Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Most magazine editors spend their days discussing story ideas with writers and editors, reviewing copy, and deciding what pieces will appear in upcoming issues. Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter? He does that, too, but the part-time restaurateur also carves out a chunk of time every day to tend to the "daily process of populating the dining room" at Monkey Bar, a "choreography" he performs in conjunction with an associate editor at the magazine. (So, yes, while Condé Nast is currently laying off staffers, it's also pays one to manage the seating chart for Carter's little side project.) So how does Carter go about performing this pleasureless ("I'm like the guy with the sandbags") and clearly unhealthy task, one that's especially challenging since so many people want a reservation, the restaurant has been reduced to only accepting table requests by email? More

Michelle Obama was the main attraction at Time magazine's sixth annual 100 "most influential" ceremony at Lincoln Center last night. She was joined by a predictably massive group of A-listers, including Oprah, Harvey Weinstein, Mort Zuckerman, Steve Schwarzman, Jeff Bewkes, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Carine Roitfeld, Gayle King, Stella McCartney, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler, Jay Leno, Lorne Michaels, Jimmy Fallon and Nancy Juvonen, Charlie Rose, David Lauren and Lauren Bush, Ann Coulter, Suze Orman, Arianna Huffington, Kate Betts, Andy Serwer, Paul Krugman, Vivi Nevo and Ziyi Zhang, Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews ... More

What do Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Anna Wintour, André Leon Talley, Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, Naomi Campbell, Liam Neeson, Sheila Nevins, Liz Smith and Cindy Adams have in common? They all go to the same podiatric surgeon, Dr. Suzanne Levine, according to the Observer. But you probably guessed that, didn't you? Levine reports she's busy these days getting fashionista feet ready for spring with injections of Botox or Juvederm. (She also has "foot facial" that she offers for $225.) As for which one of her boldfaced patients is pictured above, you can click on the "More" for the answer, if you're interested.More

The Savannah College of Art and Design held its Style Etoile Awards at the James Cohan Gallery on Monday night. The evening's honorees included Russell Simmons, Amanda Burden, Cornelia Guest, Robin Givhan, and William Ivey Long (left), and attendees at the event included Cynthia Rowley, Agnes Gund, Michael Fink, Yigal Azrouël, Mario Buatta, Bobby Zarem, music exec Michael Mauldin and his wife Judy, producer Tom Fontana, SCAD president Paula Wallace, Ann Slater, designer Lars Nilsson, and Russell's brother and girlfriend—Danny Simmons and Julie Henderson. [PMc, Wireimage, WWD, NYSD] More

Valentino and Vogue co-hosted a cocktail party to benefit New Yorkers For Children at Valentino's Madison Avenue store last night. Guests included Fabiola Beracasa and Erin Fetherston (left), Fern Mallis, Tinsley Mortimer, Valesca Guerrand-Hermès, Maggie Betts, Paul Sevigny, Bebe Neuwirth, Jennifer Creel, Selita Ebanks, Alina Cho, Kate Schelter, Antony Todd, Tatiana Platt, Kevin Liles, Denise Wohl, Di Petroff, Felicia Taylor, Erica and Geraldo Rivera, Sylvester and Gillian Miniter, Dori Cooperman, Maggie Rizer, Allison Sarofim, Lydia Fenet, Vanessa von Bismarck, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Susan Shin, Tracy Stern, Melissa Berkelhammer, Stephanie LaCava, and, yes, "Real Housewife" Alex McCord and her husband Simon van Kempen. [PMc, Wireimage, VF, SF] More

Not in the Office for Much Longer: Liz Smith | Yesterday it was revealed that the Post had decided to part ways with longtime gossip Liz Smith. Her last column will appear in the paper tomorrow. But before she heads out the door, you can have a listen to the voicemail that greeted callers when the 86-year-old was running around town hunting down juicy bits of gossip (or, say, having long lunches with her pals). It's our farewell salute to an industry legend. Best of luck, Liz, and thanks for the memories. [Previous voicemails]

The Post is dropping gossip columnist Liz Smith. The reason? The economy, naturally. "Like so many other newspapers around the nation, we are buffeted by unprecedented economic gales," Col Allan, the Post's editor, explained in a letter to Smith earlier this month when he informed her that the paper had decided not to renew her $125,000-a-year contract. But if you're thinking the 86-year-old gossip is planning to retire her quill pen, think again! Smith says she'll continue turning out a column five days a week for syndication to other newspapers, she'll be penning a twice-a-week column for Daily Variety, and she's also signed on as a contributing editor of Parade magazine. Oh, and she'll be contributing to wowOwow, the website for elderly women that she co-founded last year, where, she says, she's looking forward to posting scoops "free from the constraints of newspaper deadlines." [NYT]

GQ held its second annual "Best New Menswear Designer in America" competition last night in conjunction witht he CFDA. Finalists like Andre "3000" Benjamin, David Mullen, Alex Carleton, Robert Geller, Sam Shipley, Jeff Halmos, and Yigal Azrouel were joined by guests like Tommy Hilfiger, Fern Mallis (left), Thom Browne, Jim Nelson, Kelly Cutrone, Phillip Lim, Derek Lam, Peter Som, Rory Tahari, Chase Crawford, Steven Kolb, Ally Hilfiger, Fonzworth Bentley, David Chu, Ryan Leslie, David Lauren, Katie Lee Joel, Glenn O'Brien, Steven Alan, Calvin Klein mens creative director Italo Zucchelli, GQ publisher Peter Hunsinger, and last year's winner, Daiki Suzuki. [PMc, NYO, FWD] More

Peggy Siegal invited a media-heavy crowd to the Oak Room last night to watch the Super Bowl. Sports Illustrated editor Terry McDonell was in attendance (apparently, budget cuts prevented him from flying to Tampa in person); and some folks, such as former HarperCollins chief Jane Friedman, left, even donned 3-D glasses to fully appreciate the commercials. Others on hand for the festivities: Richard Johnson, Ron Perelman, Dan Abrams, Dave Zinczenko, Joanne Lipman, Charlie Rose, George Rush, Richard Meier, Cece Cord, Kate Betts, Gay Talese, Rocco DiSpirito, Chuck Scarborough, Francine LeFrak, Andrew and Nancy Jarecki, Ron Delsener, Ken Auletta, Larry Gagosian, Lewis Lapham, Steve Kroft, Lloyd Grove, Morgan Entrekin, Ann Dexter-Jones, Harry Smith, Liz Smith, Cynthia McFadden, and Felicia Taylor. [PMc, NYO, GoaG, Fox 411]

Happy Birthday | Barry Diller turns 67 today. Gossip columnist Liz Smith is 86. Christie Brinkley is celebrating her 55th. Shakira is turning 32. The Food Network's Ina Garten, better known as the Barefoot Contessa, is 61. Veteran actress Elaine Stritch is turning 84. Marissa Jaret Winokur of Hairspray fame is 36. Farrah Fawcett is turning 62. And Dog the Bounty Hunter's Duane Chapman turns 56 today.

Liz Throws a Stone from Her Glass House | Confidential to Liz Smith: We're thinking it probably isn't the best idea to start off any of your FoxNews.com video segments by describing the New York Times as "staid" and "old." Sure, the Times was founded way back in 1851, but that means it's just 72 years older than you are. Click on the video to see the clip for yourself.

Given she's 85 years old, you'll have to excuse gossip columnist Liz Smith for speaking so damn slowly. But that still doesn't mean we have any idea what she's talking about in this clip about Sarah Palin. After describing her as the "champion of the ordinary American person" and "half-Alaskan Amazon, half Venus of Willendorf"—and also pointing out that she has a "big, attractive family)—Smith explains what will happen if Palin doesn't win in November. She'll go back to Alaska and brush up on her foreign policy, Smith says, and then come back to Washington in four years and get elected president! Looks like someone forgot to take their Aricept pill this morning!

Lots of people are coming to the defense of Michael's, the media hangout that was subjected to a bruising review by Frank Bruni in the Times last week. Caroline Bankoff of the Observer chatted with David Patrick Columbia who says he found the review "ridiculous" and thought Frank Bruni was being excessively "bitchy." Elderly gossip Liz Smith (pictured here with Michael's owner, Michael McCarty) observed that no one goes there for the food, but that she's fond of the place for the "greeting" she receives and the "physical situation," whatever that means. More

• Is Madonna have a secret romance with Alex Rodriguez? The two have been spending late nights together at her apartment and they've been spotted working out together, too. Rodriguez's wife Cynthia can't be pleased by any of this. [Us]
• Guy isn't letting Madonna go without a fight. He flew to New York yesterday (sans ring) either to spend quality time with Madonna before she leaves on tour, or to repair their relationship, depending on what you read. [E!]
• Lindsay Lohan's maybe-half-sister finally has a face. Kristi Kaufmann says her daughter, Ashley, is the 13-year-old child of Michael Lohan. Michael says nobody will know for sure until the paternity test comes back positive and if the test comes back negative, he's planning on suing for defamation. [NYP]
• Rosie O'Donnell is furious that Cindy Adams has reported that she's split up with Kelli Carpenter. So she's now having her rep, Cindi Berger, tell people that Adams is a lesbian who doesn't know it yet. Liz Smith is the lesbian, Rosie. [Us]