• Brooklyn has become America's food design central.
• Mario Batali has a new book out about NASCAR? Okay.
• Three star chefs make simple but elegant desserts.
• What the heck is Big Wine, and is it good or evil?
• Slashfood isn't the only one who has photo contests. Food & Wine is running their first ever.
• The mag also wants your input on how to improve their web site.
• This month's recipes include: Goat Cheese Stuffed Roasted Figs, Tea-Scented Pumpkin Soup, Napa Cabbage Salad, White Cheddar and Scallion Muffins, Crispy Monkfish with Capers, Grilled Hickory-Smoked Hanger Steak, Apple Crumble Cakes with Chestnuts, and The Icebreaker, a cocktail made with ice wine, grapes, and Vodka.

Just like the participants in so many other sports, even NASCAR drivers have to watch what they eat. Don't think it's a tough job? Consider that the drivers spend over 3 hours in a 120F car going 190mph - a car in which he is wedged firmly, uncomfortably into place, breathing exhaust fumes and fighting the pull of G-forces. A nutritionally sound diet can not only help the driver concentrate and drive better, it can help him (or her) win.

Sliver-slim restaurants take into account that diners want find food in addition to some entertainment, so they're not just seating guests at the bar, they're taking out the tables. Could the ulterior motivation of the restaurateurs be that New York real estate is so high?

The difference between types of honey can be huge and once you get a taste for honeys from specific flowers, plants and fields, the applications for the sweet stuff suddenly seem endless - as some chefs are already finding out.

Don't fear spices. While subtlety is pleasant, there is much to be learned from using spices by the handful, not the quarter teaspoon, as they are used in Middle Eastern cuisine. Try Spoon Lamb or Spicy Carrot Puree.

Perhaps the greatest of all champagnes, Bollinger's Vieilles Vignes Françaises, comes from grapes that are some of the few in France not grown from American roots.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, takes a look at the bitter green arugula with white bean and salt cod salad.

Frank Bruni dines at Dona and gives it two stars.

Sure, it's March Madness, with the nation seemingly going crazy over four college basketball teams, but don't forget that the loyalty of NASCAR fans just might rival any full-body-painted, foam finger-wagging NCAA fan. NCAA doesn't have their own brand of hot dogs, now does it?

NASCAR has their own officially-branded jumbo hotdogs, bacon, deli-thin-sliced meats and sausages that are available in grocery stores, meant for cooking at home or "in the infield," which I assume is akin to tailgating at a football game. Can you taste the excitement? NASCAR sure hopes so. Too bad the word "NASCAR" isn't branded right into the dog itself. Now that would be tasting the excitement.

[via: Autoblog]