Among the glitterari at last night’s opening of “a Madison Avenue pop-up thrift shop benefiting the renovated New York City Opera” were Austin Scarlett (Project Runway) and Alex McCord (Real Housewives of New York City). As they (and others less celebrated) perused the gently-used frocks, George Steel discussed tube steak with the Wall Street Journal:

There are no good chili dogs in New York, he said, “but I just had an incredible chili dog in St. Louis” at the Goody Goody Diner. For regular franks in the city, Steel says he likes Schaller & Weber’s wieners and Hallo Berlin.

Meanwhile, the pundits mull Steel’s plans for NYCO’s coming season: “a more sensible course than Mr. Mortier’s wholesale reinvention,” says Heidi Waleson; but “caution always fails,” thunders Norman Lebrecht.