Chef

Boston has the North End, famous for Italian fare. The South End is home to bistros, tapas restaurants, and gastropubs, cheek by jowl. Allston, Chinatown, and East Boston showcase the flavors of the world. So what is Boston’s best restaurant neighborhood? None of these. It’s Cambridge. That’s right. Not in Boston at all. All the way on the other side of the river — a journey Bostonians seem eternally loath to make. The trip is neither long nor arduous. With its views of water and sailboats and skyline, it’s downright pleasant (well, unless you’re driving over the BU Bridge)

WHO Louis DiBiccari WHAT DiBiccari, the chef at Boston's Storyville and host of the innovative dining challenge series Chef Louie Night, launches a new endeavor on June 3 from 2 to 6 p.m. called CREATE: Six Artists, Six Chefs, One Canvas, at the Boston Center for Adult Education. Six regional artists, including Josh Falk and Emily Lombardo, and Miracle 5, will be paired up with six chefs like Brandon Arms of Garden at the Cellar and Douglas Rodrigues of Clio to collaborate on dishes inspired by the artwork.

This piece was written by James H. Burnett III, Nicole Cammorata, Ike Delorenzo, Sheryl Julian, Doug Most, Anne V. Nelson, Kathleen Pierce, Mark Pothier, Julia Quinn-Szcesuil, Denise Drower Swidey, Rachel Travers, Adrian Walker and Eileen McEleney Woods. 3 LITTLE FIGS Chef, baker, and co-owner Katie Rooney got her start at area farmers' markets, but the family affair (mother, husband, sister) put down roots last fall in Somerville. The airy cafe is a stylish understated place with stylish understated offerings: avocado muffins, glazed lavender scones.

Page through Daniel Duane's "How to Cook Like a Man" and you will fast wonder what havoc celebrity chef culture has wrought upon present-day notions of masculinity. It's as if the blazing klieg lights of the Food Network, et al., have birthed a new variety of siren: male, agile, masterful, artistic, and barking orders from beneath a towering white toque. Really, who doesn't want to be that guy? Certainly the author of this memoir displays such aspirations as he fanatically cooks his way through Alice Waters and her Chez Panisse books in extreme sport fashion, ticking off her recipes...

Globe Staff File Photo/Mark Wilson Olives has been unofficially feeding people for a few days now, getting back in gear and using guests as guinea pigs to try out dishes new and old. (The food was free, but they paid for their own drinks.) Thursday, the reopening is official. "So many people have come up and said, 'We're so happy to have you back,'" says chef Todd English. But don't expect English and crew to be serving the kind of Big Food pictured above, the way Olives served customers circa 1996.

    The food world turned out last night at Boston University to celebrate chef, author, and instructor Jacques Pepin, who, it turned out, was too ill to attend. He is nursing a hip that is about to be replaced. If you read his memoirs, you know that when the Frenchman was young, he was in a bad ski accident and smashed both legs. At one point he wondered if he would walk again, never mind stand on his feet for 14-hour days in hot kitchens.

This season on " Food Network Star ," 15 contestants (including North Attleborough pastry chef Linkie Marais ) were hand-picked to work in teams of five with one of three mentors, Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, and new addition Alton Brown. Flay spoke with us yesterday about the show, the new era of television chefs, and where he likes to eat around Boston. "Food Network Star" returns with a two-hour premiere Sunday at 9 p.m. on Food Network . There is also a casting special Saturday at 9 p.m. (Food Network)

In the hierarchy of the kitchen, all your equipment, all your tools, and all your utensils probably come before the dish towel. Ordinary kitchen towels are at the bottom of the heap. It's not until you've struggled with a flimsy, thin towel or one whose texture feels funny in your hands that you realize how important they are. Choosing the right one can be a Goldilocks dilemma. Some are too thin and skimpy, others too thick and bulky (they don't fit snugly in your hand or in a wine glass)

Fagor’s Futuro pressure cooker ($139.95 for a 6-quart pot) works like a dream. It locks into place as you close the top, so it’s easy to seal (for pressure cooker worriers). It has a charming bulge on the bottom with two ear-shaped handles, which makes it fetching for such an old-fashioned pot. It will cook potatoes for summer salads in minutes, simmer soups made with your garden harvest, and get beans and other grains to the table in a fraction of the time a regular pot takes. Suitable for all ranges, including induction.

Win or lose, Pembroke native and home chef Tracy Kontos figures she’s ahead of the game. Kontos, now living in Coral Springs, Fla., is a contestant on the Fox network’s “MasterChef’’ show, a competition of home cooks from around the country. Though the season’s filming is completed for the show’s run that ends in August, Kontos was forbidden last week to say whether she’s still in the show. “No matter what, I feel like this experience has opened so many doors for me,’’ said Kontos, 33. “And I hope to turn it into a career that follows my passion.’’ ...

Two of Maine's top chefs will represent the state at the Great American Seafood Cook-off in Louisiana this summer. In response to a challenge by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to appoint a chef to represent Maine, Gov. Paul LePage anointed Chef Melissa Bouchard and her assistant, Chef Clifford Pickett, as "Team Maine" for the competition. Bouchard and Pickett will compete against other top-level professional chefs from around the country on Aug. 11 for the title of "King/Queen of American Seafood.

An exceedingly rare calico lobster discovered in the tank at chef Jasper White's Summer Shack restaurant in Cambridge earlier this month is about to get a new home -- an ocean education facility in Rhode Island, the New England Aquarium announced today. The lobster, which White nicknamed Calvin, was transported to the aquarium last week after the well-known chef discovered it in his 1,200-gallon lobster tank. Today, Calvin will be transported to the Biomes Marine Biology Center, an education facility that "specializes in hands-on marine biology programs for schools...

WHO Jamie Oliver WHAT For the last decade, the British-born "Naked Chef" has been advocating for better food education, particularly for schoolchildren. On his ABC show, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," the chef entered schools in Huntington, W. Va., and Los Angeles to enact dietary change. He will take his crusade a step farther on May 19 by launching Food Revolution Day. WHEN On May 22, Oliver will receive the Healthy Cup Award from the Harvard School of Public Health.

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent A variety of unusual and familiar events await wine and food lovers at the 16th annual Nantucket Wine Festival May 16-20. For example, one event, "The Greatest Chef You Never Heard Of," Damon Baehrel, of Basement Bistro in Earlton, N.Y., which has a two-year waiting list to get in, has been hailed by Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame as one of America's greatest culinary talents. Baehrel's cuisine will be featured at the event, at a location to be announced and, of course, paired with wine.

To much of the world, it was Monday. To Mario Batali, it was Day Four. The chef, his wife and their two teenage sons are eating for a week on the equivalent of a food stamp budget in protest of potential cuts pending in Congress to the benefit program used by more than 46 million Americans. That's $31 per person for the week, or about $1.48 per meal each. Goodbye restaurants, free nibbles on his talk show "The Chew" and all the luxe offerings at Eataly, the high-end New York City market he co-owns.

Was it Sausage Pancake Bites from Dunkin' Donuts that helped win a coveted culinary award? Or maybe it was Bagel Twists. And what jaded palate could fail to be wowed by French Toast ice cream, a cutting-edge flavor from Baskin-Robbins? These are some recent new menu additions at the two restaurant chains, and on Friday, Dunkin' Brands Group Inc. , the Canton-based parent of the Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, announced that its executive chef, Stan Frankenthaler, has been honored as the 2012 MenuMasters Innovator of the...

WHO Steve "Nookie" Postal WHAT As the Red Sox return to Fenway on Friday for the season opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, the ballpark's executive chef comes home as well. Postal spent the offseason filming Bravo's "Around the World in 80 Plates" series in which 12 chefs raced across 10 countries in 40 days. WHEN "Around the World in 80 Plates" premieres on Bravo on May 9 at 10 p.m. Q. Where did you get the nickname? A. It's a stupid nickname I got when I was working at Casablanca.

We're pleased to report that eco-chef and cookbook author Didi Emmons is alive and mostly OK after a terrifying bicycle accident. In a post on Facebook, Emmons said she suffered a concussion and spent the night in the hospital after being "doored" by a woman getting out of a car in Jamaica Plain. "I quick swerved to miss her and wiped out in street only to have a huge MBTA bus stop THREE FEET short of hitting me," Emmons wrote in the post. "Luckily the driver was not distracted but was very aware and acted quickly - I would not have lived otherwise.

WHO Linkie Marais WHAT The North Attleborough pastry chef and cake decorator, 28, is one of 15 finalists on season eight of "Food Network Star. " Marais grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and moved to Mississippi at 16. Two years ago, she and her husband came to New England, where she's been freelancing in bakeries. WHEN A two-hour "Food Network Star" premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. on Food Network. Q. What were your concerns entering the competition?

Three young turks from Jamaica Plain recently launched a pop-up restaurant. Philip V. Kruta, 22, Jeremy Kean, 25, and Corey Isgur, 23, opened Whisk, a chef's tasting experience at Fiore's Bakery, based on the premise that quality meals can be accessible and affordable. So far, seatings have sold out. "Whisk is a place for you if you're a foodie and can't afford to spend a lot of money on fine dining," says Kean. The pop-up was launched with the help of bakery owner Charles Fiore, Kruta's former employer.