• Of her rumored fit at Schiller’s, Padma’s reps tell “Page Six”: “She had called in advance, and they were expecting her, and everyone was lovely. She loves Schiller’s and their staff. It’s totally untrue.” [NYP]

• Add Gotham to the Five Families — its owner has mentored Tom Colicchio, Bill Telepan, Charles Kiely and Sharon Packhter of the Grocery, and more. [NYP]

• A Navy guy bakes a “cake of resignation” for his boss. [Flickr]

• Ditmas Park’s Cortelyou Road may be a hot new dining strip, but the pioneering coffee shop Vox Pop is in danger thanks to “a Catch-22 situation: Until it pays the fines, the health department will not renew the permit — which means the shop cannot make money to pay the fines.” [NYT]

• In an attempt to bring respect back to his family’s California winery, Michael Mondavi introduced a new label called “M,” and found restaurants and retailers to sell the first $200-a-bottle 2005 vintage despite the poor timing to the economy. [Bloomberg]

• Floyd Cardoz of Tabla: “The restaurant business is tough. We work long hours on our feet all day. If you don’t pause to recharge your batteries, you risk losing your love for the job.” [NYT]

• Chefs Matt Weingarten (Inside Park), Marc Meyer, Galen Zamarra, Caroline Fidanza, and Peter Hoffman participated in a cassoulet festival. [Metromix]