Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

In the latest issue of Men's Vogue, Hud Morgan recounts a recent visit to Richie Akiva and Scott Sartiano's club 1OAK, where he finds that despite the meltdown, everyone's still having lots of fun. More

♦  Table 8 inside the Cooper Square Hotel isn't expected to open for another two months, but that didn't stop chef Govind Armstrong from giving a preview to 60 guests at hotelier Klaus Ortlieb's Tribeca loft last night. [NYO]
♦  The opening night of Tom Colicchio's Tuesday Dinner, went off without a hitch: Tom prepared a nine-course menu for 28 guests without breaking a sweat, and his wife showed up for moral support. [Forbes]
♦  Is 1OAK over? Richie Akiva and Scott Sartiano's club is now sending our email blasts asking to host your next party. [NYO]
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• Life after reality TV: Rocco DiSpirito will be competing on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. [AP]
• Please don't think of Sam Talbot as a sex object just because he's hot, tattooed, and 6'5". He'd like you to know he can cook, too. [NYT]
• McCain Foods—the makers of frozen french fries—has a new ad campaign timed for the elections. [AdAge]
• Whoops: H&H Bagels owner Helmer Toro owes the IRS more than $2 million. [NYP]
• Just in time for the end of summer, a comprehensive map of places to find lobster rolls in Manhattan. [Gothamist]
• The salad bar at Whole Foods may not be as healthy as you think, according to Mehmet Oz. [NYSun]
• Steve Lewis weighs in on the lawsuit against 1OAK and the bankruptcy of Mansion and Pink Elephant. [GNML]

Meet Daniel "Maimon" Kirschenbaum, Esq. He's only 29—he graduated law school in 2005—but it's safe to say that if the James Beard Foundation gave out an award to the biggest thorn in the side of New York-area restaurateurs, he'd rank up there with inspectors from the Department of Health and ungenerous restaurant critics. Kirschenbaum is a partner at a firm called Joseph & Herzfeld and the go-to man for servers and other restaurant employees when they take on their bosses for skimming tips or firing them without cause. Thanks to word of mouth (and well-placed ads on certain websites), Kirshenbaum has been obscenely prolific in the past couple of years. Just a few of his targets: Heartland Brewery, Nobu, Jean Georges,  B.B. King, Bouley, BondSt, Balthazar, One Little W 12, Abigail Kirsch, BLT Steak, BLT Prime,  BLT Fish, and 40/40.More

• Two waitresses at 1Oak say they were fired from Scott Sartiano's club so that they could be replaced with white girls. Now they have a lawsuit in the works. [P6]
• Michael Phelps was spotted making out with Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice at an Olympics party. Also, Phelps has signed on to write a book about his training regimen. [P6]
• Beth Ostrosky says rumors that she and Howard Stern were getting married last weekend were false, but that their real wedding is coming up soon. [ExtraTV]
• For David Blaine's next stunt, he's planning to hang upside down in Central Park for three days. [NYDN]

1OAK's Image Issue | It's been a bad couple of weeks for Richie Akiva and Scott Sartiano's 1OAK. First Diddy's Maybach was (supposedly) smashed outside. Then, rather suspiciously, precisely the same thing (supposedly) happened to Paolo Zampolli's Rolls a week later. Yesterday, there were rumors of a drug raid, which turned out to be false. Today brings news of a gay bashing. Lesson to be learned: Stay away from the club if you're not straight, you own a cheesy car worth more than $500,000, or if you have any sense whatsoever.

• If you're going to pay a farewell visit to the about-to-shutter Florent, forget about ordering eggs Florentine. The gas at the restaurant has been turned off for good. [Eater]
• The first auction of a reservation at David Chang's Momofuku Ko is underway, and the resy is already commanding a price of $620. The fact that this is a charity auction makes that a little less disturbing.[cMarket via Eater]
• Todd English is teaming with ex-Tao partner Sam Hazen to develop  "new concepts." [Grub Street]
• Just in time for summer, New York explains how to "suck out every last ounce of meat" out of a lobster. [NYM, video]
  
• GQ resto critic Alan Richman still ain't apologizing to nobody for his infamous 2006 piece insulting the food of New Orleans. [Metromix]
• Richie Akiva and Scott Sartiano's 1OAK did not get raided and temporarily shuttered for drug-related offenses last week, okay? [DBTH]

• Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey had a messy day in court yesterday. He's in debt to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars thanks to legal fees and alimony payments. Plus, he's got to pay his partner, Mark O'Donnell (who works for billionaire developer Charles Kushner) $3,000 a month in rent. True love! [NJ.com]
• Desperate publicity stunt du jour: JE Englebert, the owner of Prime and Suzie Wong's, is offering Lindsay Lohan a free mink coat after it was reported Lohan stole a coat from a Columbia student at 1Oak two weeks ago. [Page Six]
• Silda Wall Spitzer came out of hiding last night to make an appearance at a benefit for Children for Children, a foundation she founded. She looked "radiant," which may have something to do with the fact she left her disgraced husband at home. [NYDN]
• Derek Jeter may or may not be dating Minka Kelly, of NBC's Friday Night Lights. [Page Six]
• Kristin Davis tells Health magazine she was an alcoholic when she was younger. Not quite a sex tape but a nice little nugget of PR just a week before the Sex and the City movie opens. [Us Weekly]
• Ivana Trump's marriage to boytoy Rossano Rubicondi already appears to be in trouble. The couple never went on a honeymoon and then didn't turn up on the French Riviera as expected. Let's be optimistic and assume they've spent the last month locked away in luxurous suite sipping champagne and eating strawberries. [Page Six]