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Sean Ellingson photography

Warning: This stuff will increase your health and your hangover.

​Smell that? It's the scent of Mamajuana wafting through Manhattan's streets. No, not that herbal aroma, that's something else entirely.

Chef Ricardo Cardona (Sofrito) is taking his Dominican-Spanish cuisine and branching out from his original Inwood location. His second spot, on Amsterdam at 88th Street, boasts a menu of big flavors. Settle at the long bar or into a red banquette to dig into crispy calamari with bananas and cashews, washed down with an umbrella-ready cocktail. Or fill your stomach with sausage-stuffed chicken before imbibing. The eponymous cocktail -- a mix of rum, wine, honey, roots, spices, and herbs that holds health benefits, according to the Taino Indians of the Dominican Republic -- is fairly potent.

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geekologie.com

​The fountain in use. The best part is that it will also cover your hand with ketchup, which you will then have to lick off.

It's doesn't pay to stay away from Gizmodo for too long, because you might miss the announcement of really significant inventions, many of them culinary. Such was the case with the recent phenomenon of the ketchup fountain.

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Pizzas in space

​While Domino's is busy killing the word artisan in America, over in Japan the fast-food chain has its sights set on space. A Los Angeles Times blog notices that the company has launched a website outlining its "Moon Branch Project." Is it a hoax marking the pizza chain's 25th anniversary in Japan, or an elaborate, multibillion-dollar publicity stunt that will really one day see pies delivered on the moon? Who the hell knows nowadays.

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How do you feel about the Chipotle film?

​Oh, how to feel about Chipotle's new short film intended to express its philosophy on sustainability and the value of small farms? On the one hand, it features Willie Nelson; on the other hand, it's a restaurant chain. But that chain is Chipotle, a company that hired nose-to-tail chef Nate Appleman to make to-die-for chorizo tacos and experiment with local ingredients. Still, isn't this the same Chipotle that's been unscrupulously selling bacon-laced bean burritos to unsuspecting vegetarians for years? OK, OK. But the video has adorable Wallace & Gromit-style animation. Yes, but it's also clearly a corporate marketing ploy that inevitably glosses over many of the problems driven by a fast-food culture. Wait: Isn't the company donating $0.60 from each iTunes download of the video's song to its Cultivate Foundation, which funds sustainable agriculture initiatives? Yeah, but isn't that song originally by Coldplay? Ack! We admit it: We're torn. Why don't you watch for yourself and let us know what you think ...

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Your friendly neighborhood Walmart

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You may want to check your mailbox (the snail one) for the latest effort by Walmart to butter up New Yorkers into letting the massive chain set up shop here. Now that it has Michelle Obama proclaiming its expansion into "food deserts" part of the country's healthy-eating initiative, it's getting harder and harder to remember that Walmart is a big, evil corporation. Or is it?

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Johnny Vulkan/NowPublic

​McDonald's international efforts haven't only been directed toward fattening up the Israelis; it's also been busy trying to convince Russia it's not a restaurant, but a supermarket.

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A Cinn-a-Stack sand blast!

​Following in the steps of Shake Shack, the Chocolate Bar, Pinkberry, and cupcake purveyors, IHOP is the latest U.S. company to bank on the Middle East's appetite for all-American excess.

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Here, there, everywhere

​In fairly unsurprising news, Shake Shack is expanding yet again. Less than a month after colonizing Washington, D.C., the burger stand that ate the Atlantic Seaboard has announced its plans to open a location in Philadelphia.

Situated at the corner of Sansom and 20th streets, it will be able to take full advantage of the shoppers and tourists who flock to nearby Rittenhouse Square, and will no doubt tempt them effortlessly with the aroma of cooking grease and punnily named concretes. Should all go according to plan, it will open in the second half of 2012.

Have a tip or restaurant-related news? Send it to fork@villagevoice.com.

And follow us on Twitter: @ForkintheRoadVV.

​Oh, hooray. We're going to get another chain.

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