There's no denying that homemade beef stock adds great flavor to sauces and soups. But if you don't have any on hand, Salbert wonders if there isn't a better alternative to canned beef broth, which can have an unpleasant metallic flavor. Chowhounds say umami-rich alternatives—which happen to be vegetarian—add real depth to both beef dishes and meatless preps.

A good mushroom broth actually contributes more complexity to a dish than beef broth does, soupkitten says. For even more flavor, mleighn adds red wine and a splash of soy sauce. If you don't have time to make mushroom broth, try soaking dried mushrooms, then reducing the strained soaking liquid for a similar effect, greygarious says. Or, to add a sense of meatiness without mushrooms, try adding miso past, Fiona suggests.

Discuss: Substitute for Beef Broth

Photo of CHOW's Easy Mushroom Broth by Chris Rochelle / CHOW.com

Dang! Butterscotch Root Beer combines sassafras flavor with butterscotch, resulting in a beverage that drinks like a root beer but lands on a lingering flavor of brown sugar and butter.

It's expensive to ship bottled beverages, so don't bother: you can find this treat in San Francisco. Chowhound user hyperbowler spotted it at Monterey Deli in Sunnyside; he says it might also be in stock on occasion at The Fizzary, a specialty soda store in the Mission District, but call ahead to check.

Monterey Deli [Sunnyside]
499 Monterey Boulevard, San Francisco
415-337-8447

The Fizzary [Mission District]
2949 Mission Street, San Francisco
1-877-368-4608

Discuss: Dang Butterscotch Rootbeer

Image from Flickr user Jake Spurlock under Creative Commons

Late spring is peak season for rhubarb, and in addition to baking it into pies and cooking it into compotes, Chowhounds are transforming its stalks into beverages, with and without alcohol.

A spoonful of sweet-tart rhubarb syrup (pictured) lends a pretty pink blush and bright flavor to a glass of prosecco, a drink that's even better with a splash of the orange-and-rhubarb-flavored aperitif Aperol, Breadcrumbs says. Chowhound foodieX2 uses rhubarb syrup in a margarita made by mixing one part each syrup, pink grapefruit juice, and silver tequila with a half part triple sec and lime juice to taste.

Sipping "raw" rhubarb syrup—made by puréeing raw rhubarb with water, straining the mixture, and very briefly simmering it with sugar—in a glass of sparkling water and gin is a rite of spring for csdiego.

For a tarter alternative, cook up some unsweetened rhubarb juice. A few tablespoons added to sparkling water "tastes very clean, like a spring tonic," ElsieB says. And HillJ freezes it into ice cubes, which she says make a pretty and delicious addition to lemonade.

Discuss: Rhubarb Juice
RHUBARB IS IN SEASON

Photo by Chris Rochelle / CHOW.com

1. The "amazing" vegetable-heavy vegan burgurs from Serious Eats are "a little involved, but totally worth it." –CulinaryColleen

2. These Indian-spiced red lentil burgers are seasoned with plenty of cumin, garam masala, onion, and cilantro. Serve them with naan with a dollop of yogurt. –jules127

3. Vegan cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskovitz's beet burgers, which are bulked up with brown rice and lentils, freeze very well. –ljamunds

4. This black bean-based recipe also has beets. It's even better with chipotle chile added. –MplsM ary

5. Almonds and sunflower seeds join the Southwestern flavors of chile powder, cumin, and oregano in this recipe. –Jetgirly

6. Black beans and cornmeal are the base for Chloe Coscarelli's Mexicali sliders. –noya

7. Mark Bittman's nut burger recipe is a flexible set of guidelines that makes it easy to play with different flavor combinations. –GilaB

Discuss: Best Homemade Veggie Burger Recipe

Photo of CHOW's Black-Eyed Pea Vegan Burgers by Chris Rochelle / CHOW.com

The difference between baby back and St. Louis-style ribs doesn't really have to do with how you cook them, but in the cut you start with, hill food says on Chowhound. St. Louis ribs are spareribs with the so-called rib tips removed, mike0989 says. Spareribs come from a spot on the pig next to the belly, arguably the tastiest zone of the animal (see: bacon). And rib tips themselves are beloved by Chowhounds, who consider them a delicious treat.

Meanwhile, baby backs come from the back side of the pig, near the loin, mike0989 explains. And while mike0989 prefers St. Louis ribs (they're a bit more substantial), it's true that baby backs and St. Louis ribs are interchangeable in recipes, though you might need to adjust the cooking time. Baby backs just don't stand up to long smoking—they actually come out better with less cooking, 9lives says, which is probably why they're so common at chain restaurants.

Discuss: St. Louis vs. baby back ribs

Photo by Chris Rochelle / CHOW.com

So juicing is a thing. Practitioners range from DIYers who occasionally liquefy a sheaf of kale to the sort of person who has bottles of cucumber-watercress delivered each morning. Juices are expensive, so look to Chowhounds to tell you where to find quality for the price.

• Pressed Juicery is an LA-based chain with locations in and near San Francisco. Chowhound user dunstable sampled most of their juices at the Noe Valley location and says they taste OK, if spinach-kale juice is your thing, though there are some fruity options. The product isn't cheap or exclusively organic.

• Project: Juice sells cold-pressed varieties at a pop-up out of The Station, a coffee bar near Jackson Square. Cold-pressing means the company uses hydraulic pressure to extract, and calumin says it results in a fresh-tasting product.

• The owners of SoW are former Blue Bottle employees who took a tip from the third-wave coffee movement to produce made-to-order juice. Check out their locally sourced produce on display before heirloom herbs and greens are liquefied and poured into your cup. While you're there, someone order me a coffee, kale on the side.

Pressed Juicery [Embarcadero]
One Ferry Building, San Francisco
415-291-0740

Pressed Juicery at Marin Country Mart [North Bay]
2257 Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur
415-925-1301

Pressed Juicery [Noe Valley]
3901 24th Street, San Francisco
415-285-1414

Project: Juice at The Station [Jackson Square]
596 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco
415-291-0690

Sow [Dogpatch]
2490 3rd Street, San Francisco
415-637-7343

Discuss: Pressed Juicery – SF Ferry Bldg, who's tried it?

Photo from SoW

It's a reasonable question: a Chowhound user who is planning to visit Napa likes the idea of visiting The French Laundry, but the specter of a quadruple-digit bill makes Thomas Keller's famed restaurant a no-go. Are there any undercover bargains in Napa that are worthy of a special-occasion meal?

Napa expert CarrieWas218 says don't bother seeking out a "lesser known" restaurant in Napa: the area is well trod by tourists, locals, and daytrippers from the city. For her money, tapas at ZuZu make a memorable, affordable special-occasion meal. On another note, if you're willing to eschew Keller's precision for hearty French fare like onion soup and sole meuniere, Bistro Jeanty fits the bill.

As far as a tasting menu experience, you're not likely to find budget versions in Napa. Look south, to Commonwealth in San Francisco and Commis in Oakland, both of which offer tasting menus for under $100 with optional wine pairings for an additional fee.

Bistro Jeanty [Napa Valley]
6510 Washington Street, Yountville
707-944-0103

ZuZu [Napa Valley]
829 Main Street, Napa
707-224-8555

Commonwealth [Mission District]
2224 Mission Street, San Francisco
415-355-1500

Commis [East Bay]
3859 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland
510-653-3902

Discuss: Is there such a thing as a poor man's French Laundry in Napa?

Photo from Commonwealth

Unlike regular scissors, which only have two blades, herb shears have six or even ten blades spaced evenly apart, and can quickly snip even segments of herbs. But are they a useful tool you'll reach for again and again, or should you just stick with knives and scissors?

While they're not at all necessary, some cooks who lack confidence in their knife work might find these unitaskers useful, kaleokahu says. They effortlessly create unerringly fine cuts at perfectly uniform dimensions, if that's important to you—well, effortlessly if you don't count the cleaning, kaleokahu says. mbCrispyBits, however, finds they make the process of snipping up herbs less messy than using a cutting board.

A few drawbacks: if the herbs are wet from washing, they will stick to the shears, HillJ says. A few turns in a salad spinner and some time on dry paper towels can help with this, but even herbs that are dry on the outside will stick to the many blades of the herb shears if they release moisture during the cutting, HillJ says. Ultimately, HillJ finds them to be a big waste of time and money.

Most Chowhounds opt to use a cutting board and a sharp knife to chop herbs—and some, like Isolda, use a pair of single-bladed scissors to snip chives and other herbs. Tinkerbell likes the effectiveness of an ulu (a curved-bladed knife with a curved bowl to chop in) for quickly chopping herbs with a rocking-back-and-forth motion.

Discuss: Are Herb Scissors Necessary?

Photo of herb shears and freshly snipped herbs by Flickr user mkreul under Creative Commons

Heads up, lovers of baked goods and reality-TV junkies. The new reality series The American Baking Competition premieres Wednesday, May 29, at 8 ET / 9PT on CBS.

The American Baking Competition is based on a hit show in the UK, The Great British Bake Off. The host for the American series is comedian Jeff Foxworthy (pictured, right). Judges are Chef Marcela Valladolid and baker Paul Hollywood (he’s also a judge on the British series).

The American Baking Competition’s 10 contestants were chosen from a nationwide search of amateur bakers at local casting bake-offs. The six female and four male home bakers have varied lives and jobs, including firefighter, photographer, homemaker, attorney, advertiser, home health care provider, college student, retiree, project manager, and baking enthusiast trying to go pro. Watch a video intro on The American Baking Competition’s website.

Each week, these passionate home bakers go head-to-head in three challenges: Signature Bake, Technical Bake, and Showstopper Bake. The winning contestant is that week's Star Baker; the one who falls short is sent packing. The final challenge will be between the three remaining contestants, one of whom will go on to be crowned the best amateur baker in America and win $250,000. The winner will also be awarded a publishing contract with Simon & Schuster to publish their own cookbook with Gallery Books.

Photo from The American Baking Competition

After cooking for years in the underground dining scene, husband-and-wife team Whitney Flood and Julie Retzlaff surfaced late last year with Muddy Leek in Culver City’s Arts District. The food preaches the gospel of seasonal and organic—Chowhound lil mikey checked it out recently and came away a believer.

Rich porcini ragu on garlic bread; a sophisticated egg-and-leek puff pastry with nasturtium sabayon; a tender flatiron steak with asparagus and garlic flan—everything was delicious. But the show-stoppers were the desserts with spring berries, especially a blackberry–lemon verbena pie in a soft crust that lil mikey loved.

Happy hour offers a glimpse of Flood and Retzlaff’s more playful side, with chicken-fried bacon, venison corn dogs, and grilled cheese with Speck and Manchego (charcuterie lovers take note).

“I worked in Culver City for a few weeks and fell in love with the place,” CharlesKochel says. Check it out before everybody in LA falls in love with it, too.

Muddy Leek [Culver City]
8631 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
310-838-2281

Discuss: Muddy Leek Culver City

The pleasures of a sharp knife have motivated lots of home cooks to learn how to use a sharpening stone. Chowhound ukjason uses a well-soaked 1,000-grit water stone, carefully holding the knife at a 15-degree angle while honing. Still, even with a stone, ukjason can't get the blades as sharp as those on new knives fresh out of the box. Is it possible to achieve factory-level sharpness at home?

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with ukjason's sharpening method, tanuki soup says on Chowhound. But with practice and a few tweaks, anyone should be able to become a honing master.

The key is to practice. Get a cheap knife made of relatively soft steel, Chemicalkinetics says, and go for it. First, make sure you can feel a "burr," a tiny raised line of metal at the edge of the blade you can only feel after you've properly sharpened one side of the knife all the way to the edge. Unless you've raised a burr on your knife, "chased" the burr from side to side and then removed it, you haven't sharpened correctly, scubadoo97 says.

Also, sharpen on stones with progressively finer grit, up to 4,000. And as the grit gets finer, use lighter and lighter pressure. After that, your blade should be just like new.

Discuss: Why can't I sharpen my knife like a factory edge

Photo by Flickr member Thirteen Of Clubs under Creative Commons

In a city where good Taiwanese food, both savory and sweet, can be hard to find, Yeh's Bakery in Flushing has emerged as a destination for connoisseurs of island treats. A popular specialty is the Boston pie (pictured), a spin on the Boston cream pie that's a world apart from the original. It's a supremely delicate, fluffy sponge cake filled with airy cream custard sweetened with a light hand, like many Asian desserts. "While it's really simple," Lau reports on Chowhound, "this is one of the best cakes I’ve had in an Asian bakery even in Asia."

This tiny shop doesn't offer a huge selection, but most things it does sell are choice. Another specialty is the tea roll, an arrestingly green but subtly flavored cake with a layer of barely sweet vanilla cream. A traditional rarity, even in Taiwan, is the sun cake, or tai yang bing. Yeh's version, known in English as a honey cake, is a flaky circular pastry with a malt sugar filling and an appealing honey flavor.

Yeh's is one of the older businesses in the fast-growing mini-Chinatown of Queensboro Hill, around a mile south of downtown Flushing. The neighborhood's already gotten attention for 'hound-worthy Taiwanese and Cantonese cooking, so Lau suggests that you come for lunch and grab dessert at Yeh's.

Yeh's Bakery [Flushing]
57-25 Main Street (between 57th Road and 58th Avenue), Flushing, Queens
718-939-1688

Discuss: Yeh's Bakery - You Want Me To Go To Flushing To Get A Boston Pie? Yes.

Photo by LauHound

The owners of Bottino, an Italian hangout for the Chelsea gallery crowd, turned east last spring when they opened Chop Shop, a pan-Asian restaurant and bar just up the block. Gallerista small h, underfed and thoroughly decontextualized after a day of art, wandered in and was glad she did.

A special of seafood tom yum—pleasingly sour and loaded with shrimp, mussels, mushrooms, onion, and grape tomatoes—hit the spot, she writes on Chowhound. So did salt-and-pepper shrimp with chiles (pictured), as well as a spicy slaw of napa cabbage with Asian pear, celery root, and garlic-chile mayo, toothsome if a tad too mayonnaise-y. The rest of the menu, which she characterizes as "Thai-ish," ranges over China and Southeast Asia—shrimp pad thai; Taiwanese-style pork buns with ground peanut, Penang curry, seared beef short rib with Chinese broccoli, zha jiang mian (wheat noodles in pork sauce with brown beans), and the like.

The décor is minimalist white, the vibe low-key and inviting, and as summer approaches, the tree-shaded back garden beckons. "Overall, prices are gentle, portions are generous, and the atmosphere is convivial (which is fortunate, 'cause the tables are practically on top of one another)," small h writes. "What a serendipitous find!"

Chop Shop [Chelsea]
254 10th Avenue (between W. 24th and 25th streets), Manhattan
212-820-0333

Discuss: Chop Shop in Chelsea - Very Nice Neighborhood Spot

Photo by Chop Shop / Facebook

Turkish restaurants may be few and far between in LA, but that doesn’t mean traditional dishes can’t be uncovered in the city’s collection of Mediterranean kitchens. Here’s where Chowhounds say to go for solid versions of Turkish kebabs, salads, and pastries.

• At family-owned New Anatolia Mediterranean Café in Westwood, many guests converse with the staff in Turkish, and meats rotate on vertical spits above charcoal at the back of the open kitchen. The iskender kebab is the thing to try—lamb doused with tomato sauce as it cooks—but be sure to save room for fresh walnut baklava (pictured).
1942 Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles; 310-446-0055

• Finding the downtown alley known as St. Vincent Court can be a challenge, but your reward is Sevan Garden Kebab House, a shop with killer feta, tabbouleh, and a must-try chef’s special: manti, Turkish beef dumplings topped with garlic yogurt and buttery tomato sauce. The bad news? The shop is only open weekdays, and only from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
621 S. Broadway, Los Angeles; 213-489-5626

• Sako’s Mediterranean Cuisine is a nice spot for Turkish bites in the San Fernando Valley. The kitchen here also offers a range of kebabs, but you can nibble other traditional eats like ichli kofte (meat-filled fried croquettes), borek (fried phyllo dough stuffed with feta), and dolma (stuffed grape leaves) off the starters menu.
6736 Corbin Avenue, Reseda; 818-342-8710

• Lahmacun looks a bit like pizza, a thin layer of dough typically adorned with minced vegetables, lamb, or beef plus herbs. The Old Sasoon Bakery in Pasadena makes quality lahmacun for around a buck each. There’s also baklava by the pound or tray and made-to-order khachapuri, Georgian bread similar to Turkish pide that's filled with cheese.
1132 N. Allen Avenue, Pasadena; 626-791-3280

Discuss: Any Great Turkish Places in Los Angeles?

Photo of baklava from New Anatolia / Facebook

Hunan House, a Chowhound discovery in Flushing, has closed its doors—maybe temporarily, maybe for good—so Traditional Hunan Style comes along at an opportune time. Flanked by Fuzhou and Wenzhou restaurants on the pan-Chinese smorgasbord of 40th Road, it opened three months ago with an authentic menu executed by a chef from Hengyang, Hunan.

One standout on that menu, scoopG reports on Chowhound, is white jalapeño Chinese preserved meat: smoky, spicy pork belly with garlic and peppers. Another is succulent steamed Chinese eggplant topped with salted-egg yolk. Fish head with pepper is nearly half a fish, steamed and served in light pickled-chile sauce that's terrific over rice. Flounder and silky bean curd in spicy broth gets welcome textural contrast from a sprinkling of ground peanut. Sour green beans—pickled for two weeks in vinegar with chile and other spices—are tossed with minced pork in a rewarding house special. The restaurant's Chinese name plays on a popular expression that means "progress every day," scoopG says—which could just as well describe what's happening on 40th Road these days.

Right across the street there's a Sichuan newcomer, Xin Yue, opened so recently that beribboned good-luck plants still grace the entrance, but what caught wewwew's eye was King of Duck Neck, a street-side stall in front that may or may not be affiliated with the restaurant. He tried duck feet and was royally impressed: "Low medium hot and not at all like the Cantonese dim sum duck feet I am used to. Good snack. I'll try other offerings."

Traditional Hunan Style [Flushing]
135-23 40th Road (between Prince and Main streets), Flushing, Queens
718-321-2788

Xin Yue Sichuan Restaurant [Flushing]
135-28 40th Road (between Prince and Main streets), Flushing, Queens
718-888-1730

King of Duck Neck [Flushing]
135-28 40th Road (between Prince and Main streets), Flushing, Queens
No phone available

Discuss: Flushing Review: Traditional Hunan Style on 40th Road
Duck Neck King on Prince st. near Main

Photo from Traditional Hunan Style / Facebook

Lamb chops travel well. The best-loved versions around New York, as chosen by Chowhounds, range across the globe in flavors, ingredients, and preparations. Garlic and rosemary, cumin and coconut, port and pine nuts, yogurt and curry spices—all play well with lamb and bring something memorable to the table. Here's a sampling of recent 'hound recommendations, listed alphabetically.

1. AI FIORI
In the Setai Fifth Avenue, 400 Fifth Avenue (between 36th and 37th streets), Manhattan
212-613-8660
In this luxe Italian treatment, lamb chops are dressed to kill in a crépinette coat of foie gras–lamb forcemeat and a sheer sheath of caul fat. Then they're roasted, braised, and finished with a lustrous lamb-stock glaze.

2. BYBLOS
80 Madison Avenue (between E. 28th and 29th streets), Manhattan
212-687-0808
Alluring Lebanese flavors—including a blend of spices that features cardamom and nutmeg—and a deftly timed turn on a charcoal grill set these lamb chops apart from the rest of the flock.

3. CONVIVIUM OSTERIA
68 Fifth Avenue (between Bergen Street and St. Marks Place), Brooklyn
718-857-1833
This pan-Mediterranean favorite in Park Slope looks to Portugal for inspiration for its roasted rack of lamb, which is encrusted with pine nuts and served in port wine sauce with cauliflower.

4. EAST LAKE SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
37-17 Prince Street (near 37th Avenue), Flushing, Queens
718-358-0888
Lamb, rarely prominent on Cantonese menus, takes a star turn at East Lake and sister restaurant Imperial Palace. This popular house special spotlights tender chops, lightly dusted with cumin and topped with golden fried onion and coconut.

5. FU RUN
40-09 Prince Street (between Roosevelt and 40th avenues), Flushing, Queens
718-321-1363
Muslim-style lamb chops—smoky, crisp yet tender, and robustly flavored with chile, cumin, and sesame—have helped make this northeastern Chinese restaurant a Chowhound destination.

6. KEENS STEAKHOUSE
72 W. 36th Street (between Sixth and Fifth avenues), Manhattan
212-947-3636
Keens' signature mutton chop (pictured) turns out to be a lamb in sheep's clothing—saddle of mature lamb, several months younger than true mutton. But age is just a number, say 'hounds, who find it hefty, flavorful, and satisfying.

7. MOTI MAHAL DELUX
1149 First Avenue (at E. 63rd Street), Manhattan
212-371-3535
Celebrated for its murgh makhani, or butter chicken, this outpost of a Delhi-based chain also grills irresistible burrah kebabs—lamb chops with a hit of mustard and a touch of lemon.

8. PETER LUGER STEAK HOUSE
178 Broadway (at Driggs Avenue), Brooklyn
718-387-7400
The show-stopper at Luger's, as every New York carnivore knows, is the peerless porterhouse for two or more. But 'hounds say an equally compelling opening act is thick-cut lamb loin chops, one per person, ordered as an appetizer.

9. PICCOLA VENEZIA
42-01 28th Avenue (at 42nd Street), Astoria, Queens
718-721-8470
At this old-line Italian house in Queens, rack of Colorado lamb is seasoned simply with garlic and rosemary before hitting the grill. For starters, 'hounds suggest gnocchi Piemontese in Gorgonzola sauce.

10. TULSI
211 E. 46th Street (between Second and Third avenues), Manhattan
212-888-0820
Tandoor specialist Hemant Mathur's spice- and yogurt-crusted grilled lamb chops seduced 'hounds in his previous gig at high-end Indian favorite Devi. Naturally he's brought them to Tulsi, where they're served with cumin potatoes and cranberry chutney.

Photo from Keens Steakhouse / Facebook

View New York Lamb Chops: Chowhound Lists in a larger map

The pizza at Santa Monica’s Stella Rossa gets plenty of praise on Chowhound, and now Chef Jeff Mahin has opened a sister location in Hollywood dubbed Stella Barra Pizzeria. As at the original site, Mahin’s red- and white-sauce pies topped with farm-fresh toppings and quality meats hold the spotlight, but his signature starters and salads are worth a look, too. A colorful and lightly dressed spinach and kale salad with radish, pecorino, and dates (pictured) is a great way to begin a meal in lil mikey’s opinion. The porchetta and fennel pizza is equally good, with its bubbly, addictive crust demanding bite after bite; a touch of heat from Calabrian chiles is a nice addition to the flavor mix.

Those seeking a thinner-crust pizza can ask about the day’s selection of Roman-style pies, with crusts that’re paper thin. For dessert, peruse morning buns, chocolate chip cookies with bacon, Rice Krispies treats, and more in the glass pastry case.

“Based on the quality of the first meal [Stella Barra is] a great addition to the neighborhood,” lil mikey reports.

Stella Barra Pizzeria [Hollywood]
6372 W. Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles
323-301-4001

Discuss: Stella Barra Hollywood

Photo of spinach and kale salad from Stella Rossa

Chowhounds fell hard for Xi'an Famous Foods well before it was famous, and they've since cheered its swift expansion from a basement food court in Queens to busy stores in Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan. Now Midtown's getting a taste of cumin lamb burgers (pictured), spicy and tingly hand-ripped noodles, and other central Chinese street eats.

Aside from some excellent Sichuan, this part of town isn't known for distinctive regional Chinese chow, so the Midtown lunch crowd is already queueing up at Xi'an's three-week-old shop on 45th. Early word from 'hounds is that the spicy tiger vegetable salad is as refreshing and bracing as ever.

Xi'an Famous Foods [Midtown]
24 W. 45th Street (between Fifth and Sixth avenues), Manhattan
212-786-2068

Discuss: Xi'an Famous Foods Opening in Midtown Manhattan

Photo from Xi'an Famous Foods

Mad. Sq. Eats is back, and the twice-a-year outdoor feed has sprung a springtime surprise. The cultishly craved Christmas stollen from Momofuku Milk Bar, sold only at the year-end Union Square Holiday Market, has been reformulated with cherry, peach, and cantaloupe in place of the winter fruits used in the original cake. Sweet, dense, and redolent of almond, it's "just as delicious as the holiday version," loratliff says on Chowhound.

Newcomers to Madison Square this spring are Dreamscoops for ice cream; Eleni's for cookies; Mason Jar NYC for barbecue and soul food; Mmm Enfes for Turkish street bites; Mrs. Dorsey's Kitchen for grilled cheese sandwiches; Seoul Lee Bar B Cue for wings, wraps, and tacos; Sunday Gravy for red-sauce Italian; and Third Rail Coffee. Among the offerings from returning vendors, 'hounds recommend pizza from Roberta's; salt-and-pepper chile shrimp from Hong Kong Street Cart; sumac-seasoned fries from Ilili, dipped in an Aleppo pepper–garlic whip; lobster rolls from Red Hook Lobster Pound (which also makes a lobster Niçoise salad); and rice balls from Arancini Bros., whose recent creations have included the bianco rosso verde, filled with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and pesto.

Mad. Sq. Eats is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily through May 31.

Mad. Sq. Eats [Flatiron]
West side of Madison Square Park, Fifth Avenue between 24th and 25th streets, Manhattan
212-529-9262

Discuss: Madison Square Eats - Open daily May 3 - May 31, 11am to 9pm
Momofuku Summer Stollen!

Photo by Chowhound user Dave MP

Local, seasonal cooking amid haute housewares proved a winning formula for Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's ABC Kitchen, which opened three years ago inside ABC Carpet & Home. Two-week-old ABC Cocina, which occupies the neighboring space that once housed Pipa, takes a similar approach with Latin flavors and is already a tough table.

Early word from Chowhounds is encouraging. A starter of fluke with herbs and brightly acidic chile dressing (pictured) is "spring in a bowl," roze raves, and comes complete with sound effects: pleasing little pops from bites of crunchy rice. Shrimp with aromatic garlic-chile oil is piquant and flavorful, kosmose7 reports. And tacos are served with a variety of fillings, including meaty glazed short rib with a fiery yet well-balanced habanero sauce that roze found especially crave-worthy. "I'm pretty sure I could put this on everything I eat from now on," she says.

ABC Cocina [Flatiron]
In ABC Carpet & Home, 38 E. 19th Street (between Broadway and Park Avenue), Manhattan
212-677-2233

Discuss: ABC Cocina-Review

Photo from NYC Tastes