One of the first things I do upon entering a restaurant is check out what looks good on other people’s plates. If I don’t pass enough people as I’m being led to my table, I’ll often make a quick trip to the restroom, just as an excuse to do more on-site research. It was during one of these sightseeing rounds at Uovo, a new spot in the East Village, that I spotted a table with a delicious-looking pile of fried nuggets. Were they chicken? Veal? Cheese? In any case, they were the very definition of golden brown. “I’m definitely ordering that,” I thought.

But upon returning to my table and searching up and down the menu, I couldn’t find anything resembling the fried morsels. So I asked my server, who said, “Oh, those are our sweetbread poppers – they’re only listed the bar menu, but you can have them here at your table, too.”

The presence of sweetbread poppers at Uovo is, in some respects, a reflection of the playfully adventurous spirit of the restaurant’s chef, Matthew Hamilton, who’s married to the similarly audacious chef Gabriella Hamilton of Prune. But it’s also a measure of how sweetbreads – once considered an exotic organ meat that pioneering cookbook author Eliza Acton dismissed as “a foodstuff of the second rank” – have entered, or at least approached, the culinary mainstream.

Sweetbreads consist of either the thymus gland or the pancreas of a veal calf (usually), a lamb (occasionally), or a pig (rarely). For the record, they’re neither sweet nor bready, although the name probably derives from the fact that they’re milder-flavored and less mealy than many other organ meats, such as kidneys, liver, and brains. Indeed, one prominent food writer recently referred to veal sweetbreads as “the offal for novices,” but that’s unfairly condescending – magnificently creamy, rich, and subtle, sweetbreads are a delicacy. They’re also versatile enough to present a multitude of cooking options, as can be seen all over town these days.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hamilton’s sweetbread poppers at Uovo (175 Ave. B, 212-475-8686, $7 for sweetbreads) turn out to be better in theory than in practice. Although the outer coating is beautifully crunchy, the interior is so firm and tame-tasting that you can almost believe you’re eating Chicken McNuggets. There’s virtually no hint of the complexity that makes sweetbreads special.

Happily, exemplary sweetbreads are available elsewhere in the city. Here are some of the best spots for them:

Craftbar (900 Broadway, 212-461-4300, $15): At first glance, this is the classic sweetbreads treatment. The glands are panroasted, creating a nicely browned exterior. But Craftbar ups the ante with an accompaniment of pickled fiddlehead ferns, which have an agreeably sharp vinegar edge, and a pan sauce spiked with vanilla. The result is an unlikely but surprisingly successful melange of flavors.

Pampa (768 Amsterdam Ave., 212-865-2929, $9.50): Raul Bonetto’s Argentinian restaurant is known primarily for its huge slabs of beef, but don’t overlook the mollejas, which are grilled sweetbreads. The ‘breads are sliced thinner here, like cutlets, creating plenty of flat surface area to absorb the grill’s smokiness. Add a spritz of lemon and a dollop of Pampa’s spectacularly garlicky chimichurri sauce – the best in the city, in my opinion – and you’ve got a superior South American treat.

Cheburechnaya (92-09 63rd Dr., Rego Park, Queens, 718-897-9080, $4): Sweetbreads, like most foods, are more fun when they’re served on a stick, and there’s no better place to experience that than at this incomparable kosher Uzbek kebab house. Although the restaurant has recently expanded and modernized (you’ll no longer see the cooks stoking the grill fire with a battered hair dryer attached to a frayed extension cord), the grilled meats are as delicious as ever, including the superb veal sweetbread kebabs, which taste like the most tender, sumptuous chicken you’ve ever tried. Landmarc (179 West Broadway, 212-343-3883, $25): On a menu that also features kidneys and blood sausage, Landmarc’s crispy sweetbreads are the prize offal of the bunch. The four big hunks are gorgeously crisp outside but soft and creamy inside. They sit on the perimeter of a large serving of green beans, served with a horseradish sauce. It’s a spectacularly satisfying meal.

You’re likely to see more of sweetbreads in the weeks and months to come.The new upscale Chinese restaurant Mainland, on the Upper East Side, plans to add sweetbreads to the menu soon, which will be the city’s first Asian treatment of sweetbreads that I’m aware of – another sign that this once-rarefied foodstuff is becoming more commonplace.

Of course, you can also cook sweetbreads yourself. They’re not difficult to make, although they do require some advance planning. Most butcher shops don’t carry them, because they’re extremely perishable, so you’ll have to order them in advance – allow two days’ notice – and be prepared to use them within 24 hours of buying them. Also, you’ll have to soak them for several hours in a few rounds of water, blanch them in acidulated water, and then remove their outer membrane, all of which is simple enough (assuming the word “membrane” doesn’t give you the shivers) but rather time-consuming.

Once you’re ready to cook, you have many options: sauteeing, broiling, grilling, roasting, or – my favorite – pan-frying (see accompanying recipe). You can use a variety of sauces, wrap the sweetbreads in bacon, or even use chopped sweetbreads in a salad – they’re extremely versatile.

Pan-Fried Sweetbreads With Brown-Butter Caper Sauce

1 tablespoon vinegar
2 pounds veal sweetbreads
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Flour or dredging
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons capers, rinsed
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large bowl, soak sweetbreads in water for about 4 to 5 hours, changing water several times, until the water stays clear. Then place 1 quart of water in a medium saucepan. Add vinegar and sweetbreads, bring to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Plunge blanched sweetbreads into cold water and, when cool, use a knife or kitchen shears to remove tough outer membrane. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Your sweetbreads are now ready to cook.

2. Dredge prepared sweetbreads in flour. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat, add sweetbreads, and reduce heat to medium. Cook sweetbreads until browned on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside on warmed platter.

3. Add butter to same skillet. When it foams and browns, add lemon juice and shake pan to incorporate. Remove from heat, add capers and parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over sweetbreads.

SERVES 4