It would be a mistake to write off The Angel's Fruit Market as just any other produce stand. The aisles are treasure troves of hard to find, esoteric ingredients from Central and South America and from much of Mediterranean Europe. Take our tour around and prepare to get inspired. That dish you're planning to cook will take on new meaning. More

As local Mexican businesses go, the Zafra and Carrera families are moguls. This year, they opened a taqueria, Carrera's, in Bushwick, a natural extension of their businesses, selling Mexican products to local bodegas and high end restaurants. It's a cozy respite on a gritty stretch of Flushing Avenue where trucks blast down the thoroughfare. More

Michael Chernow is a kid at heart. He's half of the duo that opened a mostly-meatball restaurant with a major impact. The Meatball Shop (slogan: "We Make Balls"), which recently published a cookbook, has locations on the Lower East Side and in Williamsburg, as well as an upcoming West Village outpost. The born-and-raised New Yorker goes for tried-and-true childhood favorites in his own Williamsburg neighborhood, but for a real-deal pizza that reminds him of simpler days, he'll walk the few extra blocks to Bushwick—maybe stopping for an ice cream cone on the way. More

In the Spanish lexicon, the word enchilada means much more than tortillas and cheese drowning in sauce. At Taqueria Cocoyoc, a taqueria in Bushwick, it's the racier goat that get the enchilada treatment. Goat meat may be unsettling to some, but it's not all game and funk. Here the barbacoa enchilada is tweaked with a rub of ground chiles and vinegar, cooked until soft, then torn into moist chunks and seared on the griddle. The marinade permeates the pieces of meat like good Texas barbecue, the sinews collapse, and the exterior shreds crisp and caramelize into amplified meatiness. More

We didn't expect much, to be honest, given that sandwiches get made in a corner, near where they keep bar towels and growlers. The sandwich starts with two hunks of ciabatta, onto which go some sprouts as well as several slicks of prosciutto (the pig) and several of goat cheese (the goat). But what elevates this sandwich is the slick you can't see: a hefty layer of apricot jam. Its tart-sweetness countervails the salty ham and cool cheese, each bite a wicked pastiche of expectations way, way surpassed. More

A highlight of Bushwick's culinary geography is Cholula Deli, equal parts bodega, juice counter, grocery, and restaurant—one of many outer-borough stores selling Mexican wares. Owner Angelo Tapia opened the first Cholula almost eight years ago on Myrtle Avenue. Starting with a small grocery store, Tapia sold Mexican products which were then rarities in Bushwick. When waves of immigrants flocking to the neighborhood started asking for tacos and tortas, he installed a two-foot electric grill in back and started cooking. More

Taqueria Izucar, a mini-eatery under the JMZ train in Bushwick, offers a minimalist brand of taco. It's a taco in its truest form: hot corn tortillas, a wisp of perfectly seasoned meat, a drop of salsa, a crunch of white onion, hitting a sweet spot so many miss. It is miles away from shredded orange cheese and limp strands of iceburg lettuce. For those who are used to tacos sporting salad, Izucar's simplicity can be a revelation. More

A bakery grows in a shipping container in a Brooklyn yard. That yard is part of the Bushwick compound of Roberta's Pizza, whose business seems to grow and morph every day. At first, the bakery used the pizza oven during the few, early morning hours it wasn't churning out pies. Last year, the restaurant hired master oven artisan Dick Bessey to build a big wood-fired oven in one of the many shipping containers that clutter its yard. In November, the restaurant brought in Melissa Weller, who has a resume that includes stints as head baker at Per Se and Bouchon as well as work at Sullivan Street and Babbo. The loaves that she pulls out of the oven every morning rival any in the city. More

Cardiologists might want to avert their eyes from the Red's Dead, which combines bacon, soppressata, capicola, and asiago cheese, but everyone else should head straight to Bushwick and order it. More

Single-food restaurants are nothing new, but more and more of them seem to be sprouting up, and in some cases dominating the culinary landscape they inhabit. Such a fate could easily be in store for the new brick and mortar Bushwick outpost of Arancini Bros., the former Hester Street Fair vendor that specializes in fried risotto balls with fillings as unpredictable as the edgy, industrial neighborhood where they've made their home. More

Editor's note: In "Apps Only," Ben Fishner will be eating his way through New York's appetizer, bar, and lounge menus as your guide to fine dining on a budget. He blogs at Ben Cooks Everything. Pork jowl from Roberta's.... More

Help your friends afford your birthday dinner by going to bars that offer freebie drinks that night. Yes, some of them are at pretty cheesy bars, but close your eyes (block out the girls dancing on tabletops, who may... More

The pizza is already very good and may or may not be on the way to great. But I don't think it really matters if it gets there, because the place itself is already filled with positive energy and good feelings, as well as plenty of really good food made with carefully chosen ingredients. More