From pub food in Beverly to edible flowers from Chinatown, here’s the new and the weird that the Guide staff will be savoring this year. Cody Braun: * Eat the Next (953 W. Fulton Market) steak-house menu, even if it means selling my blood. Nothing on the typical steak-house menu is particularly exciting. That’s all the more reason to see what insane games Grant Achatz and company play with that format. * Make something with the dried lily flowers I bought in Chinatown two years ago. I think I dreamed that they were poisonous if cooked incorrectly, which isn’t true as far as I can tell, but I’m still scared of them. * Spend more time day drinking at Map Room (1949 N. Hoyne Ave.) and Maria’s Packaged Goods and Community Bar (960 W. 31st St.). * Become wealthy. I’m sure having money has a lot of perks, but I only made this decision when I saw the inventory at Eataly (43 E. Ohio St.) for the first time. I’m off to get an MBA. Nathalie Lagerfeld: * Eat some shakshuka. I haven’t tracked down a Chicago restaurant that makes the Israeli breakfast dish yet, but I did take a shaky cell-phone shot of the recipe in my friend’s copy of Jerusalem: A Cookbook, so I’m good to DIY. * Repay my Hyde Park friends for all their northward visits by taking them out to A10 (1462 E. 53rd St.). * Check out the new brunch at Honey Butter Fried Chicken (3361 N. Elston Ave.). Being mildly allergic to hype and long lines, I slept on this much buzzed-about Avondale eatery in 2013. That’s a little shameful, considering that it’s practically walking distance from my house. Now that they’re serving up delish midday dishes like this, I feel like I’ve got a second chance. I only hope that the fried-chicken gods forgive. * Speaking of poultry, I’ve really gotta do something with those leftover duck wings in my freezer. Also, construct a cthuken to terrify my friends with. Aimee Algas Alker: * In light of 2013’s cocktail trend and my new trend of being a mom, try to make Kiddie Kocktails happen. * Figure out how to make all of my favorite Filipino comfort foods myself, mostly using a slow cooker. * Spend work-from-home days at a classic coffee shop, such as New Wave Coffee (3103 W. Logan Blvd.), just like they did on Friends. Except the Friends never really worked, did they? * Now that the kid should be regularly eating grown-people food, find kid-friendly restaurants where no one would look at me funny if I mashed everything together on the plate. John Flaherty: * Drink a beer (or a growler) at Horse Thief Hollow (10426 S. Western Ave.). It's a new brewpub that's popped up in Beverly on Western Avenue, a street I used to march down as a child in the South Side Irish Parade. Having a craft brewer is a big step for this stretch, where Miller Lites concealed in McDonald's cups is much more normal to-go beer packaging than a glass growler of craft beer. * Find more kid-friendly restaurants that do not begin to conspicuously turn down the lights and turn up the music at 7:30 p.m. * Drop into more scary dive bars along Western Avenue (truly the city's greatest thoroughfare) before they're all changed into cool cocktails places like Sportsman's Club (948 N. Western Ave.), which I would also like to go to. * Visit Epic Spices (1725 W. Chicago Ave.) to discover what I can zest (nutmeg?) with the microplane I bought my wife for Christmas. Melanie Zanoza Bartelme: * Pick up pork belly at Paulina Market (3501 N. Lincoln Ave.) or The Butcher & Larder (1026 N. Milwaukee Ave.) and make bacon in our brand-new Traeger smoker. * Become a regular at a neighborhood bar. I want the bartenders to know my name without judging me for how often I visit. Will’s Northwoods Inn (3030 N. Racine Ave.), you’re a prime contender. * Enjoy a farm-to-table dinner on an actual farm. * Rediscover Evanston. It’s changed a lot since I went to school there, and the only new thing I’ve tried is the Dollop/Hoosier Mama hybrid. Edzo’s Burger Shop, Found, Union Pizzeria—there’s a lot of delicious ground to cover up north. Shannon Jewitt: * Stop by The Bedford (1612 W. Division St.) on a Thursday for half off champagne or sparkling wine. * Sample food from more vegetarian restaurants, such as Green Zebra (1460 W. Chicago Ave.) and Mana Food Bar (1742 W. Division St.). * Try more African cuisine by dining at restaurants including Bolat African Cuisine (3346 N. Clark St.) and Demera Ethiopian Restaurant (4801 N. Broadway St.). Photo credit: Andrew Nawrocki, Groupon