We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog posts due to illness. My sinuses are so clogged I feel removed from myself; kind of  like the omniscient narrator of my own life.

Danielle stumbled into her kitchen after a day of work, searching for something edible. She stared into the cold light of the near-empty fridge with glassy Muppet sized eyes and sneezed for the umpteenth time. Being sick sucks, she thought, and chicken soup is overrated. Her taste buds had the strength of  a Sprint cellphone signal so she decided on something intense, spicy and garlicky. While the fridge offered little more than a few cloves a garlic, ginger root, tofu, and a handful of mushrooms, the freezer held a pleasant surprise–a bag of frozen shrimp. Finally, a bottle of Sriracha sauce offered spicy salvation.

Oddly enough, this thrown together meal was one of the best I have cooked in a long time. The ginger and garlic opened up my palate, allowing me to really taste the shrimp and mushrooms which lightly caramelized and added more flavor to the pan. Even the tofu tasted good! Because I am a heat fiend, I Jackson Pollock’d the Sriracha sauce over all the ingredients before giving it all one last stir. Next time I’ll toast some sesame seeds to top it. But for now, here’s my simple recipe to blaze through an early spring cold.

>> Click here to get the full spicy garlic ginger shrimp recipe. >>

After he wowed us with his lamb bacon, Danielle and I knew we had to hit up Chef Bobby Hellen of the Belgian gastropub Resto for a Good. Food. Stories. Q&A. Bobby, a native New Yorker, has been with the Resto team since the restaurant’s 2007 opening, and now leads the kitchen as Executive Chef.

Though the restaurant is most well-known (along with the vast selection of Belgian brews) for its pork-focused dishes and nose-to-tail eating, Bobby also serves up heaping amounts of locally-sourced produce alongside his housemade charcuterie, meats, and poultry from New York-area farms like Four Story Hill. For the more adventurous, the Resto team offers the Large Format Feast, where a whole animal will be broken down and delectably prepared for your large group (they’ll feed up to 18 people).

>> Read on to find out how a grapefruit changed Bobby’s life. >>

Two years into my residency as a New York Eater, I officially declared a boycott on Restaurant Week and most prix fixe menus. I was tired of being served one too many subpar options, too many basic dishes that weren’t showing off the true talents of the restaurant I was sitting in. Why was I shelling out $35 for a dumbed-down piece of seared salmon when I could be ordering a more satisfying app and entree for the same price off the real menu? I didn’t see the deal.

So it was an unexpected (but happy) blow to my jaded snobbery to discover the most compelling reason to have lunch at A Voce—apart from the phenomenal fresh housemade pastas—is that they don’t play around with their prix fixe menu.

For the past year or so, the restaurant has instituted a daily $29 three-course lunch special, an actual well-thought-out menu rather than the cheap-to-serve stuff like a boring green salad and a chicken entree. Chef Missy Robbins changes it up every so often, highlighting different regions of Italy depending on the area’s iconic cuisine and the time of year she’s serving it—hearty dishes from the Piedmont in the winter, lighter seafood-based fare from Sardinia or the Veneto in warmer weather.
>> Read on to discover the menu standouts at A Voce. >>

Although it may seem odd, a trip to Brighton Beach on one of the coldest days of the year just seemed to make sense. New York apartments are notorious for being dry and overheated and I had been hunkered down in mine for weeks, resisting the cold months as fully as possible. I needed to surrender to winter, an act that does not come naturally to me or my Mediterranean blood. The Russian community that dominates Brighton Beach is well acquainted with the cold and know how to live well with it. From them I would take my cues.

Underneath the subway tracks, I pressed through the crowds of Sunday shoppers on Brighton Beach Avenue toward the boardwalk and the great, freezing Atlantic Ocean. I breathed in its promise, knowing its frigid response was not a rejection, just a “not yet.” Here on this stretch of the Brooklyn Riviera, elderly Russians dressed richly in furs huddled together against the green wall of the boardwalk. Yet, the mood was distinctly solitary as few people spoke to each other. If I looked too closely, people would avert my gaze. When I picked up my camera, hands appeared and bodies picked themselves up and moved on. A casual smile or hello was met with a stern turning away. This was winter, people seemed to say, a time for quiet and solitude.
>> Read on to find out what was discovered in Brighton Beach >>

Today’s post marks the inaugural installment of the Good. Food. Stories. Neighborhood Guides, brought to you by our far-flung contributors, who know exactly on which streets you’ll find the best grub and local atmosphere. Though she lives in Manhattan, event consultant Kerry Stewart is a West Coast gal at heart and her twin loves of film and strong coffee reflect her Northwestern upbringing. Here she shares her favorite spots in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

Growing up in the suburbs of Seattle, getting to go “downtown” was always a big deal and was usually reserved for things like shopping at Nordstrom’s, getting my picture taken with Santa at the now-defunct Frederick & Nelson department store, and cultural outings like the Frye Art Museum or seeing a play at the ACT Theatre. When I got older, it meant going to Capitol Hill with my best friend, Stacy.

Her mom would drop us off at one end of Broadway and pick us up exactly two hours later at the other end, allowing just enough time to shop, stare at the punks with their dog chains, multi-colored mohawks and head-to-toe leather (maybe this is where my continual craving for a leather motorcycle jacket comes from), have some coffee, and drive home before dark.

Capitol Hill has been gentrified since those exciting days of the early ’90s, but still holds a place in my heart as the coolest neighborhood in Seattle. When I go home, I go up to Capitol Hill and get a little thrill, but now it’s from the great food (and from seeing those few remaining punks).

I seem to have a predilection for the burger joints of Capitol Hill, but there’s options both classy and classic along the main drag of Broadway:

>> Read on for burgers, coffee, bourbon, and Brussels sprouts >>