Sign On to FohBoh; Stay Dry at Death & Co.There’s a new social-networking site for members of the restaurant industry called FohBoh, but if you’re not an industry insider, you can enjoy the forums, blogs, and videos on all aspects of food. [Red Herring via The Grinder/Chow]
Le Bernadin’s Eric Ripert will open a new restaurant called 10 Arts at the Philadelphia Ritz-Carlton this spring. [Zagat Buzz]
A lot of people may be freaking out over the FDA’s approval of meat and milk from cloned livestock for consumption, but cloned food products have been in the food supply for some time. [Mouthing Off/Food & Wine]
Related: FDA to Beef Industry: Send in the Clones
Mediavore
DOH Now Against Cats, Too; Poor Man’s Guide to New Year’s EveBodegas are keeping themselves free of vermin thanks to their trusty cats. But naturally the Health Department has to give them a hard time about it, even though they admit that the cats are doing a good job. [NYT]
Running Tavern on the Green is something like running an ocean liner – an ocean liner that feeds 700,000 people a year, has a staff of over 500, and makes more than $38 million annually. [AMNY]
Gordon Ramsay wants lights for his backyard soccer field for Christmas. [The Glasgow Herald]
Neighborhood Watch
Babbo Sommelier’s Enters the West Village Fray; Applebee’s Serving Cake ManDowntown Brooklyn: Applebee’s has started serving Cake Man Raven red-velvet cake in an effort to compete with nearby Junior’s on Flatbush Avenue. [NYDN]
East Village: Belcourt is now open for lunch, which features a lamb burger and roasted butternut squash and apple ravioli; weekend brunch is also on the way, with vanilla and bourbon French toast and salt-cod hash. [Grub Street]
Forest Hills: Young Chefs Academy cooking school for kids has opened its first branch in New York City at 108-10 72nd Avenue. [NYT]
Lower East Side: New Austrian bar Cafe Katja at 79 Orchard Street features Austrian wine and German beer, which you can gulp down with meats and cheeses and homemade pickles, or traditional fare like goulash. [NYT]
West Village: Dell’Anima, a collaboration between former Bread Tribeca sous-chef Gabriel Thompson and former Babbo sommelier Joe Campanale, opens next week on Eighth Avenue near Jane Street. [NYS]
Mediavore
Olives the Nightclub? Bring On an International BoxTodd English may want to get in on the hip parade surrounding La Esquina by opening his own Kenmare spot with nightlife guru Joe Vicari. [NYP]
There’s a rumor that Simon Hammerstein wants to open an international Box and bring his gross anthems to London. [Down by the Hipster]
Related: Narcissistic and Highly Intoxicated Box Patrons Want Totally Gross Anthems, Says Owner
Could Kyotofu and its killer cupcake be expanding with a space downtown? [Eater]
Related: Best Cupcake 2007 [NYM]
Back of the House
IHOP and Applebee’s Approach the AltarThe $2.1 billion acquisition of Applebee’s by IHOP probably didn’t set too many New York foodie hearts aflutter. The two restaurants are largely interchangeable to the eyes of Manhattan feinschmeckers, and even their most loyal customers in Rego Park and elsewhere think of them mostly as feeding stations, or, in the case of Applebee’s, places to pick up used-carpet salesmen. But there’s more to both companies than meets the eye, with two different business models and even two different corporate cultures. Our crack staff analyzes the deal at Daily Intel.
IHOP Bids for Applebee’s: The End of an American Institution? [Daily Intel]
