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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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