• Momofuku Ssäm is opening a new private dining room. [GS]
• Add Le Gamin to the list of spots tacking service charges to the bill. [Eater]
• A report on Craftsteak's new recession-friendly menu. [Feedbag]
• One upside to a bad economy: free restaurant equipment! [Eater]
• A list of restaurants where you can still find peanut butter desserts. [GS]
• Daisy May's has the 5th best chili in America, according to Bon Appétit. [BA]
• It's the end of the world: Starbucks is introducing instant coffee. [AdAge]

Did you know that African-Americans made many contributions to the grocery industry? Such as collard greens, pork hocks, and bologna. All celebrated on this grocery store's Black History month flier. African-Americans love that pork!

Like fashion before it, the fancy food industry needs to change its rules a bit to get your business. Starbucks is doing McDonald's-style value meals, while Tom Colicchio's swanky steak house is halving prices.

• Fat Hippo has opened in the space that used to house 71 Clinton. [GS]
• The Times's Frank Bruni gives out two stars today to April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman's "putatively British" John Dory. [NYT]
• A number of struggling restaurants are planning to stay open until just after they "make their nut" on Valentine's Day. [NYO]
• There was an electrical fire at 10 Downing last night. [Eater]
• Some genius is trying to open a "ping pong social club." Todd Oldham is designing it and it will be sponsored by Fred Perry. [NYO]
• Please refrain from calling Gordon Ramsay a "cook." He's a chef. [EMD]

Are we, and a tipster, crazy, or is that rapper Mike D and his wife Tamra Davis in the photo accompanying Frank Bruni's review of the John Dory in the New York Times today?

Recently the New York Times explained how hard it is to live on $500k a year. Twice! Now the paper reports: nobody's paying for business lunches any more! Is this just a made-up thing? Yes.

• After 36 years in business, La Goulue is closing on April 5th. [NYT]
• Justin Timberlake is not involved with Southern Hospitality. Got it? [People]
• Sasha Petraske's Dutch Kills is opening in the next two weeks. [Gothamist]
• Looking for a cheap V-Day dinner? How about White Castle? [B&B via Eater]
• A bunch of restaurants have removed peanut butter from the menu. [NYT]
• It's not going to earn any points for the food, but Travel + Leisure has named Delicatessen the best-designed restaurant in its annual design awards. [T+L]

• What's that 20% surcharge on your bill? It seems a bunch of restaurants are now secretly adding gratuities to diners' checks even though it's illegal. [NYP]
• Tom Colicchio's latest gimmick: He's calling Craftsteak's front dining room "Halfsteak" and serving half-sized portions for $15 or less. [Eater]
• Drew Nieporent and Terrance Brennan discuss the lousy economy. [GS]
• It's not just the high-end that's hurting: Bodegas are suffering, too. [NY1]
• A look inside the newly-opened Butcher Bay. [Eater]
• Are Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud launching a line of frozen foods? [Eater]
• Starbucks is trying its best to make people think it's super-affordable. [WSJ]

• Rachael Ray says her long-awaited burger joint will open in 2010. [TFB]
• A roundup of all the restaurants that shuttered this week. [Eater]
• Eric Ripert says he is not planning to launching a line of prepared foods, despite what you may have read elsewhere. [TFB]
• Allen & Delancey is offering for half-priced cocktails on Tuesdays. [GS]
• Butcher Bay opens up on East 5th Street tonight. [Eater]
• Patrón is launching a new line of super high-end vodka. Great timing! [WSJ]
• A look inside the recently-reopened Holland Bar. [GS]
• The yellow eel in John Dory's fish tank has gone missing, but Joe Bastianich has some theories on where it went. [NYT]

• It's not all doom and gloom: Terrance Brennan (Artisanal, Picholine) and Floyd Cardoz (Tabla) both have new restaurants in the works. [GS, TONY]
• Donatella Arpaia and Michael Psilakis say they're two months away from opening Gus & Gabriel's Gastropub in the old Kefi space. [NYT]
• A list of the best Brit food in New York. Yes, such a list really exists. [MM]
• John Doherty explains why he quit as chef at the Waldorf-Astoria. [NYT]
• Vinegar Hill House in Brooklyn is opening a private dining room. [GS]
• Cheapo Eight O'Clock Coffee beat out Starbucks in a CR taste test. [NYDN]

• Eric Ripert has signed on to host his own PBS show called Avec Eric. [THR]
• Frank Bruni gives the Plaza's Oak Room a single star in today's Times, describing it as more of a "looker" than a "performer." [NYT]
• UES staple Swifty's is opening a Palm Beach outpost. [PBDN]
• JGV is bringing back Vong's original menu from 1992. [JGV]
• Forge will officially change its name to Marc Forgione this week. [P6]
• More details about what's happening at Ago in the Greenwich Hotel. [NYT]
• The Flatiron's Fleur de Sel is closing on February 21st. [Eater]
• It's a tough time to be in the restaurant biz, in case you hadn't heard. [NYT]
• Possibly related: Starbucks is thinking of offering "value meals." [AP]

• A day after the city asked for bids on the Tavern on the Green space comes word the restaurant's been sued for failing to pay its meat supplier. [Eater]
• Soho's much-maligned Delicatessen has a new menu courtesy of its new consultants, club owner David Rabin and chef Franklin Becker. [GS]
• Embattled Soho eatery Lola shutdown last Friday. [NYO]
• Joe Bastianich is hoping to plant Eataly, a 60,000-square-foot Italian food market, in a space "between Union Square and Madison Square Park." [NYT]
• Philippe's expansion continues: The chain plans to set up an LA location. [P6]
• It looks like the end is near for the Hawaiian Tropic Zone. [TFB]
• Legendary Union Square veggie peeler Joe Ades has died. [NYT]

• The city is accepting proposals from restaurateurs interesting in taking over Tavern on the Green. Be advised you may have to do battle with current owner Jennifer Oz LeRoy, who has vowed to hang on to the landmark eatery. [NYO]
• Shang's Susur Lee earns a two-star review from Adam Platt this week. [NYM]
• Lunetta on Broadway and 21st Street has closed after 15 months. [Eater]
• Kyle Bailey is replacing Neil Ferguson at Allen & Delancey. [NYT]
• Yet more tax trouble for the Cipriani clan. [NYP]
• Mega-restaurateur Stephen Starr, Alto owner Chris Cannon, and broker Steven Kamali on the troubles facing the city's restaurant economy. [NYT]
• Another ex-Hawaiian Tropic hostess is suing for sexual harassment. [NYDN]
• Mention the word "bailout" at the Chocolate Bar at Henri Bendel between now and the end of the month and you'll get a free brownie. [New Yorkology]

Robert De Niro's Nobu has agreed to pay out $2.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of 200 workers, who sued the sushi chain in 2007 for forcing them to share tips and failing to pay overtime wages. Each plaintiff in the case will receive $3,300, except for four workers who recruited other "victims," who will take home an additional $10,000 apiece. The balance? That will go to Maimon Kirshenbaum, naturally. [NYP]

Well, Oscar Mayer's full-page ad in Newsweek (click for big pic) informs us that the meat processor's Deli Creations Flatbread Sandwiches are 'Blogworthy.' They are so right!

• A list of bars and restaurants where you can eat and drink (and watch the game, of course) on Super Bowl Sunday. [Gothamist, TONY, Citysearch]
• The Spotted Pig will be closed on Sunday. Please plan accordingly. [DBTH]
• A list of the 13 restaurants that closed this week. [Eater]
• How Chloe 81 went from buzz to backlash in a few short months. [NYO]
• Cafe Select's back room now has its own separate entrance; you'll have to go through a sidewalk grate and utility tunnel to get there. [GS]
• Suba's new owners are turning it into a Mexican food restaurant. [TFB]
• Unemployed? You qualify for a free drink at the Delancey on Mondays. [UD]

A Queens restaurant has a novel way to appeal to penny-pinching diners. The Daily News reports that beginning February 3rd, Tierra Sana in Forest Hills will offer customers a "Pay What You Want" special, and patrons will get to decide how much to pay for their meals. That sound you just heard? That was every restaurateur in town gasping at the prospect the horrifying idea catches on. [NYDN]

• Ago partners Robert De Niro, Richard Born and Ira Drukier have tapped Andrew Carmellini as chef; Ken Friedman is the design consultant. [NYT]
• Is Justin Timberlake opening a Southern Hospitality in Chelsea? [GS]
• Peasant in Nolita finally has menus in English. [Eater]
• Martha Stewart went to Momofuku Milk Bar on her show today. [EMD]
• Scores may be gone, but you can still pick up bottles of the former strip club's private-label blanc de blancs. Perhaps you wanted a keepsake? [GS]
• Many places are extending their Restaurant Week menus. Here's a list. [W&D]

Could stress and anxiety over the state of the economy explain why so many celebrity chefs are getting a bit belligerent as of late? Anthony Bourdain went out of his way to launch a verbal assault on Alice Waters recently. And the war between Mario Batali and Gordon Ramsay has been heating up in recent days, too. Apparently, Batali made some critical comments about the Hell's Kitchen star more than a year ago, a move that prompted Ramsay to start calling Batali "fanta pants" in honor of the orange shorts he's long been fond of.

Hah, the Obamas brought their own personal home chef with them to The White House. And oddly that bit of crazy elitism will please all the hippies.