New York

• Here's some charity that'll be a little easier on your stomach--Careers Through Culinary Arts (CCAP), a non-profit organization that offers culinary training and scholarships to high school students, has organized a gala benefit on February 29 to honor Tim and Nina Zagat. Proceeds from the evening, to be held at Pier Sixty, will support the C-CAP program. Thirty top New York chefs are cooking.

• DiLightful. DiVine Bar in the Financial district and the Wine Brats have launched a new Vino-Versity tasting series that will be held every Saturday through April. Highlights of the February calendar include a tasting of international Chardonnays and value wines from South Africa.

• Pictures of Gubbio, the medieval Umbrian village where chef Luca Filadi grew up, adorn the walls of this new TriBeCa restaurant named for the town. The menu highlights food from the region.

• Matzoh Alert. The guys at Ben's Kosher delicatessen have instituted a new rule for this year's third annual Charity Matzoh BallEating Contest: No vomiting. No joke (or maybe it is?). All we can say is, we're glad we weren't there last year! In that contest, champion matzoh-man Russell Machover devoured 11 1/8 immense floaters in a record-setting five minutes and 25 seconds to raise money for the Interfaith Nutrition Network, but word is competition for this year's title may be stiff.

• Joanne Makovitzky and Marco Moreira, owners of the charming Flatiron takeout shop Marco Polo, are opening a restaurant serving seasonal Greenmarket fare adjacent to the shop. The cozy restaurant with pastel walls will be called Toqueville.

• Here she comes, Miss America.....with your pastrami on rye? Kate Shindle, Miss America 1998, had a short run as a waitress at Artie's deli on the Upper West Side. The former beauty queen, also an aspiring actress, is now baking brownies and cookies at Artie's. Profits go to charity .

• High above Prince Street is the new Quilty's Loft, a private event space for up to 75 people located six floors above the restaurant. Quilty's caters the events held there.

• Beard House Purveyor Hudson Valley Foie Gras has entered cyberspace. The company, one of the largest producers of foie gras in the world, has launched a website, www.hudsonvalleyfoiegras.com, that sells items like foie gras and duck confit and features a calendar, recipes, and an archive of company-related news articles.

• If a midwinter island escape is out of reach, a trip to the new So. Barth's in midtown may be gentler on your wallet. The restaurant, an offshoot of the popularVincent Adams restaurant on St. Barth's, serves the same West Indian-inflected food, like tuna steak with banana purée and mahi-mahi tartare.

• The SoHo space that was originally E&O and then Harmony, has morphed yet again, this time into Demarchelier Downtown, anoffshoot of Eric and Jean-Christophe's Upper East Side bistro Demarchelier. The father-son team also own Jean Lafitte and Le Select. French in feeling, the menu offers bistro staples like steak frites, as well as an extensive seafood selection.

• Jenny Kwak and her mother Muyung Ja Kwak, owners of the East Village's popular Korean restaurant Dok Suni, have opened an upscale Korean sibling in the West Village.Do Hwa, which translates as "dao flower," serves tradi-tional Korean fare in a stylish space.

• Bitburger beer is a key ingredient in many of the French dishes served at the new BrasserieBit, located in the Theater District. A representative menu item? Roasted chicken with wild mushrooms and black beer sauce. The bi-level restaurant recreates the feel of a bustling Parisian brasserie.

• Welcome, Sir Terrence. Later this winter, London restaurateur,Terrence Conran, is opening one of his strikingly designed restaurants beneath the 59th Street Bridge. The restaurant is to be called Gustavino's, and the chef will be Daniel Orr,formerly of La Grenouille.

• The New York-basedRestaurant Associates, which recently bought California chef Joachim Splichal's Patina and Pinot Bistro, may open a version of one of Splichal's restaurants in their Rockefeller Center space. Splichal continues to run the restaurants.

• Vaux, a newcomer in Park Slope, serves French/ American fare in an upscale setting. Chef/owners Robert Willis and Chris Christman (ex-Chanterelle) get the credit for the place.

• East Village rebirths. The once seedy Phebe's on the Bowery has gotten a facelift, while still managing to retain its raffish atmosphere. Don Pintabona (Tribeca Grill) has created a menu of nostalgic turn-of-the-century Irish/Jewish immigrant food, including items like knishes and sausages.

• The popular Saturday-breakfast-at-2 pm spot on Avenue A, Leshkos, has been reopened as a swank new eatery/ nightspot. The proprietors also own the ultra-hip Moomba and Veruka.

• Frank DeCarlo, formerly of Circa in the East Village, has moved from urban chic to country quaint. His new NoLiTa spot, Peasant, is a rustic Italian restaurant that serves earthy dishes prepared over an open fire.