• Danny Meyer's Maialino opens tomorrow and is taking reservations. [GS]
• A new wine bar is scheduled to open at Bouley Bakery next week. [NYT]
• More openings: Bar Henry opened last night in the West Houston space that was previously occupied by Zinc Bar; Caracas Brooklyn is planning to open its doors on Thursday; a burger chain bearing a suspicious resemblance to In-N-Out (this one's called Fresh-N-Fast) debuts in a couple of weeks; and another burger spot in the Village called P&B has already opened.
• Sala, the decade-old tapas spot on the Bowery, is up for lease. [GS]
• A peek at François Payard's newly-opened (and very tiny) chocolate bar. [SE]
• Cocktail queen Audrey Saunders is branching out with a spot in LA. [NYT]
• A profile of Bon Appétit editor Barbara Fairchild, now "one of the most watched women in food publishing" following the closure of Gourmet. [LAT]
• The most expensive bottle of beer may get auctioned off this month. [NYP]
• Portland is looking to usurp NYC as "food-cart capital of the country." [OL]
• Is French cuisine dead? Several famed French chefs weigh in. [GS, TONY]

• Is Oprah preparing to leave her syndicated show behind and take her act to OWN, her long-delayed cable network? That's the rumor anyway. [DH]
• The new editor of the Observer is Kyle Pope, formerly of Portfolio. [NYO]
• Cable meets kindergarten: Fox News will stop being mean to MSNBC only if MSNBC first stops being mean to Fox News, reports Rupert Murdoch. [NYT]
• Fortune and Time are expected to be hardest hit by layoffs at Time Inc. [NYP]
• Scripps has beat out News Corp. for control of the Travel Channel. [BN]
• Susan Plagemann has been named the new publisher of Vogue. Meanwhile, Tom Florio will now oversee Vogue, Bon Appétit and Traveler. [WWD]
• Bloomberg BusinessWeek (or BBW for short) has its new team in place. [NYT]

• Barack Obama had lunch today at Craftsteak, just so you know. [NBC]
• Corsino, the latest restaurant by Jason Denton of 'ino and 'inoteca fame, has opened in the space previously occupied by Frederick's Downtown. [UD, GS]
• Unfortunate news for new NYT restaurant critic Sam Sifton: His predecessor, Frank Bruni, says it's impossible for critics to be anonymous these days. [CNN]
• Did you know LA has surpassed NYC as the "deli capital of America"? That's what the author of a new book on the delicatessen says, at least. [LAT]
• Megu is the latest restaurant to get slapped with a labor lawsuit. [GS]
• Bon Appétit isn't following in Gourmet's footsteps and closing down. But it did reportedly hand out pink slips to a bunch of staffers today. [Gawker]
• Fashion stylist Robert Verdi, who says "thin is in," isn't the most tolerant guy in the world: "I think food is for fat people and poor people," he says. [Cut]

• Barack Obama's appearance on David Letterman's show last night helped the Late Night host score his second-highest ratings ever. [NYT, WP]
• Dan Rather scored a couple of victories in his suit against CBS: A motion by the network to dismiss the case was denied by a judge; and Rather's lawyers will be permitted to question Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone. [Reuters]
• Yesterday, activists handing out fake copies of the Post outside its offices were detained by cops. Today, the paper says it was "flattered" by it. [NYP]
• Book deals: Jenny Sanford, the estranged wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, is writing "inspirational memoir" for Random House. And Andrew Young, an aide to former Senator John Edwards, has landed a deal with St. Martin's Press' Thomas Dunne Books to publish his tell-all memoir.
• In an effort to keep more viewers tuned in, ABC plans to reduce—yes, reduce—the number of commercials in the premieres of its new shows. [LAT]
• Fox won the opening night of the fall season, a first for the network. [THR]

You've probably heard that these are grim times for Condé Nast. Editors and publishers may be asked to cut spending by 25 percent, further layoffs are expected in the coming weeks, and several other magazines may shuttered entirely. If you're anything like us, you've probably been sitting at home asking, "What can I do to help?" Obviously, you could subscribe to one of Condé's magazines. But let's be honest: A $10-a-year subscription to Glamour isn't going to exactly turn the ship around. One much better way to deliver a few bucks to Condé's bottom line: Consider purchasing one of the fine, overpriced items on sale in the Condé Nast store! Last week, The New Yorker started selling wristwatches featuring the magazine's mascot, Eustace Tilley. But there's plenty more to choose from. A few suggestions below.

• 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 Thomas Keller is planning to open another restaurant to NYC in "one of the new high-rise buildings in Chelsea." Keller's denying it. [TFB, GS]
• The day in reviews: Frank Bruni is a little disappointed with Locanda Verde; the Post's Steve Cuozzo totally digs SHO Shaun Hergatt; Danyelle Freeman of the Daily News thinks Marea rivals Le Bernardin but is way too expensive; and GQ's Alan Richman and Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton both tackle DBGB.
• Andrew Silverman's City Lobster & Steak is now bankrupt. [Crain's]
• The NYPD is cracking down on narcotics sales involving club promoters. [BB]
• A man was indicted today for allegedly raping a woman at Marquee. [NYP]
• Momofuku may jump into the food cart fray. We'll second TFB's sentiments: "This gourmet cart/truck business is getting out of control." [Eater, TFB]