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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I love restaurant hopping. Whenever a friend visits from Los Angeles, I'll take them on an extensive eating tour of the East Village where we'll eat at four to five restaurants consecutively without stopping. My only condition: We can only order one dish between the two of us to share.

By the end of the evening, we're stuffed to the brim, and my guest is sufficiently exposed to the different cuisines and restaurant atmospheres the area has to offer--without having to dish out an insane amount of money.

Here are our picks of great unique places in the East Village to go restaurant hopping. Most of these are order-at-the-counter, which means no tip required and less strain on the wallet.

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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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I love my mum, so I would never, never take her out to brunch on Mother's Day, when restaurants are packed for the set menus. Instead, I'd take her out for an actual dinner later in the week, and we'd drink enough to finally talk about that time I ran away from home. Because that's what Mother's Day is all about! Right?

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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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Photo Courtesy of Toloache Taqueria

Julian Medina's tacos aren't destination worthy, but they're really good when you're in the 'hood.

It's generally agreed that the area below Chambers Street is a food no man's land. However, take a closer look, and you'll find a number of options that don't just fill a void, but are top-notch. We've rounded up our 10 favorites and lumped Battery Park City and the financial district together for our 10 Best Far Downtown Restaurants.

10. Toloache Taqueria: At the quick-concept outpost of Julian Medina's Toloache empire, if you get there early enough, you can watch your tortillas being pressed. Come lunchtime, the only thing you'll be watching is your watch as you creep down the line toward your order--especially on Taco Tuesday when they're $2 a pop. Regardless, the food is fresh and filling, the flavors are strong, and the tortilla soup is creamy and satisfying.

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Lauren Bloomberg

Could this be from one of our 10 Best?

The financial district, Battery Park City, FiDi, the Seaport district . . . whatever you want to call it, the southern tip of the city is not the barren food land that many think it is. Tucked behind the touristy Seaport strip, Front Street is chockablock with worthy dining and drinking options, and though the lunchtime and happy-hour scene on Stone Street might be a bit more boisterous than its twilight dining, there's still plenty of worthy options. We've lumped the area from Chambers Street on down into one dining destination, Far Downtown, and gathered the best food joints to present our 10 Best Far Downtown Restaurants. Check back tomorrow for the list.

For more dining news head to Fork in the Road, or follow us (and me) on twitter.

Who wouldn't want this Peruvian rotisserie bird from Inca Chicken? And it comes with fries.

Chicken is such a versatile bird! While McDonald's tries to disguise it, the yardbird's nature keeps asserting itself again and again. The skin is great, the organs are great, the appendages better than other animal appendages. Our love for chicken is undying, and luckily there are a zillion ways to prepare it. Here are our favorite examples.

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Alexia Nader

A Middle Eastern spread of olives, falafel, labneh, and hummus at Tripoli

New York City has a lot to offer when it comes to Middle Eastern cooking. If you know where to stop for a meal along the city's few Arab strips or even in fancy neighborhoods, you'll find a wide range of the region's typical cooking including grilled meats, honey-drenched pastries, savory flatbreads, and bright, beautiful meze platters. I've been able to find traditional dishes in this city on par with those my Lebanese grandmother makes and ones I've tried in Jordan and Egypt. And the city even holds its own on the falafel and kebab front despite some serious competition in the Middle East and Europe. Below you'll find my 10 favorite sit-down and takeout Middle Eastern spots in NYC.

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Uniting egg and eggplant, possibly for the first time -- the sabich sandwich at Taïm

Despite a plethora of overpriced and pretentious restaurants, the West Village is still one of the damned best places to eat in the city in nearly every price range. And here's the list to prove it. Note that there are many fine restaurants that didn't make the list -- but we've decided to confine ourselves to 10 only and not wimp out on our duty to choose boldly.

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