• An early, unofficial list of places taking part in NYC Restaurant Week. [W&D]
• Interested in a Michael Jackson-themed wine pairing this evening? Too soon? That's what City Winery has planned anyway. [City Winery, GS]
• A few closings in restaurant-land. [Eater]
• Pret A Manger is in expansion mode. Four new locations have opened in Manhattan in the past two months and more are on the way. [Crain's]
• Free cups of Pinkberry's "summer fresh flavors" available this eve. [GS]
• Some bartenders are now asking that people call them "bar chefs." [Eater]
• The Gay Pride parade takes place on Sunday. A few recommendations on where to drink and party when it ends. [Metromix, AMNY, Newsday]

♦ Frank Bruni delivered a crushing review of the new East Village restaurant Kurve yesterday. Today, the owner of the Karim Rashid-designed spot, Andy Yang, is doing damage control: What Bruni calls "unremarkable," Yang says, is actually "purposefully simple." [GS]
♦ Celsius, the pop-up restaurant in Bryant Park, is now open. [Eater]
♦ Michael Dorf's City Winery isn't opening on schedule and the space is still raw, but he hosted a musical preview last night anyway. [GS, Eater]
♦ The space that formerly occupied by Seymour Burton is coming back to life as a surf-and-turf spot called Butcher Bay. [Feedbag]
♦ A preview of At Vermilion, the Midtown offshoot of Rohini Dey's Indian-Latin Chicago restaurant, Vermilion. [GS]
♦ A group of deliverymen protested outside Jonathan Morr's Republic yesterday with "No Justice, No Noodles" signs. [NYP]