• The Guggenheim is planning to open a restaurant named The Wright inside the museum. [NYT]
• Le Cirque is now morphing into a club on Friday nights. Just don't actually call it a club, though. [GS]
• Former Tailor chef Sam Mason has a new cooking show on Independent Film Channel and reports he may open something new in Brooklyn. [NYT]
• Má Pêche (aka Momofuku Midtown) is serving cocktails. [F&W]
• Is the Department of Health waging a war on pizza? It seems so. [Slice, GS]
• Starbucks is rolling out more of its brand-less coffeehouses. [NYT]
• If you haven't had a chance to get to know Vadim Ponorovsky, the owner of Paradou, please do so. He's a delight, both in print and on the phone. [Gawker]

• Jean-Georges Vongerichten will close down Vong on Saturday. [Eater]
• A new restaurant/wine bar has popped up at the Four Seasons Hotel. [GS]
• A tour of Danny Meyer's Maialino, which opens in a couple of weeks. [Eater]
• Both Le Souk and The Mott have been closed their doors. [GS]
• Amy Sacco hasn't obtained a permit to renovate Bungalow 8, as we reported a couple of weeks ago. Her reality TV show is looking unlikely, too. [NYP]
• As if Tavern on the Green didn't have enough of a mess on its plate, it was also the scene of epically messy Halloween party on Saturday. [NYDN, Crain's]
• Another sign of a recession: Le Cirque is offering up free fried chicken to people who come watch the Yankee game there tomorrow night. [Zagat]

• A roundup of restaurants that just opened, or will open soon. [Eater, NYM]
• Sirio Maccioni's Le Cirque celebrated its 35th birthday last night. [NYT]
• Citrine in Chelsea was shut down by the city over the weekend. [Eater]
• Ex-Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl answered a few questions about the mag's demise (and avoided a few others) in yesterday's Times Magazine. But she was a no-show at a party held in Gourmet's honor last night. [NYT, NYDN]
• Have you heard that mac 'n' cheese has staged a comeback? It has! [WSJ]
• Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund manager at the center of the biggest insider trading scandal in decades, was an investor in restaurants in his spare time, and supposedly put money into Opia and Rosa Mexicano. [BN]

• David Chang's empire is about to get bigger. The Times confirms the rumor that the man behind Momofuku plans to open a French-Vietnamese spot in the former Town space in the Chambers Hotel sometime this fall. [NYT, TFB]
• The beer garden at Standard Hotel is now open. [UrbanDaddy]
• Andrew Carmellini is perfectly happy that Locanda Verde got two stars from the Times recently: "[T]he reviews have been exactly what we wanted." [W]
• Le Cirque founder Sirio Maccioni's favorite person this week? That would probably be the president of the Philippines, Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who showed up with her entourage and dropped $20,000 on dinner. [P6]

• Graydon Carter turned 60 on Tuesday, and Frank Bruni was kind enough to give him a gift—an unflattering review of his Monkey Bar. Carter: "Frank Bruni's review in The Times was the perfect nightcap to the perfect birthday." [WWD]
• Speaking of Bruni, a long excerpt from his forthcoming memoir, which appears in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, is now online. [NYT]
• Are restaurants like Minetta Tavern the city's new nightclubs? [BB]
• Word has it Cafe Boulud will be undergoing a major renovation and expansion sometime this summer and will be close for about a month or so. [Eater]
• A new cocktail lounge could be coming to Bryant Park next year. [Crain's]
• Philippe Massoud's ilili showcases Lebanese wines for the next month. [NYT]
• Le Cirque's Sirio Maccioni will undergo open heart surgery next week. [P6]

• Graydon Carter's Monkey Bar is no longer accepting reservations by phone. In other Carter news, Carter's Vanity Fair has very nice things to say about Carter's Waverly Inn, which you'll no doubt be surprised to hear. [Eater, VF]
• Celebrity settings: A roundup of restaurants where celebs were spotted eating this week (or at least where gossips said they'd been spotted). [GS]
• Osteria del Circo is closed due to a gas leak. But Sirio Maccioni will be happy to seat you at Le Cirque instead and he'll give you 25% off, too. [Eater]
• JGV clears the record: He did not cook for four presidents past and present last week. Just one ex-president, a mayor, and UN Secretary General. [JGV]
• Teany caught fire today and will probably be closed for several weeks. [Eater]

As we suspected, house arrest isn't all that bad for Marc Dreier, the disgraced lawyer who pleaded guilty earlier this week to conspiracy, securities fraud, money laundering and wire fraud. The judge in the case permitted him to return to his apartment pending sentencing, and it's a very comfy place, that's for sure. He's not lacking for food either. It seems he's been ordering miniburgers from Le Cirque's new recession-friendly bar menu, located on the ground floor of his building. A sensible way to begin transitioning from Le Cirque's regular menu to a lifetime of prison food, clearly. [Page Six]

• Sam Mason's Tailor in Soho has filed for bankruptcy protection. [Crain's]
• More on how the downturn is hurting NYC's pricier places: Sirio Maccioni says his Las Vegas outpost keeps Le Cirque in NYC alive; Le Bernardin has yet to renew its lease; and rumor has it Chanterelle is seeking investors. [NYM]
• The silver lining: restaurant rents are down substantially, which may explain why there's been a spike in applications for restaurant permits. [AMNY, NYO]
• Larry Poston (Waverly Inn, Pastis) has teamed up with Johnny Swet (Balthazar, Freeman's) to take over the former Marylou's space. [P6]

• Keith McNally's revamped Minetta Tavern will open in March. [Eater]
• Le Cirque will extend its Restaurant Week menu till the end of the year. [GS]
• The South Beach Wine & Food Festival starts tonight, in case you happen to be in Miami or you're looking for something to do the next few days. [Eater]
• Some say NYC nightlife has been a bit bleak this Fashion Week. [Zagat]
• Pink Elephant was the top grossing club in NYC in 2008. [GoaG]
• A blogger is trying to go a week without buying any food. Related: eGullet is hosting a challenge called "A Week Without Shopping." [ABroadrview, NYT]
• More on what Danny Meyer has planned for Citi Field. [TFB]
• Starbucks' new line of instant coffee? Not that bad, reportedly. [AdAge]

• Hope you're ready to go through it all over again: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis have all agreed to participate in a Sex and the City movie sequel. [Us]
• Graydon Carter should really consider writing a nutrition cookbook: It seems Madonna's secret to eternal youth is the salmon with lentils at the Waverly Inn. [L&S]
• Still more drama from the inaugural festivities in DC earlier this week: Chris Matthews got pissed about having to wait on line, Sharon Stone was annoyed she had to co-host a segment on CNN with D.L. Hughley, and Halle Berry went into panic mode after her dress got caught in an escalator. [P6]
• Gwyneth Paltrow was spotted on a flight doing yoga in the aisle recently. Is this becoming a trend? [Star]
• Charges against Mathias Guerrand-Hermès have been dropped. [NYDN]

Maimon Kirschenbaum, the lawyer that restaurant owners love to hate, has a new target: He's filed a class-action lawsuit against Le Cirque on behalf of cater-waiters. So if in the future you have to start tipping the guy who hands you a glass of champagne at a party, now you know who to thank! [Grub Street]

• Adam Platt's annual "Where to Eat" guide is now online. [NYM]
• Ian Schrager may be talking to Scott Conant about taking over the Wakiya space inside the Gramercy Park Hotel. [Eater]
• Daniel Boulud shares a few of his fave places to eat in NYC. [Independent]
• The NYT asks the months-old question: Is Chloe the new Beatrice? [NYT]
• Hope you can do without guacamole: An avocado shortage is looming. [LAT]
• More options for New Year's Eve, in case you've yet to make plans. [FB]
• The documentary on Le Cirque and the Maccioni family airs tonight. [HBO]

♦ In this week's issue of New York, Adam Platt gives two stars to Brooklyn's Char No. 4. David Bouley's Secession isn't quite as lucky, coming up star-less for its "jumble of tired brasserie conceits." [NYM]
♦ Josh DeChellis has signed on to become executive chef at La Fonda del Sol, the Spanish restaurant inside the Met Life building that is slated to open in January. [NYT]
♦ David Burke's Fishtail opens this week; the soft launch is tonight. [Eater]
♦ Page Six mag takes a look at the city's "smoking speakeasies," spots where the city's smoking ban is almost never enforced. [Page Six Mag]

♦ 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]

♦ Cain is re-opening tonight with a new look and a new name, Cain Luxe. [P6]
♦ The Chelsea club Citrine is opening tonight, too. [Eater]
♦ Le Cirque's chef, Christophe Bellanca, has parted ways with the Maccioni family. [Feedbag]
♦ A guide to the best ethnic bakeries in Manhattan. [NYT]
♦ Williamsburg's Kellogg's Diner reopens today. [GS]
♦ An early look at Supper Club, Bon Appetit's pop-up lunch spot that will be open through October 31st. [Eater]
♦ Katie Lee Joel defends her much-maligned, Burger Bash winning, patty melt. [YumSugar]

♦ Sasha Petraske's Mercury Dime won't be serving alcohol (it was denied a liquor license yet again last night), although Petraske is hoping to rebound by turning Milk & Honey into a "private social club." [Eater]
♦ Cocktail king Dale DeGroff is working with Marriott to create cocktails for the hotel chain. [NYT]
♦ Philippe's new West Village offshoot, Philippe Chow Express, is now equipped with touch-screen kiosks. [NYT]
♦ Guest of Guest's map of where the cool kids hang out. [GoaG]
♦ Le Cirque has dumped its à la carte menu. [Zagat]
♦ Steve Lewis corresponds with his old pal Michael Alig. [BB]
♦ A cooking lesson courtesy of Wylie Dufresne. [GS]
♦ Laura Bush clearly has no interest in what Frank Bruni thinks. She turned up at Michael's for lunch today. [MB]

Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni isn't very happy with Adam Tihany, the restaurant design maestro who crafted the look of Maccioni's own eateries but then "betrayed" him by coming up with the new look of arch-enemy Daniel Boulud's Daniel. "Adam Tihany will never do anything for me again," he starts off with Gael Greene. "Adam did five restaurants for me. He was always six months late and two million over budget... I should have 10% cent of everything Adam earns." [Insatiable Critic via Gothamist]

• Graydon Carter has backed out of hosting Vanity Fair's next Oscar party at Tom Colicchio's LA iteration of Craft because he doesn't like the Century City complex spot's "corporate feel." Laurent Tourondel's BLT on Sunset Strip will probably host the celeb-glutted affair instead. [P6]

Despite the joyous break in that nasty heat wave and the thorn in Anne Hathaway’s ass having been successfully removed, all is not well in LA today. As the NY Post reports, Larry King’s sixth wife Shawn Southwick King has ‘fessed up to a painkiller addiction, and now Us is confirming that Heather Locklear just checked herself in to an undisclosed treatment center for general craziness. So with the year's halfway point quickly approaching, we decided to check in on this year’s Rehab Class of 2008: those who’ve graduated with honors, the newest students, and the wild card alumni whose success remains a wobbly mystery.

What better way to annul your time spent in rehab than by pulling the old “It was just research!” card? That’s what Eva Mendes is allegedly claiming, pegging her January stay at Le Cirque in Utah to an upcoming role in Queen Of The South where she'll play a female drug lord or, as some have termed the character, “the female Scarface.” At the time, so-called insiders came forward saying Mendes was everything from a “closet drinker” to a prescription drug addict. Though it’s a nice thought that Mendes’ month-long stay alongside real-live drunk Kirsten Dunst was just a hush-hush effort to really feel like a druggie, we took a look at the timeline coupled with Mendes’ past, and find the excuse weak at best: