Soul Food

Extraordinary | Excellent Good | Fair | (No stars) Poor POPPA B'S 1100 Blue Hill Ave., Dorchester. 617-825-0700. Poppa B's serves soul food that is uncommonly delicious, and everyone from neighborhood residents to politicians to clergy comes here for classics such as fried chicken and ribs with collards, macaroni and cheese, and candied yams. Don't miss the fried whiting and smothered chicken at this family-run, community-oriented restaurant.

KO Catering and Pies 87 A St., South Boston 617-269-4500 www.kocateringandpies.com In the multicultural food landscape that is Boston, Australian cuisine has been underrepresented — well, really, unrepresented. That changed when KO Catering and Pies opened in South Boston in October, serving soul food from Down Under. KO stands for “knock out,’’ but also for “ken oath,’’ a more polite abbreviation of an Aussie slang term used to express agreement.

KO Catering and Pies 87 A St., South Boston 617-269-4500 www.kocateringandpies.com In the multicultural food landscape that is Boston, Australian cuisine has been underrepresented — well, really, unrepresented. That changed when KO Catering and Pies opened in South Boston in October, serving soul food from Down Under. KO stands for “knock out,’’ but also for “ken oath,’’ a more polite abbreviation of an Aussie slang term used to express agreement.

It was a sad day when Bob’s Southern Bistro shut down two years ago: the end of a long run, the end of “glorifried’’ chicken, the end of listening to live jazz while eating soul food. Bob’s (perhaps better known by a former name, Bob the Chef’s) meant something. In the South End, on the Roxbury side of Mass. Ave., and in the heart of Northeastern nesting grounds, it was a place where people from all walks of life came together. It felt real. When a new owner appeared on the scene wanting to turn it into an upscale lounge for young professionals called Night Town, it seemed an era had ended.

"How to Cook Your Life" is a pretty good movie about a possibly great man, the Zen priest and chef Edward Espe Brown. Directed by Germany's Doris Dörrie (art-house fans with long memories will recall her 1985 hit comedy "Men. . . "), the engaging and rambling documentary pokes around in the kitchen of Western Buddhism, clattering the pots and throwing random ingredients together. The resulting meal is light but sustaining, especially for foodies, seekers, and fans of Michael Pollan's essential best-seller "The Omnivore's Dilemma.

It was a sad day when Bob’s Southern Bistro shut down two years ago: the end of a long run, the end of “glorifried’’ chicken, the end of listening to live jazz while eating soul food. Bob’s (perhaps better known by a former name, Bob the Chef’s) meant something. In the South End, on the Roxbury side of Mass. Ave., and in the heart of Northeastern nesting grounds, it was a place where people from all walks of life came together. It felt real. When a new owner appeared on the scene wanting to turn it into an upscale lounge for young professionals called Night Town, it seemed...

With the city awash in ethnic eateries, we set out to discover who really cooks it up right - whose shepherd's pie tastes straight from an Irish farmhouse kitchen, whose shredded pork in garlic sauce captures the genuine flavors of Shanghai, whose salmon tagine mimics true Moroccan cooking, whose tomato sauce is spot-on Sardinian, whose brown bread and baked beans would make longtime New Englanders proud. Hit these 29 restaurants, and take a virtual trip around the world. Italian, Northern and Southern Purists argue there is no true northern or southern Italian...

DARRYL’S CORNER BAR & KITCHEN 604 Columbus Ave., Boston 617-536-1100 www.darrylscornerbarboston.com Bob the Chef’s was a South End institution, serving its famous “glorifried’’ chicken with a side of jazz to one of the most diverse crowds in Boston. It began its decades-long run as a hole-in-the-wall diner and ended it with more style, as the renamed Bob’s Southern Bistro. Owner Darryl Settles, a founder of the BeanTown Jazz Festival, sold Bob’s in 2007.

Even with the newest wave of waterfront high-rise condominiums and gourmet cheese shops, much of the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn still feels appealingly scruffy. Posh as parts of it may now be, this is still a treeless, postindustrial landscape of chain-link fences, graffiti-bombed brick warehouses, and desolate blocks of vacant lots and auto-body shops. But that is changing quickly. The renegade artists, biker gangs, and packs of feral dogs are long gone, replaced by young professionals, students, and urban back-to-the-landers.

OAKLAND - When Michelin-starred chef Daniel Patterson was ready to expand beyond his two successful restaurants, Coi and Il Cane Rosso, in San Francisco, he decided to cross the Bay Bridge to Oakland. Patterson found the pull of this other city by the bay irresistible and moved here with his family in 2009. He opened Plum in the heart of uptown in 2010 and plans to open a second Oakland restaurant on Jack London Square later this year. "I'm enthusiastic about Oakland for so many reasons," said Patterson, a Boston native.

Extraordinary | Excellent Good | Fair | (No stars) Poor POPPA B'S 1100 Blue Hill Ave., Dorchester. 617-825-0700. Poppa B's serves soul food that is uncommonly delicious, and everyone from neighborhood residents to politicians to clergy comes here for classics such as fried chicken and ribs with collards, macaroni and cheese, and candied yams. Don't miss the fried whiting and smothered chicken at this family-run, community-oriented restaurant.

"How to Cook Your Life" is a pretty good movie about a possibly great man, the Zen priest and chef Edward Espe Brown. Directed by Germany's Doris Dörrie (art-house fans with long memories will recall her 1985 hit comedy "Men. . . "), the engaging and rambling documentary pokes around in the kitchen of Western Buddhism, clattering the pots and throwing random ingredients together. The resulting meal is light but sustaining, especially for foodies, seekers, and fans of Michael Pollan's essential best-seller "The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Think Southern-fried chicken, and chances are the next words that come to mind are “secret herbs and spices.’’ To me, that’s Southern-fried baloney. Prolonged immersion in very hot grease is not a method that coaxes out bouquet; the only elements likely to survive are garlic and cayenne. But spicing aside, the sine qua non of good fried chicken certainly is the crust, the best being a simply seasoned flour- or cornmeal-based coating delicately but thoroughly welded to the skin in a crisp, delicious synthesis.

Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocincocq took care of dinner for more than 200 of his Twitter followers at Harlem soul food hotspot Sylvia's Restaurantcq the other night. "Leave ya money/credit cards at home. I got you this time," No. 85 tweeted to his more than 3 million (and counting) followers. Ochocinco was joined by his mom and future in-laws. Fiancee Evelyn Lozada cq (who was previously engaged to former Celtics forward Antoine Walkercq ) couldn't make it to the dinner but her sister and some members of their family were there.