Mouthing Off

Here's a little exclusive intel on Dominique Ansel Kitchen, the pastry-centric restaurant opening this spring in New York's West Village. It turns out Ansel has an unlikely inspiration for DAK: the Lower East Side institution Katz’s Delicatessen

Watch the above clip and jump into opening night at Hapa Ramen, the obsessed-over San Francisco pop-up that finally landed in a beautiful, permanent Mission District space just a few weeks ago.

Life would be better if going to the doctor were like going to the bar. 

Here, Kate Krader (F&W's Restaurant Editor and fierce cat lover) previews some of the cat cafés opening in the US.

In the best-news-ever department: The world’s best chef, René Redzepi, will be spending January 2015 in residence in the world’s best food city, Tokyo.

Courtesy of Island Creek

The phenomenal team behind Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and Boston’s Island Creek Oyster Bar is two months into the construction of a new, rustic, seafood restaurant called Row 34. “Island Creek Oyster Bar was inspired by the majesty of Duxbury Bay,” says partner Garrett Harker. “Row 34 is a workingman’s expression of the oyster farm.” Here, a sneak peek at the new restaurant plus tips for shucking oysters at home. »

Corner Bistro burger / © A. Naro

Having tackled buzzy Asian fare in Brooklyn with the ultrasuccessful Talde, Dave Massoni, John Bush and Top Chef alum Dale Talde turned their attention to building a neighborhood bar: Pork Slope, which opened over the weekend in Park Slope.

Read more about Pork Slope plus the team's favorite dive bars >

Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food

Today, Food & Wine scored a preview of NYC's highly-anticipated Mission Chinese Food, a forthcoming branch of the acclaimed San Francisco pop-up of the same name. Mastermind and California nominee for this year's People's Best New Chef, Danny Bowien, dropped by the Test Kitchen with an armload of various Chinese-style dishes.

Here's what he brought. >>>