It’s August, cheap-eats time, when you should be gobbling down raw artichokes, Cuban sandwiches, tapas, and pasta. It’s time to chill out, in other words. And that’s the idea behind this week’s food coverage.

• The Underground Gourmet reviews Café Cortadito, a low-key Cuban eatery on Avenue B.

• The Insatiable Gourmet makes the issue’s sole foray into tablecloth dining with a short take on Ben Pollinger’s high-end seafood work at Oceana.

• This week’s openings: an Argentine steakhouse in East Harlem and a wine and tapas bar in Clinton Hill.

• Local artichokes are so good right now that the best thing to do is to leave them alone, serving them uncooked in a salad. Which is what Jody Williams of Morandi does in this week’s In Season.

• When Tom Colicchio isn’t thinking of diabolical Quickfire Challenges on Top Chef, he’s devising ways to keep the riffraff out of the bathrooms at ’Wichcraft.

• Anyone who ever dreaded going into a nice restaurant and eating by himself should read this article by Jerri Ferrari-Adler, who did it every night for a week and found that it wasn’t so horrible after all.

• Finally, this week’s Short Lists hip you to some good places on a block formerly dominated by shoes stores and the latest Italian restaurants colonizing the West Village.

The Underground Gourmet: Something Barrio, Something Blue
The Insatiable Critic: Oceana
Openings: Caminito and Il Torchio
In Season: Local Artichokes
Innovation: May I Borrow the Code to the Men’s Room, Please?
No, Just Me
Short List: Toe Hold
Short List: Little Italy West [NYM]