This deep dark chocolate cake gets added flavor from chocolate stout. Chef Ben Hasty says they use whatever chocolate stout they happen to have on tap.

Confit is a generic term for foods that have been cooked very slowly in some kind of fat. Most commonly confit involves duck leg quarters. Here, Chef Brendan Vesey of The Joinery makes the most of sweet Seacoast parsnips using this process. 

Alo-Ha, the signature cocktail for the Best of Taste Bash 2015, combines New Amsterdam Vodka, Polly & Joan's Hand-Crafted Pineapple Cordial, fresh squeezed lime juice, and vanilla bean simple syrup, making for a deliciously fruity and refreshing creation to celebrate all the 2015 Best of TASTE winners!

Pad Thai is one of those highly adaptable dishes. Want all veggie? Omit the fish sauce and replace with soy sauce. Want something more substantial? Stir in the cooked protein of your choice— shrimp, fish, tofu, chicken, or beef. If you like heat, add chilies.

The simplicity of this recipe is what makes it taste so good. Make vanilla sugar by placing a halved vanilla bean in a few cups of sugar in an airtight container. Let rest at least a day before using for best flavor. This classic brûlée is infused with vanilla beans for flavor, but you could use other flavorings, like pistachios or lavender.

Pimentos serves their pan-seared, sesame seed–crusted tuna on a bed of edamame succotash, finished with a soy glaze and a wasabi microgreens garnish.

Epoch Restaurant & Bar and The Community Oven have teamed up for a Cheers for a Cure drink promotion to support LUNGSTRONG, a nonprofit dedicated to raising funds for innovative lung cancer research. Each restaurant is donating a portion of the sales from their signature drink creations to this worthy cause, thru Labor Day.