I’m a big fan of Xi’an Famous Foods, so I was excited when they opened a full, sit-down restaurant in Flushing: Biang! The name is supposedly derived from the sound that the noodle dough makes as it is slammed against the counter while being worked, and make no mistake: the noodles are good. But I like to think that the exclamation point at the end of the name refers to the bold, bright flavors that characterize the best dishes at Biang! In fact the few dishes we didn’t enjoy were the ones lacking that bright, exclamatory punch. For an example of what Biang! does right, take the bao’ji mung bean jelly pictured above. Served cold, the mung bean jelly is cut into noodley strips and sits soaking in a bath of soy and vinegar. It’s a wake-up call to the palate, impossible to ignore (and nearly as impossible to stop eating).

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You know what? Lunch is awesome. Lunch is a lot more calmer and quieter than dinner and brunch. A lot of times, you can seated right away for lunch AND some times restaurants will have great lunch deals. Like at Motorino with their $12 lunch prix fixe menu.

For $12, you get a pretty darn good mixed salad and your choice of pizzas (margherita, Brussels sprout, soppressata picante and marinara). I have heard much great things about their Brussels sprout pizza (it was also topped with fior di latte, garlic, pecorino, smoked pancetta and olive oil) so I got that also cause I love Brussels sprouts on pizza. The crust was great, the fior di latte was creamy and you can’t beat the combo of Brussels sprouts and bacon. Add a few dashes of chili flakes and you’re good to go.

Motorino 349 East 12th St, East Village

Lily Ng, the manager of May Wah Vegetarian Market (and daughter of its owners), is not a vegetarian. Or, as she put it, “not yet.”

May Wah was created by Lily’s mother, who came to New York from Taiwan. Raised as a Taoist vegetarian, Lily’s mom was disappointed with the options for vegetarians in New York. In Taiwan she had hundreds of different vegetarian foods available to her, but the most she could find here was vegetables and a little tofu. Determined to bring some of vegetarian Taiwan to NYC, she created the shop in 1995 and began importing vegetarian products from Taiwan.

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The weather warmed up just in time for the start of a new season of Smorgasburg, an outdoor food vendor market. Every new season, there are always new vendors popping up. This past Saturday, I tried two of the new vendors and visited a Smorgasburg/Brooklyn Flea regular.

After returning from Taiwan (see here and here) I was kind of craving some Taiwanese food here in NYC. My friend Sophia, who has family in Taiwan and was in the country the same time I was, recommended that we meet up at TKettle, a Taiwanese snack joint on St. Marks in the East Village. TKettle is her go-to place for Taiwanese snack food in the city (Gu Shine in Flushing is her recommendation for a full Taiwanese meal). Above you see the appetizer plate, a great introduction to some traditional Taiwanese dishes. Top left you see preserved eggs, with a concentrated eggy flavor. Top right is cold pressed tofu, with a slightly sweet flavor. And at the bottom is the cold cucumber salad, which is amazing — loaded with spicy garlic, these crunchy cucumber chunks are at once shocking and refreshing.

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For my birthday, my friend Scott gave me a pound of brisket from Delaney Barbecue aka Briskttown. I had heard many greats things about his brisket so I was excited to finally check it out.

Tip: one pound of brisket is way too much food for one person especially if you add one pork rib and few slices of white bread. Yes, one should never eat bread when eating bbq but I just couldn’t help it. I love bread! Also Scott told me to try the pork ribs too. I got a quarter pound pork rib which came out to be just one pork rib. I haven’t had much brisket in my life but these were might good. I got half fatty and half lean. The fatty brisket was really good, good flavors and all. The lean brisket, surprisingly, juicy and tender as well. I had imagined the leaner part to be slightly dry but nope.

I didn’t bother with any sides but did load up on unlimited spicy pickles and white bread. I am definitely looking forward to another meal here to get more than just one pork rib.

Also congrats to Dan with the soon-to-be-opened Smokeline. He’s bringing his bbq starting April 18th to the Highline in Chelsea.

- Delaney Barbecue 359 Bedford Ave, South Williamsburg

Minutina may sound like the name of a long lost Pokemon (or is that just me?), but it’s a long-leafed green I spotted at Bodhi Tree Farm’s stand at yesterday’s Union Square Greenmarket. The sign said it was good for salads or light cooking, so first I tasted a strand of it raw. It tasted a lot like lettuce. I decided to blanch it in salted water — I brought the water to a boil, tore off the stem end of the minutina, dropped the leaves into the water, and when it came back up to a boil I turned off the heat and drained the leaves out of the water. Cooked the leaves took on the texture of scallion greens, without the onion-y bite of scallions. Good as a novelty, sure, but I don’t think I’ll be adding minutina to my regular rotation of veggies any time soon.