• Christian Delouvrier, the French chef who earned four stars at Lespinasse and later put in time at Alain Ducasse and David Bouley's Secession, is now behind the stove at the more modest La Mangeoire on 53rd and Second Ave. [NYT]
• Ravi DeRossi of Death & Co. and, more recently, Mayahuel, will open a Cuban sandwich shop next month and a rum lounge the month after that. [GS]
• Scarpetta could be opening a Las Vegas outpost in the near future. [P6]
• Giuseppe Cipriani was hit with another lawsuit today, this time for allegedly underpaying his workers; a Cipriani rep says it's "categorically untrue." [NYT]
• The Box's Simon Hammerstein is taking his shtick to Moscow for NYE. [P6]
• A few more local NYE options, if you're looking for that sort of thing. [Zagat]
• Lists: Bon Appétit rounds up the 10 best budget dishes of 2009. [BA]
• The color of your liquor determines your hangover, apparently. [NYDN]
• Bruce Willis is the latest celebrity to own a piece of a vodka company. [WSJ]

• Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8 closed a couple of months ago, but now she says "the grand reopening of the new Bungalow 8" is planned for February. [NYM]
• More on the rumored return of Beatrice Inn, if you're interested. [Gawker]
• Le Pain Quotidien is expanding to Rockefeller Center and Central Park. [NYO]
• Govind Armstrong has left Table 8, but the eatery is still open, FYI. [NYT]
• Andre Balazs's Boom Boom Room will host a very special affair on New Year's Eve. For $250-750, guests will get to watch Courtney Love "perform." [Eater]
• A Hamptons real estate broker has filed a lawsuit against Bobby Flay. [N'day]
• If the 2007 Times article about what restaurateur Drew Nieporent does in his spare time at his New Jersey home didn't satisfy your obsession for all things Nieporent, here's pretty much the same info from yesterday's Times. [NYT]

The Box is opening in Moscow! Amy Sacco is still going strong in London. Looks like Manhattan's party scene is better in other countries than here. But get ready, along with the "new Beatrice," 2010 is bringing a reopened Bungalow 8.

Since Beatrice Inn closed last April it feels like hundreds — thousands — of clubs and lounges have tried to claim succession. Today we have big news on the actual new Beatrice — Paul Sevigny's imminent new place.

• Irving Mill off Union Square is closing its doors on January 1. It will be replaced by a downtown branch of the BBQ restaurant Brother Jimmy's. [GS]
• Table 8 and chef Govind Armstrong are parting ways with the Cooper Square Hotel. Scarpetta's Scott Conant is expected to take over the space. [P6]
• Paul Sevigny, co-owner of the late Beatrice Inn, may have his eye on the Civetta space or the Puck Building for his next nightlife venue. [NYDN]
• A Q&A with Per Se's Thomas Keller and departing chef Jonathan Benno. [GQ]
• If you're interesting in making your own honey, you'll be happy to hear the Health Department has proposed lifting the city's ban on beekeeping. [NYT]

• A week after a restaurant opened at the Guggenheim Museum and now Robert, a new eatery at the Museum of Arts & Design, has opened. [GS, NYT]
• Maialino begins breakfast service tomorrow, a first for Danny Meyer. [TONY]
• Aspen on West 22nd has been temporarily closed over tax issues. [Eater]
• A judge has ordered the Chelsea club Duvet to close immediately. [NYP]
• The city's plan to require that restaurants post inspection letter grades—which LA has done for years—is one step closer to becoming law. [NYT]
• Three Russian Tea Room chefs have hit the restaurant with a lawsuit. [NYP]
• Another annual "best of" list, if you're in the mood. [Metromix]
• Snooki from MTV's Jersey Shore now has her own taco. [HL via Eater]

Beginning in January, the Museum of Modern Art will morph into a club—with DJs spinning house music, "specialty cocktails," a $20 cover, and everything—on the first Thursday of each month. Please mind the artwork, clubgoers. Oh, and come early: This new nightspot is only open till 8:45pm. [NewYorkology]

Club owner and incorrigible attention addict JE Englebert is back with another shameless publicity stunt. He says he's auctioning off an outfit that Tiger Woods Mistress No. 1 Rachel Uchitel wore when she worked as a VIP hostess at TAO in Las Vegas. But he's giving the proceeds to a charity that fights domestic abuse, so it's all cool. Or not. Englebert's latest typo-ridden press release is below.

• The week in reviews: Sam Sifton of the Times takes on two Jeffrey Chodorow spots this week, giving one star to Tanuki Tavern and none to Ed's Chowder House; the Post's Steve Cuozzo heads to Casa Lever and is reasonably happy; Time Out's Jay Cheshes gives three stars to Tipsy Parson; the New Yorker's Shauna Lyon hits up Permanent Brunch; and Gael Greene weighs in on OBAO.
• Shake Shack is taking over the world. Outposts in Miami, Kuwait, the Upper East Side, Nolita, and the theater district are all in the works. [NYT]
• Year-end lists: Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton shares his 10 favorite new NYC eateries; and GQ's Alan Richman lists the 10 best new restaurants in America.
• Pink Tea Cup devotees are hoping to raise $100K to save it from doom. [NYT]
• Everything you ever wanted to know about VIP hostesses at clubs. [NYO]
• Your next Big Mac will come with free wireless Internet access. [AP]

Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8 went out of business in October. But she just had some great news come her way! Sacco prevailed in a long-running legal battle against Bungalow 8's onetime insurance company.

The news that Tiger mistress #1 was not just a mistress—but a madam—has provided a generation of supple young minds with a new dream job: "nightlife concierge" to the rich and sexy.

• A look around Provocateur, the new club by ex-Stereo partners Mike Satsky and Brian Gefter that opens this week at the Gansevoort hotel. [GS]
• The latest in the Tavern on the Green saga: It's possible the landmark will be forced to shut down completely on Jan. 1 unless the mayor intervenes. [NYP]
• It looks like street cart sushi is not coming to NYC anytime soon. Alas. [ML]
• Speaking of food carts, let this be a lesson to never cut in line for falafel.
• Gourmet's collection of 3,500 cookbooks has a new home at NYU. [NYT]
• On Regis and Kelly today Anderson Cooper professed "his love for a bakery called 'Milk' [sic] next to a Japanese [sic] restaurant called Momofuku." [SE]

• Olana on lower Madison Avenue is the latest restaurant to go bust. [Crain's]
• The UES fixture Gino's is still open, it may not be for much longer. [NYT]
• Café Habana's lawyer fired back today at the four ex-employees suing the restaurant. But now two other former servers are voicing similar complaints.
• Your dreams have been answered: The new Chelsea club Amnesia, which opened its doors last night, is "a little bit of Jersey Shore in Manhattan." [GS]
• Rao's is impossible to get into. It's also overrated, just as you suspected.
• Gordon Ramsay's restaurant empire almost went under this year. Now he says he plans to focus more on TV than food in the future. [Bloomberg]
• The State Liquor Authority is dealing with another bribery case. [NYP]
• How much goes Kim Kardashian get to appear at a club? $40K. [Eater]

• The Tavern on the Green saga continues: The LeRoy family has hired a marketing firm to sell the restaurant's name, but that may not be legal. [NYT]
• La Goulue closed this summer after losing its lease. Now it has a new location on East 63rd Street, though it's unclear if it'll be allowed to serve booze. [GS]
• The unstoppable Michael Huynh has several new spots planned. [Eater, IC]
• Closings: Harbour on Hudson Street appears to have gone under; Abraço in the East Village is temporarily closed and plans to reopen in a couple of days.
• Noel Ashman says his new lounge, opening "in the near future" somewhere "downtown," is "a mix" between Soho House, Veruka, and Bungalow 8. [GS]
• The Gansevoort Hotel in Miami has gone into foreclosure, but that won't have any impact on its New York sibling or its restaurant/rooftop bar. [MH]
• Rocco DiSpirito is currently staging a "local comeback," apparently. [NYP]

[DJ Colby B and nightclub fixture Amanda Lepore strike a pose at Paper magazine's 5th Annual Nightlife Awards at M2 last night. Image via Getty]

• The week in reviews: Sam Sifton of the Times pronounces Madangsui the best Korean BBQ in Manhattan and gives it one star; the Post's Steve Cuozzo isn't all that impressed with Le Caprice; Time Out's Jay Cheshes has mixed feelings about Susur Lee's Shang; GQ's Alan Richman heads over to Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield's Breslin; and Gael Greene checks in on Café Boulud.
• It's looking likely that Scott Conant will take over the Table 8 space. [Eater]
• A peek inside the Guggenheim Museum's new restaurant, Wright. [NYT]|
• Nightlife: A new club on West 29th Street called Amnesia debuts tomorrow; and Mike Satsky's meatpacking club Provocateur should open shortly.
• More on the Tavern on the Green auction scheduled for next month. [NYT]
• Time Out lists off the 100 best things to eat and drink in New York. [TONY]
• The Flatiron Indian eatery Tamarind is opening a branch in Tribeca. [Zagat]
• Frank Bruni and Jonathan Safran Foer debated meat last night. [TONY]
• If your kid refuses to eat at McDonald's, watches Iron Chef religiously, and studies up on varieties of cheese, you probably have a "gastrokid." [NYP]

• A few tricks that some eateries rely on to get you to open your wallet. [NYM]
• Permanent Brunch has reopened after getting shut down last week. [GS]
• Tavern on the Green's fixtures go up for auction next month. [NYT]
• Adam Platt looks at what happened to dining out during the aughts. [NYM]
• A handful of celebrity chefs has some weight loss tips, oddly enough. [Time]
• Duvet has been shuttered following a report of a rape inside the club. [NYP]
• Looking to meet a banker? A list of bars popular with the Wall Street set. [BI]

• Is Steve Hanson planning to clone his new and very popular Bill's Bar & Burger in Times Square? That's a rumor making the rounds. [Eater]
• Permanent Brunch was shuttered by the cops today over an outstanding tax bill. But it plans to reopen tomorrow—and with a new name, too. [GS]
• Pink Elephant will be just "Pink" from now on. Just so you're aware. [NYDN]
• Is it possible that Montreal bagels are better than NYC ones? The Times gets to the bottom of things. The Journal, for its part, tackled bagel injuries today.
• Related: Bagels will be replacing hot dogs on 14th and 7th Avenue. [GS]
• Epicurious has issued its list of food trend predictions for 2010. [Epicurious]
• A list of 20 secrets your waiter will never reveal (and which you don't want to hear), and yet which they still gave to Reader's Digest anyway. [MSNBC]
• Just in case all the quasi-nude photo shoots she's done didn't drive home the point, Padma Lakshmi reports she loves being naked. Got it? Good. [P6]

Rachel Uchitel is a mess. Her reputation, that is! Her hair's fine. But the Tiger Woods Affair allegations are everywhere. As are other salacious rumors. And pictures. You're not handling it well, Rachel. We're here to help you take control.

• Tom Colicchio says he has a new restaurant planned for 2010. [Eater]
• Todd English is creating a "food hall" in the basement of the Plaza. [NYT]
• Monkey Bar is getting a bit more democratic. The restaurant now has a phone number commoners can call for reservations. For lunch only, though. [TONY]
• Bouley and Allen & Delancey have some health code issues to sort out. [GS]
• Anthony Bourdain is no fan of street food, in case you were wondering. [ML]
• Fewer bars and clubs are getting permits for all-night NYE parties. [NYP]
• Ever want to look inside Ruth Reichl's fridge? Now you can! At last! [Salon]