You know him as the Super-Size Me guy. Morgan Spurlock is the guy who ate nothing but McDonald's for 30 days and lived to tell about it in a movie. New York Magazine's food blog, Grub Street, followed the director, now several years later (after a full-recovery?) and looking a little scruffier, for a few days to see how the man eats. He hasn't eaten a Big Mac since the movie, but in the past week, he did dine at Thomas Keller's Per Se, which sounds just as belly-busting as 30 days of fast food.

While we're all busily listing the best restaurants we've eaten at in the last year, Adam Platt, from New York Magazine, already has a list put together of where to eat in New York during the next one. He gives his picks for the best eateries in fifteen different categories: Vegas on the Hudson (Buddakan, Del Posto), The Out-of-Towners (L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon), Neighborhood Chic (The Little Owl), Haute Italian (Café Boulud), Haute Barnyard (Telepan), Real Barnyard (Daisy May's BBQ USA), Gourmet Bar Food (Degustation), Makeover Madness (Tocqueville), Designer Steaks (Craftsteak), Nightclub Chinese (Shun Lee West), The Great Lunch (Adrienne's Pizza Bar), Brooklyn Ramble (The Farm on Adderley), Breakfast Ramble (Zucco: Le French Diner), Cocktail Madness (Employees Only), Dessert (Russian Tea Room, Pinkberry and Chikalicious) . And there are many more listed in each category!

Individual and themed picks aside, there are also lists of the ten best new restaurants in NYC (all contained in the above list), the ten most decadent dishes in town, the best up and coming chefs and the five best egg dishes in New York.

Take Platt's advice and you'll be eating out every day for the rest of the year. But if his picks are on the money, you probably won't mind one bit.

As someone whose second meal yesterday was a late supper at a local sushi bar, preceded by a lunch of a succulent chicken shawarma platter chock full of bits of crunchy skin, the very idea of a near-starvation diet that may increase longevity engenders nothing less than sheer horror.

Adherents of Calorie Restriction follow a diet that leaves their bodies close to starvation in the hopes that such a regimen will radically increase their life span. Or so I learned yesterday after reading a fascinating article about it in this month's New York Magazine.

The author, Julian Dibbell, gives the movement a fair shake. He cites scientific evidence that curtailing caloric intake in mice increases their life span 50 percent. He also makes what I consider a monumental sacrifice by toeing the CR line for two months.

New York Magazine recently had chef Masayoshi "Masa" Takayama review 10 santoku knives. Takayama is the namesake of the much talked about, high-dollar sushi restaurant Masa in New York City. It follows that he'd be able to give some opinions on Japanese-style chef's knives. At the top of the list was the Shun Classic 6.5" knife (right), which NYM says retails for around $95. At the bottom was the Rachel Ray Füri Coppertail 7", for around $70. (It's worth mentioned that Shun has a line of knives endorsed by Alton Brown.) In between were offerings from J.A. Henkels, Global, OXO and Wüstoff, among others. Masa tested the knives without sharpening them, using them to chop onions, boneless chicken and parsley. He then tested them as he tests his own knives, by seeing how well they cut through a sheet of parchment paper.

[Via Saute Wednesday]

Just in time for Easter, New York magazine offers a breakdown of all the varieties of lamb, providing details on the difference between Colorado and Australian lamb, for example. The article also offers up a recipe for Rack of Lamb with a Shallot Puree Chili Crumbs Crust. If you want more lamb recipes, check out the comprehensive list at web site Recipe Hound.

Guide to Differences in Lamb

• Colorado: Fed a mixture of grass and grain; lambs are larger; richer, more fatty meat.
• Australia: Grass-fed; leaner flesh; sweet mild flavor.
• Appalachia (Jamison Farm): Grass-fed; sweet and succulent.
• Milk-fed: Raised on milk and grain; slaughtered very young; tender and sweet meat.
• New Zealand: Grass-fed; lean and pale-colored meat; stronger flavor than Australian lamb.

This is the season for egg nog (I just bought some this weekend, actually). It's probably good that we only drink the stuff one month out of the year. It's not exactly a health food.

New York mag taste tests a bunch of store-bought egg nogs and gives the results. I'll leave the best for you to see when you click, but I will say Ronnybrook, Silk Soy Nog and Horizon get a big thumbs down. (Hey, no Hood egg nog? Maybe it's a regional thing - I live near Boston - but I think it tastes great!)

Waterfront Ale House's Sam Barbieri is the judge, and he gives his recipe for the ultimate eggnog. (Side note: is egg nog one word or two? I see it both ways everywhere; in fact, it's both ways on the cartons shown in the pics in this article. Hmmm...)