In our dining feature today, "Flight Cool," we listed six sensational places to get flights of exotic ice cream flavors. Um, well, make that five -- we had to delete one spot. After we put the issue to bed on Friday afternoon, Graze, the not-quite-six-month-old small plate spot in River North, abruptly closed for good. (Too bad, pastry chef Jordan Rappaport's scotch rum-raisin ice cream sounded dreamy). "We were told Friday afternoon that we would not be doing dinner service...or finishing lunch service," executive chef Bob Zrenner told us this afternoon. "Our final paychecks would be in the mail."

It came as a bit of a shock to the entire crew, he says. They knew that the spot hadn't been quite as busy as they had hoped, but were quietly making adjustments to the menu to attract more customers. "Six months for a restaurant to make it or break isn't enough," says Zrenner. "It got to the point where [owners] were going to have to walk away or double down," he said. Sometimes, you have to know when to fold 'em, we guess.

As far as Zrenner is concerned, he's working on his resume (which also includes the now closed Tournesol and X/O, which has endured a recent metamorphosis, becoming Halsted's Bar and Grill.) "I'll see who is looking for an executive chef or chef de cuisine," he says.

Walking the streets of New York City, you'll find pizza joints every other block offering oversized slices thin-crust pies. (Now, don't get defensive; we put Chicago deep-dish in a completely different league.) You fork over a couple bucks -- as little as $1.50 in out-of-the-way nabes and as much as $3.75 in more touristy spots -- and take away a floppy, foldable slice on a doubled-up paper plate.

Thanks to New York Slices, which opened in Highland Parkearlier this year, the NorthShore has gained a Big Apple-style by-the-slice spot that's more than a step above Sbarro. Specialties include the Grandma (covered with plum tomatoes, roasted garlic and blobs of smoked buffalo mozzarella) and the White Cheese (topped with ricotta and a three-cheese blend). They even have the oddest slice we remember during our time in NYC: Penne Pizza topped with ziti.

Slices start at $2.90. Garlic knots -- tiny balls of dough doused in garlic butter -- cost a quarter, while cool treats such as soft-serve gelato ($3) and Italian ice ($1) in flavors such as mango, coconut and classic lemon are an equally good steal. Bonus: Unlike the no-frills, no-substitutions pizzerias in NYC, you can order your pie in a whole-wheat version here.

Thanks to Extrovert reader Brian Houdek eating on a cicada. OK, maybe not eating so much as chomping then spitting -- sort of like the insect version of chewing tobacco?

Got a video of you eating one? Send it along! clamorte@tribune.com

It's just not fair. The funny and somewhat sweet "Knocked Up" took in a perfectly respectable $29.3 million this weekend, but did it top the box office? Of course not, with the much less entertaining "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" sailing in at number one with $43.2 million in its second week. Oh well. At least "Pirates" fell a long way from its approximately $115 million three-day gross the previous weekend, and it's worth mentioning that "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," the last movie from "Knocked Up" director Judd Apatow, only brought in $21.4 million in its first week. Fortunately, audiences passed on the week's blah other releases "Mr. Brooks" (fourth place with $10 million) and "Gracie" (seventh place with $1.4 million). What did you see this weekend? Is "Knocked Up" a hit, even though it isn't number one? How excited are you for "Ocean's Thirteen" next week?