EaterWire: Noble Shutters, Yelp Wanted, and Batli/Paltrow Sign on for Italy Trip

NOLITA— It doesn't look good for Spring Street's Noble Food & Wine. They're off OpenTable, phone line's disconnected, and then there's this per a correspondent: "Noble is completely newspapered up. I think they even took down the sticker sign in the window which said 'Noble' (I couldn't see it). Inside shows no signs of renovations when I peeped in through holes in the newspaper. There were no signs as to why they were closed." [EaterWire]

YELP WORLD— The Yelp extortion accusations, they just keeping popping up. The latest report reveals several separate tales of sponsor-related bullying, including some froyo ad shenanigans and a wine shop that suddenly has a single, permanent negative review atop its page of positive reviews, unless of course a sponsorship is purchased: "Shop owner Gerald Wiesl said Yelp told him the review at the top has 'the greatest impact' but he could place the review of his choice at the top by becoming a sponsor. 'They're holding a little bit of a gun to heads of people who don't participate to ask them to pony up some money,' Weisl said." [CBS via Eater SF]

CELEB CHEFDOM— While still heavy in publicity mode for their soon to debut project/movie/product line around a trip to Spain, Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow are planning their second trip. The most likely candidate: Italy. [Contact Music via The Food Section]

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