It’s time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day, whether you need reservations or a box of local chocolates. And it’s time for tickets for The Daily Memphian’s Friday lunch and Caritas’ February dinner.

McEwen's offers a soup-and-salad deal for $9.50 that warms you on a cold day and gives you plenty of fresh greens on the side.

Marci Clark establishes a storefront location for her food trailer in the Whitehaven community where she grew up.

The executive chef for Flight Restaurant Group never attended a day of culinary school, but trained kitchen staff for a national chain. He sold street tacos and now builds seafood towers. And every morning, he brews the coffee for his employees.

Jennifer Biggs and Kelly English talk about rude diners, reminisce about last year’s funeral for the Saints at The Second Line and go off topic. 

Sometimes you want to go to a place where everybody knows your name. Regulars say the old Rogers store was that kind of place.

Whitehaven economic development officials have long bemoaned the fact that residents have to cross the Mississippi state line nearby to have a selection of dining places to choose from, taking those revenues and sales taxes with them.

Jimmy Sinh, aka Sushi Jimmi, is in the kitchen at Saltwater Crab, the menu is new, and it's under new ownership.

A month in the new decade, take stock of how you’ve done and make your adjustments now.

Collierville is looking to amend its beer ordinance. The amendments to be considered Monday are clarifications, according to town officials.

There are Grisantis all over, but only one in Collierville. David Grisanti is operating smoothly in the back of Sheffield Antiques Mall, serving up all the family favorites.

Tandem Restaurant Partners will reopen Robilio’s Side Car Cafe within a couple of months.

I own a restaurant in Downtown Memphis, and I can’t tell you the number of times employees ask to leave work at 8 p.m. because they don’t want to miss the only bus they can catch to get home at night. Some will miss out on $40 or $50 in wages because they leave work early.

Memphis Chess Club has transformed itself into a business, and is changing the shopfront space of a Downtown building into a café/coffee shop and its new home.

Entrepreneurs Faith and Mark Lansdon, owners of the Voodoo Café Food Truck, are bringing a little bit of New Orleans to the Bartlett area with a brick-and-mortar store.

Tickets are still available to two events at Caritas and our Friday lunch at Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza; reserve now.

Chocolate Fantasy is back for its 35th year at Agricenter on Saturday. If you have a taste for something else, pasta, pizza, hot dogs, cheese and brews are on the menus at other events this week. 

Food at participating restaurants ranges from West African to smoothies and wraps. 

Moondance Grill is Tommy Peters’ latest restaurant, and there’s plenty to like about the new place in Germantown’s Thornwood development.

When you can’t take the beach cure, there’s always more soup. At Mosa, a bowl of yuan bao is one way to combat the gray-day sniffles.

Domenico Canale would be 177 and a birthday party to celebrate him is Thursday at the Old Dominick Distillery, steps away from the warehouse where he started selling whiskey generations ago.

Domenico Canale’s 177th birthday is a good reason to have a party at Old Dominick, where all the liquor is made in-house.

Cold or wet days lend themselves to a pot of soup; book your seat for Friday lunch; get to Napa Cafe for a piece of buttermilk pie and someone else will get one, too.

Brandon Rodriguez Ornela and his partners — a sister and a cousin — have opened Cool Beans Coffee Shop inside the Cordova International Farmer’s Market on Germantown Road. They hope for future expansion. 

This is about respect for time-honored process in a short-cut world, about pride in completion, about creating something for others. As chef Hallie said, “Baking is hard.”