It took a little while to get it together, but Elemento Neapolitan Pizza in Crosstown is turning out plenty of good pizzas and is adding panuzzo to the menu.

The gourmet prime burger and shoestring fries are a feast at the coziest steakhouse in town, but the burger is served only in the lounge on weekends at Folk's Folly.

After 65 years and hundreds of thousands of burgers, it's easy to get it right. At Alex's Tavern, the burger hits the spot every time.

Lucky Cat Ramen makes a mean bowl of its namesake soup, but don’t overlook the rice bowls when you make a visit to the restaurant in its new spot on Broad Avenue.

Sling Shot Charlie's offers plenty of $10 Deals and makes for a nice drive for lunch or dinner, a brief escape from the hustle and bustle.

Wasabi serves numerous rolls, fresh sashimi and sushi and lunch specials that are a good value, all tucked away in Sanderlin Centre in East Memphis.

Forget the tortilla chips when you order barbecue nachos at Central BBQ. The restaurant makes their own potato chips and pork rinds, and either takes the nacho game to a new level.

Food Fight returns to judge two takes on bibimbap – a Korean mixed-rice dish – at Kwik Chek in Midtown and Sam's Deli in the University District. 

Inspire Community Café in Binghampton Gateway Center serves affordable meals and provides a nice spot for folks to gather for coffee and companionship. A percentage of profits go to nonprofit organizations each month.

P.O. Press in Collierville is possibly the best restaurant around here at present and well worth the 20- or 30-mile drive for folks from Downtown, Midtown and East Memphis.

Arepas Deliciosas is one of my favorite places in town, not just for the food but because owner Blanca Simpson is doing purposeful work at her restaurant. She employs young women who need work, and the proceeds from the restaurant are banked to fund a living and training center for women in need in her native Colombia.

In the South, we eat lunch every day except Sunday, when our midday meal is dinner. At my grandmother’s table, Sunday dinner was fried chicken or pot roast, both served with an assortment of vegetables, biscuits or cornbread to go with it all.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Open Flame Bar and Grill opened last month in the former Rock ‘n Dough at Poplar and Highland, but don’t get too excited about the first part just yet. The bar is still there but so far the only alcohol sold is beer.

When the weather turns chilly, we turn to soup. When it gets chilly and wet, very little beats a bowl of Vietnamese beef stew, pho no. 20, at Vietnam Restaurant on Cleveland.

Asian Eatery is the restaurant that started life as Tao Too and has changed its name a time or two. But it’s the same place with mostly the same menu it had when I ate my first bowl of Devil’s Nest Soup in 2010.

When the doors of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen opened in 2008, the owners had a good idea where they’d be in 10 years but we diners did not. What we saw was a cozy Italian restaurant run by two baby-faced kids who surprised us by actually knowing what they were doing.

Nabbing a $10 deal at a Mexican restaurant for lunch doesn’t take much effort – go to just about any place in town. But Steak Monterrey at Las Margaritas in Cordova is heads above your typical tacos and tamales with rice and beans.