Nobu

Paris Hilton broke up with Benji Madden so she could return to pursuing attention full time. [US Weekly]

Bill Clinton and David Paterson bonded over a back massage at yesterday's Triborough Bridge renaming ceremony. [P6]

Jessica Biel will not be overseeing a handbag line for boyfriend Justin Timberlake's William Rast label which, given the quality of most celebrity handbag designs, is probably for the best. [The Cut]

James Franco is perfectly comfortable doing two gay roles in a row. [R&M] 

Fidel Castro has approved Steven Soderbergh's Che for Havana's New Latin American Film Festival, though the cast will have to receive permission from the U.S. to attend the screening. [P6]

Unlike the Los Angeles outpost, New York's Nobu will not be offering a recession special. [Grub Street via Blackbook]

 

Famous faces have long adorned the walls of New York restaurants, from the caricatures of world leaders at the Palm to the autographed glossies of pro athletes at the Pump. But when the chef Laurent Tourondel opened BLT Market in the Ritz Carlton at Central Park last fall, he decided to decorate the new space with snapshots of a guy cradling a duck; another one wielding a big slab of ribs; and a saintly looking woman sporting a wheel of cheese as if it were a halo.

These hitherto anonymous purveyors—butchers, farmers, fishmongers—are the new stars of a New York food scene consumed with carefully “sourced” ingredients.  read more »

First, David Chang limited our access to his 12-seat Momofuku Ko by instituting the online only reservation system that one must return to at 10 a.m. every morning for weeks--and be quick with the mouse--in order to even have a chance of reserving a seat.

Now, Mr. Chang won't even allow us to get a glimpse of this precious food!

Eater reported yesterday that Mr. Chang has banned all cameras inside Ko and Serious Eats followed up by calling up some of New York's noteworthy restaurateurs to ask them about their policies towards camera-toting restaurant goers.

Mario Batali and Drew Nieporent, founder of the Myriad Restaurant Group that owns Nobu, said that while they don't stop people from taking photos, they ask guests to be considerate to the diners around them and not disturb them with the repeated flashes.  read more »