If you were to give cursory notice to Hansol Nutrition Center's epithet, you might dismiss this Flushing restaurant as a health food restaurant. But by most rights, the Korean attitude towards nutrition gives leeway to plenty of flavor, relying on the punch of herbs and the bracing heat of chilies. More

So one of our main men, Midtown Lunch founder Zach Brooks, just launched a podcast (on iTunes here) as part of his newest blogging (ad)venture, Food is the New Rock, with the very fine Los Angeles-based food writer Jonathan Gold as his first guest. Did you know that Gold hung out with Snoop Dogg back in the day? One of many things you'll learn on the Food is the New Rock podcast. More

Our visit to Sura Chung in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Flushing was initially intended as an investigation of their ojinguh bokkeum (stir fried squid, $16.99), which was recommended by a friend with a keen palate. But this dish isn't the only reason why I will make many repeat visits to Sura Chung in the future. More

Lola's lamb burger arrives beautifully juicy with welcome background notes of char and the right amount of salt. It's a wallop of lamb-y richness—a boon for people that love the funkiness of the animal. More

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There's obviously a great deal of thought put into this restaurant of Taavo Somer's, with Ignacio Mattos as the chef. And a lot of intentional quirk. The room is inviting and rustic, warmed and perfumed by an enormous wood-burning oven; while the photocopied, garishly colored menu looks like a 'zine cover from 1995. On that menu are dishes that change daily, their names handwritten in descriptions like "sunchoke cream, chestnut, dust." But while some of these wildly creative dishes delivered, others didn't at all. More

Tong Tong Tonkatsu,a Korean ode to the classic Japanese dish, resides in a small one story building on Northern and 147th St. Years ago this space was occupied by a cozy little pojangmacha (Korean drinking hall) that featured ridiculously cheap booze, grubby menus, terrible food and a divey atmosphere suitable for boisterous drinking followed by a nasty hangover. More

It's been brought to my attention that the Bottom Shelf has been relying too heavily on overlong digressions about my home life, Scrabble habits, and condiment preferences. The criticism hurt; being told I stray too far from the topic felt as if Emily played quozz for a triple-word score and then rubbed Cholula in my eyes. But I am nothing if not handsome, and nothing else if not responsive to the desires of the medium people, so I've decided to drop all the narcissistic tween-on-Facebook bullshit and give you what you came here for: The official Bottom Shelf primer on the state of the American political system. More

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I asked a native Singaporean why the people of Singapore are so food crazy. His answer was blunt and typical. "It's the only damn culture we have." With such an influx of new immigrants and ex-pats, it's no wonder that food is the unifying factor for all of Singapore's citizens. With so many flavors to represent, Singapore is absolutely clogged with places to eat; everything from the affordable hawker centers and eating houses to numerous high-end restaurants. Here are the 12 must-try dishes. More

You've seen the all-edge brownie pan, right? The first time I saw it, one thought popped into my twisted mind: "Forget brownies. Hello, pizza!" After all, on a square pizza, be it Sicilian or grandma or Detroit-style, the corner is king followed closely by the edge. (And the center's just for jokers.) More

At Bonjuk in Flushing, the menu is devoted to juk, and although wonderful meat versions are available, the luscious vegetarian yachae juk ($9.95) is no less satisfying for omnivores and vegetarians alike. More

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This is just a slice of the diversity of Korean cuisine. You'll notice themes across the dishes: the simple pleasures of local and seasonal ingredients, blushes of heat from spice and fire, and above all, pride in food and of country. Take a look at some of the best bites: the bulgogi, the street food, and much more. More

Wendy's chili isn't much to look at, but it tastes leagues better than Hormel. It's much thinner, but the sparse beef is augmented by plenty of small red kidney beans and pinky-gray pinto beans, and there are cursory bits of tomato skin, onion and, in a huh?-but-harmless touch, celery. More

A couple months ago I horrified us all with the news that I had been reduced to toiling several hours a week at an actual job to keep up with rising household spending relating mostly to pumpkin beer and deluxe mustards. Pumpkin beer season has finally crested, but it's always time for expensive mustard and now some jerk has started parking a lobster roll truck in my neighborhood, so it looks like I'll be checking IDs at the not-quite-dive bar for the foreseeable future. More

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At Serious Eats, we're all about food. And even when we're not reading or writing about it, we're perhaps thinking, idealizing, and dreaming about it. But we're also cognizant of the millions of New Yorkers who don't have ready access to food, which is why we're down with City Harvest, an organization that for over 25 years, has helped to feed the New York City's hungry. And in order to fund this massive effort (they estimate they'll rescue 30 million lbs of food this year), they've partnered with some of the city's best restaurants to throw their annual Bid Against Hunger gala, which was held yesterday evening at the Metropolitan Pavilion. More

Ever read through a list of New York "Cheap Eats" and been frustrated by $20 pizzas and $50 dinners? (Us, too.) So we love "Real Cheap Eats," a guide to under-$10 and crazy-delicious foods in all five boroughs. More

If you can resist the Cuban press sandwich on steroids or the colossal grilled chicken breast sandwich, you'll want to try the Cuban roast ($8.50), which exalts fat hunks of pork shoulder, unbelievably succulent and blissfully meaty. Like most of Paseo's signature sandwiches, the Cuban roast is bound with a swipe of fragrant aioli, striated with piquant pickled jalapenos and topped with rings of plump, sweet roasted onions, and an obligatory stalk of crisp romaine lettuce. More

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During the filming of PBS's The Kimchi Chronicles, renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his wife, Marja, visited one of the several O-Il Jang (5 Day Market) on Jeju-do, the provincial island off of the southern coast of the Korean peninsula. According to the producer of The Kimchi Chronicles Eric Rhee, Vongerichten was so inspired by the market that he halted the shooting schedule, bought everything in sight, commandeered the kitchen of a local hotel, and cooked an impromptu multi-course meal for the film crew and hotel staff. More

For the first-timer in a Singapore hawker center, the sheer size and outward disarray can be downright disconcerting, if not a little intimidating. With the help of friends and guidebooks, I, myself a recent Singapore newbie, decoded the basics of hawker center etiquette to help demystify this unique eating experience for future greenhorn foodies. More

The Korean diet, at its core, is essentially health food. It's seldom the luscious strips of samgyeopsal (pork belly) or velvety slabs of galbi (short rib), which seep opulence and fat (although both are meant to be eaten with plenty of raw veggies). The everyday meal speaks in vegetables, seasonal and fresh. It demands dietary fiber and it sparingly utilizes economy cuts of animal protein. And it would be unforgivable if it were ever bland or boring. Mediterranean diet be damned, we're on to something here. More

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Visitors to Flushing, Queens might think of the neighborhood as primarily a Chinese food destination, but the world of Korean options is vast and diverse. Our intrepid Flushing explorer Chris Hansen has tracked down massive goat feasts, pork belly cooked on your table, killer Korean barbecue, and more. We asked him to pick his five favorite finds so far; check out his can't-miss Korean eating experiences in Flushing! More

OK. Forget for a minute that Forcella is doing some solidly legit traditional pizzas. That's all well and good and totally worth your while. But just know that the place is the only pizzeria I know of in NYC that's doing a deep-fried "montagnara" pizza. More

After a month of suffering through the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's cavalcade of incompetence, Bottom Shelf research coordinator Emily announced last Thursday that she'd finally had enough of her 45-minute, 3-mile subway commute. I figured this meant one of two things: She'd either landed her dream job as a cookie-dispenser at Formaggio Kitchen, or she'd wised up to the fact that work is for suckers and was joining me in early retirement. More

My new neighborhood is the nicest I've ever lived in, which is great if you're into yoga and dentistry and $13 jars of jam, but less convenient if your tastes run to cheap liquor and a comprehensive selection of Slim Jim sizes and flavors. Though my immediate surroundings are a bit dandified for my liking, they are reassuringly sleaze-adjacent; a 10-minute walk to the dark side of Harvard Square puts me in safe proximity to grifters and winos and other friends. This is why it took me several weeks to fully appreciate the busted beauty of the only bar in the other direction. More

For years, I've returned to Geum Sung Chik Naengmyun in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Flushing, which specializes in their namesake dish, chik naengmyun, cold arrowroot noodles. But what makes this preparation of chik naengmyun truly special is the base of irresistible home brewed beef broth, yook soo, which they expertly ply into a variety of classic Korean dishes. More

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These strange, bottom-dwelling fish—that resemble a cross between a sting ray and a fish—are really sharks with pectoral fins so large they're referred to as "wings." This is more apparent if you take home one of its two "wings" without having your fishmonger do anything (like skinning or filleting it). More