Week of October 16, 2006: Bedford Cheese Shop relocates, Urban Lobster, and Cobblestone Foods. Plus, how to find good eggs.

Cobble Hill’s new Italian wine bar might be a bit derivative, but who’s complaining?

Although it’s virtually fat-free and low in calories, when cooked in oil, eggplant absorbs fat like a sumo wrestler at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Which might explain why we find it so delicious.

I’m surprised by the splendidly revved-up flavors at I-Chin. Yes, I’m sneezing and I feel peppery heat coming out of my ears. Yet I couldn’t be happier with the fiercely peppered ribbons of stir-fried chicken the waiter just snipped free of its banana-leaf girdle.

In the Über-restaurateur’s new book, he distills the finer points of hospitality. So how does the local shebeen measure up?

Someone’s gotta pay the fare.

Week of October 9, 2006: La Lunetta, Noo Na, Metro Marché, and Pasita.

Why wait till it’s cold? Any drop in temperature, however slight, is a good excuse to tuck into the hearty cooking you avoided all summer.

The much-loved Tasting Room debuts a new, larger space.

Black mint isn’t an herb gone goth, but rather a type of peppermint that’s commonly used for tea and actually turns out to have more of a dark-purplish or brownish cast around the stem.