Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• Down-and-out former pageant queen Carrie Prejean must be getting really desperate: She's turning to Donald Trump for career advice. Trump suggested she "become a major porn star," make tons of cash and then "give it to worthy causes." Clearly, it's this type of forward thinking that has made Trump the business titan he is. [P6]
• Nic Cage's lawyer now says the countersuit by the actor's former business manager—Samuel Levin claims he warned Cage about his "compulsive, self-destructive spending" years ago—is "ridiculous." As for Cage himself, he's in Somalia right now facing down evil pirates since he's under the impression that his life is one big action movie, but says he'll sort everything out once he gets back to the States. [P6]
• Lou Dobbs is taking a vacation now that he's no longer with CNN. Mexico is not on his travel itinerary, in case you were wondering. [NYP]
• Larry King's 10-year-old son is the luckiest boy in all of Los Angeles today: He's been signed to host his own cable TV show. Ain't nepotism grand? [TMZ]
• Amy Winehouse's dad says his daughter's new breast implants are leaking, which is why she's been in the hospital recently. But presumably that's to be expected if you poke yourself with needles all day, no? [Sun]More

Rachael Ray's Unexpected Visitor | The city's Department of Education wants kids to eat healthier meals. As part of her Yum-o! foundation, Rachael Ray has been looking for ways to "give back." Yesterday the two came together when Ray appeared at a press conference at PS 89 in Tribeca to unveil the "sizzling soft tacos" that the school system is force-feeding to some 600,000 kids this week. Unfortunately, however, the PR spectacle didn't go off as planned. More

Happy Birthday | Gossip Girl's Blake Lively turns 22 today. Rachael Ray is turning 41. Regis Philbin is 78. Rachel Bilson is turning 28. Supermodel Claudia Schiffer turns 39. Sean Connery is turning 79. Director Tim Burton is 51. Rock star-turned-reality TV character Gene Simmons is 60. Actor Blair Underwood is turning 45. Theater producer Marc Routh turns 47. Disgraced media mogul Conrad Black will celebrate his 65th birthday behind bars today. And country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, who may be better known these days as the father of Miley Cyrus, is turning 48.

• More than 200 places will be taking part in New York Restaurant Week, which kicks off on Sunday. Here's a list of some of the notable newcomers. [Zagat]
• The outdoor courtyard at Locanda Verde has opened. [GS]
• A rendering of what the "sophisticated cocktail lounge" on the ground floor of the Empire State building will look like when it eventually opens. [Eater]
• Scandal! "Law enforcement officials are investigating several restaurants in the Hamptons where cheaper booze is poured into top-shelf brand bottles and served to clueless customers who can't taste the difference. [P6]
• A Q&A with Klaus Ortlieb of Table 8 and the Cooper Square Hotel. [Eater]
• Bottled water may be worse for you than tap water. Who knew? [Reuters]
• Rachael Ray had minor surgery to remove a benign cyst from her vocal cords. The good news/bad news, depending on what you happen to think of her: She'll be able to speak again in about a week or so. [People]

• The Boston Newspaper Guild, the Boston Globe's largest union, narrowly rejected a package of pay concessions and benefit cuts last night. [NYT]
• David Letterman is close to signing a new, 3-year contract with CBS. [THR]
• Conan O'Brien has beat Letterman in the ratings every night since his show debuted last week. But that may very well change pretty soon. [Vulture]
• Rachael Ray's talk show has been renewed for two more seasons. Alas. [THR]
• Glenn O'Brien is out as Interview's editorial director. [Daily Intel, FWD] More

• Presumably this is what happens when you spend time hanging out with John Mayer: Dick Parsons (right), the former chairman and CEO of Time Warner and currently the chairman of the board of Citigroup, not only cheated on his wife of three decades with a "model-philanthropist" 29 years his junior, he fathered a child with her, too. [NYDN]
• Sean Penn and wife Robin Wright Penn may not be getting divorced after all. Weeks after filing for legal separation, Penn has withdrawn the motion, either because he only did it in a fit of anger, or because he got jealous after seeing Robin flirting with a handful of men at the Cannes Film Festival. [NYDN, P6]
• The "Real Housewives of New York" have all reportedly signed on for a third season and are expected to make upwards of $30,000 per episode. [MSNBC]More

Graydon Carter, Robert De Niro, and Ron Perelman hosted a Vanity Fair-sponsored dinner at the State Supreme Court House last night to celebrate the opening of the Tribeca Film Festival. They were joined by Carter and De Niro's wives (Anna Scott Carter and Grace Hightower) and Tribeca Film Fest co-founders Craig Hatkoff and Jane Rosenthal, as well as a long list of guests, including Bono and Ali Hewson, Kanye West,  Diane von Furstenberg, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Tory Burch and Lyor Cohen, André Leon Talley, Fran Lebowitz, Spike Lee ... (continued)More

• It's been a bumpy stretch for the cast of the Real Housewives of NYC, hasn't it? In today's dose of bad news, it seems Ramona Singer's TV antics have made her "persona non grata" at her daughter's UES school (nor is she making any friends in Palm Beach); and it appears both Kelly Killoren Bensimon and Luann de Lesseps are now being forced to sell their Hamptons houses. [P6, Page2Live]
• Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel are expecting their first baby. [Insider]
• Whitney Port says she breaks down "a couple of times a week" due to the stress of reality TV fame. She also says she and Olivia Palermo "never hang out off-screen," which you could have probably guessed. [P6] 
• It looks like Luke and Julie Janklow have reconciled. Following their breakup —and brief flings with Jessica Joffe and Scott Murphy—they appear to be back together, and were spotted kissing at Sweetiepie over the weekend. [P6]More

• Bouley was on every critic's menu today: Frank Bruni handed it three stars ("only Daniel and Per Se give you quite the same feeling of giddy privilege"); the Post's Steve Cuozzo was extremely pleased ("heartstoppingly beautiful"); and TONY's Jay Cheshes was perfectly happy with the food, although he thought the service could have been a bit better. [NYT, NYP, TONY]
• Word has it that the new exec chef at Graydon Carter's Monkey Bar is Elliot Ketley, formerly of Soho House. Also: Not surprisingly, people who collect a paycheck from Carter think it's absolutely marvelous. [Gothamist, NYO]
• Per Se's new à la carte menu—revealed! [Eater]
• The best dive bar in NYC per Details? Jimmy's Corner on West 44th. [Details]
• A visit to Dutch Kills, the buzzed-about bar opening in Long Island City. [BB]
• Red wine increases the female libido, for your information. [Decanter]
• Rachael Ray will be at the 92Y tomorrow if you've got $27 to spare. [92Y]

• Matt Lauer's "deer incident" won't keep him down for long. He's reportedly in "good spirits" after undergoing surgery yesterday to repair a separated shoulder and will be back to work in a few days. [Star]
• How did Bruce Willis meet his new wife, Emma Heming? He picked her out during a casting call, just like any normal person. [P6]
• Lindsay Lohan is sick of "people telling lies" about her since she's "really a good person" who just wants to put in a honest day's work. Got that? Good. [People, Us]
• Barbara Walters is planning to quit ABC in the near future so she can "spend more time with her boyfriend, Dr. Robert Butler." Or at least that's what "industry insiders" are telling the Enquirer. [NE]
• The cutbacks at Condé Nast continue: Editors like David Remnick and Ruth Reichl have been forced to take the subway! [NYP]More

Açaí berries: From the sexy diacritical marks and uncertain pronunciation to the Amazonian rainforest provenance to the claims that açaí will make you skinny, beautiful, healthy, and basically immortal, it's hard to believe that the shiny purple fruit wasn't actually dreamt up by a major corporation's PR team in order to exploit our gullibility as consumers. More than $106 million was spent on açaí last year, Nicholas Perricone sells an açaí supplement, Mehmet Oz endorses açaí, and Oprah, Sumner Redstone, and Rachael Ray have all been reported to be fans at one time or another. Is it any surprise to learn that there's scarcely any scientific evidence for the multitudinous benefits that have been touted?  More

Rachael Ray Makes Nice with Anthony Bourdain | He's called her a "bobble-head" and a "freakazoid," and has accused her of "peddling crack to kids" with her Dunkin' Donuts commercials, but if Anthony Bourdain's comments about Rachael Ray in the past have caused her any psychic pain, she isn't saying so. In an interview with Nightline airing tonight, Ray tells interviewer Cynthia McFadden that she "absolutely loves" Bourdain and has "an enormous amount of respect" for him. We're not convinced the feeling is mutual, but we have a feeling we'll find out for sure soon enough. [ABC News]

• Rachael Ray says her long-awaited burger joint will open in 2010. [TFB]
• A roundup of all the restaurants that shuttered this week. [Eater]
• Eric Ripert says he is not planning to launching a line of prepared foods, despite what you may have read elsewhere. [TFB]
• Allen & Delancey is offering for half-priced cocktails on Tuesdays. [GS]
• Butcher Bay opens up on East 5th Street tonight. [Eater]
• Patrón is launching a new line of super high-end vodka. Great timing! [WSJ]
• A look inside the recently-reopened Holland Bar. [GS] 
• The yellow eel in John Dory's fish tank has gone missing, but Joe Bastianich has some theories on where it went. [NYT]

• Jeremy Piven's latest conquest? A 23-year-old model/bottle waitress at Mansion named Ashley Chontos, who was the first to respond to Piven's late-night text appeal ("Come to my room—whoever responds first gets me for the night") and who, you'll be happy to hear, is standing by her man, even though he's in Bangkok so he can "recover" from "mercury poisoning." [NYDN]
• Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are supposedly divorcing in a few weeks, or at least that's what the Daily News says. For the time being, though, they seem to be enjoying themselves in Puerto Rico. [E!]
• Mia Farrow's daughter's death may have been been AIDS-related. [NYP]
• Mariah Carey is supposedly in talks to make a Broadway musical about her life and hopes Leona Lewis, Vanessa Hudgens, or Eva Longoria will take on the lead role. [Telegraph] More

• Remember all that talk about how a noble Guy Ritchie was walking away from his marriage to Madonna without asking for a penny? Madonna would like everyone to stop feeling sorry for him and note that he's actually getting somewhere between $75 and $92 million (depending on the value of several real estate properties), making it "one of the largest payouts ever," according to Madge's publicist, Liz Rosenberg. [NYP, Mirror]
• Imprisoned con man (and Anne Hathaway ex) Raffaello Follieri has agreed to pay back $3.6 million to the people he scammed, although it's doubtful it will ever happen since Follieri's lawyers say he's "virtually broke." [NYP, AP]
• Newlyweds Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo are honeymooning at Tommy's home in Mustique and are planning a big reception in New York sometime after New Year's, just so you know. [Cindy Adams]More