Food & Drinks

Including a sticky, smoosh-able pig-face Asian bun, its melt-in-the-mouth fatty meat sweetened with Korean barbecue sauce, at Bluebeard

Reading Michael Rubino’s Sun King feature in the October issue made us thirsty—so we took our growlers to the brewery and got fill-ups of all the current offerings. And we asked Dave Colt, Sun King’s head brewer, to lead the tasting.

Take a front-row seat to some of the best kitchen acts in town.

Given the string of restaurant concepts that have failed to make a go of it at 36 E. Washington St. in the last few years, we were eager to see what 36 East Irish Pub & Grill might do to have more staying power in the downtown dining scene.

Including a trio of oversized scallops, gently seared, wrapped in bacon, and resting in a puddle of leek cream sauce—an appetizer at Taverna.

“The Negroni is easily my favorite cocktail to make and drink. People who appreciate the Negroni’s bittersweet profile are few and far between. If you come to my bar and order one, I am probably going to try and start a conversation with you because I know you’re going to be cool.”

Based in Bloomington, Siegel decided to cut out the middlemen of the grocery industry and get the ingredients for his packaged heat-and-eat breakfasts straight from the source: family farms.

Including the rich, custardy French toast at Dufour’s in Irvington.

From bourbon-drenched cherries to lychee shrubs, cocktail garnishes go the handcrafted way.

Baker Jennifer Wiese created a gluten- and dairy-free line of baked goods.

Including the sweet, tropical liliko’i (passion fruit) margarita at Revolucion.

For dessert at The Legend, order two warmed cookies and pop for a scoop of ice cream (cross your fingers it’s Graham Central Station, as sweet and cinnamony as a Yankee Candle).

Sonja and Alex Overhiser spend a lot of time in their kitchen, creating whole-food recipes that jibe with their all-natural, “flexitarian” (modified vegetarian) lifestyle.

The Nighthawk is a modified version of the nam sausages from Northern Thailand, where the links ferment as they hang.

A slightly edited menu makes finding the best dishes easier. Familiar Chinese takeout fare is serviceable, but it’s the namesake Vietnamese soup that’s the real treasure here now.