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. READ MORE
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. READ MORE
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. READ MORE
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. READ MORE
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. READ MORE
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. READ MORE
CatHead's BBQ, which took over the Big Nate's spot in San Francisco's South of Market district early last year, serves solid, affordable barbecue prepared by co-chefs Richard Park and Pamela Schafer. The brisket and sides especially hit the spot with Chowhound user rccola, who says CatHead's is among the best barbecue in the Bay Area right now. READ MORE
Fans of Korean-style bean curd stews lost one of their few go-to spots in Manhattan when BCD Tofu House closed in 2011, a victim of Koreatown's ceaseless real estate churn. Happily it's back in business, having resurfaced a few weeks ago just a few doors from its old digs. READ MORE
Breaking news in SF's coffee wars: Philz Coffee, started in 2003 by Phil Jaber, recently raised in the neighborhood of $15 million in venture capital to expand the business. If the aesthetic at Blue Bottle, San Francisco's other recent breakout java star, leans toward the spare and elegant, Philz is sunny and baroque, with individual drips and a much-loved Mocha Tesora blend. And if you've ordered a cup of joe on a Virgin America flight lately, you've already had a taste of Philz, which is the on-board drip. READ MORE
Black and white peppercorns are both the fruit of the pepper plant, but they are processed differently. Black peppercorns are picked when almost ripe and sun-dried, turning the outer layer black. To produce white peppercorns, this outer layer is removed before or after drying, leaving only the inner seed. READ MORE
