Food

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter. Luckly, we've lined up 13 of the best places to grab hot chocolate in Brooklyn, just in time for the cold, dark February weather. And if Phil is to be believed, you'll be enjoying a hot cup well into March.

See our posts on where to get a great cup of hot cocoa in Manhattan and Queens also.
 

The sweetest Valentines are always the ones you make, especially if they are made of chocolate! It is so simple to make molded chocolate lollipops for Valentines Day that even little children can make them without too much help. It takes only 1 ingredient, 3 steps and only about 15 minutes “hands on” time. 

It's February and that means it's time for the Annual City Bakery Hot Chocolate Festival. For every day in February, City Bakery will be spicing up their delicious cocoa with a different flavor. That's 28 days of hot chocolates that need to be sampled. And since City Bakery is such a kid friendly spot AND right across the street from the wonderful Books of Wonder and many other places you need to go to anyway, it sounds like a good outing to me.

Queens is the biggest and most diverse borough in NYC. It is no surprise that so is their Hot Chocolate. Hot Cocoa is said to beat out tea and wine when it comes to antioxidant concentration. To get the same amount of antioxidants that are present in a cup of hot chocolate, you have to drink two cups of green tea, or two glasses of wine. So skip the bar and join your kids for a trip to one of these Hot Cocoa spots in Queens.

With the cold and wet days we've been having, nothing sounds more appealing than hanging out in a cool cafe and there's no reason that you can't do some cafe chill time even with kids in tow. Just ask Rebeca Ramirez-Haskell who has been keeping a blog called The Coffee Beaners where she records her explorations, with son Diego, of the best coffee shops in NYC. Rebeca has chosen some of her favorite places to share with us.

We recently asked readers to tell us some of their favorite places for families in New York City. This week, to wrap up 2009, we'll be posting some round-ups of your favorite places and ours. Today we've got 20 great restaurants all over New York City where you'll get great food for kids and grown ups and children are welcome— recommended by parents who have been there, dined that.

Standing in front of Lincoln Center one can feel a bit lost. Unlike most of Manhattan, where from any spot you can see a handful of restaurants of many varieties, the Lincoln Center area hides its bounty. But, rest-assured, there are plenty of fun and kid-friendly eats, you just have to know where to look. Whether you're there for the Circus, The Nutcracker, or one of the other cultural experiences of Lincoln Center, here are some of my favorite family friendly restaurants near Lincoln Center to get you through the holiday season and beyond.

A cup of molten goodness is the best way to thaw out and warm up – it is one of the best things about winter. We took on the heinous job of running around the city tasting testing hot chocolates (don't say we've never done anything for you) and picked out the top hot cocoa places that are worth the trip out in the cold. Here are 22 places in Manhattan that have turned drinking chocolate into an experience not to be missed:

Krause’s Candy Kitchen is a magical walk back to the time when small shops ruled New York City. This unassuming storefront on the corner of Metropolitan Ave and 71^St Road in Forest Hills Queens has small town charm combined with homemade quality. As soon as you walk in the door, one is hit with the smell of chocolate which instantly takes me back to my childhood.

Wanda contacted me via twitter looking for recommendations of where to eat before going to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular with her family. Since I've been meaning to write about family friendly restaurants in Midtown for ages I figured I'd just answer her here.

For over a decade I worked right across the street from Rockefeller Center and, like anyone who works near there knows, the food choices can be down-right depressing. (Oh, wait, maybe that was just my job.) But there are some good choices if you know where to look for them, from special occasion restaurants to quick and inexpensive eats.

Here are my top picks for kid-friendly places to eat near Rockefeller Center: