• Is Thomas Keller opening a new resto in NYC? Depends who you ask. [TFB]
• The animal rights group that staged a foie gras protest outside Momofuku Noodle Bar back in May will return to the scene once again on Sunday. [GS]
• Word has it Rande Gerber's Stone Rose is exiting Time Warner Center. [P6]
• Speaking of exits, Frank Bruni will step down as the Times' restaurant critic in just 21 days. Eater offers up a few guesses as to his replacement. [Eater]
• Café Boulud will be providing the food when the Surrey Hotel reopens. [VV]
• Village on West 9th has closed. So has Midtown's City Burger. [GS, ML]
• The vast majority of the chocolate that Jacques Torres sells is manufactured in Brussels, Belgium, not at his NYC factories. Just so you know. [Forbes]
• Want to watch Gwyneth Paltrow roast a kitchen? Go right ahead. [GoaG]

Last September, shortly after Lehman had gone bust, Bank of America had just announced plans to acquire Merrill Lynch, and back when the management of Goldman Sachs wasn't feeling nearly as confident as they do these days, Goldman reached out to Warren Buffett for a financial lifeline. The deal Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein struck with Buffett gave the firm a big shot in the arm and signaled to investors that Goldman would endure the crisis intact. And it looks like it's working out pretty well for Buffett, too. As of today, Buffett's bet has earned him a paper profit of more than $2 billion. [Bloomberg]

What happens when you put a desperate real estate developer together with a discount clothing chain? You come up with the contest that Daffy's is kicking off today. The retailer is offering a one-year lease on a two-bedroom apartment at One Seventh—located on the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Carmine Street—for $700. (Daffy's claims the apartment would normally rent for $7,000 a month.) To enter, you have to stop by a Daffy's location and record a 30-second video explaining why you deserve to win. If you plan on taking part, you may also want to be ready to explain why your new living room is decorated with a giant "Welcome to the Daffy's Apartment" poster. [TONY]

Stocks have been on the rise for the past 10 days or so. Today the Dow jumped 200 points, lifting it above 9,000 for the first time since January. Was it because of better-than-expected quarterly earnings? More encouraging unemployment and housing data? The result of increased confidence the recession is over and we're well on our way to economic recovery? Free free to take your pick. [WSJ, CNN]

Why did Lydia Hearst decide to get down and dirty in the music video for Miles Fisher's cover of the Talking Heads song "This Must Be the Place"? "Miles is a good friend so I was willing to be a part of it," she tells the Observer. In real life, I am very conservative." Just as you suspected! [NYO]

• BusinessWeek's Jon Fine reports that New York owner Bruce Wasserstein may be in the running to break out a dollar bill and buy BusinessWeek. [BW]
• ESPN banned New York Post employees from appearing on the network yesterday after the paper ran (blurry) pics of a nude Erin Andrews. [AP]
• Will will happen with McKinsey consultants now infiltrating Condé Nast? How should you behave if you work there? Some answers and tips. [NYM, Gawker]
• Martha Stewart loves Twitter, doesn't particularly care for Facebook. [TDB]
• Kate Major, the Jon Gosselin-loving, publicity-seeking reporter for publicity-seeking Star magazine, has resigned from the junky tabloid. [Star]
• Ad revenue fell precipitously, but the New York Times Co. reported second-quarter profits of $39.1 million, up from $21.1 million a year ago. [NYT]
• Related: Is the Times Co. planning to hang on to the Boston Globe? [E&P]
• America's most trusted newscaster? That would be Jon Stewart. [Time]

It's been two months since the city closed off a section of Times Square so it could set up a little oasis of calm in the middle of Manhattan. And already the Day-Glo lawn chairs are falling apart. Even worse: Tourists who have attempted to sit down on them report that they've been injured in the process. But at least they'll get to return to wherever they came from with a generous settlement from the city, right? [WCBS via Gothamist]

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn started blogging to great fanfare in February 2008. But while he got off to a very solid start, posting regularly about "shareholder empowerment" and corporate governance, the last few months have been a big disappointment for loyal readers of The Icahn Report. Icahn—who, as far as we can tell, holds the title of America's wealthiest blogger—hasn't put up anything new since April 16, and it wasn't even an original post, since it had been copied and pasted from the Huffington Post. What's with deal? Has Icahn given up?

The city's Conflicts of Interest Board released a big bunch of documents related to the personal finances of various city officials yesterday, a list that included Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller William Thompson, and Betsy Gotbaum, the city's public advocate.

Residents of the Garden State woke up this morning to hear that more than three dozen elected officials, religious leaders, and local businessmen had been arrested as part of a federal investigation into corruption and money laundering. And it already sounds like a movie dreamed up by a bunch of Hollywood screenwriters with over-active imaginations. In addition to the politicians accused of playing a role in the scheme—the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus were both arrested—there's a network of Orthodox rabbis involved, and the money laundering ring is alleged to have trafficked in everything from human organs and fake designer handbags. Congrats, Jersey residents. You really outdid yourselves this time. [AP, WSJ]

Leighton Meester and Jessica Szohr eating lunch at Cafe Gitane on Mott Street ... Jennifer Lopez shopping at Christian Louboutin on Madison Avenue, and later rehearsing a scene for The Backup Plan at a Gray's Papaya ... Cindy Crawford arriving at JFK ... Alex Rodriguez getting into an SUV ... Tori Spelling leaving Cipriani Downtown ... Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa leaving ABC Studios ... Robert Pattinson walking around downtown .. Chris Cooper filming a scene for Remember Me in Long Island City ... and Joe Jonas shopping with a "female friend" in SoHo.

Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8 has certainly seen better days. But you can expect the club to get a jolt of publicity in the months ahead. Sacco is filming a reality show for Bravo about her efforts to take the faded franchise to Amsterdam as well as open a new "as-yet-unnamed New York club." So what's it going to be like? "It's a reality show, but I don't know if anyone's going to believe my reality," Sacco tells WWD today. "It's going to be funny. It's about what's so awesome about this city, and the great characters I've gotten to know. We've shot with Yvonne Force Villareal, Patrick McMullan and Donna Karan." Just wait until Bravo's marketing department begins to meddle and Bethenny Frankel and Danielle Staub start making regular appearances at the club. [WWD]

• Lorraine Bracco has gone into contract to sell the riverfront cottage in Snedens Landing that she bought with ex-husband Harvey Keitel in 1989 and which has been on the market for a few years now. The buyer? Phish frontman Trey Anastasio, who is reportedly paying around $2 million for the 1,800-square-foot house. [NYP]
• Gerhard Andlinger, the investor who sold his penthouse at the Time Warner Center for $37.5 million earlier this month, is picking up another pricey home. Andlinger is in contract to buy the 20,000-square-foot manse in Greenwich that belongs to Steve Black, the co-CEO of JPMorgan's investment banking division, which had been "quietly" on the market for $19.5 million. [NYP]

Two Seymours are celebrating today: Stephanie Seymour is turning 41; Philip Seymour Hoffman is turning 42. Woody Harrelson is 48. Daniel Radcliffe is 20. Don Imus turns 69. Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child is turning 29. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy turns 73. Local news anchor Kaity Tong is 60. Actress Stephanie March is turning 35. The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg is 66. Estate jeweler Fred Leighton turns 77. LA Times columnist Joel Stein is turning 38. Slash from Guns N' Roses is 44. Marlon Wayans is 37. Interior designer David Kleinberg is 55. Country music star Alison Krauss turns 38. And Ms. Monica Lewinsky celebrates her 36th birthday today.

• How does he find the time? It looks like Jon Gosselin has dumped his girlfriend from five minutes ago and is now focusing his attention on Star reporter Kate Major. (For this week, at least.) In what sounds like the most nausea-inducing meal ever, Gosselin and Major had dinner in the Hamptons last night with Michael Lohan and Jill and Bobby Zarin. [People, Star, Us]
• Rumor has it Gossip Girl's Jessica Szohr and Ed Westwick have split up. [P6]
• Jude Law got into a scuffle with a paparazzo last night. [Sun]
• Mischa Barton's publicist has been busy trying to land the troubled actress the cover of a weekly tabloid. Sadly, there have been no takers so far. [P6]

Brace yourselves. For the first time in a long time, there's a bit of good news from the New York Times today! "The New York Times Co. said Thursday its second-quarter profit climbed nearly 85%, bucking predictions of another loss even as its ad revenue plunged." [AP, NYT]

• The Barneys display featuring mannequins being attacked and blood spatter on the windows has been dismantled. Barneys creative director Simon Doonan says they had been put up while he was out of town, but they "clearly crossed the line," and so he ordered them taken down. [NYDN]
• Fashion Week kicks off in just seven weeks. The good news is that it probably won't be quite as gloomy this time around. [Cut, WWD]
• Anna Wintour didn't produce or direct The September Issue, the new documentary about Vogue. But that doesn't seem to be stopping her from being "completely controlling" about publicity for the movie. [NYDN]
• Breaking! Michelle Obama unveiled a totally new hairdo today. [Cut]

• 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]

A protest took place outside the offices of Goldman Sachs today! The crowd gathered in front of 85 Broad Street must have been outraged about the role Goldman played in the subprime mortgage crisis, right? Or how the bank managed to generate massive profits from the economic downturn while also convince Washington to bail out the banking industry? Or the way in which the bank has systematically used its ties to top officials in Washington to its advantage? Not so much! The signs, according to Dealbreaker, read "Stop the injustice at Stella D'Oro." It seems the people gathered outside think Goldman can prevent the cookie factory in the Bronx from closing down because it owns a piece of the company that owns Stella D'Oro. Oh, well. Guess you'll have to protest all the other stuff another day! [Dealbreaker]

The greatest threat to the environment, according to extensive reporting by the Associated Press? The mayor, that's who: