The city's more upscale restaurants have been busy adjusting to the economic downturn, not surprisingly. So what does this mean for you, the casual diner? Frank Bruni sheds a little light on how restaurants are coping: They're overbooking more than usual since they can't afford no-shows, and increasingly demanding credit cards, so that those who do reserve actually show up. More and more "value meals," which consist of cheaper plates during happy hour and late at night, have materialized. And they're replacing pricier items on the menu (giant lobsters, strip steaks) with cheaper alternatives (tiny lobsters, hanger steaks).

• El Baño is either a super-exclusive club you won't be getting into beginning next week because you don't have a key, or it's a super-exclusive club you won't be getting into because it doesn't actually exist. [DBTH]

• Top Chef runner-up Marcel Vigneron was arrested in Laguna Beach this past weekend for driving drunk. [OC Register via Eater]

CNN isn't the only news network with its own temporary restaurant set up for the Democratic National Convention. But it is the only one with a menu certified by Danny Meyer. The dining impresario's Union Square Hospitality was tapped by the marketing agency Civic Entertainment Group to craft the menu for the "CNN Grill." Don't expect to see Meyer in person—he's in Italy at the moment, although he dispatched his deputy Richard Coraine to stand in for him and says he plans to make it to the Republican convention himself. And don't expect any fireworks from the menu of pub grub. After the jump, Danny and chef Michael Romano's official menu, including "CNN fries" and a tuna salad sandwich.

• More detail on Zak Pelaccio's upcoming projects, including the Fatty Crab on the Upper West Side and the Southeast Asian restaurant in Williamsburg called Fatty 'Cue. [Metromix]

• Life after reality TV: Rocco DiSpirito will be competing on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. [AP]

• The Times' Diner's Journal weighs in on the Wine Spectator scandal. [Diner's Journal]

The next time you're perusing a menu and feel like ordering some tasty fish—an expensively-prepared piece of red snapper, say—you might want to bear in mind that what arrives on the plate won't necessarily be what you're paying for. Up to a quarter of fish in New York's restaurants and stores is mislabeled, discovered two high school students at Trinity who took it upon themselves to collect 60 fish samples and send them off for genetic testing. The results showed that when the fish had been misidentified, it was always as a more expensive species, like Acadian redfish being passed off as red snapper.

• Dining options at the U.S. Open will be even more gourmet this year: chef Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia in Chicago will offer tapas-like eats at his Wine Bar Food. [NYSun]

Top Chef, Bravo's supposedly "upscale" cooking competition show that is really about three or four food snobs berating 15 or so drunken egomaniacs for an hour, is filming, tonight!, at hoity-toity midtown restaurant Le Bernardin. The gourmet seafood restaurant-three Michelin stars! 20th best restaurant in the country!-has lent out its own top chef, Eric Ripert, as a guest judge to the show in years past, but this will be the first time the cameras have entered the hallowed eatery's inner sanctum. See you in hell, refined elegance! I mean the restaurant has a jacket-required dress code, for God's sake. Their tasting menu is $220 a head (with wine pairings)! It's one of those storied haunts that needs only to quietly go about its gourmet way to drum up praise and customers. But now, like Faye Dunaway and now Vogue before it, Le Bernardin is bowing down to the reality gods in search of, well, that hideous term "relevance." While this evening's reserved patrons won't actually be served by the blotto, under-the-bus-throwing, vain yet desperate contestants, they still have to sign waivers (to be faxed over!) and deal with camera crews and all that reality jazz. CUSTOMER 1: I do say, Harold, there seems to be a lapel mic in my Kindai Maguro. CUSTOMER 2: Oh Evelyn, do shut your face.

• Drew Nieporent chats about the forthcoming Nobu in Herzliya, Israel and shares details about his singing career. Yes, he sings, too. [Blackbook]

• Adam Platt isn't feeling much love for Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Matsugen. In this week's issue, he gives JGV's soba house a single star. [NYM]

• The war between between Georgia and Russia is having an impact on the local restaurant biz: Russians are avoiding Café Georgia in Brighton Beach. [NYDN]

• Scott Conant is now "poised to become Molto Mario's heir apparent," or so says the Observer. [NYO]

Celebrity power blogger David Hasselhoff could barely step away from his laptop at breakfast this morning. In between bites of strawberries and toast, Hasselhoff said, "Nobody takes a minute off on the internet. You have to be there every minute of the day looking and hunting for the next big story. So, you have to make it work for you and here I am with my laptop and my wireless card looking to break more stories before I finish my breakfast than Perez does in a week." The Hoff appeared to be unconcerned about the syrup he spilled on his laptop since it's still under warranty at the Apple store.

• Jean-Georges Vongerichten is a partner in a new pizza venture by Sullivan Street Bakery's Jim Leahey. [Gail Greene]

• Those restaurant menus that get shoved under your door? Putting them there is now against the law, although only if "the property owner has posted a sign saying such materials are not wanted." [City Room/NYT]

• The Observer has issued its list of ten top restaurant newcomers. The top three pics include Smith's, Allen & Delancey, and Dovetail. [NYO]

• East Village bar and performance space Rififi is shutting its doors. [GS]

Children under 12 are the targets of almost $1 billion in marketing spending from food companies every year. What are they being sold? Pop-tarts, fast food, crackers, gum, sugary cereals, and the other things that good moms don't let their kids eat. But! The food industry has graciously decided that they will get their rampant advertising to kids under control, to ensure that the kids aren't, you know, encouraged to buy the carbtastic products that these companies make. And who is determining just what the standards will be for protecting kids? These very same food companies! In related news, kids are all fat. Let's break it down: A bunch of big huge evil food companies got together and formed a group and promised to either not advertise to kids, or only advertise products to kids that are "good" for them. Then these companies individually decided for themselves what it means to advertise to kids, and what food is "good." With predictable results! Here are some products you should be aware are good for your babies: Apple Jacks, Froot Loops, Corn Pops, Burger King's macaroni and cheese. Mmm! Plus, some companies say an ad only "targets children" if more than half of its audience is made up of kids under age 12. So 51% 13-year-olds and 49% toddlers, go right ahead with that bacon double cheeseburger ad! Mmm! And if it proves to be too much of a hassle for the companies, they just sell to the terrible parents of America: