Style icon Pat Field turns 68 today. Film director Darren Aronofsky is turning 41. Christina Ricci is 30. Senator Arlen Specter is turning 80. Children's author Judy Blume is 72. Josh Brolin, the actor and son of James Brolin, is turning 42. Locanda Verde chef Andrew Carmellini is 39. Tech visionary Raymond Kurzweil turns 61. Celebrity nutritionist Oz Garcia is 59. Fonzworth Bentley, Diddy's former assistant and now the host of his own show on MTV, is 36. Chynna Phillips is turning 42. And Arsenio Hall turns 55 today. A few people celebrating birthdays this weekend—including Mayor Bloomberg—are below.

• The hotel bar is experiencing a resurgence, as you've probably noticed. [VF]
• Indochine is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new book. [GoaG]
• Does Danny Meyer have a new restaurant in store for the church on 21st Street and Park Avenue South? That's the rumor anyway. [Eater]
• A Q&A with Locanda Verde's Andrew Carmellini. [Blackbook]
• The annual Chocolate Show goes down this weekend. [ChocolateShow]
• A few suggestions on where to carbo-load if you're planning to run the marathon this Sunday. Or where to just pig out if you're not. [SE]

• This week's reviews: Pete Wells of the Times slaps Michael Psilakis' Gus & Gabriel Gastropub with a zero-star review today ("The problem is that it fails to achieve even its low aims"); The New Yorker's Leo Carey comes to an entirely different conclusion; Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton hits Williamsburg to pay a visit to Brooklyn Bowl (with food by Blue Ribbon) and the Brooklyn Star; TONY's Jay Cheshes gives a "generic" Civetta two stars out of five; and NY's Adam Platt finds that "most things deliver" on Dan Silverman's menu at the Standard Grill.
• The Post's Steve Cuozzo is sick and tired of "menu sprawl," the practice of giving diners 478 things to choose from. Steve likes to keep it simple. [NYP]
• A Q&A with Andrew Carmellini, chef and co-owner of Locanda Verde. [RG]
• NYC International Pickle Day is October 4th! Mark your calendar. [GS]
• Renee Zellweger and Jon Bon Jovi co-own a Mexican restaurant (East Hampton's Blue Parrot). With Jen Aniston now saying she would like to open a Mexican spot in Manhattan, that makes three, so it's officially a trend. [Eater]

• 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]

• Rumor has it the end may be near for Marcus Samuelsson's Aquavit. [TFB]
• Café Noir, on the other hand, will live on. Following reports the Soho spot would be forced to close its doors this summer comes word that the owners have convinced their landlord to renew their lease for another year. [Eater]
• Danyelle Freeman of the NYDN gives four out of five stars to Andrew Carmellini's "thoughtful and imaginative" cooking at Locanda Verde. [NYDN]
• Philippe Bertineau, the executive chef at the now-shuttered Payard, speaks out about the UES pâtisserie/bistro's untimely demise. [TONY]
• Butcher Bay, the seafood spot in the East Village, has filed suit against Community Board 3 over its decision to deny it a liquor license. [Eater]

• A summer bar preview and a roundup of happy-hour specials. [AMNY, NYP]
• The restaurant at the Andre Balazs's Standard Hotel doesn't debut until June, but the outdoor patio—which serves food—has opened. [GS]
• More photos of Locanda Verde, which is now in the hands of Andrew Carmellini, NYC's "best young Italian chef," according to David Chang. [GS, P6]
• The price of beer and wine may go up if Washington gets its way. [NYP]
• Speaking of wine, now isn't such a bad time to be investing in it, FYI. [NYT]
• A recap (and photos) from last night's Taste of the Nation event. [Metromix]

• The restaurant formerly known as Ago will reopen next Tuesday under the name Locanda Verde. Andrew Carmellini is executive chef and a co-owner with Robert De Niro; Ken Friedman consulted on the new design. [NYT]
• Rumor has it Per Se's Jonathan Benno may be going off on his own. [TFB]
• Tasti-D-Lite isn't intimidated by Pinkberry or Red Mango: It plans to open 35 new outlets over the next decade. Related fro-yo news: Pinkberry is opening stores abroad and a chain called Yogurtland is expanding, too. [AMNY, NRN]
• Famed Coney Island pizzeria Totonno's won't be back in biz until July. [LC]
• Style.com's list of the 13 dumbest boomtime cocktails saves special mentions for local spots like The Eldridge, PDT, and World Bar. [Style.com]

Celebrity stylist Harry Josh and nightlife kingpin Nur Khan hosted "Spring Fling" at the Gramercy Park Hotel on Saturday night. A bevy of celebs and social scenesters turned up for the fête, including Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone, Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady, Kate Hudson and mom Goldie Hawn, Ed Norton, Ashley Olsen, Spike Lee, Winona Ryder, Liv Tyler, Phillip Lim, Narciso Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Karolina Kurkova, Georgina Chapman, Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman, Kate Bosworth and James Rousseau, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Josh Hartnett, Daria Werbowy, Lily Donaldson, Molly Sims, Hamish Bowles, January Jones, Richie Akiva, Peter Som, Richard Chai, Christian Siriano, Cherry Jones, Jason Sudeikis, Guy Oseary, Lake Bell, Brian Atwood, Zoe Kravitz, and Quincy Jones. [PMc, VF, FWD]

Pat Field turns 67 today. Director Darren Aronofsky is turning 40. Christina Ricci is 29. Josh Brolin is 41. Senator Arlen Specter is 79. Chef Andrew Carmellini is turning 38. Nutritionist Oz Garcia is 58. Ed Lover turns 46. Literary agent Nicole Aragi is 47. Writer Judy Blume is turning 71. Fonzworth Bentley is 35. Chynna Phillips is 41. And Arsenio Hall is celebrating his 54th birthday today.

• Ago partners Robert De Niro, Richard Born and Ira Drukier have tapped Andrew Carmellini as chef; Ken Friedman is the design consultant. [NYT]
• Is Justin Timberlake opening a Southern Hospitality in Chelsea? [GS]
• Peasant in Nolita finally has menus in English. [Eater]
• Martha Stewart went to Momofuku Milk Bar on her show today. [EMD]
• Scores may be gone, but you can still pick up bottles of the former strip club's private-label blanc de blancs. Perhaps you wanted a keepsake? [GS]
• Many places are extending their Restaurant Week menus. Here's a list. [W&D]

♦ Just what you need in these lean times: a handy map of recession specials at restaurants across the city. [Eater]
♦ Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto went on a ramen tasting tour through the East Village and—surprise—gave David Chang's Momofuku top honors. [GS]
♦ Allen & Delancey chef Neil Ferguson has left his two-star home for "moral and personal reasons" to join Soho House as executive chef. [Eater]

♦ The Observer picks its favorite pizza joints around town. [NYO]
♦ Andrew Carmellini has a new restaurant in the works, although he isn't sharing too many details. [GS]
♦ Trader Joe's may open a store on 72nd and Broadway next year. [GS]
♦ The meltdown is having an impact on the restaurant biz. Duh. [Time]
♦ The Times travel section spends 36 hours in NYC and offers up "plenty of reasons not to stay at home watching CNBC." [NYT]

• Marcus Samuelsson has severed ties with the meatpacking restaurant/lounge where he promised to introduce Manhattanites to African cuisine, Merkato 55. [Eater]

• Protestors, counterprotestors, a wildly exaggerated connection to Bruce Willis: the East Village's Bowery Wine Company has it all. [Observer]

Formerly the chef of Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud, and the three-star Italian restaurant A Voce, Carmellini now heads up the kitchen at Locanda Verde and The Dutch.