• Steve Hanson shocker! The restaurateur is closing down SoHo's Fiamma as well as Ruby Foo's on 77th Street, and the Blue Water Grill in Chicago. [Eater]
• Drew Nieporent, Danny Meyer, Alan Stillman, and Jennifer Oz LeRoy are all contenders to take over the Rainbow Room if the Ciprianis are evicted. [NYO]
• How to pay the least and get the most out of Restaurant Week. [NYP]
• Frank Bruni hands out one star apiece to West Branch and BarBao. [NYT]
• Famed Mexican food cart Calexico is opening a restaurant. [NBC4]
• Restaurant recommendations from... personal trainers? [Zagat]

Blue Water Grill, the popular Union Square restaurant favored by patrons willing to wait an hour just to be served mediocre seafood, seems to be having a bit of trouble. An account on the website Shameless Restaurants tells of a BR Restaurants (the company that owns Blue Water, Vento and Ruby Foo's, among others) owner (Stephen Hanson?) berating the staff for anonymous, negative comments made about working conditions: