The next life of Merkato 55 has arrived, and while we won't be getting the rumored Megu we were hoping for, we are happy to say the shitshow will go on. It seems the space has come under the control of Brazilian model Fernanda Motta, who has re-branded the trouble space Le 55. Weak sauce. We would have gone with Merkato 34 C or Merkato 10.0, which would have been funny for a whole 3 weeks, or the amount of time we expect this place to last. Boom. [Via Eater]

Listen up Merkato 55 and Bagatelle. Master of the Doucheverse Arthur Kade wants you to know that a brunch party is not a brunch party unless he and posse are on the scene. Arthur says that he enjoyed a 9 hour brunch this weekend, in which the restaurant management seated his party in the "front section of the block because the staff knows us and wants us visible to the public." Kade drank several mimosas (he is a celebrity) and really made it happen. But the day was not without incident, because Kade says "I had my gym clothes on, so I went to a clothing store and bought a new outfit for the night, changed at Rouge, and when I came out, one of my friends said, 'You look so hot, I think I would do you right now'." The outfit change is shown above, but it seems that all of the "girls" in Philly share one pair of sunglasses.

Has the craptastic, bacchanalian brunch party at Merkato 55 shifted from a weekly event to an annual one? GoaG says "The Koch brothers are back from their trip to Miami and their annual brunch party welcomed them back in full force." We could only be so lucky. It's more likely that the party's hired mouthpiece didn't know that annual means once a year, not once a week. Expect there to be a large crowd of glitter monkeys lined up tomorrow afternoon for bad food, house music, and being sprayed by cheap Rose. Arms Up!

[Photo Credit]

Is Bijoux headed for a quick exit? Commenting on the so called Top 7, a reader questions Bijoux's place on the already questionable list, saying "Bijoux is for sale. How can you even add that to the list? They closed 3 nights off their week and losing money." We can't help but wonder if they are referring to the entire Merkato 55 space, which failed miserable as a restaurant and is now operating as a Saturday afternoon brunch party. Bijoux is popular with the Euro crowd, but the whole project has been a disaster from the start. In this economy, it may just be time to cut bait and recoup whatever money a sale may generate.

But this leads to another question - is it possible to open a new and successful dining venture in the MPD, or is the neighborhood destined to be a culinary wasteland, attracting tourists to its high end boutiques and cheesy nightclubs? We know the refashioned Lotus is going to give it a go, but have serious diners already dismissed it as a "why bother"?Or is possible that one of the most unique neighborhoods in the City can somehow escape this downward spiral into No Man's Land and become a place that its residents will visit?