• The critics: In his last review as the Times' interim critic, Pete Wells upgrades Brooklyn's Saul to two stars; New York's Adam Platt is very disappointed by what he finds at the new iteration of Aureole; TONY's Jay Cheshes gives Joseph Leonard four stars out of five; Lauren Collins of The New Yorker describes her visit to SHO Shaun Hergatt as "painful"; Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton checks out the eats at Yankee Stadium; and Restaurant Girl pays a visit to Bia Garden.
• Want to shut down that noisy club in your neighborhood? All you need is a lawyer, publicist, blog and Twitter account. After a barrage of complaints from locals, The Jane Hotel's Ballroom is now closed until November. [Gothamist]
• The duo behind Sant Ambroeus open Casa Lever in the old Lever House Restaurant space (located in Midtown's Lever House!) next week. [NYP, GS]

• In his next-to-last review for the Times, Frank Bruni upgrades Danny Meyer's Eleven Madison Park from three stars to four, making it Bruni's sixth four-star review in five years and making Daniel Humm, Eleven Madison Park's 32-year-old chef, an extraordinarily happy man, suffice it to say. [NYT]
• Related: Over on Diner's Journal, Bruni explains the big decision. [NYT/DJ]
• Other reviews this week: Time Out's Jay Cheshes gives Aureole four out of five stars; Restaurant Girl comes away from the Standard Grill very impressed; the Post's Steve Cuozzo is thrilled with the Standard Grill, too; and Bloomberg News's Ryan Sutton gives two stars out of four to SHO Shaun Hergatt.
• As rumored a few months back, the Sant Ambroeus team is taking over the former Lever House space and turning it into Casa Lever. [NYT]
• Todd English has signed on to oversee the kitchen at the Great Jones Hotel, a 13-story hotel that is currently under construction. [Eater]

• A look around Ward III in Tribeca, which opens tomorrow night. [GS]
• Lever House on Park Avenue will reopen as "Casa Lever" this fall. [NYP]
• Frank Bruni downgrades JGV's Spice Market in the Times today, giving the spot owned by the "clone-happy" chef one star instead of two. [NYT]
• The New Yorker's Lauren Collins doesn't have anything good to say about the Armani restaurant located inside the designer's Fifth Ave flagship. [NYer]
• Ryan Sutton is of a similar mindset, concluding that Montenapo, "like Armani Ristorante across town, serves mediocre hotel-Italian at absurd prices. [BN]
• Restaurant Girl gives Monkey Bar (otherwise known as "Graydon Carter's uptown dinner party) two stars out of five in the News this week. Over on her own site, she sits down with Keith McNally for a chat. [NYDN, RG]
• Lobster prices haven't been this low in more than 20 years, FYI. [Atlantic]
• Gansevoort Café opens in the former Florent space next month and the dining conglomerate New York City Restaurant Group will have a hand in it. [TFB]

• Sasha Petraske's Dutch Kills opens tonight. [Eater]
• The Sant Ambroeus team is taking over the lease at Lever House. [GS]
• Sumile Sushi, Josh DeChellis's former haunt, has closed its doors. [Eater]
• Hotelier Jason Pomeranc, who recently parted ways with chef Todd English, is now starting his own restaurant management company. [HC, NYO]
• The restaurants that opened—and closed—during the month of April. [Eater]
• A roundup of restaurants and bars slated to open by May 13. [TONY]
• Can people tell the difference between pâté and dog food? Not usually! [LAT]

• It looks like Geoffrey Zakarian's Town has closed its doors. [GS]
• A roundup of other spots that have closed in the last couple of days. [Eater]
• More cheerful: This roundup of places slated to open next week. [TONY]
• Jim Lahey has a few, not-so-kind words for Times critic Frank Bruni, who had the audacity to award Lahey's Co. a single star earlier this week. [NYO]
• Why was the Beatrice Inn shuttered this week? It may have been the work of "haters" who "couldn't get in," explains Chloë Sevigny. [GS]

• The Four Seasons may be having its moment as it celebrates its 50th, but things aren't so cheery across the street. John McDonald and Josh Picard's Lever House closes on Friday, supposedly for "renovations." [TFB]
• Jim Lahey's Co. gets a one-star from Frank Bruni in today's Times. [NYT]
• The Post's Steve Cuozzo isn't blown away by Per Se's à la carte menu. [NYP]
• Restaurants & Institutions list of the 100 top-grossing restaurants is online. Tavern on the Green, Smith & Wollensky, Tao, Buddakan, and Sparks Steak House round out New York City's top five. [R&I]
• A roundup of what's opened this week, and what's coming soon. [NYT]

♦ Frank Bruni of the Times heads to Brooklyn to pay a visit to James and awards ths spot one star for "sophisticated" food that locavores can "feel especially virtuous about." [NYT]
♦ The Daily News' Danyelle Freeman takes on Allegretti this week, giving the "upscale, yet accessible" resto three out of five stars. [NYDN]
♦ TONY's Jay Cheshes isn't a fan of the Sheridan Square. The food is inconsistent and the place lacks personality, according to Cheshes, which explains why he gives it two stars out of six. [TONY]
♦ Paul Adams of the Sun hits up Sheridan Square, too, although he prefers chef Franklin Becker's food ("exceptional") much more than the service. [NY Sun]

Tomorrow night, "30 dead sheep, one dead shark, two sides of beef, 300 sausages, a pair of doves" by the artist Damien Hirst will be unveiled in the lobby of the Lever House. The Times says there will be a party for 2,000 people but a Nadine Johnson rep who is handling the party says that is incorrect: There will only be 200 folks invited. That's more sheep than people. This means that for at least 3 hours on a winter night, the Lever House will totally take after New Zealand. [NYT]