As Grub Street predicted last May, JetBlue's Terminal Five at JFK is going to be a foodie's paradise. Some of the city's most respected chefs are creating restaurants for the terminal, Florence Fabricant reports in the Times: “Mark Ladner of Del Posto will be responsible for AeroNuova, a rustic Italian trattoria. Michael Schulson, who left Buddakan for Izakaya in Atlantic City, is in charge of the menu for Deep Blue, a sushi and Asian restaurant. Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, the longtime executive chefs for Balthazar and Pastis, are responsible for a brasserie called La Vie. Alexandra Raij, who was at Tia Pol until May, is creating a tapas menu for Piquillo. And Roberto Santibañez, formerly of Rosa Mexicano restaurants, will oversee the food for Revolución.” That's pretty much what we had heard. It was hard to believe that such an imaginative thing could happen to airport dining, but so it has, and it stands to open in September.

Jet Blue Banks on Travelers’ Worldly Appetites [NYT]
Related: JFK’s Terminal Five Could Be the Greatest Airport Food Court Ever

Zagat’s 2008–2009 nightlife guide is out, and in his opening letter, editor Curt Gathje sums up the trends of the last year: No less than 22 wine bars opened; the “faux speakeasy” category saw nine newcomers; there were five new arrivals on the Bowery; the meatpacking district is becoming passé; roof decks became more elaborate; clubs like Socialista and Rose Bar replaced Bungalow 8 as the hardest to penetrate; and there was an uptick in midsize, popularly-priced music venues. Of course, we’ve been following these trends for a while now, so the real question is this: Who won the guide’s yearly popularity contest?

After almost a year of being picketed by grassroots group Brandworkers, Wild Edibles went on the offensive a few weeks ago by handing out leaflets outside of organizer Daniel Gross’s West Side apartment. The seafood distributor’s honcho, Richard Martin, says he’s merely giving Gross a taste of his own medicine — when Brandworkers protested outside of Danny Meyer’s apartment, the Union Square Hospitality Group dropped Wild Edibles. (Keith McNally cut ties to Wild Edibles, too, but Martin claims he did so only to prevent Brandworkers from picketing an SNL party at Pastis.)

With Florent and the Hog Pit closing because their rents have been raised to a reported $50,000 and $40,000 a month, respectively, Shecky’s charts what it calls the “de-evolution” of the meatpacking district — putting the peak at 1999–2000, when Pastis, Lotus, APT, and Passerby opened. Ah, what a time it was. But don’t get too teary eyed — in a video interview, Florent says that he doesn’t have a nostalgic bone in his body (though he wants to write his memoirs) and that, after all, he came to New York because it was all about flux. For those who are prone to wistfulness, we’ll be there to film Florent’s last night of business, on June 28.

Racid: The De-Evolution of the Meatpacking District [Shecky’s]

Yesterday Eater broke news that Florent’s landlord has been showing the building to potential tenants (Eater originally misidentified the landlord, so take that rumor for what it’s worth). Florent’s future has been tenuous for some time now — a June 2007 Daily News item mentions owner Florent Morellet trying to renegotiate his lease while neighbors closed shop. We’re hearing from one source that Florent’s lease is up in May, after which Florent will close. Another source says that Morellet planned to sell the business because his health is worsening (his T-cell count is displayed on one of the menu boards). So was it the Florent space that Anthony Martignetti was referring to when he told us he was considering opening a restaurant near Pastis? Who knows, it may also have been the old Rhone space, abandoned by Double Seven. Morellet wasn’t available for comment today, but we’ll keep you posted on what may be a double blow (remember, Passerby will soon close) to the meatpacking district.

Update: Asked whether Anthony Martignetti is considering the Florent space, a rep tells us she has no new information at this time. Note: She didn't say, “No.”

Related: SHOCK CLAIM: Florent Restaurant to Close This Year? [Eater]
Paris Shaped by the Pen [NYDN]
Earlier: Anthony Martignetti Plots a New Restaurant Over Croissants at Pastis
Passerby Hasn’t Quite Passed On

Our fave waitress Courtney Yates isn’t the only face Belvedere Vodka is using to try to look cool — the company, in association with UrbanDaddy, is running Web interviews with David Rabin, owner of Los Dados and Lotus, and Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum, owners of Tenjune. Remm and Birnbaum don’t exactly steer toward the underexposed when asked for their favorite restaurants: BondSt, Nobu, Bar Pitti, Los Dados, Mr. Chow, the Spotted Pig, Pastis, Buddakan, Dos Caminos Soho, Cipriani, Butter, Rose Bar, and Waverly Inn.

Keith McNally can appreciate the effectiveness of a good rally — you’ll recall he personally protested the billboard that’s going up atop the Gansevoort Hotel. So when workers rallied outside of Pastis over the restaurant’s use of provisions from Wild Edibles (which has been sued over allegations of unpaid overtime), you can bet McNally listened. Brandworkers International announced today that Balthazar, Schiller’s, Morandi, Pravda, and Lucky Strike will no longer use products from the company until the dispute is resolved. Comrade McNally, we’re heading to Pravda right now to toast you with a horseradish-and-poached-egg martini.

Earlier: Wild Edibles Gets Caught in the Net of the Law

In the latest labor-law fiasco, thirteen employees of Wild Edibles, which sells seafood to restaurants like Union Square Cafe and Pastis as well as the general public via its retail stores, have filed a lawsuit against the company for failure to pay overtime. According to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, David Rankin, and as is evident in copies of the complaint we’ve obtained, the individuals — most of them warehouse workers — worked in excess of 50 hours a week for flat wages varying from $450 to $550 (“right on the edge of minimum-wage violations,” Rankin says, though he decided not to pursue those charges). Rankin also says that four workers were unjustly fired after they requested overtime pay at the end of August, and that another worker was unfairly written up for stealing fish. A motion for a restraining order, which we’ve also obtained, will be heard in court tomorrow. Between the overfishing and underpaying, caviar is truly getting hard to swallow.

Cesar A. Barturen, et al. vs. Wild Edibles [PDF]
Memorandum in Support of Restraining Order [PDF]

When top out-of-town chefs move to New York, it’s always a crapshoot. Some, like Fort Worth’s Tim Love, come in conspicuously and wash out; others, like Atlanta’s Sotohiro Kosugi, now at Soto, come in under the radar but quickly grab our attention. L.A.’s Govind Armstrong doesn’t expect much of a problem: The ultra-laid-back chef made South Beach his own and expects New York to treat him equally well. “A lot of New Yorkers come down here to Miami, and I’ve been coming up there forever, so I have a lot of friends to support me,” he tells us. “I’m not trying to reinvent the way New Yorkers eat. But I can’t not grow, you know?”