At Boukies: What could be better than a rack of grilled lamb chops bolstered with lemon potatoes?

Lamb is the new beef, and Brooklyn is its greatest borough. Whether cooked well-done or rare; barbecued, roasted, boiled, or merely seared; well-spiced or left au naturale; the flavor bursts in your mouth like an atom bomb. Here are our 10 favorite places to eat lamb.

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Will the gloriously squishy sheep testicles at Kavkaz make the cut?

Lamb is the meat of the hour. While many Americans used to eschew the flesh as "too strongly flavored," most New York diners now proclaim its mildly assertive flavor as "just right." Of course, when you're talking about namby-pamby New Zealand lamb versus Halal lamb raised right in Westchester, you might as well be referring to two entirely different animals.

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Pan Fried Tiny Buns from Dumpling Cafe (861 Grand Street, Brooklyn, 718-302-8886)

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If you really love your mom, you might want to consider skipping the Mother's Day specials this year. They tend to be such gloomy experiences as restaurants transform into brunch factories for the day and serve mediocre set menus. Instead, I suggest you take your mother out in the evening, like a regular person, for some proper eating and drinking.

Here are my 10 current picks for where I'd take my own mom if she were in town (a few spots include extra-fun stuff that my mom loves, like looking at flowers, gambling, and people-watching):

ralph and jenny

10. Balthazar: Simple mussels and French fries at Keith McNally's Soho brasserie can be a bit expensive, but there are few better places to slurp oysters while making presumptions about fellow diners' relationships, wardrobes, and food choices, a number 1 pastime with my mom. 80 Spring Street, 212-941-0364

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Grand Sichuan House

Braised whole fish with hot bean sauce at Grand Sichuan House

When Sichuan sailed into town in the '70s, it was spelled Szechuan, and the food was a pale evocation of one of China's foremost regional cuisines. If chile oil was used, it was just a drop, and the sole vector of a timid spiciness was dried red chiles, which you were often advised to pick out of a dish before eating it.

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Tree Mushroom With Chinese Spices arrives heaped with pickled red chiles at Little Pepper. Will this recently relocated spot still make our top 10?

The rise of good Sichuan in nearly every borough over the past decade has been a restaurateering miracle, as much due to the public's general appreciation of spicy food as to our need to seek out and enjoy exotic Chinese regional flavors.

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Alexia Nader

A Bavarian trio at Zum Schneider: beer, pretzels, and weisswurst

Both spring and soccer season are in full swing, which means that it's time to head to the city's German beer halls for some communal revelry, large-screen sports watching, liter steins of beer, and hearty snacks. Below you'll find our favorite German beer halls in the city.

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Alexia Nader

Radegast Hall & Biergarten in Williamsburg: Will it make the list?

There's no better medicine for spring fever than a weekend afternoon spent downing crisp beer by the liter stein, warm pretzels, and fat sausages, and chatting with fellow revelers at the communal tables of the city's German beer halls. Tomorrow, just in time for the warm weather and the Champions League semifinals in soccer, we've got our top five picks.

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Mandy Jansen

Outside of DougieDog and up to no good

In a contest of overpriced hot dogs, New York City's Serendipity 3 has been unseated by Vancouver's DougieDog Hot Dogs, recently crowned the world's most expensive hot dog seller by Guinness World Records.

The restaurant's foot-long Dragon Dog, a bratwurst, is infused with 100-year-old Louis XIII cognac and topped with Kobe beef, lobster, truffles, and spices. This seemingly unappetizing combination brings the dish's price tag to $100.70.

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The house margarita at Empellón Cocina

By legend, the margarita was invented around 1940 in an Italian restaurant in Ensenada, Mexico, to commemorate the visit of the daughter of the German ambassador, who happened to be named Margarita. Now, you can get a margarita -- often, a sweetish mixed drink featuring tequila and lime juice or citrus liqueur -- at nearly any bar in town. But which is the best?

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