Over the weekend, all-star chefs from all over the country descended on our fair city for the restaurant portion of the James Beard Awards (the journalism awards were handed out on Friday, and our very own Tejal Rao took one home for criticism). And they're not just here for the awards, but to hit the newest and best restaurants in town. With so many options and so little time, what makes the list as a must-visit spot?

One popular answer: Carbone.

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They may have nixed a scene in Nolita's Little Cupcake Bakeshop, but the Girls crew was spotted shooting at Sugar Shop on Baltic Street this morning. The Cobble Hill sweets emporium is becoming a favorite set location--Paul Rudd was also seen filming there last year.

Holy media overload! What happens when two reformed bad boys (Anthony Bourdain and NY Times scribe David Carr) meet up with one food-obsessed superstar drummer and all-around nice-guy chef Michael Lomonaco? This photo. The unlikely gang gathered at Lomonaco's Time Warner Center restaurant Porter House last night. [@BullfrogandBaum]

Quinn's gargantuan beef rib is like something an Inuit might have once wrested from the flank of a whale.

Fork in the Road has reported admiringly on the city's latest barbecue, an East Village joint called Mighty Quinn's. The place does brisket, Texas-style, and has a secondary specialty in Carolina pulled-pork 'cue. Of course, the name comes from a Bob Dylan song, "Quinn the Eskimo," that was so popular in the past century, it was done by dozens of top artists, ranging from the original hit-parade cover by Manfred Mann, to such acts as Julie London, the Grateful Dead, and Dylan himself. Apart from a reference to "it ain't my cup of meat," there seems to be no connection between barbecue and the song, but maybe you think different. Here are several delightful versions of "Quinn the Eskimo" to chew on before you come up with an answer.

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Sebastian Pinzon

Meaghan Dorman meets a lot of people's parents at Raines Law Room. Sometimes it's because she has already met the girlfriend (who became the wife), the siblings, the business partners. The parents are the next logical step. Other times it's more of a, "Look, Mom, I'm not drinking in a dive bar!" Dorman says.

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Sebastian Pinzon

Monica Byrne admits that she just might be a control freak. She's the kind of chef who, while cooking in the tiny kitchen of her Red Hook restaurant, Home/Made, also takes the time to observe diners from a stove-side window and ask the waiters: "What's going on with that couple? Is it the food, or are they fighting?"

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