Harold Cook, the head bartender at Sweet Grass and Next Door in Cooper Young, turns to gin and muddled aromatics when asked to pair a cocktail with the oysters at Sweet Grass' oyster bar. This one holds up to the brininess of the oysters, but is light and has a bit of a kick from the chile pepper, too.

About two years ago, Sear Shack showed us how good simple can be. The restaurant opened in Collierville with three items: Burgers, fries and shakes. Sure, you could customize a little—a single or a double, add bacon, put cheese sauce on your fries—but the core menu was limited.

Neighboring restaurants McEwen’s and Curry N Jerk on Monroe are both closed after an electrical fire.

Today’s consumers have higher expectations. They not only want a great product, but they are willing to buy from or boycott companies based on corporate values.

Soon a tiny strip mall in East Memphis will offer all the basics: Garibaldi’s Pizza is opening next to Gibson’s Donuts on Mt. Moriah.

When October comes around, so do the festivals and dinners. You can stay busy from now until the end of the year with good food and drink if that’s what you like – and I’m guessing you do. Coming up soon (more later in the month):

After a couple of weeks of serving a limited menu to invited guests, Ronnie Grisanti’s Italian Restaurant opens its big mahogany doors and its full menu to the public Friday, Sept. 28.

David Parks, a popular longtime bartender, has gone to work at Restaurant Iris. He’s joined the team that includes bar manager Larin Culp and Jacob Leonard, bartender at The Second Line.

Bert Smythe likes whiskey so much that he keeps a selection of 185-plus bottles behind the bar at McEwen’s, the restaurant at 120 Monroe he owns with partner John Littlefield.

Almost everyone loves pizza, and Rock’n Dough Pizza + Brew Co. makes, hands down, one of the best in town. From the USA! USA! (always known in my family as LISA! LISA! because of a boxy font used at the closed Poplar and Highland location) to plain pepperoni to the superb and odiferous Garlic My Pie, the pizzas are solid from the crust up.

People have emailed me since we launched last week, wondering if we planned to start having Friday lunches again.

Cooper-Young is getting a new restaurant and it’s one Memphians have been waiting on so long they might’ve forgotten about it: Elwood’s Shells will open at 916 Cooper in the former Jasmine Thai & Vegetarian Restaurant by the end of the year.

My friend Peggy Burch frequently makes the stovetop version of Melissa Clark’s Moroccan stew, and one bowlful of it was all it took to convert me to soaking and cooking dried garbanzo beans. Then Clark’s cookbook “Dinner in an Instant” came out, and I switched to this version, close but not exactly the same, that I make in my Instant Pot (I’ve used pressure cookers for years and cannot recommend them enough).

Two new Grisanti restaurants are days away from opening. Ronnie Grisanti’s Italian Restaurant at Regalia is scheduled to open Sept. 28 and David Grisanti’s Italian Restaurant in Collierville is ready—but waiting on the cable company.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 10 years, but Halloween marks the 10th anniversary of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, the restaurant that started the five-restaurant empire for Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman. To celebrate, they’re throwing a big party with some mighty fine culinary company from Memphis and around the country.

Pete & Sam’s celebrates its 70th anniversary this year in a spiffed up restaurant, thanks to the Bomarito brothers taking on local investor partners and a late 2017 fire that caused the place to close for almost five months for cleaning and updating.

LYFE Kitchen at Chisca on Main Street Downtown has closed permanently, and Memphis-based Carlisle Corp. has sold the healthful dining brand to franchisee L3 Hospitality Group in Chicago.

It’s worth a little trouble to turn out a good cocktail. The Burnt Caipirinha at Alchemy requires a bit of prep ahead of time, but after you’ve made an oleo-saccharum and grilled your lemons, well, then there’s nothing to it.

The opening of Porch & Parlor in the former Bar Louie spot in Overton Square has been pushed back a bit, from late 2018 to early 2019.

In 1948, Sam Bomarito was back from the war, settled back in his hometown and had about $3,000 to put in a business. His cousin, Pete Romeo from Chicago, had about the same. They teamed up and opened Pete & Sam’s, but Pete wasn’t long for a sleepy river town.

The Memphis episode of Food Network’s “Big Food Truck Tip” aired Wednesday night and viewers found out which of the three featured food trucks received a $10,000 surprise in the tip jar. 

Some folks can whip up a cake on a whim, but I don’t have a baker’s touch. It’s a production for me, something that requires following a recipe, hauling out a mixer and cleaning up a mess.