Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• The critics: Sam Sifton of the Times heads to Flushing for Cantonese and bestows a star on Imperial Palace; Jay Cheshes of Time Out gives four stars to A Voce; New York's R&P rave about Steve Hanson's new Bill's Bar & Burger; GQ's Alan Richman very much disagrees; and the Post's cranky Steve Cuozzo finds that Agua Dulce only came through when they knew he was there.
• A look around Anthony and Tom Martignetti's Brinkley's in Nolita. [GS, Eater]
• Publicity hound Nello Balan is being sued for, like, the 78th time. [NYP]
• Meanwhile Table 8's co-owner is facing a messy criminal matter. [Eater, GS]
• Eric Ripert does not think it's okay that Roberto Cavalli has a habit of ordering food from one restaurant (Mañana) while he's sitting in another (Serafina). Not that anyone has ever tried to pull that at Le Bernardin. [GS]
• Jonathan Safran Foer turned poor Natalie Portman into a vegan. [HP]
• Pickles are having their moment in the sun. At last! [Zagat]

Spotted | Rachel Weisz bundled up in the Village ... Roberto Cavalli walking on Madison Avenue with Serafina co-owner Fabio Granato ... Billy Joel and daughter Alexa walking uptown ... Rihanna filming a music video in Washington Heights and later heading into into a recording studio in Chelsea ... Miley Cyrus shooting scenes for Sex and the City 2 with Kim Cattrall in front of the Ziegfeld ... Paris Hilton posing for photographers after an appearance on The Wendy Williams Show ... Jon Gosselin and Hailey Glassman taking a carriage ride through Central Park ... Uma Thurman shopping at in SoHo ... and Sharon Osbourne and Cyndi Lauper shooting scenes for Celebrity Apprentice.

• The Carolina Herrera dress that Anna Wintour wore on Dave Letterman's show this week? She wore it to the CFDA Awards back in June. Uh oh! [Stylelist]
• Zac Posen is the latest designer to bid goodbye to Bryant Park this Fashion Week. He'll be staging his show at The Altman Building instead. [WWD]
• Another good thing about the recession: There are fewer crappy catalogs getting stuffed in your mailbox. [AP]
• The September Issue doesn't open in theaters until Friday, but it seems some people (above) are already sick of all the publicity. [NYShitty]More

• The September issue of Harper's Bazaar features Susan Boyle in her first-ever fashion shoot. More importantly, Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester, who appears on the cover of the issue, shoots down the recent rumors that she took part in a sex tape. [Harper's Bazaar, Us]
• Rodarte's Laura and Kate Mulleavy will be designing a line for Target as part of its Go International series. Sweet. [WWD]
• Roberto Cavalli appears to have changed his mind for about the 20th time and decided against selling a stake in his company. [Reuters]  More

• Not only is Karl Lagerfeld not planning on retiring, he tells Cathy Horyn that he's staying at Chanel until he dies. Also: He says the blogger who started the rumor that he's stepping down "is an idiot." [NYT]
• The Jackson clan all wore Versace to the memorial service today, in case you were wondering. [InStyle]
• Roberto Cavalli is launching a made-to-measure service that will offer handmade dresses at prices starting at $41,000. But only 35 pieces will be produced. Act fast! [WWD]
• There's uncertainty in the world of haute couture these days. Shocker. [NYT]
• W catches up with the Rodarte ladies. [W]
• The super-successful Saks saleswoman who lined her own pockets via fake refunds and store credits was sentenced to three months in prison. [NYP]
• Several ex-employees of Scoop are suing the chain for labor violations. [CNY]
• The Calvin Klein Jeans billboard on Houston is now even less risqué. [BB]

• In the market for a $40,000 dress? Better jump on a plane to Paris. Haute Couture Week kicked off today. [AP, Vogue UK, Independent, FWD]
• The situation at Christian Lacroix, which filed for bankruptcy a few weeks back, is getting bleaker by the day: The company may be reduced from 124 employees to 12 if a buyer doesn't materialize soon. [WWD, Cut]
• The JCPenney at the Manhattan Mall opens in a mere 25 days. Don't forget to update your cousins in Omaha so they can mark their calendars. [Racked]
• Roberto Cavalli claims he never pays attention to costs ("I don't know anything about the financial crisis"), thinks Dubai is "a city for the future," and says all he really wants is to be loved. So, yes, he's human. [Times UK]
• Elle's Joe Zee is now tweeting, just so you know. [Twitter]More

• Voguette and social fixture Lauren Santo Domingo is branching out into modeling, apparently. [FashionCopious via Pipeline]
• Madonna's very special friend Jesus Luz is very much front and center for Dolce & Gabbana this season. [Telegraph]
• Kira Plastinina, the teenage designer and daughter of a Russian oligarch whose business went bust last year, may be preparing to return to the U.S. [WWD]
• Elle is launching its own online video channel. [Fashionista]
• Jack and Lazaro guest-edited the latest issue of A Magazine. [NYT]
• Beth Ditto has a new plus-size line and she isn't the only one. [NYT]
• Temperley is opening a pop-up shop in the Hamptons. [WWD]
• The first online D&G store makes its debut on June 23. [WWD]
• Roberto Cavalli and Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza had "a 15-minute conversation with a homeless man" after dining at Nobu. The mind reels. [P6]

New York turned out to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the historic Apollo Theater on Monday night. Prince, Mariah Carey, Steve Harvey, Bill Cosby, Fantasia Barrino, and Chanj all took turns on the stage; Jamie Foxx introduced Quincy Jones, who was inducted into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame; and the crowd included Michael Bloomberg and Diana Taylor, New York First Lady Michelle Patterson, Patti LaBelle, Dick Parsons, Al Sharpton, Gayle King, Sherri Shepard, Phylicia Rashad, Clarissa and Edgar Bronfman Jr., Ruby Dee, Ron Perelman and daughter Samantha Perelman, Sade Baderinwa, Devyn Simone, Kevin Liles, Jonelle Procope, Susan Magrino, Robin Roberts, Doug E. Fresh, Bryant and Hilary Gumbel, Bethenny Frankel, Denise Rich, and designer (and secret soul music fan) Roberto Cavalli. [PMc, Wireimage, VF] More

• Photos of Sacha Baron Cohen (as Brüno) and Alessandra Ambrosio from the new issue of British Marie Claire are now online, if you're interested. Or, if you prefer, you can take a gander at a nude Bar Refaeli on the cover of Esquire. [Marie Claire, Esquire]
• After many months of hemming and hawing, it looks like Roberto Cavalli has finally decided to sell a stake in his company. [WSJ]
• Vogue's André Leon Talley reports Anna Wintour was "thrilled" with how her "fabulous" 60 Minutes profile turned out a couple of weeks ago, you'll ubdoubtedly be pleased to hear. [FBNY]
• It's been a year since Barneys started looking for a CEO, which may be one reason why the company has had so many trouble as of late. [WSJ] More

• The new H&M at 86th Street and Lexington opens at noon tomorrow. [AFB, Racked]
• Scarlett Johansson is replacing Penélope Cruz as the face of Mango. [WWD, SF]
• For the first time, the CFDA is tacking on a "Popular Vote Award" to this year's show. As the name implies, it will allow the public to weigh in, shockingly. [WWD]
• What's Kate Moss's novel going to be about? "A young model's life as she goes from a nobody to an A-list star." Sounds familiar, no? [NYDN]
• Marc Jacobs hosted a 30th birthday party for fiancé Lorenzo Martone last night at the not-yet-open Avenue. Julia Restoin Roitfeld and Genevieve Jones (above) were among the 150 people on hand for the occasion. [W]More

Roberto Cavalli Goes Back to Basics | Roberto Cavalli spent the weekend "dancing in the desert" in Dubai. Why? The permatanned Italian just opened what he calls "the first designer club in the Middle East," that's why. The Cavalli Club, which cost $30 million to construct, includes an "opulent" Italian restaurant, sushi bar, and nightclub, and features "floors made of black quartz, 20-foot-high ceilings dripping with Swarovski crystals and furnishings in his trademark animal prints." The launch also seems to coincide with a new life philosophy. A month ago, he told a reporter he was actually kind of happy that the world was in the middle of a recession, since "too many people were making too much money." Now? He wants to "give a sign of optimism for the future." Consider the message received. [WWD]

The economic disaster has wrought havoc in our lives, yet has been a force for good in many ways too: It's helped usher in a new political era, pulled the rug out from under a whole generation of self-entitled masters-of-the-universe, and now we hear it may rescue us from Roberto Cavalli's fashions! The permatanned designer has been in talks to sell his company, which had him waxing philosophically in a recent interview with Grazia: "I love poor people! I am glad of the recession. Something needed to break. Too many people making too much money. It's good because it makes you think, 'Maybe now I do something different. Is it enough to make happiness through clothes? Is there something more?' I don't know." What cultural contribution could possibly replace slashed-to-the-navel leopard-print satin dresses? The world awaits with baited breath. 

• How much did Topshop's insane publicity blitz cost the company? Let's just say a lot. [FWD]
• It looks like Anne Hathaway won't be Marc Jacobs's next muse after all. "Marc and Annie are good friends, but there are no plans of her appearing in our ads," says the designer's rep. [SW]
• Good news, Roberto Cavalli fans: It seems Just Cavalli won't be disappearing after all. [NYM]
• Gisele wore a John Galliano gown to her bullet-riddled wedding last weekend, just in case you were wondering. [SW]
• For the second time in a week (and despite a bit of backlash the first time around) Oscar de la Renta is still complaining about Michelle Obama's fashion preferences. [WWD, Fashionologie] More

• The obsession with Michelle Obama's travel wardrobe continues: For an appearance today at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, she wore a dress by Jason Wu and an asymmetrical cardigan by Junya Watanabe, which was either a "kooky combo" or her "edgiest fashion statement yet," depending on who you ask. [NYT, LAT]
• Speaking of Michelle in London today, can you believe that she and the Queen touched? The Queen "made the first move," reports the Daily Mail, although it was still "an electrifying moment of palpable majesté and a breach of centuries-long protocol." [DM]
• These may be difficult economic times, but Donna Karan would still very much appreciate it if you bought a pair of her new jeans for $595. [NYP]
• Roberto Cavalli can't decide if he wants to sell his company or not, but he's conducting discussions with investors anyway. [NYM]
• Men's retailers are hoping to get men to linger inside stores by handing out free booze. If anything is going to do the trick, that's probably it. [WSJ]
• Reloxin is kinda like Botox except it works quicker and lasts longer. [NYT]
• The fashionable women on line outside Topshop today. [Pipeline]

• The Chanel show at Paris Fashion Week was just as chaotic as it was expected to be. Photographers ended up in a scuffle when Kate Moss turned up and part of the set broke. [NYT, WSJ, NYT, WWD, Telegraph, Guardian]
• Roberto Cavalli has branched out into petwear. He's selling dildos now, too, apparently. [FWD, FWD]
• Earnest Sewn's Scott Morrison and Eleanor Ylvisaker have left the company. [WWD, FWD]
• An Italian fashion website tried to tape an interview with Anna Wintour three times during Milan Fashion Week. Denied each time! [Fashionologie]More