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Pret a Manger Set for Huge Expansion Here; Ramsay Bans Bluefin

British sandwich chain Pret a Manger is launching an expansion of Starbucks-like proportions, announcing plans to open 33 more locations in New York — four times the current number. “If New York could support one on every corner, we’d love that,” the company’s head says. [NYS]
Related: Out to Lunch [NYM]

Urged by the Marine Conservation Society, Gordon Ramsay pulls endangered bluefin tuna from all his restaurants. [NRN]

The Department of Health’s current closure rampage continues with Union Picnic in Williamsburg, Café Angelique, and J’adore in Manhattan. [Eater]

Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s new soba restaurant, formerly 66, will be called Matsugen and will open in the beginning of August. [NYP]
Earlier: Vongerichten May Deep-Six 66, Serve Sushi and Soba Instead

The New York Sun comes out against the Federal Trade Commission’s holdup of the Whole Foods–Wild Oats merger in an editorial: “What a waste of federal resources.” [NYS]

First there was laboratory-grown pork, now comes word of cows that give skim milk. [Chow]

Their hard-won settlement broken, the battle between Equal and Splenda rages anew. [NYT]

Pret a Manger Set for Huge Expansion Here; Ramsay Bans Bluefin