• The week in restaurant reviews: In his second outing as Times dining critic, Sam Sifton gives Marea a very enthusiastic three stars; New York magazine's Adam Platt is a bit disappointed by Joseph Leonard and Civetta (and gives each a single star); Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton checks out the Manhattan outpost of Motorino and leaves happy; Time Out's Jay Cheshes heads to Monkey Bar and finds the food has improved; and Gael Greene pays a visit Abe & Arthur's.
• The city is now suing the LeRoy family, the current operators of Tavern on the Green, in an effort to regain control over the restaurant's name. [Crain's]
• Openings: Brinkley's, the new restaurant by Tom and Anthony Martignetti in the former Bar Martignetti space, opens to the public next week. The Scottish restaurant Highlands opens in the West Village this Friday.

• Michael Huynh is a colorful restaurateur, clearly. And his dining empire is quickly taking over the city, too, in case you missed that somehow. [NYT]
• The Village Voice's annual "Best of New York" issue is out. [VV]
• Time Out's list of the "Best Food Neighborhoods in NYC" is out, too. [TONY]
• A list of the "10 worst dining trends of the last decade." [ChiTrib via GS]
• Faded club owner Noel Ashman is working on a new "semi-private" club and shopping a couple of reality shows, in case you were wondering. [BB]
• You didn't think the Todd English saga was going away, did you? [Gawker]
• Why do restaurants give away free matchbooks if you can't smoke? The Times digs into this confounding mystery today, thankfully. [NYT]