Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• Daniel Boulud's DBGB debuts Monday. Grub Street has pics. [GS]
• Also opening on Monday: the least recession-friendly restaurant to come along in months. Have a look around SHO Shaun Hergatt at the Setai in the financial district. [Eater]
• Not opening Monday, but will be open soon: Hotel Griffou, which is in "celebrity-preview mode" right now. [GS]
• Six wine auction houses are offering big bargains later this month. [Reuters]
• Sienna Miller, Elle Macpherson, Sting, Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron, and Alicia Silverstone are some of the celebs now lobbying Nobu boss Nobuyuki Matsuhisa to drop bluefin tuna from his menus. [Page Six]More

Happy Birthday | Real estate legend Barbara Corcoran turns 60 today. Nobuyuki Matsuhisa is turning 60 today, too. Sharon Stone is 51. Record producer Rick Rubin is turning 46. Model Eva Herzigova is 36. Timbaland is 38. Prince Edward is 45. Edie Brickell is turning 43. Carrie Underwood is 26. Mad Men star Jon Hamm is 38. CNBC's David Faber is turning 45. Actress Olivia Wilde is 25. Chuck Norris is 69. And deep in a cave on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Osama bin Laden is celebrating his 52nd birthday.

The recession didn't put a damper on Sol Kerzner's plans to throw one of the most lavish parties in recent memory. The South African casino mogul threw a $25 million fête in Dubai this evening to celebrate the opening of the Atlantis, his $1.5 billion hotel on the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah. (It's modeled on his Bahamas resort by the same name.) A long list of stars put in appearances (Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron, Mary-Kate Olsen, Albert Hammond Jr., Agyness Deyn), Kylie Minogue was paid in the neighborhood of $4 million to perform a 60-minute set, and a bunch of famous chefs (like Nobu Matsuhisa) were responsible for assembling the menu. Now Kerzner just has to figure out how to get people to rent rooms that begin at $800 a night (and go up to $25,000) and he can start making his money back. [WSJ, Daily Mail]

New York restaurateurs may be panicked about the economy, but all is well in Qatar! This week it was reported that the Four Seasons in Doha will be home to the latest incarnation of Nobu. (A Dubai outpost opened earlier this month.) Gordon Ramsay is supposedly looking at two different sites in town for an eatery he has planned. And when Doha's new W Hotel opens in a couple of months, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market will be located in the lobby. Less exciting news, at least as far as New Yorkers are concerned: "Bollywood legend" Asha Bhosle has also opened a high-profile restaurant in Doha, and a branch of the Hard Rock Café is coming, too. [The Penninsula via Luxist]

• Tragic news for Ashley Dupre and other classy Jersey girls: Bennigan's is going out of business. [Bloomberg]
• Stop putting so much soy sauce on your sushi, says Nobu Matsuhisa. [Zagat]
• The waiter behind the formerly anonymous blog Waiter Rant has revealed his identity. Useful advice he shared with the Post today (which you should keep in mind when you go out to eat tonight): "Waiters can and do spit in people's food..." [NYP]
• David Chang's Momofuku Ssam is expanding. [Eater]
• Howard Lorber, the chairman of the brokerage firm Prudential Douglas Elliman and chairman of Nathan's Hot Dogs, chats about his acquisition of Savanna's in Southampton. [TRD]

If it feels like every week brings news of yet another cash-strapped American company raising money from Abu Dhabi or Dubai or selling itself entirely to one of these emirates, it isn't your imagination. From real estate (the GM building) to finance (Citigroup), cash has been pouring in from the Middle East as of late. But the expressway of money goes in both directions. Today the Times covered many of the banks setting up shop in Dubai. But loads of other prominent New Yorkers are heading East to take advantage of the petro-dollar gravy train. Here's a look at the growing list of prominent restaurateurs, fashion designers, architects, and real estate developers setting up shop in one of the world's fastest-growing—and richest—regions.

Fashion
You don't have to manufacture diamond-encrusted burkas to get in on petrobillionaires' wives' ravenous appetite for designer duds. New York-based fashion gurus are opening boutiques in Dubai's constantly multiplying high-end malls (places like the famous Mall of the Emirates, which sports the world's largest indoor ski slope). So far Michael Kors and Betsey Johnson have gotten in on the action, there are two Calvin Klein boutiques in the emirate, an outpost of Saks Fifth Avenue recently opened there, and designer Karl Lagerfeld has signed a deal to design 80 limited-edition homes on Isla Moda, the world's "first dedicated fashion island." A Dubai outpost of Barneys seems likely in light of its 2007 takeover by Dubai-based investment firm Isthimar.More