Presenting the Tasteful List 2022 — my 12th annual alphabetical presentation of local favorites in one decidedly local man’s opinion, and everything on the list is locally owned.

Again, I remind you that this list is not necessarily endorsed by my colleague, Jennifer Biggs. Jennifer is a pro and objective. I’m just hungry and subjective.

Table Talk: Whataburger No. 2 opens; mingling next month

Nor is it endorsed by my colleague, Chris Herrington, who has exhaustive knowledge of the food truck scene — among other things — in our city. Food trucks are not on my list. I can’t keep up with all the fun stuff between those wheels, but I envy those who can. As for exhaustive knowledge, I’m just pretty much exhausted.

This list is not even endorsed by my wife, Nora. I have to sneak out to get some of this stuff. If I order most of it and she’s with me, I get the stare.

If you’re married, you know the stare — the soundless signal that what you’re doing is unacceptable, possibly fatal and that you deserve whatever happens as a result.

I got the first stare from her in 1967 — I think there was a cliff and a quarry involved, maybe a cliff, a waterfall, and a climb up a rock wall in a Pickwick Lake cove, maybe cheap vodka, and a college rush party — maybe all of that in the same week.

1967 was a seminal year.

Conaway: ‘I intend to live forever. So far, so good.’

However, if Nora is eating a Reuben, skinny onion rings, fried pickles, fried artichokes, tiramisu, caramel cake or a chocolate fudge sundae — whipped cream, crushed pecans or peanuts, no cherry ­— no reciprocal stare from me is warranted.

Nora is, after all, human. And I get a bite of any of the above.

Amazingly, my physician not only doesn’t condemn the list or even remain neutral. We actually fondly discuss several things on the list in the examining room — the place where the net result of the list is most evident.

We both live, after all, in Memphis. And Payne’s barbecue, for example, exists only here.

And that’s the point.

This city is blessed by its food, an abundance of creativity, diversity and tradition mixed in the same bowls, seasoned with love, soul and imagination — and still made and served by amazing people with a smile through the most trying of times.

Have patience. We’re all getting back out there, pretty much all at once.

For instance, I expressed hope last year for the survival of two of my favorite places: The Peanut Shoppe and The Little Tea Shop. The Peanut Shoppe has survived, moving further south on Main Street, still owned by Rida and Amira AbuZaineh and run by Rida.

Sadly, The Little Tea Shop, owned by Amira’s sister, Suhair Lauck, remains dark.

The Peanut Shoppe ready to reopen in new location, remains Downtown

The light that is Suhair’s personality and the beacon that is her belief in this, her adopted city, will forever shine for anyone who was ever her customer. Corn sticks are a rare find these days, and any I may come in contact with will be measured against Suhair’s.

But some things return. The Le sisters — as in Saigon Le — are back, and sister Tuyen Le has opened Tuyen’s Asian Bistro. That means those Vietnamese eggs rolls are back. They come in orders of 10. Don’t ask me to share. Get your own.

New Eats: Tuyen’s Asian Bistro on Cleveland becoming a hot spot

Remember all the local options you have when you eat out or order in. That money stays here. Remember the people serving you when you order, especially when you tip. That money keeps people here.

Also remember that having any of these things now and then isn’t cheating on a diet: it’s rewarding yourself for achieving something special. Like, say, successfully raising and lowering your recliner last night, or getting up this morning, or getting out of sweatpants today.

Go for it.

• A/M Breakfast: Andrew Michael
• Avocado Soup: Fratelli’s, Libro
• Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp: Molly’s
• Baguettes: La Baguette
• Barbecue Pizza: Coletta’s, Elwood’s Shack, Pete & Sam’s
• Barbecue Salad: Bar-B-Q Shop, Central BBQ, Germantown Commissary
• Barbecue Sandwich: Bar-B-Q Shop, Collierville/Germantown Commissary, Interstate, Payne’s, Tops
• Barbecue Spaghetti: Bar-B-Q Shop
• Beacon Salad: Pete & Sam’s
• Beer: Boscos, Cash Saver, High Point Grocery, Lucchesi’s Beer Garden, anywhere serving Crosstown, Ghost River, Grind City, High Cotton, Meddlesome, Memphis Made or Wiseacre
• Bi Bim Bop: Kwik Chek
• Birthday Cake Sno Cone: Jerry’s
• Biscuits: Bryant’s, Brother Juniper’s, Sunrise
• Boston Cream Pie: Calvary Waffle Shop
• Breakfast (anything): Arcade, Barksdale, Brother Juniper’s, Sunrise
• Brisket: Elwood’s Shack, Rendezvous, Wolf River Brisket Company
• Brisket Pot Roast: The Farmer
• Cake (any): Muddy’s
• Carbonara: Libro
• Catfish: Soul Fish
• Cheeseburger: Alex’s, Belmont, Germantown Commissary, Huey’s, River Oaks, The Bluff, Tops
• Cheesesteak Egg Rolls: SOB
• Chicken Newport: The Vault
• Chicken Paillard: River Oaks
• Chicken Salad: Bogie’s, Café Palladio, Calvary Waffle Shop, Fratelli’s, La Baguette
• Chips: Las Delicias
• Chopped Steak: Mortimer’s
• Coffee, Bluff City Coffee, Café Eclectic, Otherlands
• Cornish Hens: Cozy Corner
• Crab Cakes: Char, Napa Cafe
• Crab Cake Benedict: Libro
• Cupcakes, Muddy’s
• Dessert (anything): River Oaks
• Deviled Eggs: Bogie’s, Magnolia & May
• Donuts: Gibson’s Donuts
• Duck Fried Rice: SOB
• Dry Ribs: Rendezvous
• Elfo Special: Frank Grisanti’s
• Fish (any): Coastal Fish, Tsunami
• Fish and Chips: Brass Door, Celtic Crossing
• Fish Pudding: Calvary Waffle Shop
• Flights (any): Flight (duh)
• Fried Artichokes: Boscos
• Fried Chicken: Gus’s, Jack Pirtle’s, Uncle Lou’s
• Fried Eggplant: Patrick’s
• Fried Green Tomatoes: Parish Grocery
• Fried Pickles: Soul Fish
• Fries: Young Avenue Deli
• Guacamole: Las Delicias
• Gumbo: Second Line
• Gyros: Lucchesi’s Beer Garden
• Hot and Sour Soup: Mosa
• Hot Dogs: Elwood’s Shack
• Italian Salad: Bogie’s, Fino’s, Pete & Sam’s
• Italian Spinach: Pete & Sam’s
• Lacey Special: Mortimer’s
• Lamb Chops: Jim’s Place Grille
• Meat and Two or Three: Arcade, Barksdale, Cupboard, Four Way, Mortimer’s, Patrick’s, The Farmer
• Memphis Breakfast Tacos: Magnolia & May
• Miss Mary’s Salad: Frank Grisanti’s
• New York Club: Fino’s
• Ninja: Kwik Chek
• Nuts: Peanut Shoppe
• Patio Salad: Half Shell
• Pimento Salad: Holiday
• Pizza: Aldo’s, Bosco’s, Broadway Pizza, Ciao Bella, Hog & Hominy, Memphis Pizza Café, Pete & Sam’s, Trasimeno
• Po Boys: Parish Grocery, Second Line;
• Popcorn: Peanut Shoppe
• Popovers: Paulette’s
• Pork (any): Andrew Michael
• Potato Salad: Bogie’s, Fratelli’s, Second Line
• Potato Soup: Huey’s
• Prime Rib: Patrick’s
• Red Beans and Rice: Half Shell, Parish Grocery
• Salad Sampler: Bogie’s, Calvary Waffle Shop
• Sausage and Cheese Plate: Huey’s, Rendezvous, The Farmer
• Sea Bass: Tsunami
• She Crab Soup: Itta Bena, Moondance Grill
• Shrimp on a Stick: Tuyen’s Asian Bistro
• Shrimp Salad: Bogie’s, Mortimer’s
• Souflima: Jim’s Place Grille
• Soup (any): River Oaks, Tuyen’s Asian Bistro
• Sliders: Bardog, Brass Door, Huey’s, Slider Inn
• Steak: Char, Folk’s Folly
• Steak Frites: Libro, River Oaks
• Steak Sandwich: Belmont, Half Shell, Huey’s
• String Bean (with anything): Formosa
• Tacos: Maciel’s
• Tomato Aspic: Calvary Waffle Shop
• Tiramisu: Frank Grisanti’s, Pete & Sam’s
• Tuscan Bean Salad: Ecco
• Veal Saltimbocca, Brooklyn Bridge
• Vegetable Plate: Cupboard, Four Way, Patrick’s
• Vietnamese Egg Rolls: Tuyen’s Asian Bistro
• Wet Ribs: Bar B-Q Shop, Central BBQ, Collierville/Germantown Commissary, Interstate
• Waffles: Calvary Waffle Shop.

In memoriam:

• Barbecue Sandwich: Berretta’s, Brady & Lil’s, John Wills, Leonard’s, Little Pigs, Pitchfork
• Black Bottom Pie: Dobbs House, Toddle House; Caesar Salad (made tableside), The Villa
• Cherries Jubilee (on fire): Justine’s
• Chess Pie: Seessel’s
• Chocolate Malt: Wiles-Smith
• Club Steak: Bill and Jim’s
• Coconut Ice Cream: Tropical Freeze
• Corn sticks: Little Tea Shop
• Crabmeat Justine: Justine’s
• Di Niro: Republic Coffee
• Fried Chicken: Joes’
• Fried Rice: Joy Young
• Fried Shrimp: Anderton’s, Joes’
• Green Pepper Beef: Joy Young
• Gumbo: DeJavu
• Horseradish Encrusted Grouper: Jarrett’s
• Lady Fingers: Seessel’s
• Mahogany Duck: Grove Grill
• Mocha Cake: Carl’s Bakery
• Onion Rings: Pig ‘n Whistle
• Po Boys: DeJavu
• Poo Poo Platter: Luau
• Pompano en Papillote: Justine’s
• Shrimp Loaf: John Wills
• Shrimp Parmesan: Giovanni’s
• Soul Burger: Earnestine & Hazel’s (not the same anymore)
• Stuffed Avocado: Little Tea Shop
• Thai Toast: Bhan Thai
• Turnip Greens: Little Tea Shop
• Vanilla Soda: Normal Drug Store
• Whatever the neon purple, orange and green stuff was in the big glasses: Britling’s.

I’m a Memphian, and that’s tasty.