• Get ready to add a new food blog to your bookmarks: The city's Department of Health is launching a dining blog later this week, but it won't list the dirtiest restaurants. [amNY]

• Barack Obama's beating John McCain … in the cookie polls! [amNY]
Related: What to Eat (or Crush Into a Ball of Crumbs) During the Debate: Palin Cookies!

• Boston-area restaurateurs are banding together to demand lower prices from food vendors. Here's hoping New York does the same. [Boston Herald]

• Dean & DeLuca has entered the burger-making fray with its new midtown west location. [Midtown Lunch]

• We generally like to read about what chefs do in the kitchen, but perhaps you'd like to know that Adam Perry Lang of Daisy May's BBQ USA has a simply decorated living room containing a sleeper sofa. [NYP]