You enter the restaurant, ready for a mind-blowing dinner experience at the hottest new place in town, only to see a lack of two-tops for private dining; instead, long wooden tables span wall to wall, and they’re filled with strangers eating elbow to elbow, all dining together on the same plane of supper consciousness. You’ve just entered: the communal dining zone.

In the city that never sleeps… or stops eating, get up-to date with the recent culinary happenings throughout this foodie haven. From Restaurant Week to a toxic canal to who's serving beaver for dinner, and More, we'll bring you into the the know on New York City's gastronomical finds.

Restaurant Week has now turned into Restaurant Month! That's right NYers, Restaurant Week will now officially run until Sunday, February 27th. Since the weather has been someone apocalyptic, the city decided to extend it for all us NYers too cool to go out in rain, snow, sleet, and anything below 30 degrees. The menus and prices will stay the same ($24.07/lunch or $35/dinner) so make a rezzie to grub at our top 10 picks for locally-sourced food

Remember when you were little and you used to collect sand and shells from the beach? Ok, we actually still do that but now we’re adding one more thing to our beach comber list: seawater. Why you ask … because the newest culinary trend is cooking with salt water.

Venti Caramel Machhiato anyone? We'll pass, opt instead for a freshly pressed beverage that’s packed with fruits, veggies and all those vitamins and minerals that keep us thriving through the day (not the sugar and caffeine that have us slumped over come lunchtime). Not only will you sip up your daily recommended amount of fruits and veggies (when was the last time you got that?!), but a healthy dose of disease-preventing properties too. Here are our favorite juice bars in NYC.

Whether you hate leftovers or love them (yes, you have to a pick a team), we can all agree that the pile of little bits collected and turned into gourmet grub at Dickson’s Farmstand is top notch. This long-time local meat purveyor has just started taking their butchering scraps and turning them into mouth-watering sandwiches … no morsel is wasted.

Even if you flunked math and don’t know your calculus from your trigonometry you can still enjoy this mathematical wonder: Rev’d Up Pi adds locally-sourced, organic ingredients + probiotics, antioxidants, and fibers to = one healthy and yummy piece of pizza.

As the local food scene bourgeons, one man takes the concept to completely new heights. Chef John Mooney is one of the few notable chefs in NYC that doesn’t get most of his produce from the local farmers’ market. Instead, he is growing 60 percent of his produce on the rooftop of his new West Village restaurant, Bell Book & Candle, a pioneer in his own right. 

Finally, the Venice Ale House is changing the game. This new restaurant offers high-quality organic and locally sourced ingredients to those whose first food concern isn't how cheap and fast the meal is – and does so smack in the middle of one of the most interesting beach boardwalks in the world.

Did you know that there are over 20,000 restaurants in New York City?! That’s a lot of grub. So the hard part of being a New Yorker isn’t finding a place to eat … it’s finding a great place to eat. With so many eateries, it’s difficult to separate the great from the good, the bad, and the ugly. Luckily, we have resto guru Jared Koch to turn to.