​Funny, this place doesn't remind me much of my Mexican vacation, he thinks as he stops and peers in the restaurant window.

Los Angeles has lots of Oaxacan food. New York has no Oaxacan food. Which is why I was excited to hear a new restaurant was opening northeast of Grand Central called Oaxaca Mexican Grill.

​The richness and smokiness of the newfangled bacon naan is not to be underestimated.

Seven years ago, when Tabla first opened, I respected the restaurant, but didn't love it. It was too fusion-ey for me. Nevertheless, I noted, "Despite his profound culinary departures from an authentic Indian bill of fare, [chef Floyd] Cardoz always manages to throw subversive and homely Indian elements into his creations."

​Fresh chick peas have a grassier taste than dried, but can readily be blended with tahini to make a revisionist hummus.

Lately arrived in the markets (I've seen them at Manhattan Fruit Exchange and Mexican bodegas) are fresh garbanzo beans, also known as chick peas.

​A hunter in full regalia waits by the pit to select his 'cue at Cooper's.

Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Q in Llano, Texas is quite different than the famous barbecues located east of Austin in black-dirt farming country. For one thing, it's west of Austin in the fabled Hill Country, a land of almost-mountains and rolling hills dotted with mesquite and scrub oak, ranching country rather than farming country.

​The vegetarian lunch special begins with an egg roll and salad with a sort of Japanese-y dressing.

Thai restaurants in particular are great for vegetarian and vegan diners--butter is unknown in the cuisine, and dairy products have not been incorporated, in the way they have been in Indian and even Japanese food.

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Mmmm! Yellowfin Tuna Florentine!

We've seen how the food industry takes terms like "Tuscan," stomps all over them, and then presents them back to us as their own newfangled flavor.

​Lamb necks at $7 per pound from Dickson's Farmstand Meats in the Chelsea Market.

I stepped up to the counter at Dickson's Farmstand Meats and said to the white-coated butcher, "It's a cold day. I want to braise the hell out of something."

​The East Village's new quirky sandwich shop This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef

We've never been much enamored of the fabled artichoke slice at Artichoke Basille's pizza parlor on East 14th Street, though we crave the Sicilian slice, especially if we can manage to get one in under 15 minutes from the charmingly disorganized place. Now the same kamikaze restaurateurs from Staten Island have come up with a new concept: a sandwich shop specializing in roast beef.

​Kanchipuram idly (weekends only) are turmeric-orange in color and come studded with cashew nuts, fresh ginger, and coriander leaf.

This week Counter Culture wigs out at Sapthagiri, a strictly vegetarian restaurant in Jersey City's Indian Square neighborhood, a three-block walk north of the PATH station at Journal Square. The vast range of snacks and main dishes from several Indian vegetarian traditions is unmatched in the metropolitan area.

​It's only a sandwich: the smoked turkey sandwich (called "grandpa") at Mile End.

Until recently, it had been nearly a decade since I'd eaten an actual sandwich. I'm not talking about a hero, wrap, or panini, or any of the other sandwich permutations aimed at diners eager for novelty or excess--sure, I ate plenty of those. Instead, I'm talking about an actual sandwich in the traditional sense: two pieces of bread, preferably white or rye, on either side of a modest amount of sandwich filling.