CHINA MORSELS

Food in Chinatown can be intimidating even for the adventuresome eater, but this Saturday you have the chance to taste some dishes that you might not want to commit to for an entire meal – or you can just go crazy with dumplings and spare ribs.

More than 50 restaurants will be participating in this Saturday’s Taste of Chinatown. They will be setting up stands outside their restaurants, offering plates of food for $1 or $2 from 1 to 6 p.m.

The adventuresome might want to invest $1 to experience the authentic but atypical mixed bowl of beef balls, fish balls, shrimp balls, and squid balls with fish dumplings at Bo Ky. Another hit will be Buddha Bodai’s house special congee – rice porridge – with mushrooms, peanuts, fried bread, ham, and squid.

New Beef King will be handing out $2 bags of beef jerky – spicy, fruit-flavored, and oyster-flavored – and “tasty pork jerky.”

Lots of spring rolls and pork buns are on offer, too, plus baked goods, teas, and more.

To see a full list of participating restaurants, and what they’ll be serving, visit www.explorechinatown.com.

FREE ROAST

John Villa’s Dominic Restaurant (349 Greenwich St., between Jay and Harrison streets, 212-343-0700) is serving Sunday dinners now. To celebrate, the restaurant is throwing a free pig roast this Sunday for the first 200 people to make reservations. From 5 to 9 p.m., Mr. Villa will be serving the crispy-skinned pig family-style along with Caesar salad and sides of faro, lemon potatoes, broccoli rabe, and roasted eggplant.

You have to buy your own beverages, though.

The opposite will be true on subsequent Sundays, however, when the food is on you, but every course ordered from the new fall menu will be accompanied by a free glass of wine paired with that course.

OPEN SHOP

Speaking of roasted pig, Cookshop,(159 Tenth Ave. at 20th Street, 212-924-4440 ), opened last night. Owners Vicki Freeman and chef Marc Meyer, who also own Five Points, have their own suckling pig, with chorizo and fruit chutney.

The husband-and-wife team is still focusing on using high-quality, local ingredients, but at their new Chelsea location they’re roasting the pig from an open kitchen with a vertical rotisserie.

BEER HERE, AND KIDS

Jimmy’s (43 E. 7th St. between Second and Third avenues, 212-982-3006), a new ale house serving seasonally focused, European-influenced food, will have a weekly, family-oriented brunch on Sundays.

Chef-owner Jimmy Carbone, formerly of Patio, opened Jimmy’s last week with a focus on the beer and cider pouring from his 11 taps, each with its own glassware. But on Sundays, starting at 1 p.m., live music will play and parents will be encouraged to bring their children. In fact, Mr. Carbone is thinking of designating the restaurant’s second room as a playroom during brunch.

ALMOST FREE LUNCH

Chemist Club (52 E. 41st St., between Madison and Park avenues, 212-297-9177 ) has launched a $19.09 lunch. The meal, pegged to the date the building was constructed, features a soup tasting with polenta fries for starters, and a main course choice of a French dip with fries, Cobb salad, or seafood pasta.

Also included is a choice of mini-desserts ranging from creme brulee, to lemon sabayon with fresh berries, to warm chocolate cake.

Mr. Thorn is food editor at Nation’s Restaurant News. He can be reached atbthorn@nrn.com.