Dining 2008: The year in blogs

JUNE

It's just like Florent...minus the neon sign! Deciding not to go retail after all, the landlords of former Florent space will reopen an incarnation of the old R&L Restaurant, Eater reports. They're scooping up the old staff and leaving the menu intact. Maybe nobody will notice.

And the (food) Oscar goes to...Grub Street: Josh Ozersky and Daniel Maurer—the barb-tongued scribes at Grub Street—twin the James Beard Award for Multimedia Writing on Food. It's the first year the award is being handed out. 

No need for Market when everyone wants a table: The Strong Buzz reports that Market Table will discontinue its on-site gourmet grocery business, dropping the "market" to make way for more, well, "table". Who needs to hawk gourmet knickknacks when paying diners can just order up top-notch produce that's been minimally messed with anyway?

Zakarian: "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated": Eater gives chef Geoffrey Zakarian a right of rebuttal on its Country Deathwatch edict. He denies there's anything to worry about. Less than a month later, Zakarian tells Grub Street he's overhauling the upstairs dining room to make way for Country Steak, thus fulfilling his dream of doing a "steakhouse concept." Originally slated to open in fall '08, it's now reportedly looking at a March '09 berth.

10 Downing certain to open before end of summer: An Eater tipster interrogates staff on site at the soon-to-open (surely!) 10 Downing. Assurances are given that the resto will open before the next season.