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I've had several good meals at The Ten Bells, a well-reviewed wine bar in Manhattan's Lower East Side over the last couple years. Dark and cozy and decorated with empty wine bottles and chalkboards that display that day's menu, the food is simple and delicious—tapas like papas bravas, albondigas, and creamy brandade, as well as excellent charcuterie (duck rillettes!) and cheeses.

Most restaurants try to accommodate special requests : Omitting chopped peanuts on a sundae for the allergic, or swapping out blue cheese for cheddar if a diner would prefer a less pungent burger topping is not only good customer service, but expected. Which is why it was so appalling when a former Tavern on the Green chef boasted on his Facebook page that he purposely served high-gluten pasta to diners who requested a gluten-free entr

The James Beard Awards may be considered to be the Oscars of the food world, but when it comes to the honor that anoints chefdom's Next Big Thangs, it's hard to argue with the track record of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs in America. Past winners include such restaurant gods as Thomas Keller (1988), Nobu Matsuhisha (1989), Wylie Dufresne (2001), David Chang (2006), and April Bloomfield (2007).

It's a quandary that every successful restaurateur faces: Do you stay fiercely loyal to your original location, a la chef Gabrielle Hamilton and Prune, the much-loved NYC restaurant she's been running since 1999? Or do you go the way of the Flays and the Batalis of the restaurant world, expanding your empire to include Vegas outposts, cookware, and a line of designer Crocs?