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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Shelby Farms Park plans to fill the restaurant space next to the FedEx Event Center as soon as possible. The Kitchen has occupied the space since it opened in 2016 but will close at the end of the year.

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.

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.

When Raymond Jackson started interviewing for the chef position at Today & Always in Crosstown Arts, he started eating a vegan diet for the first time in his life.

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

It’s a boy meets boy story that started almost three decades ago and most of you know it by now. Two Italian kids, different schools, different families, but on Sundays, they were the same, gathered around the Sunday table with parents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and the all-important grandmother.

Business partners Chad Foreman and Kirk Cotham, the creative minds behind Pyro’s Fire Fresh Pizza, The Levee Coffee and Creamery, and Wolf River Brisket, have had a very busy year.

Rebecca Hartman almost threw her golden ticket away because she didn’t know what it was, then almost gave it away when she found out. But in the end, she kept it and on Thursday afternoon created a chocolate known as The Hartman at Phillip Ashley Chocolates in Cooper-Young.

Visitation for Jack Dyson is Friday, Oct. 12, 4-7 p.m. at Bethel AME Church, 2011 Alcy Road. The funeral will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, at Brown Baptist Church, 7200 Swinnea Road in Southaven, and burial is 1:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, at Forest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park East, 2440 Whitten Road.

Jack Dyson was an iconic figure at Memphis’ most iconic restaurant, a 48-year veteran of the Rendezvous, the waiter to big shots and celebrities who took it all in stride.

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

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.

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.