• Payard has closed after more than a decade on the Upper East Side. [Zagat]
• The building at 347 Bowery, which until recently served as the Salvation Army's base in the East Village, may turn into another Koi sushi joint. [Curbed]
• Michael Psilakis reopens the former Kefi space as Gus & Gabriel Gastropub tomorrow. But Donatella Arpaia won't be involved this time around. [GS]
• Eataly, a Italian food market that opened in Turin two years ago, has signed a lease for 32,000-square-feet of "food halls and restaurants" at 200 Fifth. Joe Bastianich, mom Lidia, and Mario Batali are partners in the venture. [NYT]
• A roundup of where celebs were spotted eating/drinking recently. [GS]
• A Q&A with Leyla Marchetto, daughter of Silvano/Scuderia boss. [Zagat]
• The West Village's Jarnac closed over the weekend. Now everything in the restaurant is for sale through tomorrow, if you're interested. [Eater]
• The NYT panned Spice Market last week. Now Jean-Georges responds. [JGV]

• The New York City outpost of Govind Armstrong's Table 8 opens tomorrow evening inside the Cooper Square Hotel. [Eater, Zagat]
• Now that Todd English is out, The Libertine has hired itself a new chef. [Zagat]
• Robert De Niro's universally reviled Ago has officially shuttered. [Eater]
• Some suggestions on where to take your mom for Mother's Day. [Zagat]
• Pinkberry is now making deliveries; a $10 minimum is required. [Crain's]
• Places to go to drink yourself into oblivion in honor of Cinco de Mayo. [GS]

The James Beard Awards were held at Avery Fisher Hall last night, gifting Jean-Georges Vongerichten's eponymous flagship the title of "Outstanding Restaurant." Other notable winners included David Chang's Momofuko Ko (Best New Restaurant) and opulent dinosaur Daniel (Best Service), with Drew Nieporent (left) knighted Outstanding Restaurateur for his (apparently outstanding) work at Corton and Nobu. But, much like the Costume Institute Gala across town, the night was not without a bit of drama.

Bill Buford, food author and just all-around wacky personality, once wrote a book in which he ate a whole pig. This is a photo by Chris Buck of Buford carrying a pig. A swine, even.

• Gwyneth Paltrow's latest goal? To get Mario Batali to lose weight, apparently. She's supposedly already given him a free membership to the gym she's opening with Tracy Anderson, since he's "the only fat friend she has, and wants him to change." [P6]
• Poor Jennifer Aniston has been "holed up" in her room at the Greenwich Hotel since arriving in New York a few weeks ago, supposedly because she's terrified of "bumping into Angie" on the street. [L&S]
• Michael Phelps and Miss California, Carrie Prejean. are apparently dating, or at least that's what Prejean's grandmother is saying. [NYDN]
• In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Lindsay Lohan says she's "still in love" with Sam Ronson, and that their breakup "came out of nowhere." She's also lost a lot of weight, which you've probably already noticed. [OK!, People, NYDN]
• Tim Gunn says he hasn't been on a date in 26 years, but that he's okay with it because he's "very happy being alone." [NYDN]

• Matthew Williamson's H&M line goes on sale tomorrow at 9AM. Prepare for a mob scene! [NYM]
• Lauren Conrad is teaming up with Kohl's to introduce "a casual California-inspired clothing line for young women." And she was kind enough to make a video about it, too. [NYT, Racked]
• It's official: Peter Copping is the new artistic director at Nina Ricci, where he'll have the unenviable task of filling the void left by Olivier Theyskens. [WWD, Style.com]
• André Leon Talley's "custom Obama tribute pin" is awfully chic, don't you agree? [FWD]

Kate Moss, in town for the Topshop debut, stepping out of a car in Soho ... Chloe Sevigny hailing a cab in the East Village ... Mario Batali carrying his kids' backpacks in the West Village ... Sean Connery apparently doing a little shopping at Wireless Warehouse on Third Avenue ... Claire Danes walking with a cup of coffee in Soho ... Anthony Bourdain and his wife Ottavia Busia eating lunch at Da Silvano ... Willem Dafoe and Giada Colagrande carrying grocery bags in the West Village ... Hilary Duff walking around with a shopping bag from Barneys ... Ed Westwick checking his phone on the set of Gossip Girl in Foley Square ... and Whitney Port leaving La Esquina.

Ellen Barkin walking in the West Village ... Mario Batali having lunch with the family at Da Silvano ... Gisele Bundchen going to a photo shoot at Chelsea Piers ... Julia Roberts walking in Chinatown ... Jessica Alba leaving her Tribeca hotel with her daughter Honor ... Claire Danes carrying a shopping bag in Soho ... Leighton Meester walking in the Village ... Mickey Rourke sporting a new 'do after leaving a salon on Madison Avenue ... Jennifer Aniston standing on the set of her new movie, The Baster ... Howard Stern walking a few blocks from his apartment building ... Mary J. Blige shopping with friends at American Apparel ... and Bernadette Peters hailing a cab outside Barneys.

• Another great restaurant humbled: It looks like Per Se is planning to introduce an à la carte menu in its salon and bar area. [Eater]
• Two armed men stormed Mario Batali's Esca. Instead of taking cash, though, they made off with envelopes stuffed with "worthless paper receipts." [NYP]
• Looks like Park Avenue Winter's PR stunt of giving free meals to girls dressed up as schoolgirls is paying off. Some 250 girls turned up last night. [Eater]
• Lawyer/enemy of NYC restaurateurs Maimon Kirshenbaum: He's back. [NYT]
• A caviar lounge really is opening at the Four Seasons Hotel. [Zagat]
• If you ask nicely (and perhaps make up a story about losing your job), you might be able to negotiate a discount at Starbucks and Cosi. [NYP]
• Some tips on where to go tonight to drink yourself silly in honor of St. Paddy's Day if you're still in need of recommendations. [Metromix, Citysearch]

Fire-haired food pimp Mario Batali's Midtown restaurant Esca was robbed last week! The crime raises two important questions: Was it an inside job? And if so, just how dumb are Batali's employees? (Very).

Barry Diller riding his bike around town yesterday ... Rachel Weisz walking in the East Village ... Mario Batali hanging out with son Benno in the Village ... Dustin Hoffman and his daughter shopping in Soho ...Tobey Maguire pushing daughter Ruby in a stroller down Fifth Avenue ... Brad Pitt taking Pax and Maddox to lunch at Mars 2112 in Times Square ... Russell Brand shopping in SoHo ... Joshua Jackson and Diane Kruger walking downtown ... Hugh Jackman tossing around a ball in the Village ... Robert Redford and Sibylle Szaggars shopping on Madison Avenue ... Angelina Jolie shooting scenes for Salt outside St. Barth's Church on Park ... Fergie leaving a building in Midtown ... Taylor Momsen standing on the set of Gossip Girl ... Alec Baldwin leaving the Waverly Inn ... and Rihanna, Jay-Z, Beyonce and Brandy going to dinner at the Spotted Pig.

"Cozy" is not the same as "together." But we can still wonder why Owen Wilson is sitting next to Kate Hudson, or if Alex Rodriguez is again flirting with Madonna via the idea of being her neighbor.

• Get the welcome wagon ready: Jennifer Aniston may be moving to New York soon, both to be closer to John Mayer and because she's filming her next two movies here. [Fox 411]
• A bunch of people who attended Madonna, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher's Oscars party at Guy Oseary's house ended up leaving early and heading over to the more popular Vanity Fair bash instead. Kate Winslet screamed "Wooo!" at everyone who congratulated her (and later tripped down a small set of steps), a tipsy Natalie Portman flirted with Twilight's Robert Pattinson, and Mick Jagger chatted up every woman that came within two feet of him. [P6, NYDN, E!, Mirror]
• Madonna looked conspicuously wrinkle-free while squiring Jesus Luz around LA last weekend and eventually ran into Sean Penn on Sunday night. After congratulating him on his Oscar win, he pointed in Luz's direction and replied, "Thanks. Another kid already?" [NYDN, DS, Sun]
• Nicky Hilton placed a homeless man under "citizen's arrest" after he pushed her on to the ground outside an IHOP. Seriously. [Us]

A tipster tells us billionaire Clinton pal Ron Burkle (and his model wrangler!) was "lurking around" Justin Timberlake's William Rast show at Fashion Week last night. Time for a listicle of creepy old ladies' men!

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.

• Why isn't your glass of water getting refilled? It might be because the restaurant decided to slash costs by firing all the busboys. [WSJ]
• E.U. in the EV is no more; a trattoria is set to take its place by March. [Eater]
• Jean-Georges Vongerichten now says he won't be taking over the Ago space inside Robert De Niro's Greenwich Hotel after all. [DBTH]
• Is Momofuku Milk Bar turning into an actual bar? That's the rumor. [TFB]
• Tom Colicchio and Damon Wise are expanding their discount menu. [Eater]
• Scott Conant will be the guest judge on tomorrow's Top Chef. [GS]
• Gordon Ramsay hasn't been banned from Mario Batali's restaurants. [GS]
• Chef Gabrielle Hamilton has inked a book deal with Random House. [EMD]

• Armin Amiri's Socialista is closing for good, and Giuseppe Cipriani, of course, is partly to blame. [Page Six]
• Everything you missed at yesterday's porkfest, Cochon 555. [Eater, TFB]
• Masa Matsushita has returned to Matsugen for the next three months. [JGV]
• Tim Zagat chats with the Post about Restaurant Week. [NYP]
• Adam Platt gives two stars apiece to 10 Downing and West Branch. [NYM]
• Wass Stevens has landed himself a role in a BlackBerry commercial. [GS]
• More bad news for chef Gordon Ramsay: His empire is supposedly "crumbling," and he's also been banned from Mario Batali's restaurants for calling him "fanta pants." [NYP, Guardian]

Actress (and aspiring gym entrepreneur!) Gwyneth Paltrow was kind enough to post a list of her favorite restaurants and hotels on that new lifestyle website of hers, Goop.com. Lots of the usual suspects are mentioned, like Balthazar and Babbo, which is owned by her food travel show co-host, Mario Batali, naturally. The hotels reflect the places she's lived for the past year while her apartment is being renovated. (That sounds cost efficient!) So where has Gwynnie spent the past 12 months? She says she's only mentioned the places she "loved," a list that includes the Lowell, Bowery, Carlyle, Mercer, and the Inn at Irving Place. But she throws in the Greenwich Hotel, too, although she admits she's yet to see the place. "It looks good on the website anyway." Good enough for us! [Goop via Eater]

• Sean Avery may be spending a lot more time in New York in the near future: Hockey's preeminent bad boy has been cut loose by the Dallas Stars just 23 games into a four-year contract. [NYP]
• Jennifer Aniston was supposedly so desperate to have a boyfriend during the promotional tour for Marley & Me that her camp started "shopping for potential dates." [P6]
• David Paterson was not at all pleased with the impression of him on SNL this weekend. [NYP]
• Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber had a second son on Saturday. [People, E!]

♦ Mirco del Vecchio, the executive chef of Ago, says he'll sue Robert De Niro for breach of contract if he's replaced at the restaurant by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. [Page Six]
♦ Why is Alain Ducasse's Benoit earning such bad reviews? Ducasse blames American journalists who "don't quite understand French bistro." [RG]
♦ Ruth Reichl paid an early visit to David Bouley's recently-relocated Bouley and describes it as New York's "loveliest restaurant." [Gourmet]
♦ The reservation line is officially open for John Dory, the Brit-themed restaurant by April Bloomfield, Ken Friedman, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich that is scheduled to open on November 24th. [Eater]