• Taavo Somer and the team from Freemans are opening a "classic American diner" in the old Kelley & Ping space on the Bowery. [VV]
• Ryan Skeen and his team have been ousted from Allen & Delancey. [GS]
• Midtown Italian eatery Bice won't be forced to close, after all. [Crain's]
• Donatella Arpaia's revamped, Psilakis-less Mia Dona has reopened. [GS]
• Does Michael "Bao" Huynh have yet another spot in the works? [TONY]
• Rooftop lounge 230 Fifth will be handing out Snuggies to its patrons. [Eater]
• ABC News treated the Heene family (of Balloon Boy fame, yes) to a "fabulous sushi dinner" at Ocean Grill last night, just so you know. [TMZ]

♦ New York's Adam Platt hands out four stars to Drew Nieporent's Corton this week, praising chef Paul Liebrandt's cuisine as "technically complex without being exhibitionist." [NYM]
♦ David Chang's Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar opened on Saturday. Grub Street has rounded up the public reception. [GS]
♦ A handful of spots including Marquee and the Tribeca Grand have been denied permits by the State Liquor Authority to stay open late on New Year's Eve. [NYP]
♦ A detailed history of the epic battle between Da Silvano's Silvano Marchetto and Bar Pitti's Giovanni Tognozzi. [Page Six Magazine]

• It seems The Box's Simon Hammerstein is quite the pervy, depraved boss, at least judging by all the complaints from female ex-employees. [Gawker]

The Black PR Society of New York had its summer mixer at the huge rooftop lounge at 230 Fifth in Manhattan on Wednesday night. But apparently the 40-person group hadn't reserved it for a private event or something (although the website says "Reservations are not necessary since we can very comfortably accommodate over 1,000 guests at the same time"). So the club's owner, Steven Greenberg, did what any logical, businesslike man would do when he sees 40 black professionals at his lounge listening to a speech from a prominent national political pundit: "I told them, 'I would like all of you out of here immediately.'"