The Times reports that a fire has shut down Thomas Keller's Per Se, the flagship restaurant of the new Columbus Circle shopping mall, for at least two weeks. You may remember my bitterness and angst as I tried to get a reservation for an early date when the phone lines at Per Se first opened.

So to all those whose inside connections or auto-redial buttons or personal assistants got them a reservation in the first two weeks while all I got was a busy signal, I have only one word for you:

HA!