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.

Porter-Leath’s Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival is back for its 30th year Sunday, April 16, with crawfish by the ton and plenty of fun.

It’s the largest one-day crawfish festival in the Mid-South with over 35,000 people historically attending, plenty of live music, crawfish bobbing, races and eating contests.

The Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival is the largest one-day crawfish festival in the Mid-South. (Courtesy Porter-Leath)

There’s also the annual Gumbo Cook-Off that offers a trophy, cash and bragging rights. Admission is free for everyone.

The festival is 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Riverside Drive between Union and Jefferson avenues. 

If you miss it (or if you just love crawfish or festivals) the Overton Square Crawfish Festival is Saturday, April 22, at, um, Overton Square. It’s also free and you can buy crawfish, other food and drinks there.

I love the connections in this little story: I bet that more than half of you reading have at least one copy of Anne Byrn’s cookbooks. Best known for “The Cake Mix Doctor” (Workman Publishing Co., 1999), Byrn has written more than a dozen other cookbooks, is a Tennessean and, as I learned years ago, she and my late mother-in-law attended the same Nashville church for years. She’s also an all-around nice person, and she needs our help.

I tried to help her myself, but I’m stuck. After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans food writers Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker (a friend from the old days when food writers went to annual conferences) collected and published lost recipes in the cookbook, “Cooking Up a Storm” (Chronicle Books, 2008).

The annual Gumbo Cook-Off at the Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival offers a trophy and a cash prize. (Courtesy Porter-Leath)

Byrn, who is working on a new cookbook, came across a recipe for cookies called Justines in that book. The cookies contain oats, pecans and dates, and they’re attributed to Justine’s restaurant.

So I looked for and could not find my copy of “Justine’s Memories and Recipes” (Wimmer Cookbooks, 1998) by Janet Stuart Smith, the daughter of restaurant owner Justine Smith.

Memphis Magazine contributing editor Michael Donahue couldn’t find his, but he had Smith’s phone number. I gave her a call, and it turns out we’re neighbors — as in, we live just a few houses from each other. Small world all around here — but we’re no closer to the origin of these cookies, just some theories.

The only cookies Smith has in her cookbook — and the only ones she remembers being served at Justine’s — are meringues. But there was a macaron pie that she says sounds similar to Byrn’s cookies and thinks someone might have the two confused.

I think it’s possible that another iconic restaurant from the same era served the cookies and along the way the recipe got attributed to Justine’s.

Kenneth Mickey makes a batch of caramel popcorn at Mickey's Popcorn's Whitehaven kitchen April 7. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

So what do we have here? A great need for your help. We have a culinary mystery with very slim leads, and we’re relying on the memory of you good people. Anyone remember an oatmeal-ish cookie that was popular in an old restaurant? I’ll get the whole recipe for Saturday’s Recipe Exchange, but if this rings a bell, please let me know.

Staks Kitchen opens in Collierville at 3660 S. Houston Levee Road, suite 105, at 6:30 a.m. Monday, April 17. In addition to a dining room, this Staks, a local breakfast and lunch restaurant, will also have a patio and a walk-up window for takeout orders. You can even get on the waitlist online at stakskitchen.com.

Another Buster’s Liquors & Wines is opening this fall, and as co-owner Josh Hammond said when asked if it would be called Buster’s Jr., it’s “too big to a junior.” Look for it in November in the Ridgeway Trace Center at Poplar Avenue and I-240, and, indeed, it will be larger than the Poplar-Highland store. 

Bog & Barley’s much-anticipated opening in the Regalia shopping center in East Memphis was all it was expected to be. The impressive upscale pub looks great, the food is fantastic, the service is friendly and it’s now open to serve you seven days a week. Get an idea of what’s available by clicking here. 

Jane Roberts gave us a story about Mickey’s Popcorn, a finalist for a nice grant from Barclay’s that would allow the Whitehaven business to continue to grow. I hope they win: Tennessee Whiskey Caramel popcorn is their best seller, and it sounds delicious to me.

Three fried tacos pastor, with beans and rice and a serving of salsa and chips is $10 at Maciel’s Midtown. (Joshua Carlucci/The Daily Memphian)

Joshua Carlucci feasted for a $10 Deal at Maciel’s in Cooper-Young, and I mean feasted. Three tacos, beans, rice and salsa and chips. That’s hard to beat! 

Jane Roberts also told us about the Saturday, April 15, event Love Food Hate Waste from noon to 3 p.m. at Memphis Made Brewing, 768 S. Cooper Street. Be honest: I know you waste food because I know I’m not the only one. But I’m terrible about it and really need to do better. 

And tune into this week’s Sound Bites to hear Chris Herrington and me talk about this and that, including Bog & Barley and, as we often do, cake. We really do like cake.

Have a great week, enjoy the beautiful weather and please, if you can help solve the mystery of the Justine cookie, email your thoughts to jbiggs@dailymemphian.com or comment here.

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