Beijing Boyce

Austin “groovy, baby!” Powers featured in Week 6 of the Celebrity Pub Crawl, with contestants recommending Alfa, Treasure Island, Bed, Camp, Swing, Suzie Wong’s, China Doll, Le Freak, Centro and LAN as drinking holes for this psychedelic wonder. As is usual, the names of those making recommendations were put in a draw and I asked Alain Leroux of Taillan to pick the winner. The winner gets:

- A bottle of Grace Vineyard Tasya’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Torres

- A package of four books - Insider’s Guide to Beijing 2008, Mandarin Phrasebook, Healthy Chinese Cuisine: A Restaurant Ordering Guide, and Spicy Chinese Cuisine: A Restaurant Ordering Guide - from Immersion Guides.

This week’s winner: Alex.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who participated.

Those seeking pizza at The Kro’s Nest yesterday went pie-less as this spot, along with Vics, Mix, and The Outback Steakhouse, has been closed ahead of this weekend’s Brazil-Ghana game to decide the final Olympics’ soccer qualifier, states The Beijinger blog. Ghana! It all brings back memories of my difficulties finding Ghanian flags for the 2006 World Cup…

The city’s plan to ban public smoking has seen revisions, according this story:

Restaurants, bars and Internet cafes will be exempt from a recently announced ban on smoking in public places to start May 1, the China Daily reported.

They will now be asked only to have separate smoking and nonsmoking areas, it said.

“Originally, we wanted restaurants to keep 70 percent of the areas smoke-free, but owners of Chinese restaurants - both big and small - worried the plan would hurt their business,” Zhang Peili, an official with Beijing’s municipal government supervising the rule, told the paper.

“It is difficult for us to control smoking in restaurants. It’s just part of the culture,” he said.

Cast-iron cookware fans - Pantry Magic is set to open within the next week in the New Nali Studio. The decor is finished, it’s just a matter of getting in the pots and pans.