)

If you see me at Memphis Food and Wine Festival, please say hello. And if my mouth is full, just give me a minute then I’ll say hello back. Have a great week.

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