Carlos Morgan was grateful to open his bag of cold weather items at The Second Line’s New Year’s Day breakfast, but the first item he saw was a pastel fleece pullover.

Arepas Deliciosas is one of my favorite places in town, not just for the food but because owner Blanca Simpson is doing purposeful work at her restaurant. She employs young women who need work, and the proceeds from the restaurant are banked to fund a living and training center for women in need in her native Colombia.

Next holiday season, the original Corky’s Bar-B-Q restaurant on Poplar in East Memphis will have room to accommodate private parties and events.

Restaurants opened, moved, changed hands and closed in 2018, and we said goodbye to beloved restaurateurs, too.

A bottle of bubbly is all but required for New Year’s Eve, but you don’t have to drink it straight if you prefer it extra. A Champagne cocktail is always appreciated, and we have a few for you to try.

In the South, we eat lunch every day except Sunday, when our midday meal is dinner. At my grandmother’s table, Sunday dinner was fried chicken or pot roast, both served with an assortment of vegetables, biscuits or cornbread to go with it all.

Last year Kelly English fed New Year’s Day breakfast to about 300 people in need and provided them with warm wear before they left the restaurant. This year he’s doing it again, and you can help.

Milk punch is a Christmas Day tradition in my house, and it’s true to its name as I make up a batch of it, freeze some in an ice ring or two and serve a punch bowl full of it. Day drinking at its finest.

Students and instructors at L’Ecole Culinaire on Germantown Parkway were taken aback Monday when they were told the school is closing, effectively immediately.

The Broadway musical “Waitress” is coming to the Orpheum next month and we’re going to have a little fun while we wait for the sweet show to open. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that Jenna loves her pies. If you do too, it’s time to show off.

Looking to let someone else do the work on Christmas Day? Start right here. The following restaurants are open; if you know of others, please add them in the comments or email me at jbiggs@dailymemphian.com and I'll add them to the list.

Two local colleges are hosting sessions this week for students who found themselves without a school when L'Ecole Culinaire and two local Vatterott Career Colleges campuses closed abruptly on Monday.

Gary Williams’ Memphis journey started 10 years ago and ended Saturday where it started on Florida Street. The beloved Memphis chef and all-round good guy was sent off with a big homegoing and a second line parade that ended at his restaurant, Krewe of DeJavu.

The ’80s called. They said to tell that they’re into Negronis instead of Singapore Slings, Dean Martin over Donna Summer, that prosecco is their new white zin, and that they’re at the bar in Ronnie Grisanti’s.

If you get a little excited opening a new bottle of bourbon, think how Ryan Trimm felt when his new stash was rolled out to him. He got to open not a bottle but a barrel, and got to do it right here in his hometown.

I love a good mixology hack, and Taylor Hannah at Acre shows us how to mimic a shrub with none of the work in Beast O’ Burden, a favorite at the bar in the beautiful East Memphis restaurant.

After Gary Williams’ funeral on Saturday, the band he helped create will honor him in a second line parade.

Last week I sat before a panel of panel of young women from Middle College High School at Christian Brothers University and the tables were turned, as they peppered me with a series of questions about Memphis barbecue. The class of 2022 is writing a book about the history of the city’s most revered food and I was one of several folks they interviewed.

Funeral arrangements have been made for Gary Williams, the founder of DeJavu and chef at Krewe of DeJavu who died last week at age 56.

Have you had enough Elwood’s? Is there such a thing? Well, I’d rather risk inundating you than let December get by without you knowing this is the month Tim Bednarski offers “Tres Amigos,” his tamale special.

Most every family has a traditional Christmas sweet. Maybe it’s cookies at your house, maybe a red velvet cake at your mother’s, quite possibly a fruit cake somewhere.

Gary Williams, one of the city’s favorite chefs, beloved by notable Memphians and the workaday people who jockeyed for a table in his tiny Creole soul food restaurant on Florida Street, died on Dec. 5 of a heart attack.

On Friday Krewe of DeJavu was packed with friends out to pay their respects to Gary Williams and to provide a boost for his family in a time of need.

Can’t decide between bourbon and rye? You don’t have to if you pick up a bottle of Doc.52; it’s half each.

Sometimes the little insider facts I’ve learned about food over the years have surprised me. One is that Thanksgiving is a huge day for brunch at restaurants, and another is that Christmas leads Valentine’s Day in chocolate sales.