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.

What is going on with the Middle-eastern restaurants on Highland? Open Flame Bar & Grill opened in September with a Poplar Avenue address but facing Highland. In November, Flames Mediterranean Grill opened next to Domino’s at Walker, and just last week I heard about Happy Greek Café, directly across the street, almost at the south end of the Highland Strip.

Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar in Downtown Memphis has been named to TripAdvisor’s “Best Fine Dining Restaurants in the United States” list.

Daniel Masters took over Pontotoc Cafe, revamped it and opened it as Pontotoc Lounge in August (despite the fact that you'll hear it called by its old name in the video).

One & Only BBQ is expanding its footprint outside of East Memphis for the first time with the purchase of a closed restaurant property in Southaven.

The big restaurant space inside Chickasaw Oaks Village has a new tenant and they’re serving up a large selection of food that’s a little bit upscale, a little bit soul food.

For more than two years and possibly closer to three, a black chow roamed Summer Avenue. He visited Walgreens at the corner of Perkins and Summer, hung around in the Aldi parking lot just west of the intersection, and finally settled on Elwood’s Shack as his go-to at meal time.

It’s the end of an era at the corner of Madison and Belvedere. Zinnie’s, called Old Zinnie’s since Zinnie’s East opened a few doors east of the original in the 1980s, has closed.

What better time to launch our new “My Favorite Things” feature than right smack in the holidays?

Well, there’s no room for confusion here. … A couple of months ago, Open Flame Bar and Grill opened at Poplar and Highland, serving Middle Eastern food. Earlier this month, Flames Mediterranean Grill opened on Highland, serving, um, you know. Middle Eastern food.

Celtic Crossing owner D.J. Naylor likes his whiskey, and he wants you to share his opinion. Last year, he held a series of drinking classes on Irish whiskey to expand the palates of us bourbon-lovin' Memphians. Now he's hosting a series on Scotch whisky (the Scots don't use the 'e') to further educate us.

This is the Cooper Young column today. First, congratulations to Ruth Herndon, formerly of Restaurant Iris and The Second Line, who has become the general manager of Tsunami. Ben Smith and Colleen Couch-Smith’s restaurant celebrated 20 years in the summer and Herndon will be part of its continued growth.

In April, Restaurant Iris turned 10 and in June, owner Kelly English shut it down for a complete re-do, the kind where walls get knocked down and menus tossed out. It was a gamble, a throw of the dice. Iris was beloved as it was and after my first visit, I wondered if the coin was going to land heads up.

Here’s an updated list for places open on Thanksgiving. I’ve removed any place that has closed reservations and added another spot. Also, keep in mind that if you don’t want a traditional Thanksgiving meal, you can choose from numerous ethnic restaurants that will be open. Most are; call your favorite spots to check ahead of time and find out their hours. Wherever you celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

'Tis the season for a festive drink, but that doesn't mean you have to whip up pumpkin in a latte. At Babalu, where seasonal cocktails rotate through the menu, they're riffing on a holiday cake this year.

One of Memphis’ long-standing Downtown restaurants will soon expand to accommodate demand.

Elemento Neapolitan Pizza in Crosstown opens Nov. 14 for lunch, and Ronnie Grisanti's Italian Restaurant opens for lunch Nov. 19 in Regalia.

To build a vertical village, you might as well start with food on the ground floor. Folks have to eat, and at Crosstown Concourse, where they also live, go to school, work and play, choices about where to dine continue to expand.

Jambalaya, gumbo, lasagna soup, chili, shrimp and crab meat casserole – those are just a small sample of the dishes served up Sunday at Taste of the Boulevard.

On Saturday I joined 100-plus folks in a banquet room at a Holiday Inn, where we spent the day learning how to be a certified Memphis in May barbecue judge.

Downtown Dining Week ushers in its 10th year Monday with more than 50 restaurants, about triple the number it started with back in 2008. But all those extra choices will cost you: This year a three-course dinner is $20.18, up 10 cents from $20.08 when it started.

This is a big week for some Memphis cooks as they head south for the 7th Annual World Food Championships in Orange Beach, Alabama. Several will make the trip, included two first-place winners from last year.

Sakura has been serving big fat sushi rolls for about 30 years, and we all love 'em. From the crunchies on top of Pickwick to the Big Mac extravagance of the Joyce roll, we can’t stay away. I’m there about once a week and I know that many of you are too, because we say hello.

Belle Tavern owner/bartender Chris Ferri has a nice list of cocktails at the ready, but when I walked in last week and saw cherries marinating, bottles of syrups on one counter, a nice collection of bitters on another and a wall full of spirits, I was moved to request an on-the-spot cocktail.

Vintage901 guests will be journeying to Kenton for the organization’s first outing outside of the Memphis-area on Saturday, Nov. 3.