If you're an East Coaster, you might have woken up this morning to a beautiful, frozen wonderland outside your window. It's easy on the eyes, for sure, but it does a number on hands and faces, leaving chapped lips and wrinkly, dry hands in its wake.

The first snow of the season keeps folks indoor-centric for a few days, but then people get stir-crazy. They want to get out, walk in to a nice place in their neighborhood, and let their bones warm up for a while. The newspapers this week focused on higher-end people and places, with news on Michel Richard and Eric Ripert; they also dish about the eccentric, experimental side of fine dining.

What's the news on Citronelle star Michel Richard? "He's Going Places, but Staying Put," according to The Washington Post. His teasing, flirty Frenchness comes out in this article that gets readers up to speed on the "two, possibly three" outside-D.C. projects he'll be working on in the new year. Los Angeles and Carmel, Calif., are where he is making his next footprints; he's also talking about Vegas.

More press for Westend Bistro: Also in the Post is an item by critic Tom Sietsema about Eric Ripert's "comfort food" spot in the Ritz-Carlton. It addresses the issue of people comparing Le Bernardin in New York and Westend Bistro, which Ripert says is apples and oranges: One is a fancy-food temple of seafood, and the other is a place where you can get a burger.

On the funky side up in New York, we have a review of Grayz in the N.Y. Times; the place is named both for the owner and for what you're supposed to do when you are there (not eat dinner). It's firmly a cocktail lounge with "nibbles" and not a full-meal kind of place, but writer Frank Bruni enjoys himself (as usual) poking gentle fun at the "befuddling soul" of this place. Bruni just doesn't buy it, and it's quite funny. "Bar snacks these weren't," he insists. "In my book, that's dinner." The more you read, the more you know it's a slam. "[Gray Kunz] certainly has a feng shui disorder," Bruni sniffs. We fear we suffer from this same malady. We're all the more intrigued about the place after reading all this badness!

Now, once we move over to the West Coast, we'll officially have gone to the Dark Side, by East Coast critics' standards! The creativity (or weirdness, depending on what kind of diner you are) abounds, and foodies typically eat it up with glee.

First off, there's a Melrose Place French restaurant with "Asian accents" that looks and sounds absolutely divine. It's Bastide, and it has been closed for a while and reopened; the "3rd act" works for Times critic S. Irene Virbila, who is no stranger to slinging dirt at a place -- but she doesn't here. There is a lot of beautiful wine writing embedded in her review, as she is very impressed with the sommelier. It will get you thinking about cocktail hour!

Next, also in L.A., a Beverly Boulevard cafe's "super-soft opening" gets a writeup that will get eyeballs sticking: "Black leather pants? Check. Red snakeskin vest? Check. LA Mill espresso and Nueske bacon-sweet-onion brioche? Check." L.A. Mill is a retail shop inside the Lords boutique in West Hollywood, but there seems to be some mystery surrounding it. Those fashionable types ... they love it when they are left guessing.

And last, but maybe the most fun item if you live down in the Dallas area, the Morning News offers a large looking-back/looking-forward roundup. What neighborhoods made the news in 2007? Victory Park, One Arts Plaza, and retail areas were h-o-t. The "it" cuisines were steak places, fresh fish spots and the "upscale comfort" realm. The last section runs down all the who's who people who went to the Lone Star state this past year, and who's got plans to two-step down south in the big '08.

It's a busy time for journalists. End-of-year packages are a killer in terms of late nights at the office, getting bleary-eyed over copy and arguing about what gets cut. Thing is, that just means these folks will get out to all the new, sexy places once the dinner crowds have left, and they might just have the hot-spots all to themselves. Let's take a cue from them, shall we?