IPPUDO: Though its website says the grand opening isn’t until Monday, a call placed to Ippudo, New York City’s first taste of the hit Japanese ramen chain, confirmed that they are welcoming diners for dinner during their “soft opening.” The photo here by Cocktailian depicts “a super porky broth with excellent melt in your mouth roast pork” that the photographer “will be dreaming about for days.” Andrea Strong declares the broth “perversely porky,” and explains......

A train hopping skate boarder gets blood on his deck after fending off a brutal rail yard security guard in Gus Van Sant’s moody Paranoid Park. In her rhapsodic Times review, Manohla Dargis swoons over Van Sant’s “use of different film speeds and jump cuts, and his tendency to underscore his own storytelling" in the Portland, Oregon-set film. But Van Sant fan Jeffrey Wells calls it “meandering and even dreary… nowhere near as striking......

Elettaria: Hendrix shredded here once upon a time, when it was a music venue called The 8th Wonder, but now the stage is an open kitchen and South Asian-spiced American dishes are the stars. Decorated by the man behind Allen & Delancey, the seductive 72-seat interior (pictured) features a rustic reclaimed barn-wood ceiling, plush banquettes, old-world paintings and exposed brick walls. Appetizers include a dish of dayboat sea scallops with celery root puree, oxtail, Meyer......

Today the Times’s Frank Bruni marvels at Manhattan’s new wave of high tone restaurant openings during a recession, and pins the trend not on entrepreneurial bravado but on the fact that it takes years to get a fancy eatery open, and most of these new places were envisioned in flusher economic times. It is true that in 2005, the top fifth of earners in Manhattan made 52 times what the lowest fifth make – $365,826......

Pinch & S’MAC: Dejected fans of Pinch, the defunct Park Avenue South “pizza by the inch” joint, will not only be reunited with their favorite Pinch pizza, but they can even slather it with the incredible mac-n-cheese from East Village favorite S’MAC. The new cheese and carb cartel will bring the best of both menus together on the Upper West Side, forming a single, unified, belt-busting celebration of starch. If you’ve never tried S’MAC, you’re......

Kellari’s Parea: This Greek bistro, housed in the space that was formerly Michael Symon’s Parea, was created by the same team that runs Kellari Taverna in midtown. This "green" restaurant features an organic menu that includes pizzas fresh from the wood-burning oven, lamb that has been marinated overnight, and eggplant with feta ice cream. 36 E 20th St between Broadway and Park Ave South (212-777-8448) Maxie’s Grill: This casusal offshoot of Angelo & Maxie’s steakhouse......