Jean-Georges Vongerichten

An anonymous restaurateur dishing to Vanity Fair on developer El-Ad's efforts to drum up interest in the Plaza Hotel's swank Oak Room and Oak Bar [via Eater]:

“They said, Well, if you don’t take it, Danny Meyer [owner of Manhattan’s Union Square Café and Gramercy Tavern] is going to take it. And then I’d call Danny Meyer and he’d be like, I don’t want that place. I told them I might look at it, but there’s no way I’ll take it.… And then they’d say, O.K., [renowned chef] Jean-Georges [Vongerichten] is going to take it. So I’d call Jean-Georges. It’s like they’re too stupid to realize that it’s a small community of restaurateurs. And I can just pick up the phone and ask them!”

Paris Hilton's flack is denying reports that the heiress left two of her many dogs outside to be mauled by coyotes, insisting that the Chihuahuas are "healthy and happy" in their "doggie mansion." [People] 

Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley said that Jessica Stroup and Shenae Grime of rival high school soap opera Beverly Hills 90210 should "eat a double cheeseburger or something" and praised his female co-stars for not being "bone-thin." [US Weekly] 

Reportedly, a first-class passenger on a flight with Ivana Trump offered to switch seats with the socialite after she was given a coach seat due a flight change. Her rep insists that this had nothing to do with her pouting or complaints about nearby children, but because the concerned stewardess, "asked someone to switch because Ivana always travels in first class.  read more »

“Where’s the noodle man?”

When my son was a boy, he loved to watch the noodle man at Honmura An, the only authentic soba restaurant in the city. The noodle man worked in a glass booth in the dining room, where he’d pummel the dough, toss it in the air and roll it out, never once making a hole. Then, using an enormous carving knife, he’d slice the dough into perfect, foot-long strands that he hung up to dry.

Honmura An closed last year, leaving its fans bereft. But now soba cuisine has returned with Matsugen, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s new Japanese restaurant in Tribeca.  read more »

Following his departure from the Daily News, former Gatecrasher columnist Ben Widdicombe took off for Istanbul for a much needed gossip-free vacay. But his job followed him!

"Having run away to Istanbul to try and start enjoying life it's funny how NYC comes with you," he writes to The Daily Transom. And:

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Welcome to Tribeca.

Built in 1901, this former textile building was converted to condos and brought in some notable tenants; including, Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Ms. Johansson's duplex loft includes 22-foot ceilings, Tuscan walls, Brazilian cherry wood floors, and double-height windows.  read more »

Corcoran brokers Daren Herzberg and Julie Pham had the listing.