We are so very, very glad to offer this good news to start 2025.

Calliope and Chef Khaled AlBanna, Raven Humphrey and their team will be here in Chattanooga for a very long time.

After early, extraordinary years at Whiskey Thief and Whitebird, Chef Khaled joined with Raven to open Calliope in 2022. The restaurant fuses together Levantine flavor and influences - think Jordan, Israel, Syria - with Southern culinary tradition.

Calliope is a gift to this city; it is beautiful and brilliant and it's turning heads; in 2022, Food & Wine named Calliope's whole branzino one of the best dishes in the US.

So, there was always a whispered question: will Khaled stay?  (More on the subtleties of such a question in a moment.)

Last month, he and Raven answered that question definitively, by signing a new lease on their MLK Boulevard space.

Not just any lease.

"Twenty years," he said. "A 20-year lease."

A 20-year lease is a bold, all-in, generous declaration, a statement that says to this city: we're here for the long run.

We believe in you and want you to believe in us.

Combine a 20-year lease with the decision to open seven days a week?

Calliope - also named as a new Food as a Verb partner - is becoming foundational.

"That is important in a small city," he said. "You need to become a landmark. That's consistency. That's being there."

Certain Chattanooga restaurants feel foundational, don't they? Easy Bistro & Bar, The Boathouse. St. John's. When giving directions somebody directions, we use those restaurants as markers.

"Take a right after St. John's. Take a right before Easy," he said. "If you see the most successful restaurants, they have a really long run."

Modern Levantine is a fused, flowing combination of influences from Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, even Armenia, France and Spain. Khaled, who grew up in Jordan cooking with his mother before moving to Chattanooga to study civil engineering, believes restaurants like Calliope can tell a story.

“Calliope means the beautiful voice,” he told us last year. “The food tells you a story.”

(Missed our feature on Calliope? Read it here.)

So this question - Will Khaled stay? - also speaks to the way we see ourselves.

Our future is found here and nowhere else: Chattanooga can - and needs to - begin to see itself as a confident food city, holding our head up a bit higher.

Look around: at the Niels and their team, Joe Milenkovic, Niedlov's, all that Josh Carter's done, Rebecca Barron, Patrick Sawyer, the Lindley brothers, the bright future of Sujata Singh, Kenyatta Ashford and Jess Revels and Brian McDonald and so many others contributing, shaping and uplifting our city's food scene.

Will Khaled stay?

The better question becomes: who else will move here? What other chefs and tourists and journalists? How many folks will drive here - not Nashville, not Atlanta - for an unforgettable Saturday evening meal?

Cities are known by its restaurants, especially the ones integrated into our consciousness and the fabric of our lives.

Take a left by Calliope.

"We'll be here for 23 years," he said.

Thank you, Khaled and Raven.

• As always, thank you, Food as a Verb community. So very, very much. Ya'll are the peachiest.

We sent out a survey last Sunday - missed it? you can access it here - and wow: what responses. We're still slowly digesting them all. More on this soon.

Coming Sunday?

A coffeeshop that is changing lives.

Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.