• Is the restaurant business rebounding? That's what some are saying, even though the summer isn't typically a busy time: "Restaurants are fuller than they have been since the recession touched down last October." [Crain's]
• Da Silvano's sister spot, Scuderia, has moved on to its third chef. [GS]
• Guss' Pickles is leaving the Lower East Side for Brooklyn. [Lo-Down]
• A report from Permanent Brunch's first day in business. [Zagat]
• Commerce in the West Village is only accepting credit cards from now on, either for environmental reasons or to prevent robberies. You decide. [GS]
• The second annual NY Craft Beer Week arrives this September. [NYCBW]
• Tracy Westmoreland, owner of the late dive bar Siberia and current owner of Manhattans in Prospect Heights, is on the hunt for investors. [VV]
• FreshDirect is cutting back on cardboard boxes, just so you're aware. [NYT]
• Were you looking to dine on yak meat? You're in luck. [NYT]

FreshDirect "suspended" a couple dozen employees and fired "at least one of them" this week. Nearly all of them were Hispanic immigrants, and the grocery delivery company claims they didn't provide accurate proof of their legality. Coincidentally, there's a FreshDirect warehouse employee union vote scheduled for December 22-23—funny how these things work out, huh?

This just in the mailbox:

Roving reporter Bucky Turco — who else? — provides us with photographic evidence not just that there are freebie Posts today but also of the ad on those freeibie Posts. And, frankly, we're shocked shocked that rightwing Rupe would print such a thing:

To be filed under things we never knew we wanted to know but still find ourselves strangely intrigued by: