♦ Charles, the West Village spot that's been billed as the next Waverly Inn, is opening tonight. [Eater]
♦ A list of 18 spots ideal for fireside dining and boozing. [The Feedbag]
♦ Danny Meyer says sales are up at his budget-friendly restaurants (Shake Shack) while his pricier joints (Tabla, Eleven Madison Park) are beginning to suffer. [GS]
♦ A look inside West Branch, Tom Valenti's Upper West Side Brasserie opening tonight. [Eater]
♦ It's not too late to make Halloween plans: GoaG has a guide to festivities across the city, including a number you're probably not invited to. [GoaG]

We told you to steel yourselves, and now here it is: following Whoopi Goldberg's sartorial lead, the other co-hosts of The View dressed up as men today for Halloween. Presidents, in fact! They even introduced themselves in character, which was a little bit awkward when Barbara Walters-as-George Washington babbled on about freeing her slaves in a manner so leading that she practically demanded Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd fall at her feet in exultant praise. Then, it was Elisabeth Hasselbeck's turn.Dressed up as Ronald Reagan, she offered a hearty, beyond-the-grave endorsement of John McCain (O RLY?) before Grandma Barbara led her into the weeds with a tortured Sarah Palin analogy and an appreciative Werther's Original. Then, as Hasselbeck is wont to do, she gave Joy Behar (as Teddy Roosevelt) a Cold War-worthy slam. Happy Halloween, ladies: who knew we could be frightened so early in the day?

Click to viewBoomp3.com A couple of fiendish film flashers got their Halloween jollies in a day early as they spooked spectacular sassy screen star Kate Hudson at popular celeb hangout, LAX. The fiends wore spooky burlap sacks over the faces and shouted scary phrases like “Boo!” and “John McCain won the election!” while jumping out in front of the Raising Helen star. [Photo Credit: WENN] *A Call To The Bullpen is a work of fiction. Although the pictures we use are most certainly real, Defamer does not purport that any of the incidents or quotations you see in this piece actually happened. Lighten up, people ... it's a joke.

You may recall that about six months ago, we posted a Photoshop contest winning entry featuring the inspired casting of Javier Bardem as everyone's favorite Prince of Dark Chocolateyness, Count Chocula. We said at the time that we'd definitely shell out for such a movie were it ever to be made, and threw out the suggestion of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal to play his monstrous kiddie cereal cohorts, Frankenberry and Boo Berry.Just in time for Halloween, the same digital artiste who conceived the original has sent us his rendering of our proposed dream cast in the breakfast mascot roles they were clearly born to play. Seriously—we don't mean to toot our own horns here, but Jake channels his delicious inspiration right down to those half-cocked eyebrows, wonky smirk, and sleepy boo eyes. What are you waiting for, Hollywood. Poor some milk on this sucker and make some magic happen!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Who doesn't love Halloween? Besides all that candy and the fact that it gives frat boys everywhere the perfect excuse to indulge a year's worth of cross-dressing impulses, it also brings some of our favorite TV personalities in costume. We already gave you a sneak peek of the ladies of The View, done up as various U.S. presidents (and commend Joy for refraining from remarking to Ronald "Elisabeth" Reagan, "You should only wish for Alzheimer's. That would be the least of your problems."), while the cast of the Today Show embodied their fairytale fantasies (Pinocchio Viera will give you nightmares), and Ellen DeGeneres came out in some kind of matador/coin getup that really marks a step backwards in her fashion evolution. But we highlight for you Regis and Kelly, not so much for the execution of their celebrity chef costumes of Gordon Ramsey and Paula Deen, but rather for the stream of filth spewed forth by Regis throughout the episode.If the beloved Oscars bumbler was just trying to emulate the Hell's Kitchen star, we think a British accent might have helped the illusion along. Instead, it just seems like a spectacular uncorking of decades of bottled rage. Years pressed beneath Gelman's thumb, having to remember all those dumb celebrity names while listening to your shrill co-hosts yammer on at length about their upcoming children and Christmas albums—it's all enough to drive any mild-mannered TV fixture to lose it. Live! [Regis and Kelly]

If you're dressing up as Sarah Palin for Halloween and you'd like to compare your totally uninspired Halloween outfit to the 46,273 other New Yorkers who are dressing up as the vice presidential candidate, you're in luck! Sarah Palin lookalikes are gathering in Union Square tonight—supposedly!—for a "Sarah Palin Experiment and Pageant"

Lydia Hearst had a little run-in with Page Six magazine earlier this week: After bashing the media conglomerate founded by her great-grandfather in her weekly column, she accused the mag of making the item up and simply slapping her byline at the top. The heiress took her revenge last night. Sort of! Proving originality isn't her strong suit, Lydia wore precisely the same get-up that Britney Spears wore after she was dissed by Page Six way back in 2003. [GoaG, Jossip]

Halloween's on a Friday. With people already more worried about keeping their jobs than actually doing them, you might as well plan on writing the workday off. Trying to figure out a clever costume in which to pester your remaining coworkers? Valleywag has done the work for you. Print up one of these masks, designed by Valleywag interim creative director Richard Blakeley, on the finest-quality office paper you can steal from the supply closet, follow our tips on how to act the part, and you're good to go. Select from our list:

How to wear it: Polo shirt, khakis, and a golf club. How to scare them: Go to Yahoo's Sunnyvale headquarters. Refuse to leave. Didn't find the right mask? Check out the rest of Valleywag's 5 scariest people for Halloween.

How to wear it: Soccer mom meets Castro lesbian, with a denim shirt and blue jeans. Oh, and a Pure Digital Flip camera. How to scare them: Find a tech-company executive. Insist on interviewing them. Blurt out the most annoying questions you can think of. If they flinch, threaten to disinvite them from your exclusive Wall Street Journal tech conference.

How to wear it: Black power suit and a kicky necklace. How to scare them: Find some Facebook employees. Be really, really nice. Talk their ears off about your days in Washington and how you singlehandedly solved the Asian financial crisis, with a little help from Larry Summers and Bono. At the end of the conversation, take out a notepad and ask them for their names. Frown a little as you write them down. Next:

How to wear it: Biz-dev blue dress shirt and pleated pants. How to scare them: Whenever someone starts talking to you, find someone more important in the room and walk away. If anyone complains, take a mental note of where they work and swear never to write about them again, unless they offer you a stake in the company. Next: Jerry Yang, Yahoo's undead CEO

How to wear it: Black mock turtleneck, blue jeans, and an iPhone. How to scare them: Find an Apple shareholder. Clutch your stomach and groan. Next: Kara Swisher, obnoxious AllThingsD blogger

It's your very own printable Grazerhead mask! Download the full-size version here.

Everything you need to know so you can dress up like a socialite for Halloween. [NYO]

Tomorrow is Halloween! It's a sacred holiday for children, what with the heaping mounds (if you do not feel like a nut) of candy and the fun, scaaarryyy costumes. The costume aspect also makes it something of an important day for adults because, to paraphrase the Dead Kennedys, you get a night of being someone else before you step back into your mold the next day. But really, you're always you and one can tell a lot about a person from their choice of Halloween attire. Really, there are five types of costumes (and only five types of people!), and we'll dissect them—and what they say about their wearer—after the jump.

Last week we offered to send you a Halloween mask free of charge. We ran through the supply pretty quickly and a number of you were left out in the cold. (Sorry about that!) For those of you who missed your chance—and provided you have access to a color printer—we've posted the masks online. So you can print them out yourselves in the event you still don't have a Halloween costume lined up. After the jump, our very special collection of seven masks, in case you feel like dressing up as Anderson Cooper, Mario Batali, Nina Garcia, Anne Hathaway, Keith Olbermann, Vikram Pandit, or Al Sharpton.

Halloween Week continues now at Defamer, where our latest dynamite holiday suggestion is not for the faint of heart. Not necessarily for its ghoulish qualities, but rather for the adrenaline that accompanies living in this dreamboat's body — starring in blockbuster after blockbuster, opposite one scorching leading lady after another, and, of course, raising hell in drugstores and traffic intersections all over America. Follow the jump to see how a carefully coordinated ensemble can make you, too, Hollywood's brightest young star.

In case you're wondering what your favorite underemployed socialite, model, or heiress is dressing up as for Halloween this year (pictured above: Gemma Ward, Fabiola Beracasa and Lauren Santo Domingo), you now have a big gallery of pics to peruse. [Guest of a Guest]

Martha Stewart threw a Halloween party at her home in Bedford this past weekend. Of course, she didn't just buy some candy and throw on the same costume from last year: The soirée inside her horse stable featured pumpkin soup prepared by her personal chef, Pierre, served inside hollowed-out pumpkins. Between the soup and the fact that the perimeter of her estate appears to be ringed with them, it's probably safe to say she's cornered the pumpkin market in Westchester County. [The Martha Blog]