food | New York | Alabama | PACIFIC MOON CAFE

Call it comfort food, call it down-home cooking, or just call it cheap eats, but short ribs seem to be the must-have meal of this new year. Why? Because they are sheer excess — the meat cut from the primal chuck streaked with fat. Doesn’t sound all that appetizing? It is when you cook these ribs for hours in a spicy marinade that makes them fork-tender and suffused with flavor. So popular have short ribs become that they are served in the toniest of restaurants, including New York’s BID (1334 York Ave.; 212-988-7730), where the wine-braised meat falls off the bone to mingle the lowly with the high on a plate with roasted beets and black truffles.

Some other great short-rib joints:
ATLANTA: JOËL
3290 Northside Pkwy.; (404) 233-3500
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: HIGHLANDS BAR AND GRILL
2011 11th Ave. S.; (205) 939-1400
CHICAGO: BLACKBIRD
619 W. Randolph St.; (312) 715-0708
CINCINNATI: THE PACIFIC MOON CAFE
8300 Market Place Ln.; (513) 891-0091