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So, maybe Batali and Babbo partner Joseph Bastianich didn't pay their employees. We'll have to see what happens with the lawsuit. Nonetheless, in an interview with SlashFood, Batali told Allen Salkin all his deepest, darkest secrets. Well, not really, but at least he announced another delay in opening the Flatiron food complex, Eataly.

1. You’ll never get stuck eating lima beans and cabbage, unless you want to. Everything at the Plaza Food Hall by Todd English is fresh, gourmet, and made in front of you, even the sushi. You have a choice of goodies from Murray's Cheese or Balthazar bakery, the Ocean Grill or the Dumpling Bar. Rectangular cardboard pizza and meatloaf Tuesdays not on the menu.

● Stanley Tucci at The Luxury Collection Destination Guide Launch with Assouline: I like to go to a lot of different places, but certainly Mario Batali's restaurants. The beef cheek ravioli at Babbo is so delicious and so incredible. Just about anything he cooks is okay with me. I always stay at the St. Regis, here in New York. ● Rosie Perez: I love Gino's in Bay Ridge. The arroz con gandule at Luz in Brooklyn is a favorite, and the roasted chicken is the best deal in town. Here in the city, Dok Suni's for Korean barbeque, at First Avenue and 7th Street.

At the Leaves of Grass premiere: 1. Ed Norton: "Blue Hill -- anything at Blue Hill. I like this little joint in the East Village called Joe Doe." 2. Steve Earle: "Babbo is every bit as good as it’s cracked up to be. And A.O.C. is a favorite of ours, which is a French restaurant on Bleecker Street. The duck confit at A.O.C. is the best in the city."

At the premiere of City Island:

Jim Lahey is a bread man. After a trip to Italy while he was in art school studying to be a sculptor, Lahey realized that baking was his true calling. In 1994, he opened Sullivan Street Bakery, which now provides bread for over 250 of the city's best restaurants including Jean Georges, Babbo and Gramercy Tavern. In 2008, Lahey opened his first restaurant, Co., where he turned his signature bread into artisanal pizzas. Famous for his no-knead method, Lahey is trying to spread the word with his recently published book, My Bread, as well a more personal approach: baking lessons at Sullivan Street Bakery. Over lunch at Co., the loquacious baker with "major A.D.D." spoke with me about the importance of good reviews, culinary influences, and his idea of the most bitter, foul taste in food: effort.

Sometimes the person who handles the publicity gets to be as noteworthy as the clients she peddles to the public. Enter Kimberly Burns, literary publicist extraordinaire. Mention her name at any literary event or in the hallway of any publishing house and writers cower behind their spectacles -- they know getting her to hype their book could land them a coveted spot on the New York Times Bestseller list. In an era when hard copy has evaporated into thin air and settled onto the digital screen like thick condensation, rest assured Burns will make sure that the written word stays in your face.

Jeff Zalaznick transitioned his career from mergers & acquisitions to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The editor-in-chief of AlwaysHungryNY.com and founder of DinePrivate.com was once a J.P. Morgan employee before finding his passion and his business partner, famed restaurateur Joe Bastianich. The native New Yorker talks about his newest online accommodation for private dining.

To some, love is motivated by how fat one's pocketbook is. To others, it's based on where one is able to get a reservation at peak time on a Friday night. Excite your summer love with these unabashedly romantic restaurants -- incredibly sexy date spots, dripping with intimacy, dishes that arouse the senses, good lighting, or otherwise just priced to impress. For more inspiration of the culinary sort (inspiration of the other sort may be too, uh, inspirational for this site), check out Restaurants in the guides and choose the Romantic/Date Spot vibe.

At the peak of a successful directing career, Bob Giraldi -- the creative genius behind Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video -- channeled his talents for creation into the culinary scene, resulting in collaborations with famed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and a slew of successful restaurants. After the February opening of Butcher Bay, his ode to Americana and boardwalk food, Giraldi is focusing his energy on his new, "authentic" Italian-style pizza joint Tonda, in the East Village.