• Illegal barbecuing is so out-of-control in Prospect Park that rangers will be deployed to prevent anyone from firing up the charcoal outside of the park’s designated grilling areas. [Brooklyn Paper]

• Having been booted from the Food Network prime-time lineup in May, Emeril Live is moving to Fine Living, which will air new episodes of the popular cooking show. [Food Network Addict]

• The beverage director of Porter House New York won a competition to update the gin-and-tonic with his chile-infused version. [NYDN]

• Not only is Zinc Bar moving and taking over the Baggot Inn, but its owners will also take over an upstairs space in the same building and open a wine bar. [Zagat Buzz]

• Andy Nusser will oversee Tarry Lodge, the Batali-Bastianich pizzeria opening in Port Chester. [Slice]

• Tavern on the Green will open a 40,000-square-foot outpost in San Francisco next summer. [NYS]

• Former Knick Charles Oakley has already taped three episodes of a cooking show called Café Oakley. [NYP]

• Scores owner Richard Goldring thinks the crackdown on his strip clubs was a violation of his First Amendment rights. [NYO]

• Who should Peter Meehan’s successor at the Times be, according to him? “Somebody fucking hungry, that’s for sure.” [Eater]

• Just like food prices, beer prices are expected to rise due to global warming. [NYP]

• With lying chef Robert Irvine out of the way, Iron Chef Michael Symon will serve as the new star of the popular show Dinner: Impossible.
Related: Surprise, Surprise: Robert Irvine Gets the Boot From the Food Network

• Alain Ducasse’s Benoit opened yesterday in the former La Côte Basque space, and though it’s not as expensive as Adour, it’s still a pricey bistro. [Zagat Buzz]

• Dom DeMarco of Di Fara, the Saint of Avenue J, continues to be worshipped as a godlike figure. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

• A Wall Street analyst who covers fast food is researching his sector by eating at “quick service” restaurants daily. [NYP]

• The McCain recipes weren’t just taken from the Food Network Website, but also from a cookbook one New York Times writer wrote. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

• Jean-Georges Vongerichten is considering opening a restaurant in Vancouver, just a month after Daniel Boulud signed a deal there, too. [Vancouver Sun]

For the second year in a row, Barilla has released a downloadable cookbook featuring Mario Batali’s recipes for cooking for celebs like Natalie Portman and Stanley Tucci. You may have to fill out a stupid survey to access it, but for every download Barilla is donating $1 to America’s Second Harvest. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]

Food Network chef Robert Irvine, whose bulging muscles put together meals on Dinner: Impossible, turns out to be huge liar, having fabricated a past that involves being a knight in England and being a full-fledged White House chef. [St. Petersburg Times via Gawker]

Irritable chef Gordon Ramsay likes to relax with a Sunday supper of roast beef, over which he likes to emphasize manners and social skills with his children. [WSJ]

Hearst Publications is supposedly in talks with the Food Network to publish a new food magazine and has been stealing editors from Every Day With Rachael Ray for months. The only problem? The channel’s big stars don’t seem to be a part of the publication. [Mixed Media/Portfolio]

Soto chef Sotohiro Kosugi responds to fears of too much mercury in tuna. “Eat with balance. Balance of meals is the key to a healthy life.” [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Related: Sushi Eaters Face Tuna Fears

Neil Ferguson, Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, and others are leading a full-on British culinary invasion on our shores. [Chicago Tribune]

At long last, Jamie Oliver is returning to Food Network; catch him battling Mario Batali on Iron Chef America Sunday night, and then stay tuned for a preview of his new show, Jamie at Home. [Eat for Victory/VV]

If anyone's going to see mice in your restaurant, food writers are the worst-case scenario. Right, Mermaid Inn? [The Feed/TONY]

One man who’s had enough of unsolicited menus showing up under his door has designed a wannabe deterrent. [BoingBoing via Gothamist]

Sweet glory, Shake Shack reopens today at 11:30! You can call ahead to place your order, but you won’t be enjoying the new heaters until next week. [Eater]

The British agree: Adam Platt's term “haute barnyard” defines the prevailing dining trend. [Guardian]
Related: The Haute Barnyard Hall of Fame

The manager of Sarabeth’s on Central Park South caught a 50-year-old thief taking $27 from her pocketbook over the weekend. [NYP]

With Batali and Emeril out of her way, “homegrown star” Rachael Ray has just inked a two-year deal for a new prime-time series on the Food Network. [Eater]

It’s nothing he hasn’t said before, but the wordiness of some menus gets on the Bruni’s nerves. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

Forget turducken: British chef Phillip Corrick has created a monster that involves at least 48 birds of a dozen different species and feeds 125 people. [Daily Mail]

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee chose T.G.I. Friday’s when a Times reporter offered to take him to lunch anywhere in the city, but Huck ultimately settled for the Olive Garden. [NYT via Serious Eats]

The Food Network’s ratings are hurting, which might help to explain why Emeril Live got canned. [NYT]

How do Thomas Keller and Mario Batali fare against McDonald's when it comes to calories? Keller's veal breast and polenta and Batali's pork loin are worse for you than a Big Mac, but who cares? [WSJ

Esca chef David Pasternack will be right at home in the new Mets stadium come 2010, running a place called the Fish Shack. [Insatiable Critic]
Related: Hark! New Shake Shack to Open at Shea Stadium

Kim Severson just ruined our breakfast with a look at PETA’s "Got Pus?" campaign and the question of whether or not milk contains pus. Let's all share the nausea, shall we? [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

A Brooklyn pizza maker accused of gunning down a mobster was acquitted yesterday, but the case still reinforces those old mafia-in-cahoots-with-Italian-joints stereotypes. [NYDN]

Gordon Ramsay has been busted for new TV fakery — in this case pretending that three fish caught by someone else had been taken by him while spearfishing. [London Times]

The Google employee cafeteria is apparently even better than rumored, with a raw bar, seviche station, 50 different small farm suppliers, and even a Chef’s Wall of Fame. [Food & Wine]

Want to impress your posse by paying $90 for a bottle of water? Bling H20 is conspicuous consumption in a bottle. [NYDN]
Related: We’ll Have Your Finest Bottle of Water…

A car plows into the venerable Hop Kee restaurant in Chinatown. The restaurant is damaged, and one person is hurt. [Downtown Express]

Izakaya invasion! The city now boasts everything from simple sake joints with food to full-blown small-plate restaurants. [NYDN]

The official Times take on the Neroni Affair includes this classic quote, in defense of the Desperate Chef: “If Marco didn’t want anyone signing checks, including Jason, he should have put the checkbook in the safe.” [NYT]

The owner of Porchetta claims that not only was Jason Neroni fired but that the termination was for misappropriation of funds — and there’s a warrant out for his arrest. (If so, the Desperate Chef is hiding in plain sight, as we just saw him last night at the TONY awards.) [Eater]

Nearly everyone got an award at last night's Time Out New York food awards, including Per Se for Best Splurge and A Voce for New Restaurant of the Year. But the Russian Tea Room for Best Reopening? Those manipulated blurbs must be working. [TONY]

Talk about gross dereliction: The Department of Health, it turns out, ignored complaints about that KFC–Taco Bell for two months before sending an inspector — who did such a bad job that she would have been fired had she not just quit. [NYP]