• Oh, dear: “Molecular cocktails” — think watermelon foam on top of your Champagne — are the new trend at some of the city’s best bars. [amNY]

• With the reopening of the Cheyenne Diner in Red Hook, it looks like there will also be a Water Taxi Beach–like space there, as well as a beer garden. [Eater]

• Top Chef’s Hung Huynh wants a spot on team USA for the Bocuse d’Or. [YumSugar]
Related: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Bocuse d’Or Competition But Were Afraid to Ask

• In the latest development in ridiculously priced food, Wall Street Burger Shoppe has introduced a $175 Kobe burger that comes topped with — what else? — truffles, foie gras, and gold. [NYDN]

• The U.S. Agriculture Department raised its food-inflation forecast for the third consecutive month; if the figure rises again next month, it could match inflation in 1990. [WSJ]

• Ilili’s chef-owner, Philippe Massoud, may listen to disco when the mood is right, but he doesn’t allow any music to be played in the kitchen of his restaurant. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

Bobby Flay is entering the upscale-burger game with a chain of restaurants called Bobby’s Burger Palace. [GlobeSt.com via A Hamburger Today]

Gossip Girl fanatics will be happy to know that Gilt has added Serena’s much-beloved grilled cheese with truffle oil to the bar menu. Only $50! [Zagat]
Related: Is ‘Gossip Girl’ the Most Restauranty Show Since ‘Sex and the City’?

The Times says the entrée is on its way out at restaurants all over the country, thanks to a loss of interest in “big, protein-laden main dishes.” [NYT]

Wondering who actually orders $1,000 bagel or a $28,000 bejeweled sundae? Serendipity 3 owner Stephen Bruce “wouldn’t be surprised if soon we get a call from a Middle Eastern prince or Shah willing to give something sweet to his many wives on his next trip to the city.” [News.Com.Au]
Related: Have White Truffles Finally Gone Too Far?
Breaking: Serendipity 3 Closed by DOH

Since chefs, mixologists, and their restaurants are the newest breed of celebrity, it's about time they started designing clothes. Get dressed at Freemans, Death & Co., and PDT. [Mouthing Off/Food&Wine]

Restaurateur Jimmy Bradley on the source of his managing prowess: “The Art of War by Sun Tzu taught me many leadership and organizational lessons.” [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

A citywide truffle shortage can explain why “the Waverly Inn jacked up the price of its infamous truffle-topped mac & cheese from $55 to $85. The dish was an amusing punch line at $55; at $85, it's just obscene.” [NYP]
Related: Le Cirque Bids High for Monster Truffle

Bruni eschews all the courtesies one suffers at the dinner table, which he refers to as restaurantspeak: “Would I ‘enjoy coffee with dessert?’ I don’t know; it depends how good the coffee is. I’ll have some, yes, then we’ll see.” [NYT]

FR.OG has now lost Jean Georges alum chef Didier Virot to the Plaza’s new restaurant-to-be, the Palm Court, set to open later this year. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

A madman grabbed knives from the Texas Smokehouse Barbecue and started slashing people in Murray Hill until he was gunned down. [NYP]

Traci Des Jardins is the first one overboard at The Next Iron Chef. [Serious Eats]

A lot of good restaurants have failed health inspections, leading to: “You'll pay $90 for a prix-fixe meal complete with foie gras and lobster at celebrity chef David Bouley's namesake restaurant — just watch out for eight-legged appetizers.” [NYP]

Neil Ferguson, the former chef at Gordon Ramsay, will be in charge of the kitchen at Allen and Delancey when the place finally opens in September. [NYT]
Related: Allen and Delancey Tripped at the Finish Line, Won't Open

The city’s Chinese fine-dining restaurants are on the run, the victims of changing tastes, high costs, and slim margins. The East Side’s Sichuan Pavilion just went under, and even the genre’s grande dame, Shun Lee Palace, is now peopled mostly by seniors. [NYS]

Organic chef Matthew Kenney, best known for his acrimonious exit from Pure Food and Wine, is back in town and preparing to open a retail prepared-organic-foods business. [NYS]
Related: Raw Foodist Sarma Melngailis Drinks Grapefruit Sake Mojitos Before Noon

Top Chef runner-up Sam Talbot is out at what was to be his debut restaurant, Spitzer’s Corner. [Eater]

The FDA is facing increasing ire about its having largely abdicated its regulatory role. Even the produce industry wants the agency to do its job; suppliers are “virtually begging for stronger intervention.” [NYT]

Salsa mogul gives the Culinary Institute of America $35 million to advance the careers of Latin cooks and kitchen workers and to “deepen the United States’ relationship with food from Latin America.” [NYT]

The city’s rat-patrol chief vows that “the rats will not win.” [NYT]

In Vogue, Jeffrey Steingarten reveals that New York’s top unemployed chef, Paul Liebrandt, is doing a restaurant with Drew Nieporent. Snack asserts it’s Montrachet. [Snack]

Amusing slam of Bruni’s Robert’s Steakhouse review from conservative mainstay National Review. Need we say more? [National Review Online]