• Tragic news for Ashley Dupre and other classy Jersey girls: Bennigan's is going out of business. [Bloomberg]

• Jeffrey Chodorow's Borough Food and Drink—located in possibly the most cursed space in the city—will close this fall to make way for a "French-influenced American bistro," says Gail Greene. [Grub Street]
  

• The new meatpacking lounge Country Club has opened on 14th Street. [Grub Street, Eater]

• New York talks to the owner of the Eldridge (left), the Lower East Side "hidden lounge/restaurant" with "chaperones, butlers, table attendants, and a hospitality consultant." [NYM]

• Ten of the 600 Starbucks that will be shuttered in 2009 are in New York City; six of them are located in Midtown. [NYT]

• Frank Bruni finds Midtown seafood stalwart Oceana "still very much worth boarding," handing it three stars and deeming its fish "superbly cooked." [NYT]

While health inspectors may have fallen head over heels in love with Pixar's restaurant impresario "Little Chef", it seems they can't stomach a vermin infestation at mold-friendly Newsroom Cafe. The eatery, favored by pseudo vegetarian starlets, went from achieving average status to full-blown suspension in a shake of a rat's tail. The restaurant is understandably befuddled after receiving the notice of closure since the soup-diving, steak tartare-preparing rats appeared so lovable on screen. But, the now relevantly monikered establishment plans to turn things around.

• Graydon Carter has backed out of hosting Vanity Fair's next Oscar party at Tom Colicchio's LA iteration of Craft because he doesn't like the Century City complex spot's "corporate feel." Laurent Tourondel's BLT on Sunset Strip will probably host the celeb-glutted affair instead. [P6]

If you're falling increasingly behind at the office because your assistant mysteriously disappeared after lunch, you might consider checking the bathroom: It appears that the Newsroom Cafe is now dishing up its glamorous vegetarian treats in C-rated style after a city health inspection discovered a fridge storing food at a less-than-optimal temperature. One report places the cost of squaring it away at around $40,000, but we're with the intrepid critic at Yelp who recently saluted the starry-eyed mecca's sense of germological adventure:

As is custom, tomorrow is the Nathan's Hot Dog contest in Coney Island. Joey "Jaws" Chestnut will be defending the title—66 hot dogs in 12 minutes—against his primary competitor, Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi. Yes, naturally, you can still bet on the outcome. (Sportsbook.com has Chestnut as the 5-6 favorite.) ESPN will broadcast the nonsense at 12 noon. [Fox5, Sports Odds]

Setting aside the health implications of fast-food pioneer Wilber Hardee's death at the advanced age of 89, one is drawn to the mystery of his first name. No one seems to know how to spell it. The Times went with "Wilber" for its obit. But hey, Times, how about fact-checking your journalism with that most august and reliable of primary sources, the Hardee's Cool Kids website? As show above and to the right, it renders the name "Wilbur," as do about 3,140 Web pages in Google's index in an exact-phrase search, vs. just 1,510 for "Wilber." And "Wilbur" also wins in a Google News search, with 54 uses (including AP!) vs. just "about 10" for "Wilbur." But wait, there are so many more wrinkles to this obit mystery!

Are you a newly unemployed Wall Streeter looking to keep up your expensive eating habits? College kid looking to save a few bucks? Good news! The economic downturn seems to have inspired renewed interest in dumpster diving (well, with the media at least), which, in case you're unfamiliar with the practice, involves scrounging through giant trash receptacles outside grocery stores and restaurants in search of still-fresh food to eat. (There's no actual "diving" involved, at least as far as we can tell.) We know what you're thinking. Yes, it's horrifying and disgusting. And yet who knew the activity had so many accomplished alumni? (Including the Times's former dining critic Ruth Reichl, no less, although she also explains it was about three decades ago.) There's a whole political context to being a "freegan"; something about evil corporations, the Man, and saving the planet. Or something. But just think of the cash you'll save! How many gourmet food shops toss out perfectly good cuts of Wagyu beef, just because they're four hours past an arbitrary expiration date? But where do you start if you're a novice with a sophisticated palette? There are so many dumpsters around the city. And some of then have, like, dead bodies in them, not tasty Asian pears!

Spam: it's not just nasty meat in a can. It's a leading economic indicator! Hormel has been selling the ground-up pig concoction for more than 70 years, and it's acquired quite a status as a gross American icon. Plus, economists have noticed that people seem to buy more cheap, crappy food products as the economy gets worse, and Spam's increasing popularity provides a nice hook for Freakonomics-type stories tying the whole miserable economic picture into the meat-purchasing choices of you, the consumer. Good theory, but, as Ad Age points out, it has one major flaw: Spam is not even cheap.

• High drama at Central Park Boathouse yesterday: two employees were abruptly canned and 14 others briefly stormed out in protest before management caved. And yet by day's end it was the most boring restaurant in the city again. [NY Post]

Frank Bruni is pissed! The New York Times' omnipotent restaurant critic (pictured) today reviews a new Tribeca restaurant named Ago, which is owned in part by actor Robert De Niro. And Bruni's experience there is proof for the entire restaurant business that no matter how popular, expensive, or exclusive your place is, it is still quite possible to receive a terrible review if you act like an idiot. Please: Learn some lessons from Ago's fiasco. Here is what not to do when your restaurant is being reviewed:

McDonald's has pulled all tomatoes out of its stores because of a DEADLY POISON salmonella scare! Winn-Dixie, Ralphs, Vons, and Albertsons supermarkets are pulling some tomatoes from their shelves! Taco Bell, Chipotle, and (a tipster says) Subway: pulling tomatoes! For your safety. Again: THE RAW RED TOMATOES IN YOUR REFRIGERATOR MAY HARBOR DEADLY MICROBES PREPARED TO ROT YOU FROM THE INSIDE. In a servicey attempt to keep all of you in good health, we are pasting this weekend's FDA warning after the jump:

Ben Karlin, the funnyman former Daily Show producer who is, unfortunately, kind of a dick, is currently suing some company over a book about Spain. Mario Batali is involved, too. What in the world is Ben Karlin doing working on a book about Spain, which does not appear to be a comedy project? We don't know, but it sure sounds like the guy is (wisely) just signing up for any old book that'll cut him a check:

Looking to score some miracle fruit, the makes-everything-taste-sweet wonder food that everyone's been talking about since that widely-emailed Times article came out last week? There's a new service called Miracle Connect that will get you them efficiently and free of shipping. For $3 to $4 a berry. [NYM]

This week's New York Magazine explores "breakfast," that meal little kids eat before school and adults drink before work. They have many informative and thinky pieces about eggs and coffee and such. (Also there is of course a list of places to eat expensive breakfasts in many different fancy-pants categories.) Here are the two things we learned: