● Tallgrass Burger (East Village) - Primo grass-fed beef, so wholesome it's closed by 11pm. ● Luke's Lobster UES (Upper East Side) - EV cult hit recreates lobster roll bliss uptown.

● Verde (Caroll Gardens) - Playful new Italian with homey interior, woody courtyard out back.

● Sunburnt Calf (Upper West Side) - Downtown Aussie stalwarts bring Down Under uptown. ● Má Pêche (Midtown West) - David Chang makes a big bet with splashy Chambers Hotel fusion spot.

The first unsettling realization, back when I made my initial stab at DIY bitters, was that I didn’t have the mixology skills to do my tinctures justice. The second was my total cluelessness as to whether they were even worth a damn. So I took matters to the top and sought out PDT’s Jim Meehan, a man who I’ve got a sneaking suspicion was the inspiration for the phrase “a gentleman and a scholar.” He graciously agreed to check them out, and after a month of daily shaking, smoking, and praying, my precious babies were strained, bottled, and shipped off to St. Marks. They also went with a hopeful request: if any of them were deemed decent enough, would Meehan or his staff be willing to create a drink based around my bitters? Why yes, they would. What followed was a three-month-long game of cat and mouse, as Mr. Meehan traveled the globe on business, doing what he is wont to do (blow minds), while I corresponded with him from the confines of my light-starved studio apartment.

I was almost tickled pink (achieving merely an ungainly puce) when I received Hearth restaurant's siren song email informing of a special lobster dinner planned for Tuesday, September 22nd to commemorate the transition of summer into fall. This paean to the most kingly of crustaceans will join Hearth’s already popular Pig Roasts, which start Tuesday, September 29th, and run through autumn. The resto's message about celebrating this seasonal transition (is it "Fummer" or "Sall"?) inspired me and also aroused a sobering realization: I'd never killed a lobster before. Upon purchasing my own live specimen, I opted for the broiling route -- none of that wussy, "dropping in a pot of boiling water" nonsense.

You know the age-old saying, “risotto and politics make strange bedfellows.” Well, in honor of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s recent swearing in -- and because I can’t resist a good pun any more than any self-respecting New York Jew can resist a pastrami sandwich from Katz’s -- I thought it best to celebrate this joyous achievement as a nation with a Sonia Risottomayor. Now, this ain’t risotto for just any old judge. In fact, it breaks so many laws of gastronomy it could be facing a life sentence. Inspired by the bold fare at West Village rice haven Risotteria and a recipe by Gottino chef Jody Williams, this spicy and somewhat sweet risotto combines traditional Latino ingredients like bananas, tequila (you could definitely substitute rum), fresh corn, cilantro, chilies, and a makeshift lechon (roasted suckling pig) in a politically correct attempt to titillate both taste buds and minds.

It's no secret that many of the city's best burgers share a common, juicy thread. Pat La Frieda and his Wholesale Meats are responsible for the patty prowess of places like Shake Shack, The Little Owl, Market Table, and of course Minetta Tavern, where the Keith McNally-exclusive Black Label blend manages to justify its $26 price tag. So it should be no surprise that my heart practically leapt forth from betwixt my gigantic, fantastically toned pecs (hey, everyone needs a hobby, right?) when I learned via A Hamburger Today that NYC's overlords of delivered groceries, FreshDirect, would be selling La Frieda burgers for the remaining days of summer and beyond. Better yet, they come vacuum-sealed in a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide which keeps the patties fresh almost thrice as long. La Frieda burgers in my own home? A whirl had to be given.

At the end of the first part of my DIY bitters experiment, the ingredients were in their respective jars and I was waiting for them to infuse within the comfort of my Manhattan closet. A week went by, and my bitters (after seven daily shake sessions to the rhythm of Miami Sound Machine’s “Bad Boy”) started taking on their flavors and aroma profiles. The aromas got intense -- high-proof alcohol is an effective blank canvas. On my citrus/clove/pink peppercorn blend, the floral spice of the peppercorns and cloves hit first, followed by that zing of citrus, the flavors playing nicely off each other. The cherry/birch batch, however, is almost entirely birch; it’s herbal and bitter with just an undercurrent of sweetness from the rainier cherries, which have a mild flavor (note to self: next time use Bings if possible). To counteract the birch’s bitterness, I stirred in a teaspoon of cherry-infused honey I’d picked up at the Greenmarket. As for the smoked bourbon bitters, the vanilla harmonized with its bourbon base while the sarsaparilla was more of a background note, but it had a glaring flaw. It wasn’t smoked yet!

Adding homemade bitters to your cocktail repertoire is an easy way to set yourself apart from the frozen-margarita crowd (usually the same people who hang out with the piña colada bunch and hard-lemonade posse). Bitters are among the easiest and most customizable of infused boozes. Originally used as medicine (they’re packed with herbs), on their own they’re usually consumed as a digestif. This is due to gentian, an herb which gives most bitters their eponymous flavor, and which also helps with gastrointestinal distress from heartburn to hiccups. The best use of bitters is in cocktails, however, where they’re essential for throwbacks like the Sazerac or Manhattan. Bitters help balance out drinks that would otherwise be too sweet. The steps required to make your own are exceedingly simple. I’ve listed the seven most important points and some recipes after the jump.