Saro Bistro is as personal a restaurant as you will likely find in New York in 2012, the singular vision of Eran Elhalal. In a ćevapčići-sized room, Elhalal serves "the cuisine of long lost empires." For him, that's the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman-inflected Balkan comfort food his grandmother (whose nickname graces the restaurant) served him while growing up in Israel. It's a complicated, delicious backstory, and one he's happy to share. More

There's just something about the way they put together a sandwich at Olives. It's the bread, the meat, the combination of everything that makes this my favorite sandwich shop in town. Take this sandwich all in one bite and you'll see what I mean: the easy marriage of bacon, turkey, and avocado on sourdough is mighty hard to argue with. More

Vegan Divas (also home to carrot cake and doughnuts ) recently launched an e-commerce site, and what better way to celebrate than with a slice of this Vegan Dark Chocolate Cake? More

Dickson's uses the real stuff to make its Slim Jakes and flavored jerky ($15 / half-pound). More

"I end up here more often than I should," admitted Andrew Carmellini when we met him at Dominique Ansel, the staggeringly good French bakery on Spring Street. This was stop number one on what would become our three-hour Soho food crawl. Hop along on our Soho tour with chef Andrew Carmellini! More

The foam is excessive and a little silly, but that aside, Frozen Banana Souffle ($12) is a dessert you'll want to order at Tocqueville. More

Known for its aggressive community boards as much as for its bevy of iconic New York dining institutions, Manhattan's West Village caters to palates and pocketbooks of every denomination. While its status as a safe haven for creative and alternative lifestyles is on the wane, the neighborhood remains one of the best areas on the island for the nocturnally hungry to snag a midnight snack. More

La Maison du Chocolat's Mont Marron ($8.50) is like a glamorous version of your classic Mont Blanc, each creation cut into tidy squares. More

We're soup dumpling-mad. When we go to a Shanghai-style Chinese restaurant, all too often we order soup dumplings, perhaps before we even sit down. But sometimes it pays to slow down and pay attention to the rest of the dumpling menu. On a recent visit to the excellent Shanghai Café Deluxe, our eyes lit on something called rice ball with pork in soup ($3.95). What a novel idea—dumplings in soup, rather than dumplings with soup inside them. More

After a few visits to Laut in Union Square, and after plenty of less impressive meals around Chinatown, I'm convinced it's my favorite Malaysian restaurant in Manhattan. More