So today is Food Revolution Day! It’s the day where you take back your food from giant faceless corporations and cook it yourself. Yep, cook it yourself. Learn something new today. Learn about a new ingredient or a new method of cooking. If you’re an expert, go teach somebody something. Share your knowledge and information. Or go out and support the small mom and pop shop where they’re doing things the good and right way.

In honor of Food Revolution Day 2013, here’s a list of recipes that we like and hopefully you’ll like also!

Guess what?! Perfect timing, it’s soft shell crab season. Go get some and cook this recipe.

Thanks to Jamie Oliver, I’m in love with harissa.

Also thanks to Jamie Oliver, I can now make flatbreads with my eyes closed.

The lobster roll is like the perfect summer food, so here’s Howard’s vegan version.

Here’s an easy tomato gratin.

Speaking of tomato, here’s my quick and easy recipe for tomato and egg over rice.

My mom’s chicken wings and potatoes with coconut milk is my MOST FAVORITE dish ever.

Check out our video on making a 30 Second Vinaigrette.

Cauliflower and apple make a great combination in this bread pudding recipe.

Ah….here’s my Pad Thai sauce recipe plus few different ways to use it.

If you find fiddlehead ferns at the greenmarket, buy some and try this recipe.

Because of the asparagus allergy I developed a few years ago, all I can do is stare wistfully at asparagus when it appears every spring at the farmer’s market. This time of year is especially hard — you can find all different sizes of asparagus; pencil thin or thick and crunchy. This would be a good time of year for Donny’s proposed 11-course asparagus dinner.

One of my favorite food events I attended last year was Village Voice’s Choice Streets. Obviously one of the thing I liked about it was the location. It was held at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. It was also one of the most causal food events I’ve been to. So of course this year I had to go back. While the format was the same, there were few things that were different from last year that, in a way, made this year a little less fun (just a little) but overall I still had a good time.

For some unknown reasons, few of the trucks didn’t show up and they may had sold more tickets than last year because the lines! There were few times where I just stood in a line for half an hour. And by 8:30p some of the trucks had ran out of food already which then added extra pressure on other trucks to continue.

Here are some bites I managed to get….

Desi Food Truck: I wasn’t able to try the chicken tikka masala but was able to eat a puri bhaji which is a deep fried round flat dough stuffed with curry vegetables. It was pretty much what I wanted in fried food. Slightly oily, crunchy and stuffed with curry flavored ingredients!

Souvlaki GR

Been a long time fan of this truck and they’re veterans of events so the line was manageable. They served grilled chicken, Greek fries and pita which I went back for seconds. Hmmm so good!

Kelvin Natural Slush Co.: Power tip, get the Arnold Palmer. It’s good.

Mexican Blvd: They were at Choice Streets last year and I really enjoyed their good. This year was no exception. The vegetarian black bean flauta was excellent.

Andy Yang of Rhong Tiam: This truck won best presentation in my book with it’s flashing multi-color lights and music.

“The Basic” burger. First thought, tasted like Shake Shack but with some heat and obviously a thicker, medium rare, patty. The burger was excellent and I’m definitely going to track it down to try their other burgers like the…………General Tso. Yes a General Tso burger.

Miami Food Machine: Last year they were called the Bongo Brothers and served a pretty good Cubano. This year they came back as Miami Food Machine. Their guava bbq pulled pork taco was decent. I couldn’t really taste any guava.

Neapolitan Express: I had read about this truck over at Midtown Lunch and from what I read and what they told me after a 2nd go at it, was that…don’t expect too much from the pizza. Even though the slice I had had some nice char on the bottom, the dough tasted floury and the tomato sauce tasted funky.

Big D’s Grub: Their spicy pork taco was alright, I would have skipped the big chunks of cucumbers.

Mike N Willie’s: So many flautas this year. Their falafel flauta wasn’t as good as Mexico Blvd’s. The creamy sauce on top helped a bit.

While it wasn’t as much lay back as last year and lines were a bit longer, it was still pretty good event to go to. The view and being outdoor on a cool night definitely helped. Also catching up with friends while in line for half hour wasn’t so bad.

Think about a restaurant that can be described by the following: it services people from all different backgrounds, including cab drivers. It’s cheap enough that pretty much anyone can afford it. It’s completely free of any pretentions and food trends. And the food is delicious. Doesn’t all of that sound great? The other day while eating lunch at Punjabi Deli I had an epiphany — the tiny little vegetarian Indian “restaurant” is my favorite eating experience in NYC.

If you’ve never heard of it, Punjabi Deli is a small grocery store on Houston that serves great Indian food. You can eat in, standing hunched over the narrow counter, shoulder-to-shoulder with a random collection of New Yorkers. Sure, they use a microwave to heat up the food, but when you taste it you won’t mind. In the bowl in the foreground is a samosa — in this case, cut open and topped with yogurt, chickpeas, raw onions, and a variety of chutneys and sauces. It’s one of my very favorite things in the city — a mix of hot and cold, salty and sweet, crunchy and smooth.

As a food blogger I get asked a lot about my favorite restaurants in the city, and for some reason Punjabi Deli never occurs to me. That changed, as of that lunch a few weeks ago. It’s the new place I want to take out-of town guests to. Plus, il laboratorio del gelato is right across the street so you can get a little dessert to cool your mouth down from the spices.

Punjabi Deli — 114 E 1st St #3, Manhattan