• Roundups of new restaurants opening over the next week. [NYM, TONY]
• Photos: A peek at Wall & Water, which opens later this week in the Andaz Wall Street hotel; and pics of Choptank (formerly Bar Q), opening tonight.
• Rumor has it snooty UES restaurant/club Bruno Jamais has closed. [Eater]
• Beatrice Inn founders Paul Sevigny and Matt Abramcyk are preparing their comeback and gearing up to take on Andre Balazs' Boom Boom Room. [NYP]
• A list of the venues participating in Winter Restaurant Week. [NYCGo]
• P.J. Clarke's is preparing to expand; Vegas and DC are coming soon. [Crain's]
• A visit to all 11 of Danny Meyer's restaurants—in a single day. [WSJ]
• The Pinkberry frozen yogurt empire may be divided in two: The husband and wife who founded the 73-store-strong chain are now divorcing. [TMZ]
• The 10 best restaurants for business meetings in NYC. [BI]
• NYC's salt-loving mayor/scold-in-chief has kicked off a war on salt. [NYT]

[January 8. Photo: Flickr/bdawg]

"The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the first in the region and the 14th in the nation to legalize the use of marijuana for medical reasons." [NYT]

• NBC finally confirmed yesterday that it's canceling Jay Leno's 10pm show and moving him back to late-night. Whether Conan O'Brien stays at the network or jumps to Fox remains an open question for now. [NYT, TMZ, NYP]
• More bad news for NBC: The network expects to lose money broadcasting the Winter Olympics from Vancouver later this year, which would be a first. [NYT]
• Sarah Palin has signed on to join Fox News as a contributor. Exactly what she'll be doing there—and how much she'll get paid—is unclear. [NYT]
• In case you missed the front-page Times story about Fox News CEO Roger Ailes yesterday, he makes a ton of money for Rupert Murdoch, doesn't get along much with Murdoch's kids, and hates liberals. Oh, and he's armed. [NYT]
• TV news: NBC has ordered six new drama pilots for the fall now that the network is moving Jay Leno out of primetime; CBS reports it's close to signing David Letterman and Craig Ferguson to new contracts; and Fox is renewing Glee for a second season, which should come as a surprise to no one.
• Simon Cowell wasn't kidding when he said he was leaving American Idol? He'll depart the show after the current season to host The X Factor on Fox. [LAT]
• As many as 1,200 AOL employees could get pink-slipped this week. [NYT]
• Avatar continues to rake it in. The movie was No. 1 for a fourth straight weekend and has now grossed $1.34 billion around the world. [MTV]
• Erica Hill is saying goodbye to CNN and is joining CBS News. [NYDN]
• Tucker Carlson's politics site, The Daily Caller, launched today. [WaPo]
• Did NBC try to poach Barbara Walters last year? Seems so. [HP]

People was kind enough to check in with the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore today to find out how they hope to capitalize on their insta-fame. Snooki and J-WOWW are both following reality TV tradition and launching clothing lines; Ronnie says he may open a tanning salon with his dad as well as introduce a beverage line; and Vinny says he's thinking about applying to law school. (Go figure.) As for Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, he tells the mag that he plans to pursue an acting career and is also hoping to exploit his inane nickname by trademarking it. "I have people working on it as we speak," he tells People. The only problem: Two other people have already applied to trademark "The Situation" since the show debuted last month.

Is it possible the NYPD is wasting its time by cracking down on counterfeiters? The retail industry has railed against rip-offs for years, but faux merchandise may not actually be such a bad thing, according to a researcher at MIT:

New York art impresario Jeffrey Deitch is Los Angeles-bound: He's been named the new director of LA's Museum of Contemporary Art, which makes him "the only art dealer/gallery owner to assume leadership of a major U.S. museum." [LAT, NYT]

The Observer reported last week that execs at Condé Nast have been thinking about cutting licensing deals to generate a little extra revenue, even though Condé chairman Si Newhouse has been resistant to the idea in the past since it has the potential "cheapen the brand." Presumably Vogue-branded toilet paper is a good example of a product extension that would never see the light of day. But it's nice to see that one Mexican company is giving it a go anyway! [Paper]

What boyfriends/girlfriends search for on Google [Predictably Irrational, via]

It's a good thing many investment bankers are collecting record bonuses. Working on Wall Street just got a lot more expensive! Citigroup raised its cafeteria prices by five percent today, a move that follows UBS's decision last week to begin charging employees ten cents for cardboard lunch trays and Deutsche Bank's recent decree that plastic coffee cups will no longer be available and employees will have to bring a mug of their own to work. [Business Insider]

Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper loading up an SUV before heading to the airport ... Blake Lively shopping with friends in the meatpacking district ... Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi leaving the studios of WPIX on Friday ... Chris Noth paying a visit to the Museum of Natural History ... Annie Potts leaving the Jacobs Theatre after a performance of God of Carnage ... actor Zachary Levi arriving for an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman ... and Leighton Meester standing on the set of Gossip Girl.

John Liu only became New York City's comptroller 10 days ago. But the self-important, gaffe-prone ex-city councilman has already managed to make himself look idiotic: "New York City's new comptroller, John Liu, has ordered his staff to rise whenever he enters the room and to address him as "Mr. Comptroller. The new presidential-like formalities were laid out during a series of meetings last week that had veteran denizens of the Municipal Building snickering behind his back, sources said." [NYP]

• It looks like Lenny Kravitz might finally be unloading his 6,000-square-foot Crosby Street loft after more than six years on-and-off the market. The five-bedroom duplex, which the rocker put back on the market five months ago, went into contract late last week. It had been listed most recently for $14.995 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• The Duke-Semans mansion on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street is going back on the block. Russian-born billionaire Tamir Sapir, who purchased the eight-floor Beaux-Arts-style manse four years ago for about $40 million, is reportedly planning to put it up for sale with a $50 million asking price. [NYP]
• Andrew Guff, a managing director at the private equity firm Siguler, Guff & Company, and his wife Jessica Stedman Guff, the executive producer of ABC News Now, have sold their five-bedroom, 14th-floor apartment at 333 West End Avenue for $5.27 million. [Cityfile]
• Ryan Pedlow, a managing director at Ziff Brothers Investments, has paid $5.2 million for a 6th-floor apartment at 166 Perry Street. [bigdeal_nyc]

"As it prepares to pay out big bonuses to employees, Goldman Sachs is considering expanding a program that would require executives and top managers to give a certain percentage of their earnings to charity," the Times reports today. According to the paper, the plan could require execs at the embattled bank to give 4 percent of their annual pay to charitable organizations, which, if true, would mean the bank's chief, Lloyd Blankfein, would have some serious catching up to do. [NYT]

• A photographer says he plans to file a lawsuit against Lindsay Lohan after her driver "nearly killed" him in a hit-and-run accident on Sunday. The paparazzo says he's "lucky to be alive" and now plans to make sure Lindsay "goes to jail" for her crimes despite the fact LiLo wasn't even the one driving, and the photographer only injured his wrist and never even had to go to the hospital. [TMZ, NYP]
• Have Derek Jeter and Minka Kelly set a date? According to the Post, which conducted an undercover investigation last week, the couple are planning to get married in November at the Oheka Castle on Long Island, which is where Kevin Jonas got married recently. [NYP]
• Another Beyoncé concert is stirring up controversy. Less than two weeks after she got into trouble for performing for Hannibal Khadafy comes the news that residents of Trinidad are up in arms over a $1 million Beyoncé concert planned for February 18. Locals claim it will divert from the country's annual Carnival celebration. [Sun]

Mary J. Blige turns 39 today. Amanda Peet is turning 38. Country music queen Naomi Judd is 64. Samantha Boardman Rosen, the socialite and wife of developer Aby Rosen, is turning 38. Grant Tinker, the former CEO of NBC and ex-husband of Mary Tyler Moore, is 85. Tom Dumont of No Doubt turns 42. Former New Jersey Net legend Darryl Dawkins is 53. And Darren Lynn Bousman, the guy you can thank for directing Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV, is 31 today.

Martin Scorsese was apparently filming an ad for Chanel in Uber-Hipster (and Uber-Chasid) Williamsburg right under Moto near the Hewes Street JMZ stop the other night. Could've been worse. At least it wasn't for APC jeans. Or Sparks. [Dossier]

• Up next for Red Cat and Harrison owner Jimmy Bradley: An eatery at the forthcoming Nolitan hotel with Red Cat chef Bill McDaniel in the kitchen. [NYT]
• The team behind Dutch Kills in LIC are prepping a tiki bar on the LES. [F&W]
• Montenapo, the restaurant in the New York Times building, has closed. [GS]
• Danny Meyer's Maialino starts serving lunch next week. [TONY]
• A tour of Breslin co-owner Ken Friedman's speakeasy at the Ace Hotel. [BB]
• Don't give too much weight to the calorie counts restaurants put out. [NPR]
• Cold weather has endangered America's strawberry crop. Troubling! [NYT]

[January 7. Photo: Flickr/jhcarter3]

• The epic mess at NBC continues: The last-place network is now thinking above moving Jay Leno to a 11:35pm-12:05am time slot and then having Conan O'Brien follow him for a full hour. But no deal has been reached, and there's still a possibility that Conan will abandon ship. [NYT, LAT, BN, NYT]
• Rudy Giuliani is under fire for idiotic comments he made on Good Morning America today. George Stephanopoulos: He isn't looking so hot either. [NYT]
• Changes at the Times: Star reporter Sewell Chan is headed to the paper's D.C. bureau; and the NYT's City Room blog has a new editor. [Politico, NYT]
• If you love Jersey Shore, maybe you'll be interested in Jersey Couture? [THR]
• Bad news for tweens, pervs: Hannah Montana is coming to an end. [MTV]
• Ben Silverman's studio/glorified ad agency is teaming up with Yahoo! [NYT]
• President Obama's State of the Union address will not—repeat not—conflict with Lost's season opener on February 2. So you can relax now. [WSJ]
• Did Reuters kill a story so as to not offend billionaire Steve Cohen? [Gawker]
• If you work at Condé Nast and you go get a boob job, you probably shouldn't show your new assets to your colleagues when your return to the office. (Even if you're behind closed doors and you keep your sports bra on.) [NYP]