Lauren Shockey

The dimly lit setting at Brasilina makes for a good canoodling (though poor photos).

The décor at Brasilina, a new Brazilian-ish restaurant in Hell's Kitchen, is certainly pretty if not totally South American in feel: brick walls, potted trees, wood beams, mismatched vintage plates. The menu, too, features a somewhat bizzare hodgepodge of Brazilian classics (black bean soup, pastels, etc.) along with lackluster American fare (sliders, Caesar salad, braised short ribs). A recent trip to the eatery didn't inspire a whole lot of confidence in the place, though the South American dishes were, unsurprisingly, the better dishes of the bunch. A black bean soup wasn't bad, nor was the moqueca, a shrimp-and-cod stew.

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​The muti-fish tutto crudo was a sort of crunchy raw fish salad.

Three years ago I published a long-winded account of a taping of Iron Chef America that I'd witnessed a year earlier. It featured chef Fortunato Nicotra of Lidia Bastianich's restaurant Felidia in a battle against Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto of Morimoto. I believed that Nicotra should have won the contest, though the judges decided in favor of Morimoto.

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​The mortar contains seeds to be ground up for a do-it-yourself pork cutlet sauce.

In the '80s, the area around Grand Central Station was dotted with single-specialty Japanese restaurants -- much like many back in Japan -- which catered to the Japanese businessmen then ubiquitous in Midtown, believed to live in Westchester and New Jersey.

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​Peel noodles with lamb in soup even boasts a stray mushroom or two.

Five years ago, Counter Culture announced that a new Chinese noodle had hit town. At Sheng Wang on Eldridge Street, in a downstairs location attached to a fish-ball factory, something called peel noodles were served for the first time in the city.

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​The special of mackerel crudo was artistically arranged.

Almost two years ago, I reviewed Greenpoint newcomer Anella, a restaurant on the hip Franklin Street strip that replaced the legendary Queen's Hideaway, doubling the space, adding a wood-fired oven, and creating a beautiful garden out back reminiscent, in the summer months, of Tuscany.

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​The massive mutton chop, seen in the glow of Keens' flattering lighting. The long tail that wraps around the chop is the best part.

Fork in the Road continues with our slow quest to find a restaurant to substitute for the splendid Peter Luger, which is difficult to get into without the sort of premeditation we're rarely capable of. The last place we tested was Old Homestead, which we found at least marginally acceptable as a substitute. Today we turn our gaze upon Keens Steakhouse (72 West 36th Street, 212-947-3636).

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​Foodparc is not quite as big and grandiose as it looks from the outside.

If this era coming up has a theme, it might be the Era of Food Courts. They seem to be popping up everywhere.

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​Our meat hoard (clockwise from top left): pulled pork, sausage, tongue pastrami, pork belly (thin strip), pork chop, beef brisket.

Three years ago I reviewed Fette Sau ("Fat Pig"), Williamsburg's tip of the hat to the fabled butcher-shop barbecues of the black-dirt farm country east of Austin, Texas. Its only rival in this category is Hill Country, just west of Madison Square. Both deserve to be ranked among the very best barbecues in the city.

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​A tasty Quebecois mutation of eggs Benedict featuring fresh peas and salt cod.

There's really nothing visually arresting about the down-at-the-heels diner at the corner of 21st and 49th Avenue in Long Island City, which sits at the head of the Sunnyside Yards -- formerly the world's largest rail yard, now mainly derelict.

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​The Tallgrass Burger incorporates avocado, fried onion rings, and yellow cheddar cheese to make a real gutbomb.

It was a sign of the times: Long-running Filipino eatery Elvie's Touro-Touro on First Avenue in the East Village closed recently, to be replaced almost immediately by an upmarket hamburger joint intended to push all the right foodie buttons.

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