Google search queries about meeting people and “how to make friends” are at all-time highs this year. A few Memphians have ideas on how to make it happen. 

Plus, we’ve got two tricks to selecting ripe avocados at the store, and also the chef shares how to keep the guac from turning brown.

It’s all openings this week with TacoNGanas, Bloom Bakery & Cafe, Playa Bowls and Brain Food Memphis.

Kat’s Sourdough and Juice Bar owner Kat Alaina started her flour-based career as a gluten-sensitive mom who needed a bit of extra cash for her four kids’ Christmas presents. 

This week’s Table Talk comes to you from Sophia Surrett, The Daily Memphian’s new food and restaurant reporter.

The upcoming expansion marks a major milestone for a business that, according to the company’s website, began quite literally with a sack of oysters and the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A New Uptown bar will open in an existing event space.

Baker’s son Austin Baker said his father told him, “we are all stewards. Everything we own, someone’s owned before us, and someone will own it when we’re gone. It’s up to us to pay it forward while we’re here.” 

The location in Southaven will remain open, they said.

When life gives you pizza dough, make panuzzo.

Many vodka sauce recipes start with tomato paste, but the one from Bardog Tavern and Aldo’s Pizza Pies starts with a marinara.

Ice cream and more on its American Way, Rotolo’s Lakeland grand opening and Roll With It in Whitehaven.

Since opening in March, Kuya has cemented itself as a Downtown destination for late nights and Filipino comfort food. But on Sunday, April 19, the restaurant held its first brunch service.

Locals David and Julie Yopp have joined Michael Muhlert, one of the original Flip Side owners, in ownership of the pinball bar.

The Silly Goose Lounge’s co-owner won’t be giving away the secret recipes and days-long methods to their pizzas or cocktails, but he promises, “There’s a lot of work behind when you order a drink.”

Several new businesses and rebrands are emerging along the Stage Road corridor west of Bartlett City Hall, bringing a mix of restaurants and entertainment to the area.

Strawberry-picking season started at the third-generation family farm Jones Orchard last week, attracting families and chefs alike.

This recipe is bananas — ripe, but firm, bananas.

Aw, shucks. Wintzell’s Oyster House is opening its first Memphis location at a former Hooters site.

If there’s one thing happening this weekend, it’s food. You can go to two different food festivals on both Saturday and Sunday. 

Not only is the famed barbecue restaurant reopening Friday, April 17, but Big Bill himself is now managing the day-to-day kitchen operations.

Stix Express Downtown will close Friday, April 24. Meanwhile, two coffee locations have made progress toward opening. 

Last month, writer Erica Horton noticed a new lunch offering from Hustle & Dough: a burger with white cheddar, bacon-onion jam, horseradish aioli, lots of bread and butter pickles and a potato bun.