The first line of defense.Photo: iStockphoto As you probably know, the violence in London is only getting worse, so much so that riots rolled right up to the front door of a fancy restaurant yesterday: Cooks at the two-Michelin-starred Notting Hill restaurant the Ledbury bravely defended guests with rolling pins and fryer baskets last night when rioters entered during service and began robbing cu... more.

It will be like this, but with a line around the block.Photo: Patrick Siggins Even as the shutter looms and relocation plans get under way, Sam Sifton says M. Wells co-owner Sarah Obraitis sent the Times an e-mail to let them know that she and husband Hugue Dufour will be serving dinners on Friday and Saturday nights in August. (For those unaware: Dinner had previously been a Tuesday through Thur... more.

Battery Park City: Casa Masa, a taco kiosk in the World Financial Center, opens next to fellow lunch joints Ed's Lobster Bar and Fatty Snack. Coney Island: Last night marked the opening of the world's smallest brewery, the Coney Island Brewing Company East Village: Just shy of its one-year anniversary, French crêperie Motek has apparently closed for good. Learn about new world beer in Amer... more.

Steel, at the Union Square Greenmarket.Photo: Jed Egan Tanya Steel wasn't supposed to be in New York this week, "I was supposed to be in the spider-and-monkey-infested jungles of Costa Rica," she says. But thanks to a "freak accident" in July that resulted in broken ribs and a punctured lung, she's still in New York, though she promises she's on the mend. Then again, it's probably better that sh... more.

Mullen.Photo: Colin Clark Tertulia, Seamus Mullen's about-to-open Spanish cider house, revealed its forthcoming breakfast menu today, and it certainly looks like there are worse ways to start a day. There's an iberico-ham-and-cheese croissant, traditional Spanish tortilla, and egg-on-a-roll. Granted, this egg-on-a-roll comes with bacon, avocado, and Mahon cheese. Zagat says the restaurant officia... more.

The world's been up to its usual antics lately. In the U.K., consumers started drinking a new energy drink named Pussy; France saw its baguette culture got kind of weird (again); and here in the States, some guy was sentenced to a hundred years of solitude for stealing too much fast food. But those weren't the week's only tales of culinary intrigue. The rest are straight ahead. • A McDonald... more.

Mullen.Photo: Courtesy of Baltz & Co. The opening of Seamus Mullen's Tertulia continues apace: To go with a big Times profile of Mullen, Diner's Journal gets a first glimpse at the Tertulia space (looks rustic!) and offers up the opening menu. What to expect? Lots of tapas, a few large plates, and classics like padron peppers and a Spanish tortilla. It all sounds pretty good: Iberico ham croquett... more.

New Yorkers will soon emulate a massive Parisian picnic.Photo: Courtesy D&icric;ner en Blanc Sure, the Times wrote about it, and it's très chic according to Parisians, but we're still having a tough time grasping what Le Dîner en Blanc, an all-white-attire outdoor dinner picnic, happening on August 25, is really all about. Here's what we know: The guest list closes tomorrow; 1,000 pe... more.

Le pain! A walk-up, automated machine that dispenses bread, instead of bread: While you may think there's no need (or no knead, ahem) for such a thing, a French baker named Jean-Louis Hecht has gone ahead and installed two machines that allow customers to buy warm (but precooked) baguettes from his boulangeries at any time, even when his shop is closed. This comes in most handy late at night, app... more.

It's time to play Two for Eight. We just asked ten restaurants the best time they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don't guarantee the results.) Today: TV Chefs. Babbo (Menu) 212-777-0303 Two for eight? No Best available:10:30 p.m. Craft (Menu) 212-780-0880 Two for eight? No Best available: 8:30 p.m. Daniel (Menu... more.

Kind of like this, only a burger.Photo: Melissa Hom Ed McFarland isn't quite ready to open Caravelli's, but when his kiosk in the World Financial Center debuts for the season on April 7, he'll be offering something new: a lobster burger. The $15 sandwich is already served at Ed's Lobster Bar on Lafayette Street, and McFarland describes it as "cooked lobster meat that is ground, it is mixed with a... more.

Food writer Nigel Slater's 2005 memoir Toast concerns his childhood in sixties England, with its persistent quest for alimentary satisfaction. After his mother dies and his father takes up with the cleaning woman, young Slater finds solace in a parade of English sweets and other foods of the time. After debuting on the BBC last year, the movie version of Toast will be released in theaters Septembe... more.

Dave Martin needs you ... it's for the Earth. Top Chef season one's Dave Martin is looking for five selfless volunteers to help "execute a meal" at an environmental fund-raiser on Thursday, September 15. He's even posted a help-wanted ad on Idealist. Fun gig, if you love food TV and hate making money. ... more.

The edible Earl of Sandwich.Photo: Courtesy of Earl of Sandwich We don't think our favorite sandwich shops have too much competition to worry about, but the fast-multiplying Potbelly might want to take note that sandwich royalty is coming to town. You know the story: In 1792, an Englishman named John Montagu was obsessively playing poker when he asked for two slices of bread to encapsulate his g... more.

Here's one way to unwind after work.Photo: Broadcast and Cable While Ottavia Bourdain is proudly confessing to a "booty call" with Milk Burger, her husband has been having his own innocent fun in the Bay Area, where he's been spotted all week at places like Li Po, Swan Oyster Depot, Mission Chinese, and now ... here, sloshed on some little, random boat. Bourdain tweeted this quick clip in the wee... more.

Not a MilkBurger, but close. You remember Milk Burger, right? It's the little burger spot in Spanish Harlem that set up shop by not only passing off a stolen Shake Shake burger photo as their own, but also facsimiles of Shake Shack's menu, website, and general aesthetic. And you'll recall that the whole thing was really just the work of an errant intern? In the latest, hardly believable chapter o... more.

Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese custard cakes).Photo: Michael Tulipan During the hiatus between the closing of his West Village restaurant in 2009 and the reopening of Alfama in midtown, executive chef Francisco Rosa indulged his interest in bread-baking by taking classes at the FCI and CIA. After his sweet and savory creations were a hit with customers at the new Alfama, he decided to start selling ... more.

Big score for Dumbo's food scene.Photo: Dumbonyc Colonie fans, relax. Brad McDonald isn't leaving his ever-sweet and sustainable joint on Atlantic Avenue. He's just spreading his farm-loving, Mississippi-bred wings to Dumbo, where he plans to open a small, "kitchen-focused" restaurant. It's currently unnamed, but the place has been floating around under the alias "No Name Hunt Club" and will laun... more.

The Oak Room after its relaunch.Photo: Hannah Whitaker After its recent run of bad news, the Oak Room at the Plaza is closing following service tonight. The sad, brief history: The place relaunched in 2008 after extensive renovations and a restoration of its dining room with acclaimed Atlanta chef Joel Antunes, who left after pans from Frank Bruni and New York's own Adam Platt. For a while, thing... more.

Suchin Pak. Grub Street is a fan of the Hester Street Fair, but if we didn't live five blocks from Seward Park we might not be such regulars. Well, now it seems uptown and fashion-y sorts will be able to experience the fair without schlepping down to the lower Lower East Side. This video from LocalBozo checks in with Hester's Suchin Pak, who reveals that the fair will head uptown to Henri Bendel ... more.