John Brown Smokehouse

Barbecue pork belly might be my new favorite food. This newly moved and reopened steakhouse on the edge of Long Island City. I was here for barbecue, but when I stopped by at 12 the beans weren't ready. I came back and glad I waited. The food here is downhome style 'cue and mighty satisfying. The ribs and pork belly are sensational, porky, smoky, and meaty. My first barbecued pork belly and that is addictive. Beans were a sweet side and collards could have been smokier. They were flavored with garlic and pulled pork instead of the traditional fatback. Service here is still working on getting it right, but the 'cue is worth the trip. GO!

Mission Chinese

So you want to go to Mission Chinese Food. Who doesn't? With good reason, the food rocks. Danny Bowien, a food network reject, opened the New York restaurant to enormus buzz. If you want to wait, I suggest you go lunchtime when the waits are shorter, it is well worth it. You are led past the flaming woks of food theatre on your way to your seat. The dining room is really a building exention with some half communal seating. Go during the warmer months as Winter could be chilly in here. We started witht he pickled vegetables Sichuan, The KimChee like dish had peanuts soaked in Old Bay. The dish was mildly spicy and my least favorite. Next was Kung Pao Pastrami and salt cod rice. Kung Pao Pastrami is genius representing the Lower East Sdie where the restaurant is housed. Spicy by chilies in the gorgeous red mix, porky by pastrami and more Old Bay peanuts. The salt cod rice is so delicate, mildly flavored lovely. No desserts here. Should you go? GO GO!

Fonda Del Sol

My second pick for restaurant week was Fonda Del Sol the modern Spanish on Park Ave across from Grand Central. Some of the food here was sensational and other dishes missed the boat. My bread took a while to arrive. The dishes here are tapas style so for Restaurant week it is two appetizers, two entrees and one dessert. The gazpacho and ensaladilla tuna(tuna salad) were both winners. The gazpacho with heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers was delectable, though served a little messy. The tuna served with tomatoes and carrots was delicate and tasty. Next two were the meatballs and the paella. The pork meatballs in a sweet sauce and mahon cheese was uber tasty. The paella was dry and flavorless. Churros were divine- hot, doughy, sweet and cinnamonny. A great finsh. GO!

Extra Fancy

Extra Fancy in Williamsburg equals extra tasty when it comes to fresh seafood and chowder. This barlike fishshack creates seafood concoctions that rock your palate. A New England Clam Chowder with pieces of whole clams, yukon gold potatoes, and herbs is simply stupendous. It is served with housemade pepper flaked oyster crackers The kielbasa sandwich served on a buttered roll with red cabbage and set off nicely by potato salad and a Brooklyn pickle works so well. A dessert of salted caramel ice-cream on a housemade chocolate cookie was a tasty finish. Other dishes sound like their fish sandwich sound like a must-try for next time. GO! GO!

StripHouse

Saucy, salacious, Striphouse the venerable B.R. Guest restaurant group spot, offers Restaurant Week for lunch only in the downstairs dining room. A well thought out and great tasting menu is offered though watch the libation count as it does add up. Bread from TomCat Bakery was ohh so good. A gazpacho shooter from the chef was nice. Watermelon gazpacho to start with crisp zucchini and pieces of shrimp is so tasty and refreshing. The 8oz strip was a fine cut of meat with a small band of fat, perfectly cooked and finished with sea salt. The peach melba served with chocolate sauce as requested was a lovely finish. Bordeaux wine from their reserve added depth to a super meal. GO!

Corner Social

The newest "Harlem Hotspot" to enter the booming uptown dining business. Located diagnonally across from Red Rooster, Corner Social offers locally sourced comfort food. What sets Corner Social apart is the accomodating service. You can go there at prime dinner hour during the week and actually eat. I was seated at a prime outdoor corner table on Tuesday at 6PM. Located on lovely Lenox, this is a prime people watching locale. The menu has been updated from whats online and still very reasonable. I ordered fried green tomatoes with truffle aoili and a meatloaf sandwich with Grafton, Vermont cheddar plus fries. The fried green tomatoes were uber tasty as was the meatloaf. I ditched the bread chowed down on a flavorful dinner- good fries. Best part was the outdoor view of the "life on Lenox." GO! GO!

BobWhite's Lunch Counter

Holy Slammin' Southern eats. This lunch counter delivers fresh made authentic Southern goodies and cheap. A pork chop sandwich on a roll with chow chow is under $10. The yellow chow chow with more ingredients than I remember like peppers, vinegar, cauliflower, sugar etc. Packed with flavor my sandwich was a flavor explosion. A side of smoky collards and some cheesey mac & cheese. This spot also boasts some delicious fried chicken. The pecan pie baked ructic with lots of love was also fab. A refuge on Ave. C. GO GO!

Ho Brah

A sunny surfer-style Cal-Mex. in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. Fun eats, with beers on tap. A shrimp & corn chowder was ok- not overly creamy, but underseasoned. The taco- all served on a soft Cali style tortilla was better- Double Diego was a spicey shrimp with slaw. Rice and black beans with pico come with the taco and I added on some guacamole. This was super tasty and went well with the Southhampton white. A fun, spot to chow down on 3rd. Ave. Many dishes have appealing names and it is a good value. GO!

Reynards

Located on the ground floor of " The Wythe Hotel" in Williamsburg this Tarlow project(Diner, Marlow and Sons) has a big corner dining room with a wood burning oven and open kitchen. This oven is the center piece for the farm to table cooking done here. Bread from Hot Bread Kitchen and housechurned butter- yellow in color sprinkled with sea salt is a treat. Oven roasted olives($3) with herbs are tasty. The sunchoke soup($8) served with creme fraiche is a savory, flavorfull soup and eaten with the bread and butter is even better. My main was the lobster with potato and fava beans($23). Simply served with a champane creme sauce this dish had clean fresh flavor. For dessert, a rhubarb cobbler with housemade ice-cream($10) crowned a "foodgasmic" meal. GoGo!

The Great Googa Mooga

Imagine two stellar days with some of the most imaginative food around(40% from Brooklyn). Also, imagine the crowds who love these food and music festivals. Googa Mooga brought people from all over the country to Brooklyn in what looked like a carnival with some of the most cutting edge food around plus a beer and wine tent and so much more. Music by the Roots on Saturday and Hall and Oats on Sunday. The toughest part of the Googa Mooga experience was the marathon lines. Of course, if your ticket was free- not so bad, if it was $249 then there is a problem. Champagne tastings, chef talks with Tom Collicho, a book signing- Cooking with Coolio. Foodwise, there was a Pizza Experience, a Sweet Circus, a Burger Experience and Hamagedon. I ate a few things....Northern Fried Chicken from Blue Ribbon Bakery- salty, spicy with Mexican honey. The grilled lobster from Lobster Place was tasty. Meat Hook's housemade dog with sweet/spicy slaw also very tasty. Monica's crawfish over pasta was just ok. The Liddabit sweets from the marketlace- maple cotton candy and homemade maple chocolate caramel corn was clever and orgasmic. So much to try, but lines to long to invest the time. Next year go early, eat fast and leave before the crowds. Otherwise, an amazing event. Next year..... GO!

Giovanni's Brooklyn Eats

A winner of a corner spot where the best of old school Brooklyn Italian meets it's more updated cousin. The menu here is so varied it would be hard not to find something you like. I picked a new and old school choice. Bread is tasty with their own olive oil. I ordered an arugula salad ($6.95) to accompany my main, which sadly arrived first. Service here is a little on the confused side. Next up was the main, veal cutlet parmigiana with a side of spaghetti($14) The side was $3 extra which was still reasonable for the quality of food. The arugula salad with slight lemon undertones and generous parmesan was good not as good as Co. or other ones I have tried. The veal parm. on the other hand, so satisfied my longing for a favorite longtime dish. Perfectly crisped veal and cheese lovingly melted under the flatttop. The spaghetti, perfectly cooked aldente with a killer sauce. Will return for the veal parm. A lunch of $9.95 for two courses till 4PM is a quite a good value. GO!

Cafe Frida

With a view of the Museum of Natural History, Cafe Frieda has a prime location and some upscale eats. They have a wide variety of salsas to sample and I went with three for $3. The dissapointing part of the salsas is the non-housemade chips. This spot features upmarket Mexican street food and while the salsas were all good, they would have been made better with house fried chips. The main on the other hand, a salmon flavored with achiote and bitter orange for $22 hit the mark. The salmon was served in a banana leaf with chipotle mashed plantains. Here's the zing. Perfectly cooked salmon with mega flavor set off by the sweet/spicy plantain mash. After this early meal along came strollers and screaming children. Also, the service was inattentive and rushed at the end of the meal. SLOWGO!