Judge Diana Lewis of the Palm Beach County circuit court has a busy job ahead of her. She’ll be tasked with the heavy responsibility of dividing up $8 million in jewelry between divorced socialites, Bill and Tina Flaherty. The big item on the table: A $500,000-diamond-and-emerald necklace.

The couple filed for divorce in April 2007 after 33 years of marriage. While the divorce became final a year and a half later, dividing up property continues. To date, the couple split evenly $150 million in homes and stocks and bonds. Dividing up the bling…Not so easy.

Tina, 70, is an executive turned writer known for taking over Colgate-Palmolive. Bill, 76, is an industrialist who once gave $1.5 million to West Palm Beach’s St. Marys Medical Center and another $1.5 million to the Palm Beach Zoo.

Reportedly, Bill may end up getting back a lot of the stuff he bought Tina for things like their 25th wedding anniversary and her 50th birthday. Joel Weissman, who represented Bill said in Florida, said the gift you purchase a spouse is considered marital property. It can be split 50-50 in a divorce.

On February 5, Scott Conant’s Faustina, serving up soulful Italian, will open at the Cooper Square Hotel. The previous tenant, Table 8, evacuated on January 4 making way for an airer, cozier restaurant boasting menu items described by Conant as ’sex in a bowl.’

The first-floor restaurant and café have been redesigned and renamed (Faustina was an ancient Roman empress), and will showcase Conant’s homey approach to Italian cuisine, including black truffle risotto, balsamic-glazed pork spareribs with tomato chutney and tajarin pasta with tomato and sea urchin. The restaurant is inspired by the chef’s appreciation for how different cultures approach Italian food, and his dishes are at once familiar and modern.

The 3,500-square-foot space has retained many of its signature elements, including the painter Stephen Hannock’s mammoth canvas, “Chelsea Winter with Elevated Park; New York High Line.” The architecture firm Bentel & Bentel, which recently received an American Institute of Architects award for its Craftsteak design, was charged with gently tweaking it.

25 Cooper Square, New York, NY (212) 475-3400

Tripping over our Manolo Blahnik stilletos, we fell graciously into the captive audience at the Shanghai Tang and Solerno’s New York Premiere of Fay Ann Lee’s “Falling for Grace” at the Asia Society last Tuesday evening.

An eclectic list of attendees, from politicians, celebrities, designers, socialites and other high profile personalities gathered for the evening affair. The room swarmed in a mist of Shanghai Tang ensembles. Actress Kathleen Turner, comedian and Daily Show Correspondent Aasif Mandvi, Debbie Bancroft, Geoffrey Bradfield, Samantha Daniels, Jamee Gregory, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Tracy Stern and Adelina Wong Ettelson carefully sipped Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur Bellinis and graciously dined on Evergreen Cafe’s delicious dim sum, in line with the film’s Chinatown meets Uptown theme.

Whoppi Goldberg introduced the film, capturing the room with her witty spirit and blunt enthusiasm. She presented Fay Ann Lee in the true light she deserved. A tour de force of sheer will, as Whoppi called the project; it was a labor of love and we were honored to experience the buzz of the room first hand.

Fay Ann Lee, a broadway actress (Miss Saigon), not only wrote the script, but starred in the film, directed and produced “Falling for Grace.”  The film was inspired as a proactive response to the lack of good roles for Asian American actors. Her script placed in prestigious competitions including the Nicholl Fellowship and the Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project at which point Hollywood producers began to show interest. However, Hollywood wouldn’t buy the screenplay unless Lee changed the main character’s ethnicity (from Asian American to Caucasian or Hispanic), claiming that mainstream America is not ready for a classic romantic comedy that stars an Asian American protagonist. Not to be discouraged, Lee raised $3 million and produced it herself. Four years later, filming began with a stellar ensemble cast that includes Gale Harold, Christine Baranski, Lewis Black, Margaret Cho, Ken Leung, Stephanie March and Lee herself.

“Falling for Grace” will open in NY theaters on March 19 and for those who miss it on the big screen, Gaiam, Inc. will distribute the Falling for Grace DVD.

For more information, please visit  http://www.FallingforGrace.com.

Carrie Cloud, Kristian Lalibiberte, Miguelina Gambaccini, Lara Meiland © Patrick McMullan

Lead Photo: Kathleen Turner, Fay Ann Lee, Whoopi Goldberg, Honorable David Dinkins, Susan Shin, © Patrick McMullan

Via Hatfield’s Twitter comes word of a February 1 opening and we couldn’t be more excited.

Known for their “friends and family” dinners that perfectly mix modern and classic, Quinn and Karen Hatfield will open their famous restaurant in place of Red Pearl Kitchen on the corner of Melrose and Highland tomorrow.

Foodies all over town have been waiting with baited breath for the opening of the new Hatfield’s location. Us personally, we’re just dying for the marinated crab salad, poached foie gras terrine with plum purée, slow-baked Tasmanian ocean trout on caramelized endive and of course, the decedent chocolate ganache tart. We’re counting down the hours!

Mouth watering yet? You can book your reservation in time for their opening at the Hatfield’s Web site.

6703 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 935-2977

While it’s only been a little over a month since golfer Greg Norman and former tennis star Chris Evert’s divorce, Norman has has been traveling and socializing like crazy!

He was recently spotted at Palm Beach’s El Fresco, a courtyard Italian joint, with an unidentified elderly gentleman and at dinner at Dolce De Palm in West Palm with billionaire entrepreneur Nelson Peltz.

One thing is for sure…A divorce isn’t going to hold this guy back!

Attention all hungry foodies…Los Angeles’ Restaurant Week is here! Running through February 5, more than 200 area restaurants from Long Beach to the San Fernando Valley are offering three-course lunches and dinners to die for.

Participating restaurants include big name newcomers like Il Grano, Eva, Cecconi’s, Joe’s Restaurant, Jar, Ortolan and the just-opened Lazy Ox Canteen in addition to beloved return participants like The Bazaar, Spago, Grace, The Foundry, Akasha, Bashan, BLT Steak, Border Grill, Caché, Campanile, Café Pinot, Craft, FIG, Ford’s Filling Station, Josie, Palate Food + Wine, Taste, The Bazaar, Water Grill, and XIV.

Restaurants are grouped by price range, with the lowest-priced offering $16 lunches and the highest dinners are $44. If you are an American Express member, you can get a $20 credit on your bill if you dine at three participating restaurants during the event.

Check out the dineLA Web site for a full list of participating restaurants, restaurant trends for 2010, sushi joints you’ve never heard of, bike-friendly dining, cocktail mix masters, and more.

Barack Obama attended yesterday’s Duke vs. Georgetown game, and sat court-side next to Vice President Joe Biden and White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod. Obama “munched on popcorn and occasionally used his Blackberry” during the game. He then stopped by the announcer’s booth during the second half, and commentated with CBS announcers Verne Lundquist and Clark Kellogg for about seven-and-a-half minutes.

“After retirement, I’m coming after your job, Clark,” Obama told Kellogg on air. “I’m just letting you know. So you either have three more years or seven more years.”

And, after a vulgar chant began against Georgetown, it was stopped when one student said to another, “Dude, the president of the United States is right there.”

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Chef Todd English is going to be hosting a meet and greet and wine dinner at his Fort Lauderdale restaurant, Da Campo Osteria during Super Bowl weekend. The dinner will include a champagne and hors d’oeuvre reception, along with a five-course menu paired with wines. The Reception will begin at 6:00 P.M. and the dinner will begin at 7:00 P.M. Tickets go for $175 per person. For more information, call (954) 226-5002.

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The CEO of Oracle, Larry Ellison, has offered to save Chris Cohan who owns NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Ellison offered to buy the team in public, as Chris Cohan’s team has suffered severe humiliation in the world of sports. Sports writer Monte Poole suggested that Cohan go ahead and sell it, to save the team from further embarrassment. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see whether Ellison will take over the Warriors and save them from their woes.

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Perhaps one of the world’s most memorable smokers was Sir Winston Churchill. In 1941, the Prime Minister of Britain enjoyed puffing cigar, and left the stump behind. A member of his staff picked it up and kept it safe to ensure that one day, it would survive as a piece of memorabilia. Her friend then picked it up and wanted to auction it off. All of his cigars carried the same mark and this one still bears the tag.

And after having raked in a staggering $7,000, we can only wonder if she’ll ever miss being the owner of the British politician’s souvenir.

Sir Winston Churchill was a great lover of cigars and they were one of the many reasons for the strokes he suffered. He died from his last stroke that paralyzed him at the age of 90 in 1965.

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