As Boston University junior Stephen Maouyo waits at Petit Robert Bistro in Kenmore Square for his steak frites, he sits at the window table awarded to him only after a snubbed to the booth seat the cheerful hostess initially offered.

Nestled among storefronts on the busy corner of Commonwealth and Harvard Avnues, Berezka, similar to a Matryoshka doll, is a humble international food store focusing on Russian, Ukrainian and eastern European products.

There is much abuzz in the food world lately, affecting gourmands on both the national and severely local level. First, the Bush administration, in a last minute decision to retaliate against the European Union in a grisly import/export battle, had enacted a 300 percent tariff that will increase certain luxury foods on April 23, 2009, unless Obama reverses the sanction.

Each syllable in the name has a delectable taste that rolls off the tongue in perfect harmony, leaving one to wonder how fantastic the food must be. After two and half years of living in Boston, I was finally going to make my hajj to the locavore's mecca: L'Espalier.

Restaurant week has an incredible impact on the dining industry. By allowing guests a fixed menu at a decent price, the event revives the restaurant economy and diners are exposed to new locales or even treated to revisiting favorite eateries.

The menu on Icelandair wasn't exactly what I think of when I dream of Scandinavia. I ordered a chicken tikka masala wrap and some wine from Sonoma Valley.

The night before I completely neglected my god-given gifts of taste and smell, my boyfriend made bear loin and feral boar bacon from Savenor's. The meal was unbelievable '-'- crispy smoked strips of pork paired with the gamey, complex flavors of bear in a pinot noir and rosemary braise.

The storefront shared the same aesthetic as a French market at Les Halles in Paris '-'- with a brick face and dark awnings, it featured Julia Child's actual scrawl reading Bon Appetit! etched into the cement, greeting foodies as they enter Savenor's Market.

After reading rave reviews on Yelp.com, I decided that it was time to make a mission to Burma. Knowing that I would need to heavily sample as much as possible, I decide to invite two close friends with me on my journey.

I walked into 28 Degrees alone and single and immediately made a beeline for the large L-shaped bar where I anxiously awaited my date.

The year 2009 has arrived and with it comes monumental changes for the American people after the progressive political shift that occurred in Washington last month. But what about the stagnancy of other parts of the world?

Pork is not generally my favorite '-'- scanning a menu or shopping for groceries, it just seems so uninspiring. The Taste of Elegance (TOE) dinner, hosted by BU and the Pennsylvania Pork Producers Council with help from sponsors featured 12 chefs hailing from the best restaurants in Boston representing their maison by presenting their tastiest, most innovative pork dish.