"Nightlife Preservation": The political cause you can support by sniffing coke in the Beatrice Inn bathroom! Is it possible to support a cause in theory while wishing its supporters would shut up, in practice? In this case, yes.

• Daniel Boulud unveiled his new DBGB to the press on Saturday. A menu devoted to 14 different kinds of sausage, two dozen beers on tap, and more is coming your way in early June. [Zagat, TONY, Metromix, Eater, TFB]
• A roundup of restaurants scheduled to open this week. [TONY]
• Thomas Keller confirms Jonathan Benno is parting ways with Per Se. [GS]
• Danny Meyer confirms he's out of the race for Tavern on the Green. [NYO]
• Robert De Niro chats about his Locanda Verde, opening this week. [NYM]
• Warren 77, the new bar/restaurant by the Beatrice Inn's Matt Abramcyk, Chris Miller, and hockey star Sean Avery opened on Friday eve. [NYO, GS]
• Adam Platt gives high marks (and three stars) to Seasonal this week. [NYM]

• Yesterday's Post piece on restaurants charging for things like water and bread and butter provoked a wee bit of controversy. Frank Bruni thinks more restaurants should be charging for bread. And Bobo's Carlos Suarez would like you to know the water fee goes to charity, so simmer down. [NYT, GS]
• Sasha Petraske's Dutch Kills may open as soon as this Friday. [UD]
• The Beatrice Inn (which is still closed, FYI) has been vandalized. [Eater]
• The latest secret bar you'll hear a lot about, but will probably never visit in person: Bohemian, which requires a swipe key to get in, and is "tucked into the back of a building that used to belong to Andy Warhol," if that's any help. [GS]

• The Beatrice Inn will need to install fire sprinklers, add an additional exit, and create a wider entrance to the haunt if it wants to reopen its doors. [P6]
• Frederick Lesort's Frederick's Madison filed for bankruptcy today. [Crain's]
• Masa charges a 20% service charge to diners' tabs, although they prefer to call it an "administrative fee." Of course if you can still afford to spend $400 per person on sushi, you can probably afford to additional fee, too. [Eater]
• Speaking of overpriced spots, Daniel is now offering an early-bird special: The three-course prix-fixe menu with wine is (only) $98 per person, but you'll have to consume it between 5:30 to 6pm and on weeknights only. [TONY]
• Tavern on the Green bidders took a final tour of the place today. [NYT]
• Silvano Marchetto's Scuderia gets a blah review in the News today. [NYDN]
• Beverage conglomerate smackdown: Pepsi is now suing Coke for suggesting Powerade is better than Gatorade when, in fact, they're both lousy. [AP]

• Ian Schrager is bringing in some firepower to the Gramercy Park Hotel: Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality will take over space formerly occupied by Wakiya, and David Rockwell will handle the design, although the "Italian-inspired" restaurant doesn't have a chef or name just yet. [NYT]
• In a chat with the Observer, Meyer says he's "intrigued by the possibilities" of working with Schrager. He also says he has no plans to take over the Rainbow Room, and remains undecided about a bid for Tavern on the Green. [NYO]
• Rumor has it Todd English is out at The Libertine at the Gild Hall hotel. [TFB]
• Keith McNally's Minetta Tavern has added a late-night menu. [GS]
• A group of sad Beatrice Inn regulars gathered at the Cooper Square Hotel on Friday night. In attendance: one-half of the Olsen twins, Chloe Sevigny, and "some skinny guys with mustaches," naturally. [DBTH]
• The sandwich shop Crosby Connection opened on Bleecker today. [Eater]
• The best street food in NYC, at least according to the Post. [NYP]

• 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 Beatrice Inn will probably reopen next week. [P6]
• Emporio officially opens tomorrow, but it's taking walk-ins this eve. [TSB, GS]
• It looks like the end is near for Soho's Café Noir. [GS]
• Details on the latest unmarked bar, not that you're going to find it. [GS]
• Shake Shack's summer schedule has arrived. [Eater]

The Beatrice Inn returns next week, supposedly. A slow death, then.

If the Beatrice Inn were to close forever, rather than just temporarily, what would we say at its funeral? Because we're feeling wistful this afternoon, we're going to attempt something of a eulogy.

The Beatrice Inn has been shut down. Why, exactly? It could be due to overcrowding or because it didn't have an adequate number of exits. Or it could have something to do with the $23,000 that owners Paul Sevigny and Matt Abramcyk owe the city for construction violations. Or maybe it's just because it's a den of sin. In any event, Sevigny reports that he's planning a "Free the Beatrice" party at an undisclosed location on Thursday or Friday night. [NYO, BlackBook]

Low-ceiling'd smokehut the Beatrice Inn, a hip downtown bar frequented by society types and New York celebrities alike, has been padlocked. Some say it's because of all the druggery and smoking, others because of overcrowding.

Vogue-interning hockey star Sean Avery is opening a Tribeca "sports bar meets country club" with the proprietor of drug-free downtown nightspot the Beatrice Inn. A joke about Avery, Josh Hartnett, and coke goes here. [NYO]

Have you heard what's happened to the Beatrice? They're, like, letting anyone inside these days. C-list celebs! Girls dressed in H&M and Forever 21! Sleazy guys! Even autograph-seekers! This recession really is ruining everything! [NYO]

• 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]

WTF is Rory, anyway? Sure, he looks unwashed. But, as a tipster told us in this post,

• George Gurley's brilliant survey of the social scenesters you'll find hanging out at the Beatrice Inn. [Gawker]

The low-ceiling'd, tiny coke den that is the Beatrice Inn doesn't look like much. But it's become Manhattan's celeb hangout du jour, obsessively covered by blogs like this, and fetishized most recently in Fashion Week Daily's detailed map placing the regular characters of the downtown hovel. About-town writer George Gurley—the cuddliest of the nightlife denizens—compiled a "Who's Who" of the "Bea," as it's called by regs. Nothing short of hilarious, he has the juice on everyone: Mary-Kate, Josh Hartnett, Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson, and Kirsten Dunst, who perhaps explained the Bea's celeb draw better than anyone: "[She] once told a regular, 'Don't judge me, guys, don't judge me! I like to have fun too!" Click for full list and map.

• Top Chef runner-up Marcel Vigneron was arrested in Laguna Beach this past weekend for driving drunk. [OC Register via Eater]

It's already easy for men to get laid at downtown Manhattan's cocaine-dusted celeb hangout Beatrice Inn because it's so hard to get into—women there assume that the guys there have to be somebody special to get past the notoriously tough door. But how to extract one of the beauties that abound in Paul Sevigny's club? Would-be womanizers would do well to learn from the Eurotrash rake in a cap he never takes off who scores about as often as he shows up at the West Village haunt.

"Dunst frequents East Village mixology bar Death and Co., the Lit Lounge, and Bowery Electric, where Catherine Pierce of the girl group the Pierces spins on Monday nights; in May, Ms. Dunst celebrated her 26th birthday there. But most of the time, Ms. Dunst can be found at the Beatrice Inn, perched on the counter behind the DJ booth, smoking cigarettes and bopping her head around to her boyfriend's tunes." [NYO]