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Apparently bored by hosting cocktail parties for unemployed freelancers, mediabistro.com doyenne Laurel Touby has promoted herself to hosting lunch hours for overcompensated media executives. At least, that's what it seemed like this afternoon, when we treated ourselves to celebratory salads at Michael's and Touby made a beeline to our table, to "welcome" us to the restaurant.

Touby couldn't have been friendlier, congratulating one of us on his new job and making pleasant smalltalk with the other. Because she was dining with three blondes of a certain age, rather than with her faithful sherpa Greg Lindsay, we assumed she was there for a meeting and not on a reconnaissance mission for FishbowlNY's new "Lunch at Michael's" series. But when we saw her at the end of her meal huddled with Michael, pen and paper in hand, we realized we were mistaken. "Lunch at Michael's, Part 2," was clearly on its way.

And guess who wasn't included in Touby's roundup (other than, per usual, herself and her own table, perhaps to continue the illusion that mb editor-in-chief Elizabeth Spiers*, who bylined the first "Lunch at Michael's" installment, was actually there)? Yup, yours truly, all the welcoming and smalltalk notwithstanding. Apparently, we were not lunching at Michael's, which is fine by us (we'd never want to be noted for shelling out $28 for a freaking salad anyhow). But is Laurel practicing selective journalism? God only knows what other luminescent folks she left on her list.

Some hostess.

[*Disclosure: Elizabeth Spiers was the founding editor of Gawker.com.]

Lunch at Michael's: Paula, Kitty, Soledad, and Kitty [FishbowlNY]