• Is Thomas Keller opening a new resto in NYC? Depends who you ask. [TFB]
• The animal rights group that staged a foie gras protest outside Momofuku Noodle Bar back in May will return to the scene once again on Sunday. [GS]
• Word has it Rande Gerber's Stone Rose is exiting Time Warner Center. [P6]
• Speaking of exits, Frank Bruni will step down as the Times' restaurant critic in just 21 days. Eater offers up a few guesses as to his replacement. [Eater]
• Café Boulud will be providing the food when the Surrey Hotel reopens. [VV]
• Village on West 9th has closed. So has Midtown's City Burger. [GS, ML]
• The vast majority of the chocolate that Jacques Torres sells is manufactured in Brussels, Belgium, not at his NYC factories. Just so you know. [Forbes]
• Want to watch Gwyneth Paltrow roast a kitchen? Go right ahead. [GoaG]

• Keith McNally's Minetta Tavern and its selection of steaks score rave reviews—and three stars—from Frank Bruni in today's New York Times. [NYT]
• A peek around Warren 77, the bar that Ranger Sean Avery co-owns. [GS]
• Jeffrey Chodorow's next project, set to open in the new Kimpton Hotel in 2010, will be a Spanish restaurant and "global food park." [IC]
• A wine auction at Christie's last night raked in $1.1 million. [NYP]
• Dining in a recession: AMNY's list of spots that offer free good. [AMNY]

• A bunch of expensive restaurants are slated to open over the next few months. That kind of sucks for them, yes, although construction costs are down and rents are now negotiable, so it's not all bad news. Sort of. [NYT]
• Frank Bruni offers up his take on a bunch of "recession beaters" in today's Times, including Anthos Upstairs, Craft's DFF, and the lounge at Per Se. [NYT]
• Will swine flu finally kill the pork-belly trend? [GS]
• Despite the recession, steakhouses still seem full, says the Post's Steve Cuozzo, and Wagyu beef is still selling, "strangely." Strange, indeed. [NYP]
• Snapple is giving away free pizza from May 4 to May 7. [Slice]
• More immediately: 31-cent scoops at Baskin-Robbins tonight. [TFB]

• Frank Bruni takes on La Fonda del Sol and Txikito in the Times, giving the former two stars for Josh DeChellis' "less forced and more exuberant" cuisine, and the latter a single star for its "complicated" cooking. [NYT]
• The Post's Steve Cuozzo likes the murals, mirrors and lighting at Monkey Bar. But he thinks Graydon Carter could be doing a better job with the food. [NYP]
• Bradford Thompson, formerly the chef at the late Lever House in Midtown, is now behind the stove at Terrance Brennan's Bar Artisanal in Tribeca. [TFB]
• More on the Gates, the over-the-top lounge "with the attitude of Soho House, Rose Bar and GoldBar rolled into one marble-encrusted crazybox." [UD]

♦ Frank Bruni of the Times visits Bobo this week, and awards one star to new chef Patrick Connolly for his "ambition" and "good intentions," although he also points out that the restaurant "hasn't wholly surrendered its attitude and put service before sheen." [NYT]
♦ The NYPD shut down Serge Becker's "guerilla" election night party at La Esquina last night. [NYO]
♦ Boqueria's Soho location has been granted a liquor license and should be open by next week. [GS]

Jacques Torres