What: Traditional macaroni noodles paired with fresh lobster, cognac, tarragon, and mascarpone. Where: Delicatessen's lil' sis, Macbar, where the line may be long, but worth the satisfaction of walking away with a warm, gooey macaroni dream encased in a mac-shaped container. Ideal meal: Downtown late night or on-the-go during a Soho/Nolita shopping spree (beats the hell out of street meat in either case). Because: Big sis next door specializes in comfort food and the siblings share a kitchen. Plus, it's summertime and New York is close enough to New England, so lobster's fair game any time of day. Tastes like: Lobster roll meets a mature version of that Kraft blue box childhood favorite. Lobster chunks are pretty hefty and coated generously (but not swimming) in mascarpone cheesey sauce. The cognac gives the guilty pleasure a subtle kick-back. Bottom line: At $8.99/$12.99/$17.99, it's the most expensive mac bowl on the menu, but worth a sampling. Impossible not to try a few (also recommend, the Mac 'Shroom for a slightly more orthodox recipe), so start with a small and see how it goes. This one's also on the heavier side of the mac n' cheese realm.

● The Lion (Greenwich Village) - Second coming of classic Village venue crosses The Waverly Inn with Delicatessen.

At Lucky magazine's Lucky Shops:

So, are restaurants really the new nightclubs? Check out these multitasking contenders.

It all started in the Lower East Side back in 2003 -- before the skinny-jeaned hipster invasion -- when now-celeb chef Wylie Dufresne opened wd-50. Melding science and food, the molecular gastronomer has since inspired many to experiment. Of course, not everyone's into mad food science, but most chefs like to get a little edgy somewhere on the menu. ● Cookies @ Momofuku Bakery Milk Bar (East Village) - David Chang could get a vegetarian hooked on pork belly, so imagine what the man’s dessert spot can do with a cookie. Among the most drool-worthy: cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate chip, corn, blueberry cream, and compost cookie (so fabulously odd that the chocolate chip, pretzel, potato chip, coffee ground, and graham-cracker crumb-concoction is trademarked). ● Onion soup dumplings @ Stanton Social (Lower East Side - You’ll just have to focus on its deliciousness and put aside the fact that there’s enough cheese in this dish to give you a cholesterol problem.

Because sometimes a diner just won’t do.

I guess that in the world of kitchens, there can definitely be too many cooks. Although I thought I had it right (and maybe Eater did too), it seems that Franklin Becker's role at Delicatessen is squarely that of consultant, and Michael Ferraro is actually the man running the show. I ran into David Rabin, who tipped me off on the Delicatessen story, at a meeting yesterday. David didn’t want to stir the soup and thought it was no big deal but was appreciative that I was going to clarify today, so below I’ve included a letter directly from Franklin Becker, which explains the situation.

Delicatessen is finally going to upgrade its rap. This past summer, my hood Nolita embraced this highly stylized "cafeteria" (a.k.a. restaurant)-type eatery. A chatty neighborhood crowd came in droves to enjoy the newness and the open garage-door dining. It was, in fact, the perfect place to eat -- except maybe for the food. Alas, in that area, myself and many others were not impressed. With Gitane, Habana, 24, Ruby's, Bread, Barmarche, and a few others offering a trendy social atmosphere as well as great menus for the sharp Nolita set, the joint quickly lost its luster. The crowd became "shoppers,” a bit "too touristy," and the only time anyone mentioned Delicatessen was when it got too noisy.

Because the choice shouldn’t be between restaurants where Chipotle and Per Se, here are a few spots that have embraced the middle ground.

Redressing a young lovely