In case you’re wondering what we want for Christmas here on Grub Street, we’ve actually gone to the trouble of making a list.

• A Grub Street outpost in Las Vegas. Possibly built in conjunction with Hawaiian Tropic Zone, with David Burke as consulting chef.

• A James Beard Rising Star Chef award. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!

• A bar stool alongside Mario Batali and Courtney Love at the Spotted Pig. Then a hot ice pick with which to blind ourselves.

• A new restaurant which brags about “year-round” ingredients grown “all over the place, and bought from SysCo.”

• A menu that eschews subtitles, credits, translations, geography, or recipes in favor of big, detailed full-color pictures of every dish — just like at Denny’s.

• The permanent destruction of the Cookshack smoker, the last refuge of mediocre urban barbecue cooks. (The Cookshack, a refrigerator-size device that “smokes” with the aid of a handful of electrically warmed chips, is a sad replacement for a real wood smoker, like the ones used at RUB and other major barbecue establishments.)

• An end to “soft openings.” When you’re ready to open, open. Come hard or don’t come at all!

• Three good new Jewish delis, five good new non-gourmet pizzerias, ten good new local Chinese restaurants, and no more gourmet-burger operations.

• Unless, of course, it’s the White Castle on Avenue B we’ve always wished for.

From left, David Chang, Polo Dobkin, Brad Farmerie, Cal Elliott, Alexandra Guarnaschelli, Alex Ureña. Seated, front: Aaron Sanchez, Gypsy Gifford, Iacopo Falai Photograph by Jonathan L. Smith

Move over, Bouley! Step aside, Jojo! There's a new generation of "emerging tastemakers," — according to Food Arts magazine and their friends at Sterling Meats, at least. Sunday night, meat purveyor and magazine jointly fêted ten young chefs who, they predict, "will be influencing what, where and how we dine out on a national level." The chefs were presented with framed, diploma-like certificates and envy-inducing Masamoto cobalt-steel knives. Here's who was honored and why — and our own take on the ones that most deserve props.