Food: Interesting Stories from The New York Times

Here is the latest Food News from The New York Times.

Jesse Schenker Is Closing Recette
The West Village restaurant faced a rent increase, but he’ll continue at the Gander.

The Pour: 20 Wines for Under $20: The Spring Edition
You can find great values at any price, but your hunt will be less anxious at the lower end of the scale.

Two Rising Chefs Enjoy a Busy Reunion at Houseman
Mashama Bailey and Ned Baldwin, who met at Prune, are swapping kitchens.

Hungry City: A World of Flavor, Stuffed Into Tacos at El Molcajete
This restaurant in Soundview, the Bronx, excels at succulent meats.

Mexico City’s Best Cocktail Bars
The densely populated capital has a lot more to offer than just mezcal and Modelo.

‘Whole Foods Effect’: When Small Food Makers Get the Call to Go Big
Elation can quickly turn to fear as small companies must suddenly learn how to produce at larger volumes while maintaining quality and consistency.

Eat: A New Leaf
That lettuce in your fridge — why not try cooking it?

Sinosphere: Jianbing, a Chinese Crepe, Migrates to Manhattan
A street-food crepe from northern China, jianbing, is Beijing’s latest culinary flexing of soft power.

Front Burner: New York Restaurateurs in the Big Easy
Kenton, like Maysville in the Flatiron district, has a bourbon focus.

Restaurant Review: The Best Comes in a Bun at Salvation Burger and Spotted Pig
Sampling things on a bun at April Bloomfield’s latest restaurant, and checking in on her first.

A Good Appetite: Persian Cuisine Is Fragrant and Rich With Symbolism
A feast celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is a lens onto a fascinating food culture.

Q&A: How Many Eggs Does a Chicken Lay in Its Lifetime?
Rough estimates for the first two or three years of laying, when a hen is most highly productive, suggest figures in the high hundreds.

Seeking Oyster Perfection? Steam Them
In Richmond, Va., shellfish so fluffy that you can’t stop eating.

City Kitchen: Asparagus Is Sweetest in Spring
Get them while they last. Fresh local spears are like no other — sweet, firm and enticingly green.

Close at Hand: A Fierce Toast From Alice Feiring’s Drinking Horn
The writer savors wine the way they do in the Republic of Georgia.

Eradicating Invasive Species One Sushi Roll at a Time
The chef Bun Lai serves nonnative seafoods, meats and vegetables on the menu of his pop-up restaurant in Miami Beach.

Daniel Rose, an American in Paris, Comes Home to Cook
A young chef who wowed the French teams up with the empire builder Stephen Starr at Le Coucou.

52 Places to Go: Where Foodies Should Go in 2016
Truffles, beer, cherries and crustaceans are singled out for celebrations.

Simmered Beef with Horseradish
Make your own horseradish for this festive beef tenderloin.

Eat: The Fresher the Spice, the Better the Chicken Paprikash
The essence of this Hungarian dish begins with paprika.

The Pour: Inglenook Focuses on the Long-Term to Regain Its Glory
A new winemaker brought in by Coppola looks ahead 50 years, with ideas that run counter to Napa’s conventional wisdom.

Hungry City: Bite of Hong Kong Requires More Than a Few Nibbles
The vast menu at a Cantonese restaurant in Chinatown rewards careful study and repeat visits.

Loathe Gefilte Fish? Not After You’ve Tried This
It’s worth making the real thing, which bears little resemblance to the stuff sold in jars.

Feature: The Looming Threat of Avian Flu
Last year’s outbreak showed just how difficult it is to protect America’s agricultural system from devastating diseases. Next time it could be even worse.

Milk Jumps Onto the Small-Batch Bandwagon
Dairies are starting to market their wares as handcrafted, local, premium — and pricey.

Restaurant Review: The Laws of Tuscan Eating at I Sodi in the West Village
Rita Sodi, the chef and an owner, taps into lessons learned from the farm north of Florence where she was raised.

Blanc Vermouth, a Third Party for Cocktail Lovers
Somewhere between dry white and sweet red, the blanc style is winning an audience in America.

Simmered Beef with Horseradish
Make your own horseradish for this festive beef tenderloin.

Sesame Extends Its Sweet Reach Beyond the Middle East
Tahini and halvah are refined and reborn in ice cream, doughnuts and semifreddo.

Close at Hand: Some Like Them Hot. She Likes Them Homegrown.
Chiles are a passion for Annie Novak, a rooftop farmer in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Cookbooks: ‘Sweeter Off the Vine’: A Cookbook Made for Instagram
Yossy Arefi incorporates Middle Eastern, Mexican and other flavors into beautiful fruit desserts.

A Good Appetite: Beef Tenderloin Gets a Tweak for Passover
Pair juicy beef tenderloin with beets, horseradish and aioli.

Wines of The Times: Fleurie and Morgon: Greatness if Not Gravitas
The crus of Beaujolais have come a long way in 25 years. The wine panel finds excellent wines in the 2014 vintage of Fleurie and Morgon.

Eat: Casa Calamari
Italian soul food, straight out of Brooklyn.

Choice Tables: Houston’s Culinary Bragging Rights
The nation’s fourth-largest city is no longer one gigantic steak platter for oil barons. Here are four restaurants that defy Houston stereotypes.

Hungry City: A Midas of Meat at BK Jani in Bushwick
Art and diners’ recommendations fill the walls of this small Pakistani barbecue restaurant in Brooklyn.

Heads Up: In Paris Bakeries, Liberté From Gluten
Paris bakeries and cafes are increasingly offering tantalizing alternatives for customers who can’t eat wheat.

It’s Dinner in a Box. But Are Meal Delivery Kits Cooking?
Meal kit delivery is growing. Many chefs and cookbook authors who have tried it are pleasantly surprised.

Saffron & Rose: A Postcard From Little Tehran in Los Angeles
Traditional Persian ice creams, sweetly calming and slightly chewy.

Del Posto Doubles Down on Luxury
Bucking the trend toward casual dining, the Chelsea palace of Italian cuisine is amping up the fancy touches.

Restaurant Review: At Le Turtle, a French New Wave You Can Eat
A modern Lower East Side bistro bids au revoir to antique chic.

Close at Hand: Nothing Smells Rotten in Leslie B. Vosshall’s Compost Pail
The Rockefeller University molecular neurobiologist believes all smells are great, even those from her decomposing food.

What, Reserve a Table? Cubans Confront a New Dining Culture
Restaurants and diners face some quandaries as the old ways meet the new.