Yes, we’re kind of sick of the kiddie-foodie trend, but this is just adorbs! Check out 5-year-old Julian Kreusser hosting The Big Kitchen With Food on Portland public access. Aside from little Julian’s “boom goes the dynamite”–style catchphrases (e.g. “we’re going to whisk it up with a whisk”), our favorite part comes around 6:40 when he spends a full minute squeezing honey out of a bottle. NPR, of course, has already interviewed the munchkin, but who can blame 'em for child exploitation — this kid is far more entertaining than the cheftestants who tried their hands at TV cooking.

Big Kitchen With Food: a five-year-old's cooking show [Boing Boing]

It’s 4 p.m., and that means it’s time to play Two for Eight. We just asked nine restaurants the best times they can squeeze a couple in for dinner; you need only make your chosen reservation. (As always, we make the calls but don’t guarantee the results.) Today: Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio.

Tony Bourdain managed to once again knock the Food Network and his former show, A Chef’s Tour, during Monday’s premiere of No Reservations. And now, in explaining “why America needs another cook-off show” (namely his new one, Chopped), Ted Allen manages a jab at his former vehicle, Top Chef. Allen writes:

Frank Bruni starts a health-conscious new year at Rouge Tomate, but doesn't truly enjoy it. While there are "intricately, gorgeously assembled dishes," "[t]oo much of the food lacks punch. Too much of it simply lacks salt." [NYT]
Related: Inside Rouge Tomate

Steve Cuozzo finds more than just good food at the new Kefi: "Kefi is so right for its time — and it just might serve as a template for those brave enough to open new eateries in post-Madoff Manhattan." [NYP]
Related: A Look at Kefi and Its New Menu

Ryan Sutton is mixed on the John Dory, where there’s “quirky gourmet fare that’s often excellent, but in a laid-back environment that’s occasionally downright annoying.” [Bloomberg]
Related: Inside the John Dory

• Faced with a trademark-infringement lawsuit from a Florida restaurateur with a restaurant of the same name, Forge will change its name to Marc Forgione on February 1. [NYO]

• Top Chef's Leah Cohen has been promoted from sous-chef to chef de cuisine at Centro Vinoteca. Make of that what you will. [Feed/TONY]

• A hot-dog vendor has agreed to pay the city over $80,000 more per year in order to place his cart on the north, rather than south, side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, citing better foot traffic. [NYP]

• Restaurant Week in Manhattan is fast approaching, but Staten Island is ready to top it with Restaurant Month all January. [NYT]

• Squirrel meat is all the rage in the United Kingdom right now. Cheap and local, it just might be the perfect food for the times. [NYT]

• With openings like Harlem's New Wings City and the sudden proliferation of Atomic Wings, New York is experiencing a wing renaissance. [NYP]

• Dirt Candy chef Amanda Cohen doesn't usually go to other vegetarian restaurants, but she does like Kate's Joint. [TONY]

• Bloomingdale Road's Ed Witt plays hard-core music in his kitchen and, he notes, it gets more aggressive as the night goes on. [Metromix]

A couple of months after Trout closed and Jim Mamary declared his planned oyster bar “dead in the water,” Flo Fab brings news that his other restaurant with Alan Harding, the Smith Street pioneer Patois, will shutter on Sunday (also due to lease issues). It may reopen elsewhere, but the duo is now focused on Black Mountain Wine House on Union Street. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

Burger bro Nick Solares has finally weighed in on City Burger’s new glamburger: “I am completely enraptured by the Black Label burger. I don't consider it an expensive burger as much as a cheap steak. In these times of economic austerity don't be surprised if you see Wall Street executives, their expense accounts suspended, lining up at City Burger to satisfy the cravings that they used to sate at expensive wood-paneled steakhouses. For the steak lover, particularly those on a budget, this is the best burger in the city right now.” [A Hamburger Today]