For a sophisticated fast-food fix, you can’t beat a Chinese-dumpling specialist.

For drinking and dining al fresco, few places beat the roof.

Just like the big day itself, the perfect post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich requires careful planning: If you want to do that leftover free-range organic bird justice, start with great bread from one of these bakeries.

Chinatown celebrates the Lunar New Year with a parade and fireworks on February 9. You can also usher in the Year of the Rooster with lucky foods like whole fish (for abundance), chicken (for prosperity), and noodles (for longevity).

Cynics may call it amateur night, but every young Romeo has to start somewhere, and no one appreciates this fact better than our city’s chefs and restaurateurs.

Sure, you could go the predictable route on Valentine’s Day, but with the new boom in dessert destinations, why not sneak away for some love—or least some hazelnut-chocolate layer cake and a glass of Banyuls—in the afternoon?

American shad, the quintessential springtime fish, is prized for its roe and flesh that’s notoriously hard to debone. Why not let the professionals do it?

Cassoulet, the gut-busting French stew—a harmonic convergence of duck confit, sausage, lamb, and white beans—is one of winter’s few redeeming features. Get yours before the temperature starts to climb.

New York’s no New Orleans, but that’s no reason not to get in the bead-slinging swing come February 8.

You’d think that Grand Marnier’s Navan vanilla cognac might be just another gimmick aimed at the Pass the Courvoisier crowd, but the liqueur is turning up in some surprising places—some of which don’t even own a velvet rope.