MEXICAN LUNCH

Mercadito’s two locations (179 Avenue B, between 11th and 12th streets, 212-529-6490, and 100 Seventh Avenue South at Grove Street, 212-647-0830) are now open for lunch Monday through Friday. Lunch-sized dinner entrées are $10.50 each. Mexican hot sandwiches called tortas are available too, as are salads, quesadillas, and the restaurants’ signature tacos.

YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY GREEN ZEBRA

Six cafes run by Great Performances catering company are starting a monthlong tomato festival today in celebration of the first harvest of the company’s upstate tomato farm.

Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Taxi, Better Boy, Black Prince, Brandywine, Juliet, First Lady, and other varieties will be used in three-course, $20 menus and $5 salads.

The restaurants are Café Opaline (580 Madison Avenue a t 56th St., 212-521-8155), Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (33 West 60th Street at Broadway, 212-258-9800), Garden Court Café (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, 212-570-5202), Mae Mae Café (68 Vandam St., between Hudson Street and Seventh Avenue, 212-337-6071), Wave Hill Cafe (249th St. and Independence Avenue, Bronx, 718-549-3200), and Sotheby’s Café (1334 York Ave. at 72nd Street, 212-606-7000).

NEW WARDROBE

Bill Yosses, who most recently was executive chef at the now-shuttered Josephs by Citarella, is teaming up with Michel Nischan to develop the menu for the Dressing Room, a restaurant attached to the Westport Playhouse in Westport, Conn. Mr. Nischan, who opened Heartbeat restaurant in the W Hotel in Midtown, will develop the savory menu and Mr. Yosses is working on pastries.

BEST OYSTERS

Grand Central Oyster Bar (Grand Central Terminal, 89 E. 42nd St., near Vanderbilt Avenue, 212-490-6650) is inviting New Yorkers to e-mail their best Oysters Rockefeller recipe for a chance to prepare them in front of a crowd at the oyster bar during the Grand Central Oyster Frenzy.

Submit a recipe to info@oysterbarny.com with the subject: Oyster Frenzy “Rockefeller” recipe. Finalists make their version of the dish on the afternoon of Saturday, September 30, for a judging panel of journalists and celebrities. Prizes will be awarded. The deadline for entries is September 8.

NEW YORK CATTLE

For four days starting next Tuesday, Cesare Casella, chef and owner of Maremma (228 W. 10th Ave., between Bleecker and Hudson streets, 212-645-0200) is serving dishes made from a special Italian breed of cattle.

Chianina are the world’s largest beef breed and originated in Tuscany’s Chiana Valley, where they are made into the classic bistecca alla fiorentina. The ones at Maremma come from Thanksgiving Farm in New York State’s own Sullivan County.

If you want to try the meat, let the restaurant know when you make your reservations.

COMING UP ROSES

Taste 60 some-odd different rosé wines in three hours at Union Square Wine & Spirits (140 Fourth Ave. at 13th Street, 212-675-8100) this Saturday, and get a fancy BLT to go with it. For $10 in advance, or $15 at the door, you get half a sandwich made with bread from Blue Ribbon Bakery, heirloom tomatoes from Cherry Lane Farms, and Grateful Palate artisan bacon. The provenance of the lettuce is unknown.

You also get your own Riedel tasting glass, which you get to keep, and 100 credits on an Enomatic tasting card, which lets you get your own free tastings from the store’s new Eno-machines.

BIGGER TASTE

The formerly tiny Tasting Room is up and running at a new, larger, location (264 Elizabeth St., between Houston and Prince streets, 212-219-9478). Chef Colin Alevras and his wife Renée, who runs the dining room, will continue to offer wine and seasonal food, plus an expanded variety of cocktails.

Mr. Thorn is food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News. He maintains nrnfoodwriter.blogspot.com.