(continued)

Cute, but can they cook? Do hipsters stay home? Do hepcats cook? Well, Shoket doesn't. "Dishes stink!" she shrieks. "I hate doing dishes! I hate it! And if I cook for too long, my apartment heats up unbelievably, it gets really hot! If you're young, your goal is to use as few pots as possible." Enter Mitchell Davis, Director of Publications at the James Beard Foundation and "avid entertainer" (that's the New York Times talking, not me). He's on a crusade to convince today's groovers and shakers that's OK to cook. In fact, his new book, Cook Something, is packed with helpful advice for the kitchen-phobic. He patiently goes through the extremely basic basics (hard-boiling eggs and peeling onions) and takes us all the way through zesting, roasting, and saucing. You can go as far as you want -- all these recipes can be made in a kitchenette, and he encourages shortcuts (order broth from Chinese takeout to use as soup stock; buy pie crusts; use that microwave, dammit!). There are groovy icons to tell you how long and how difficult each dish is, plus a list of utensils and ingredients, and -- best of all -- references to a cached of specific instructions at the front of the book ("testing for doneness," "cutting up things," "working with meat"). Bonus! Though occasionally Mr. Davis lolls into Grandpa-style humor ("no, smashing garlic is not a new rock group," da-hoi-hoi-hoi!) and unrealistic flights of total fantasy (on cooking light: "Why not just eat less?" AS IF!), Cook Something is a nice, reassuring, basic cookbook.

And where else? Well, Steven Hall and Sam Firer, restaurant consultants and fresh-faced hipsters to boot, see a growing trend toward going out that has its roots in the restaurant boom of the mid-'80s. "They're spending a lot of their time in restaurants and in lounges and it's familiar, it's comfortable," says Hall. "And it's a little tongue-in-cheek, too. They're playing dress-up, playing grownup." And returning to the familiar terrain of their youth.

And the restaurants -- no fools themselves -- are keeping up, following up the move toward lounge culture with a trend toward whimsical finger-food and appetizers that are easily shared. "A lot of places are incorporating names of cocktails into food, like at Flowers, where there's a grilled sea scallop margarita salad. There's no alcohol in it, but it's served in a margarita glass, with a lime vinaigrette, and of course there's salt all around the rim." Had enough? Hall hasn't. Citrus took it another step further," he adds. "They used to have a fried popcorn shrimp cocktail with shooters of bloody mary salsa and garlic mayonnaise. The shrimp was served in a rocks glass, and the sauces came in two shot glasses."

Oh, CUTE! But the trend doesn't stop at drinkie-winkies. There is, after all, that little matter of nostalgia and our lost youth. At a recent lunch at the Jetsons-like Globe, the owner stopped by one table, greeted an acquaintance, and gave a cryptic word to the wise: Try the chocolate and cream wrap. It's a Yodel. And indeed it was -- a freshly-made, creamy, chocolatey snack-cake. What's next, herbed Jiffy Pop? Tang screwdrivers? Gorgonzola E-Z Cheese? Actual Scooby Snacks?

Only time will tell. But the trend is clear: Today's young cool types like to play with their food.

This all makes logical sense, of course. As Shoket points out, "A martini is a neat drink. It's four bucks for a beer, but for a couple bucks more you get a fancy glass and a stronger drink. You can indulge, and the only consequence is that you have to scrimp on lunch the next day. It's only you." And for those who do want to indulge, but who can't afford a full meal at a schmantzy place, a couple of appetizers and a fancy cocktail is a nice compromise.