July 15: Bastille Day at Bar Tabac If you've never played petanque, head on down to Smith Street for North America's largest petanque tournament -- the two block stretch betweeen Bergen and Pacific will be shut down and covered with sand just for the occasion. While your'e watching the action, enjoy special cocktails from Ricard and other drink specials ($5-6), nibble on grilled merguez and chicken sandwiches ($5) and groove to Jazz band Blue Orchid......

Former NY Times food critic and current Gourmet magazine editor in chief Ruth Reichl is not TV - she's HBO. Two days ago, Variety reported that her books had been optioned by producer Cary Brokaw to turn into a half-hour comedy. Brokaw said, "It'll be a romantic comedy, but also beautiful and real in the same way." This is sounding like an older The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd! Or, as HBO probably hopes,......

Everyone is talking about how Fox cancelled Arrested Development (again-- but this time for good.) The Mercury News article about the cancellation also includes some news that will break the heart of many a NYC-foodie: Also whacked: ``Kitchen Confidential'' -- one of the season's better new comedies -- which followed ``Arrested Development'' on Monday nights. It has also been pulled from November schedule (the two sitcoms will be replaced by repeats of ``Prison Break'') and......

The NY Post goes after the Michelin Guide for its glaring mistakes, sort of the way Manhattan User's Guide nailed the 2006 Zagat guide a few weeks ago. The Post's restaurant critic, Steve Cuozzo, goes after Michelin, wondering if their highly trained inspectors even went to some restaurants and calls some of the advice "inane." Plus: The guide tells readers to take the "Metro," not the subway, to restaurants, mentions Le Bernadin's a la carte......

Ask Metafilter is trying to get to the bottom of one of the most pressing questions of our time: is it really a bad idea to eat fish in NYC restaurants on Mondays? The quick answer appears to be "maybe"-- it depends on the quality of the restaurant. Some responses: I've worked in four restaurants all in the NY tri-state region. Only one recieved a fish order every single day of the week, and the......

- Dogs dressed a pirates? It is so! - The Jr. Gotti trial jury might be deadlocked... we knew it! - Monday perp walk news: Ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski was sentenced to eight and one-third years to twenty-five years in prison; that's really not enough in our book - Fernando Ferrer is officially the winner of the Democratic primary; ho-hum, now this is almost boring - Angela Chase will be dancing at P.S. 122; interviews......

STOP what you're doing and program your TiVos or mark this down in your Outlook calendars or PDAs... Anthony Bourdain's new show, No Reservations, is premiering on the Travel Channel on Monday, July 25 at 10PM. Here is Bourdain's description of what the show is about:"It means that I just don't care what happens, you know, in the sense that there are things I want to do, there are things I want to see,......

Even though it's June, on fall television show we're excited about is Kitchen Confidential, the Darren Starr spin on Gothamist favorite Anthony Bourdain's seminal "life of a working chef" book of the same name. Zap2It has an interview with Bradley Cooper, who will star as the Bourdainish character and explains the premise: "[My character] got addicted to cocaine and blew it all up my nose, lost everything. Now I'm a line cook at an Olive......

Veritas Tender Braised Veal...

Two gay waiters at Town, on West 56th at the Chambers Hotel, are saying that other employees discriminated against them. Servers Andrew Butler and Kevin O'Brien have filed suit against the restaurant, chef/owner Geoffrey Zakarian, and other employees. They say the worst came from sommelier Sean Rawlinson, who shoved wine bbottles into Butler's anus and, when attacking O'Brien with wine bottles, saying, "Is it big enough for you? Maybe you're used to magnum size." Also,......

News from Page Six that porn star Jenna Jameson was having her autobiography ghostwritten by NY Times rock critic Neil Strauss instantly made it a must-read for Gothamist whenever it does come out. Yes, it should be a wild and crazy book about being the hottest porn star today, but more importantly, Neil Strauss is ghostwriting it. Strauss' last contribution to pop culture memoirs was with the one of the best books about living the......