• 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]

The chef in this picture could be mixing some flour. But he could also be using the bowl to store his supply of coke. According to Jason Sheehan, a former chef and food writer, the odds that your next restaurant meal "will be prepared by someone on drugs" is "very high," since "cooks and coke go together like salt and pepper." It's not something they can help, mind you. Chefs are hard-wired to be coke fiends, Sheehan says, since "being a cook or a chef means being in the pleasure business," and is "the sort of person who has a yen for experimentation and excess." So if you're looking for ways to curry favor at your favorite restaurant, bringing a key of coke with you might not be such a bad idea. [TDB]

• Permanent Brunch, which will only serve brunch (obviously) and will feature the city's first-ever "bacon menu," opens this week or next. [UD, Eater]
• The recession is forcing some restaurants to close, have you heard? [NYP]
• Fedora in the WV isn't closing after 57 years; the hiatus is temporary. [Eater]
• The super-secret entrance to Café Select is no more, alas. [GS]
• A survey of the city's few remaining traditional Jewish delis. [Citysearch]
• The owner of Via Dei Mille is accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. [NYP]
• Rumor has it there have been layoffs and budget cuts at The Box. [DBTH]
• Frank Bruni says he's a big Nora Ephron fan. He also adored Silence of the Lambs, which probably says something about his current career, no? [TDB]
• The Bronx is NYC's fattest borough. Manhattan is New York State's Eastern European model: It's the slimmest of the Empire state's 62 counties. [NYT]

• A round up of eateries that recently opened, or will open this week. [Eater]
• Una Pizza Napoletana has closed its doors. It will become the first Manhattan outpost of the Williamsburg pizzeria Motorino in a few weeks. [NYT]
• Le Bernardin's Eric Ripert was tasked with cooking (beef, not fish) for French president Nicolas Sarkozy during his recent visit to New York. [P6]
• How to establish yourself as a regular at the restaurant of your choice. [GS]
• Summer "food crawls" through the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. [NYDN]
• Not only is Padma Lakshmi is discussions to star in a NBC sitcom, but Mario Batali is joining the cast of Bitter Feast, a "darkly comic thriller." [Variety, GS]
• An extended interview with Aquavit's Marcus Samuelsson. [ObsesedTV]

• Starbucks is testing out stealth coffeehouses. They're logo-less and feature "neighborhood-inspired names," though the coffee's the same. [ABC News]
• Chanterelle's Karen and David Waltuck say they're closing for a month for refresh. They'll reopen with a new, "intimate" bar and expanded menu. [GS]
• Hope you can make do without tomatoes in your salad: "A highly contagious fungus that destroys tomato plants" is spreading quickly. [NYT]
• Are you a model? Do you have an appetite? This spot's for you. [NYP]
• Kogi, the Korean taco truck that's the rage in LA, is not NYC-bound. [Eater]
• Tom Colicchio and wife Lori Silverbush say they're expecting a son. [People]

• Graydon Carter turned 60 on Tuesday, and Frank Bruni was kind enough to give him a gift—an unflattering review of his Monkey Bar. Carter: "Frank Bruni's review in The Times was the perfect nightcap to the perfect birthday." [WWD]
• Speaking of Bruni, a long excerpt from his forthcoming memoir, which appears in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, is now online. [NYT]
• Are restaurants like Minetta Tavern the city's new nightclubs? [BB]
• Word has it Cafe Boulud will be undergoing a major renovation and expansion sometime this summer and will be close for about a month or so. [Eater]
• A new cocktail lounge could be coming to Bryant Park next year. [Crain's]
• Philippe Massoud's ilili showcases Lebanese wines for the next month. [NYT]
• Le Cirque's Sirio Maccioni will undergo open heart surgery next week. [P6]

• The Spotted Pig sells an estimated $1.2 million worth of cheeseburgers a year, making it NYC's top-grossing dish. Balthazar's steak frites is No. 2. [GS]
• Frank Bruni doesn't have too many good things to say about the food at Monkey Bar in his one-star review today, not surprisingly. Graydon Carter's "social pulpit," Monkey Bar merely "affirm[s] his ordination as the high priest of a certain fame-focused, power-obsessed sect of Manhattan society." [NYT]
• Related: Illustrator Edward Sorel talks about his Monkey Bar murals. [Zagat]
• Other reviews today: Danyelle Freeman gives three out of five stars to DBGB; Time Out's Jay Cheshes hands over four out of six to Marea; and Alan Richman makes the case that Bruni should make Marea the Times' first four-star Italian restaurant before he steps down next month. [NYDN, TONY, GQ]
• Chodorow is denying that he ever considered reuniting with DiSpirito. [TFB]
• 7-Eleven says it plans to open 44 new stores in NYC this year. Ugh. [NYT]

• Hell freezes over: Rocco DiSpirito says he's been in talks with restaurateur— and onetime enemy—Jeffrey Chodorow about opening a new restaurant. [GS]
• The Standard Grill started up breakfast service today. [TFB]
• New York isn't the only magazine with a "Cheap Eats" issue on newsstands this week. It seems Time Out New York has got one, too. [TONY]
• The latest urban food fight: fruit vendors are now squaring off. [NYT]
• It's Bastille Day! Here are a few places to go to celebrate. [GS]

Things have gotten so bad that unpaid corporate interns are literally starving. Across America, interns are desperately prostituting their fresh young smiling faces in return for a single box of Little Debbie muffins, so they may live another day.

• The toughest reservations in town are at Frank Pellegrino's Rao's in Harlem and David Chang's Momofuku Ko, in case you're keeping track. [GS]
• Big clubs and bottle service are out and cheap, dingy dive bars are in, according to the Times, pointing out that Marquee's revenues are down 22 percent so far this year. Possible evidence to the contrary: "table service" at Marquee's new sister spot, Avenue, will run you a minimum of $350. [NYT]
• Related: Marquee appears to be NYC's "most fined" nightspot. It's handed over $100,000 to the State Liquor Authority over the past year alone. [NYP]
• New York's Eat Cheap issue is out. A highlight: Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite's "handbook" to the Neapolitan pizza "revolution." [NYM, NYM]
• Restaurants that recently opened, or will be opening soon. [Eater]
• A roundup of New York's "82 most notable burgers." [GS]
• The Canadian donut chain Tim Hortons landed in Manhattan today. [AMNY]

Poor Ruth Madoff's been reduced to coupon clipping. Sadly, since Cipriani's no longer running their Buy-Nine-Truffle-Strewn-Lobsters-Get-An-Iced-Tea-Free promotion, Ruthie went elsewhere: California Pizza Kitchen. How'd it go? Terribly. Also, tasty tips for her!

Whenever someone gives out free things, it can be anything from a positive, organized promotion to lawsuit-inducing mass hysteria. And today will be no exception, because today, my friends, is FREE. SLURPEE. DAY.

• More than 200 places will be taking part in New York Restaurant Week, which kicks off on Sunday. Here's a list of some of the notable newcomers. [Zagat]
• The outdoor courtyard at Locanda Verde has opened. [GS]
• A rendering of what the "sophisticated cocktail lounge" on the ground floor of the Empire State building will look like when it eventually opens. [Eater]
• Scandal! "Law enforcement officials are investigating several restaurants in the Hamptons where cheaper booze is poured into top-shelf brand bottles and served to clueless customers who can't taste the difference. [P6]
• A Q&A with Klaus Ortlieb of Table 8 and the Cooper Square Hotel. [Eater]
• Bottled water may be worse for you than tap water. Who knew? [Reuters]
• Rachael Ray had minor surgery to remove a benign cyst from her vocal cords. The good news/bad news, depending on what you happen to think of her: She'll be able to speak again in about a week or so. [People]

• Michael Chow has filed suit against Philippe Chow for "unfair and deceptive trade practices, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, conversion, and trademark infringement," among other things. [NYP, GS]
• A list of eateries that just opened, or will be open soon. [Gothamist, Eater]
• A controversy is brewing over plans to sell food on the High Line. [NYDN]
• Thirteen Dunkin' Donuts locations will change their names this weekend and become part of Tim Hortons, a donut chain that's popular in Canada. [NYT]
• New York magazine's Grub Street food blog is going national. [WSJ]
• Reminder! New York Restaurant Week begins on Sunday. [NY1, NYCGO]

• Aquavit's owner says the rumor the eatery is closing is pure nonsense. [GS]
• More good news: Although it appeared as if Ama has gone bust a couple of weeks ago, the closure was temporary and it's now back in business. [Eater]
• The critics: Frank Bruni of the Times gives Aldea a very solid two-star review today; Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton is pretty pleased with Locanda Verde; and the Post's Steve Cuzzo is happy to report Benoit is "a lot better." [NYT, BN, NYP]
• Rumor has it William Grimes may step in as the New York Times' temporary restaurant critic when Frank Bruni takes his leave next month. [TFB]
• A roundup of restaurants that have opened recently. [NYT]
• Joey Chestnut's record-setting 68 hot dogs at the Nathan's eating competition translates into 20,200 calories, in case you were wondering. [TFB]

• 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 kitchen fire destroyed Anita Lo's Annisa over the weekend. [SE]
• A roundup of restaurants that just opened, or will be open shortly. [Eater]
• Adam Platt reviews Marea in this week's issue of New York and doesn't walk away all that impressed: "For all its impressive, even dazzling qualities, it feels less like a labor of love than like one of ambition and duty." [NYM]
• A rebuttal from Josh Ozersky: "Adam Platt is out of his mind." [TFB]
• The owners of the River Café have filed a $3 million lawsuit over damage they claim was caused by Olafur Eliasson's "Waterfalls" art project. [NYP]
• Despite a last-minute petition, Joe Jr.'s closed its doors yesterday. [GS]
• The Health Department may take away the permits of as many as 500 street food vendors after investigators found evidence of "widespread fraud." [NYP]
• Joey Chestnut took top prize at the Nathan's hot-dog eating contest. [NYDN]

• After four decades on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 12th Street, beloved neighborhood diner Joe Jr.'s will be closing its doors on Sunday. [Eater, GS]
• Sam Mason's Tailor, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May, now reports it will close its dining room for the months of July and August. [Eater]
• More trouble for embattled restaurateur Ed "Jean-Luc" Kleefield: Madame Tong's in Southampton has been shuttered by the tax cops. [P6]
• Martha, Yoko, and Regis are some of the celebs who have written letters of support on behalf of Jennifer Oz LeRoy and Tavern on the Green. [NYDN]
• The Mott, still slated to open next week, sounds like total mess. [GS]
• Places that cater picnics, should you be looking for that sort of thing. [AMNY]

• Today in restaurant reviews: The Times' Frank Bruni gives one star to Bar Artisanal; Restaurant Girl hands out three to Brooklyn's Mesa Coyoacan; and the Post's Steve Cuozzo pays a visit to DBGB. [NYT, NYDN, NYP]
• A few impressions of Charlie Palmer's brand-new Aureole. [TFB, Zagat]
• A total of 27 restaurants closed their doors during the month of June. But 48 new ones opened, so clearly it's not all bad news. [Eater]
• Following a little snafu last night, Gus & Gabriel opens tonight. [GS]
• How do you snag a table at Minetta Tavern? Try passing a fat wad of cash to Keith McNally: "I never take gifts, ever. It's against my principle. I do take cash, however. And as much of it as I can get." (Yes, he's kidding.) [Eater]

• Michael Psilakis's Gus & Gabriel was scheduled to open this evening. But then the air-conditioning stopped working so it didn't. Oh, well. [TFB, TFB]
• Ama in Soho has closed its doors after four years. [Eater]
• Le Pere Pinard on Ludlow Street has been shuttered. [Eater]
• Zen Palate in the financial district is no more. [EVGrieve]
• One more bit of bad news, in case all those closings weren't quite enough: the Dean & Deluca on University Place and 11th Street is gone. [Eater]