Happening Grate Expectations During Hanukkah, Jewish families everywhere dig out their cherished, grease-splattered recipes for latkes, the potato pancakes that symbolize the miracle of the oil that lasted eight days. Even more miraculous are the steps some professional chefs take to transform the humble Hebrew hotcake into secular gourmet grub. From December 4 through December 22, new Fifty Seven Fifty Seven chef Brooke Vosikas fries up a trio of decidedly nonkosher luxury latkes as an appetizer special: a blue-potato latke with Nantucket Bay scallops and Oregon truffles; a Yellow Finn-potato latke with juniper-and-lemon-smoked salmon; and an Idaho-potato latke with goat cheese and shaved Parma ham (pictured). Fifty Seven Fifty Seven 57 East 57th Street 212-758-5757

Best of the Week The Aesthetics of Japanese Food Ikebana for flowers, origami for paper: Japanese culture places an extraordinary premium on the aesthetics of everyday presentation. Hence this weekend symposium of lovely ceramics and their even lovelier contents. Martha Stewart will be on hand, just in case the chefs don't make you feel ham-fisted enough. December 6 through 8 at the Japan Society 333 East 47th Street 212-832-1155

Tasting
Hello, Cleveland!
Don't think that Caf� Boulud's top tocque Andrew Carmellini is just another chef jumping on the comfort-food chuck wagon. Although the current "voyage" section of his four-part menu (available through mid-January) is a domestic flight titled the "Heartland of America," he was planning dishes like a creamy "midwestern-style chowder" with smoked whitefish (pictured), a colossal "Amish" chicken potpie, and a fancy-pants take on s'mores long before his boss, that Daniel guy, named an apple tart after Mayor Rudy. Not to mention that the Cleveland native's pierogi, stuffed with farmer cheese, sauerkraut, and potato, have an unimpeachable pedigree -- the recipe comes courtesy of his Polish grandmother.
Caf� Boulud
20 East 76th Street
212-772-2600

		Ask Gael We want to eat light before or after theater. Remi's luscious new cichetti platter (pictured) is just enough to mute hunger rumbles before or after the show. Cichetti, the small snacks served in the wine bars of Venice, are some of the best bites in a town not celebrated for triumphs of the table. That may explain why till now chef Francesco Antonucci paid so little mind to his heritage. Not that I haven't always rated Remi a top Italian, but suddenly the food is better than ever. And Antonucci's nostalgia glorifies these Venetian tapas. A flotilla of savory classics come in small square dishes like patchwork on a footed platter -- sweet-and-sour Dover sole; La Serenissima's famous cod mousse; zesty octopus; remarkable seviche of whitebait; smoked eel; cuttlefish tarted up in its own ink; eggplant, of course; meatballs; and prosciutto in a fried Parmesan basket. $12 per person. Remi 145 West 53rd Street 212-581-4242