Gobbling Up Halloween Around NYC

Besides the sickening amount of mass-produced prole candy available this time of year, there's also an abundance of higher grade Halloween eating and drinking options. And so it begins; the long, downward holiday flab spiral that reaches its nadir around the first week of January when you have to start leaving the top button of your pants undone. Oh well, no use fighting it; here are some consumption opportunities we've been able to scare up:

• Through the weekend, the 2008 Vendy award-winning Treats Truck will be featuring Halloween specials including Halloween sugar cookies and Candy Corn Crispy Squares. (Keep apprised of the truck's whereabouts.)
• According to their website, "the ghouls of the cheese world" will converge at Artisanal Cheese on Halloween night. Fromager Waldemar Albrecht and wine professional Candela Prol will conduct a tasting of cheeses and wines "from remote and obscure places on a night that will be hauntingly remembered." Sure it costs $85, but freaking out about your budget is part of the Halloween fun.
• Sushi Samba's Halloween specials take their cue from the outrageous, stylized contortions of Kabuki characters, hence their "Spooky Kabooki" party on Friday at their Park and 7th Street location, with a costume contest that will send the most inventively dressed diner (out of all locations) on a weekend vacation to Las Vegas. Runners-up walk with $100 gift certificates, and special menu items include the Dracula dessert: Coca cola gelee, vanilla bean ice cream, raspberry foam and finish with berry blood drops & pop rock explosions.