Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Happy Birthday | Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock is 38 today. Joni Mitchell is 65. Reverend Billy Graham is 90. General David Petraeus is turning 56. Former Brady Bunch star Christopher Knight turns 51. Lost star Yunjin Kim is 35. Interior designer John Barman is 59. And twin actors Jeremy and Jason London are 36. Weekend birthdays after the jump. More

♦  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

New York restaurateurs may be panicked about the economy, but all is well in Qatar! This week it was reported that the Four Seasons in Doha will be home to the latest incarnation of Nobu. (A Dubai outpost opened earlier this month.) Gordon Ramsay is supposedly looking at two different sites in town for an eatery he has planned. And when Doha's new W Hotel opens in a couple of months, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market will be located in the lobby. Less exciting news, at least as far as New Yorkers are concerned: "Bollywood legend" Asha Bhosle has also opened a high-profile restaurant in Doha, and a branch of the Hard Rock Café is coming, too. [The Penninsula via Luxist]

♦  A very modest Daniel Boulud says his restaurant on the Bowery will be "the greatest diner on earth." [NYP]
♦  Serge Becker's new Swiss restaurant, Cafe Select, is finally open to the public, albeit only for lunch for the moment. [Eater]
♦  Frank Bruni says he doesn't understand the concept of bottle service. This might have something to do with the fact that he's 43. [NYT]
♦  Apparently you can find some decent food in Little Italy. [Metromix]
♦  Photos from Little Italy's festival of San Gennaro. [GoaG]
♦  Marco Pierre White thinks fellow Brit chef Gordon Ramsay is boring and only interested in money. [NY Sun]
♦  A round-up of the best bagels in New York.  [VV via Eater]
♦  Alaskans really do eat moose meat. They serve it as steak, make it into hamburger meat, and even use it as a pizza topping. Yum. [NYT]

• The premiere of Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin and Michael Phelps as guest host generated the show's best season debut since 2001. [THR]
• Not exactly the most auspicious timing, but Slate's new finance site, The Big Money, launched today. [NYT]
• A redesigned WSJ.com will debut tomorrow morning. [NYT/Bits]
• Joel and Ethan Coen's Burn After Reading was the No. 1 movie at the box office this weekend with $19.4 million in receipts. [THR]
• David Carr on Katie Couric's surprising election season rebound. [NYT]
• Levi's new ad campaign is focusing on the gay market. [NYT]
• ABC's generated solid ratings on Friday night with part two of Charles Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin. [TVDecoder]
• Fox has signed a "mega-renewal" deal with Gordon Ramsey. [Variety]
  

• Gordon Ramsay says he's partnering with Victoria Beckham to open a restaurant in LA. Yes, a restaurant. Whether she'll actually taste any of the food served there is anybody's guess. [P6]
• Kirsten Dunst tells Harper's Bazaar that the real reason she went into rehab earlier this year was because of depression, and because she's "enormously co-dependent." [People]
• Mariah Carey's former record producer is writing a book about their four-year relationship although Carey's lawyers are hoping to put a stop to it. [P6]
• Behind the scenes video from Ellen DeGeneres's wedding to Portia de Rossi. [NYDN]
  

• Drew Nieporent chats about the forthcoming Nobu in Herzliya, Israel and shares details about his singing career. Yes, he sings, too. [Blackbook]
• Top Chef may be filming at Eric Ripert's Le Bernardin tomorrow night. [Eater]
• Six New York chefs reveal who they'll be voting for this fall. [TONY]
• John McDonald loves Jean-Georges and Peter Luger's, hates parking tickets and paying taxes. [NYM]
• Anthony and Tom Martignetti have shuttered Bella's. [GoaG]
  
• It's a miniature Gordon Ramsay! [Style.com]

• Scott Conant is now "poised to become Molto Mario's heir apparent," or so says the Observer. [NYO]
• John Schaeffer has departed Irving Mill. [NY Sun]
• Quite the crowd showed up at a community board meeting to oppose renewing the Beatrice Inn's liquor license. One special guest: Amy Sedaris. [Eater]
• An interview with doorman Aalex Julian of Tenjune. [BlackBook]
• A new Gordon Ramsay video game "rewards players for how well they cook recipes from Ramsay's own repertoire." [NYP]
• Clo, a "sleek, high-tech wine bar" opens on Saturday in the Time Warner Center. [NYT]

If it feels like every week brings news of yet another cash-strapped American company raising money from Abu Dhabi or Dubai or selling itself entirely to one of these emirates, it isn't your imagination. From real estate (the GM building) to finance (Citigroup), cash has been pouring in from the Middle East as of late. But the expressway of money goes in both directions. Today the Times covered many of the banks setting up shop in Dubai. But loads of other prominent New Yorkers are heading East to take advantage of the petro-dollar gravy train. Here's a look at the growing list of prominent restaurateurs, fashion designers, architects, and real estate developers setting up shop in one of the world's fastest-growing—and richest—regions.

Fashion
You don't have to manufacture diamond-encrusted burkas to get in on petrobillionaires' wives' ravenous appetite for designer duds. New York-based fashion gurus are opening boutiques in Dubai's constantly multiplying high-end malls (places like the famous Mall of the Emirates, which sports the world's largest indoor ski slope). So far Michael Kors and Betsey Johnson have gotten in on the action, there are two Calvin Klein boutiques in the emirate, an outpost of Saks Fifth Avenue recently opened there, and designer Karl Lagerfeld has signed a deal to design 80 limited-edition homes on Isla Moda, the world's "first dedicated fashion island." A Dubai outpost of Barneys seems likely in light of its 2007 takeover by Dubai-based investment firm Isthimar.More