• Hot-dog-eating champ Joey Chestnut likes pizza, too: He ate 45 slices in ten minutes last weekend. "He never appeared to chew," writes a reporter with awe. [NYDN]

• A London critic, frustrated by his inability to get a seat at Momofuku Ko, recommends an alternative: Persimmon. [London Times]

• Restaurateur Pino Luongo — owner of Centolire and former owner of Il Cantinori and Sapore di Mare — has a memoir coming out. In it, he talks about Leona Helmsley sending back her cappucino, Sly Stallone getting upset over $800 bottles of wine, and how to deal with mobsters' cigarette machines. [NYP]

• Rafael Soler, a Vendy Award finalist, used to be a tailor until he found his calling selling Dominican food at the Red Hook ball fields. [NYT]

• How a bar stays open: the saga of West Village watering hole Rubyfruit. [NYT]