Dubai and the Jersey Shore north of Asbury Park

September 13

I went to the reopening of Picholine last night — it had closed early last August for redecoration — and so, it seemed, did everybody else. Rather than stand in line for cheese I sipped Taittinger rosé and chatted with Josh Ozersky about deckle, also known as calotte de boeuf if you've ever worked for Thomas Keller, and his position as online food editor for New York magazine. His site goes live shortly so stay tuned.
Around the time that the party was scheduled to end I sat down with Melanie Young et al., and shortly thereafter we were joined by an ebullient David Burke, who declared that Dubai and the Jersey Shore north of Asbury Park were major growth areas (he just opened David Burke Fromagerie in Rumson, N.J., and has plans to open something in Dubai).
Later, after the party had officially ended, David Burke pulled our table over to connect with Picholine chef-owner Terrance Brennan's and someone (probably Melanie) asked him what the next hot dessert would be. He said it would have something to do with ingredients that made it easier for you to sleep. Mr. Brennan asked him what his next restaurant would be and he said Hawaiian Tropic Zone was about to open in Times Square. I mentioned that people were surprised that he was teaming up with Dennis Riese on the project and he asked if people hadn't also been surprised when he joined forces with Alan Stillman. He had a point.

What else I learned at the party: the publicists who threw it are going to launch a blog, to be called Bullfrog & Blog.