Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

♦  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]More

Yes, Bobby, we're talking to you. When are you going to get things straightened out at the Greenwich Hotel already? Fine, it's a new place and it takes some time to work out the kinks. But it's been more than six months since you opened, and it's been four months since Frank Bruni ripped Ago to shreds. Plenty of time to figure out how get the food to the table on time, especially when you're asking people to pay $57 for a breakfast of juice, coffee, cereal and fruit. Oh, also: When a reporter from a major newspaper shows up to look around, we'd recommend that your general manager not scold her for taking a photo of the lobby with her digital camera. Especially when he explains that the hotel doesn't permit photography on the premises and there happens to be a photo shoot taking place on the other end of said lobby. [WSJ]

♦  The NYC Wine & Food Festival came to town this past weekend and just about every chef, foodie, and critic was on hand. Among the highlights: Rachael Ray hosted a Burger Bash on Friday (Katie Lee Joel took first prize); Tom Colicchio broke out his guitar and later chatted with Eater about his upcoming plans; Ferran Adria took the stage with Anthony Bourdain and Eric Asimov; Gordon Ramsay vented; Rocco DiSpirito showed off his dancing skills; Bobby Flay mentioned his plans to re-open Bolo; Scott Conant talked about his upcoming eatery in Miami; Marco Maccioni gave details on the restaurant he has planned for the Beekman Hotel; and everyone in attendance generally ate and drank way too much. More here and here. More

There's probably been a time or two when you've been tempted to check out a restaurant or bar simply because some celebrity supposedly "owns" it. Maybe I'll see Justin Timberlake devouring a plate of ribs at Southern Hospitality! Or I'll spot Robert De Niro slurping on some pasta at Ago! Restaurateurs know this, too, of course, which is why they're all so eager to attach a celebrity name—any one will do!—to their ill-conceived bistro, brasserie, speakeasy, lounge, or barbecue shack. We don't want to be the ones to crush your dreams and tell you that there's no chance you'll see these famous faces at these venues. Just in case you're the more optimistic type—or just curious who has a stake in what—we happily introduce the Cityfile celebrity-owned restaurant/bar map!

• Celebrity Restaurant/Bar Map

• It's thanks to dishes like the "superb" rabbit terrine that the Times' Frank Bruni awards two stars to Bar Milano, even though the Murray Hill northern Italian restaurant "bungles its pasta dishes,"  has "awful acoustics," and is "slickness incarnate." [NYT]
• The Post's Steve Cuozzo gives thumbs-ups to the "luscious" food at John McDonald's Brasserie 44 at the Royalton, but warns patrons to beware "the psychic toll of traversing the losers' lounge that was previously Manhattan's sexiest hotel space." [NYP]
• The New Yorker's Lauren Collins is the latest to make mincemeat out of Robert De Niro's Ago, "the most cynical California import since Euro Disney." [New Yorker]

• Taking on restaurant-y wine bars, the Times' Frank Bruni gives a star apiece to Jody Williams' Gottino and Marco Canora's Terroir, where he deems the pork blade steak the best dish he's had in months. [NYT]
• Going with a barbecue-themed double review, New York's Adam Platt finds some "compulsively tasty" dishes at Anita Lo's Asian 'cue spot Bar Q (two stars) but has fewer kind words for Steve Hanson's Wildwood (one star). [NYM]

• 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]
• They're going to have to rename popular West Village spot Market Table, uh, Table: It's ditching its market section to make way for more seating. [Strong Buzz]
• The long wait for Jean-Georges Vongerichten's soba house Matsugen to open is over. Hysteria, commence! [Eater]
• How Frank Bruni's delightful smackdown of Robert De Niro's Ago stacks up with other gems in the Bruni ouevre, like his annihilation of Ninja and his night at cleavage carnival Robert's Steak House. [Blackbook]
• Gray Kunz may revive his Cafe Gray in what's now Oceana. [Food Writer's Diary]

Note to restaurateurs: spilling wine on Frank Bruni's dining companions is not the fastest way to his heart. That's what we learn from the Bruni's hilariously abusive zero-star review of Ago, Robert De Niro's Italian restaurant in the Greenwich Hotel. Said downpour of sauvignon kicked off his train-wreck of a meal. But this wasn't any old spill—"I'm talking about the "Poseidon Adventure" of wine spills. Shelley Winters could have done the backstroke in it." And this happened before Bruni was even seated. Somehow, some way, everything went downhill from there. Other amusingly terrible aspects of his dinner: More