Charles Dickens (February 7, 1812-June 9, 1870)

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Say hello to Charles Dickens on his 200th birthday, a man known for his appreciation of food, who was regularly feted at the best restaurants in the U.S. when he passed through on book tours. In New York he was a regular at Delmonico's, where a special banquet was held in his honor in 1868.

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​The celebrated stuffed eggplant at Bay Ridge's Tanoreen, one of the festival participants

The Village Voice has announced a second group of 17 restaurant, bakery, and chocolatier participants for its Choice Eats food festival. These join the 21 announced last Wednesday, bringing the total to 38 so far. The festival -- now in its fifth year and widely celebrated for its value and range of cuisines -- will be held Tuesday, March 13, 2012, at the 69th Regiment Armory at East 26th and Lexington Avenue in the Curry Hill neighborhood, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Though VIP tix are sold out, regular-admission ducats ($50, including all you can eat and drink) are still available.

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​To go with your tureen of turtle soup, a glass of Madeira was the near-universal choice.

In 2009 former Times restaurant critic William Grimes published Appetite City, a book so crammed with details about the history of New York dining that you'll find yourself returning to extract delicious little factoids long after you've finished reading it. Here are 10 recent gleanings about 19th-century NYC dining.

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​Flame-grilling the lobster produces a slight smoky flavor.

One of the best red-crustacean deals in town is found Thursday evenings at Petite Abeille, where $25 gets you a whole lobster of an estimated pound-and-a-half with a bowl of fries and a Stella. Oh, and there's a little salad, too, soaking up the lobster juices.

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Bodega Down Bronx from the Center for Urban Pedagogy on Vimeo.

Here's a good way to go into the weekend: a funny, engaging documentary about one of New York's most lamented food deserts, made by the teenagers who live there. Through a partnership with the Center for Urban Pedagogy, a group of South Bronx students from New Settlement's Bronx Helpers made Bodega Down Bronx, an exploration of their neighborhood's bodegas and where the food on the shelves comes from. Bodega owners, chip suppliers, delivery drivers, the executive director of the Hunts Point Terminal Market, and policy makers alike are interviewed, resulting in a nuanced portrait of the way food shapes a neighborhood and vice versa.

[Via Gilt Taste]

Rebecca Marx

​Good news for those of us who view ice cream as a completely logical meal replacement: Quality Cakes, the superbly over-the-top line of ice cream cakes from Quality Meats pastry chef Cory Colton, will be with us for another month. They were initially scheduled to end their run by Labor Day, but, as Midtown Lunch reports, Colton will continue to make them until the middle of October. As has been well-documented, we are huge fans of these things, though probably not as much so as the local elastic-pants manufacturers that will likely see their September sales rise accordingly.

For more dining news, head to Fork in the Road, or follow us @ForkintheRoadVV.

Photo by Steve Pomeroy

Is that an Oreo around your neck?

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The new Triple Double Oreos weigh in at about 100 calories and 1.5 grams of saturated fat per cookie. Are you sure you want to be eating them? Instead, you might be inspired to turn them into art. Take a cue from artist Judith G. Klausner, who transforms regular ol' Oreos into dainty one-of-a-kind cameos.

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Welcome back, guys

​We love a truck that keeps its promises. Last week, Frites 'N' Meats, the burger-and-fries food truck that suffered an explosion three months ago, announced that it expected to be back up and running this week. Lo and behold, it is hitting the streets today. And what do New Yorkers get for so patiently awaiting its return?

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Chantal Martineau

Takashi's collagen soup

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Haven't had your Botox this month? No worries: You can get a cupful of collagen soup now at Takashi in the West Village.

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tupwanders/Flickr

The king of lobsters?

​Fourchu lobsters, caught off the coast of Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island, are as sought after as Wagyu beef or jamón Ibérico. If you've never sunk your teeth into one, now could be your chance.

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