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To look at the neighborhood today, with its bustling commercial strips, tidy frame houses, apartment towers, and plentiful parks, you wouldn't know Elmhurst was founded in 1652, when it was named Newtown. By the 19th century, the wafting stink of Newtown Creek caused the town elders to rethink the name, and they came up with Elmhurst--a rather poetic moniker that stuck. The town became part of New York City when it was consolidated into the new borough of Queens in 1898.

Today, only the random twisting and abrupt turns of the streets of Elmhurst recall its colonial heritage. More important, the town became home to one of the broadest collection of ethnicities in New York, as immigrants from 111 foreign countries arrived in the 1980s, making Elmhurst one of city's best places to eat. So hop on the R train, and join us in a tour of the best and most interesting restaurants in the neighborhood.

As one of five Chinatowns in NYC, Elmhurst is perhaps the most diverse, with not only Cantonese, Hong Kong, Sichuan, Taiwanese, and Mandarin hot-pot places, but with all sorts of other Asian restaurants, too, including Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Japanese, and Korean. But that's not all. The region also boasts plenty of Southern Mexican places, as well as Argentine, Colombian, and Dominican cafes. We've spent the last three weeks eating our way through the neighborhood to make sure our list is solid, but don't hesitate to throw in your two cents if you disagree with our ranking.

So please tune in bright and early Monday morning for Our 10 Best Restaurants in Elmhurst, Queens. In the meantime, check out our index of neighborhood 10 Best lists.

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A score of years ago the Upper West Side was known as one of the worst dining neighborhoods in the city. Well, what happened? You may trace the transformation back to the opening of Picholine, but there were other harbingers, too, so that now the finger-shaped neighborhood that runs along the west side of Central Park, and was immortalized in West Side Story, is now a bonafide dining destination, and you should have no compunction about going up there to eat, say, on a date. Here are our current favorite places.

Four years ago, FitR inaugurated Our 10 Best series. For most of that time, we've put it up at 8 on Friday mornings -- but now we're going to start posting it Monday at 7 a.m. instead. This Monday, look for Our 10 Best Upper West Side Restaurants, the first time we've ranked the restaurants in that neighborhood -- which was originally designed to look like Paris, and still does.

It's been over two years since Fork in the Road appraised the relative merits of the city's Chinese restaurants - things have changed so much in the interim. Northern Chinese fare continues to rule Flushing, Elmhurst has increased the breadth of its offerings beyond Taiwanese, and Sunset Park remains a bastion of familiar Cantonese eats - improved these days with Hong Kong style. Meanwhile, Manhattan's Chinatown absorbs all these influences, while remaining a hotbed of Fujianese, Shanghai, Cantonese, and now Northern Chinese fare. Other trends include the outmigration of great restaurants from Chinatowns, and the hipsterization of various regional cuisines.

Anyway, here are our favorite Chinese spots today. After you've fully digested the list, compare it with the 2010 ranking.

With wave upon wave of new immigrants arriving, the city's collection of Chinese restaurants is in a perpetual state of flux. Ten years ago, Fujianese places caused excitement, to be replaced five years ago by Northern Chinese ones from places like Dongbei, Qingdao, and Xi'an.

Way back in 2009, Fork in the Road offered readers an original dim sum visual dictionary, our tool to carry with you as you seek out the best small-plate parlors in the city. It was intended to be a resource for identifying and enjoying the traditional dim sum dishes that abound from Sunset Park to Chinatown.

In anticipation of the upcoming Chinese New Year (which begins this Sunday), we decided to polish up our chopsticks and refer to our sourcebook. While we'll still rely on the established dim sum standbys Dun Huang and East Harbor, we've also sought ought meat-free plates at Chinatown's Vegetarian Dim Sum House.

Here's our updated dim sum dictionary.

Tomorrow we're going to depart somewhat from our usual Friday 10 Best: I'm making a list (and checking it twice) of my current favorite 13 restaurants in the Borough of Kings.

Courtesy of The Meatball Shop

Michael Chernow gets his hands dirty. As one half of the cheeky duo behind The Meatball Shop, the successful mini-chain of ball-focused foods, the Manhattan native made a name for himself by capitalizing on polite toilet humor and mugging for the cameras that love him. But don't be fooled by the high profile.

In the days and weeks following Hurricane Sandy, Chernow found himself compelled to lend his hand to the people and the city that needed him. Taking a step back from business, Chernow was working in the Rockaways a week after the storm to help rebuild damaged communities. Over a month later, he continues to organize efforts to support those who need help.

The restaurateur discussed his experience with Fork in the Road, weaving his speech with equal amounts of humility and gratitude. "I was a kid growing up here and this city has given me everything," he said. Now, he's trying to give something -- anything -- back.

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One of the first impressions you'll get of the Barclays Center is how stunning the exterior of the building is, and how proud you feel exiting the subway and seeking out the front doors. But once inside, you'll find a cramped interior, nosebleed seats so close to each other you'll be able to count your neighbor's ear hairs, and a vending area that offers some beguiling choices, but few places to sit down and eat. (Believe us, it would be a dexterous and dangerous challenge to try to carry food to your seat.)

Accordingly, dine in the vicinity of the stadium in a relaxed atmosphere before entering the fray. Here are 10 commendable places to do so, some only a block away, some further, but all easily walkable.