You may never have washboard abs like Britney Spears, but soon you can fill your belly at her restaurant.

        The pop singer is opening an American bistro in midtown Manhattan called Nyla — for New York, her new home, and Louisiana, her home state.

        Nyla will occupy space in the Dylan Hotel that formerly housed Virot, an upscale French restaurant that closed shortly after Sept. 11. It's scheduled to open in May.

        Morris Moinian, owner of the Dylan Hotel and a partner in the restaurant said the 20-year-old Spears fell in love with the cavernous space on East 41st Street, which includes a 6-foot-wide fireplace.

Troubles flow to her door
               Although her marriage is in trouble and she's coping with a toddler, Melissa Rivers is philosophical about her problems.

        “I had the pretty wedding. I made the pretty house,” she says in Saturday's TV Guide. “I had the pretty baby, I had the handsome husband. I had the career, he had the career, with me at the gate, waving.

        “And the reality is: I'm flawed, he's flawed. I'm still in the honeymoon stages of trying to stay above the fray, and I'm going to be civil, but there have been days when I've just wanted to freak. I just try and curb it.”

        Ms. Rivers, 34, known for her work on the E! network shows Live from the Red Carpet and Fashion Police, is separated from her husband, John Endicott.

Pressure on Louis-Dreyfus
               The Seinfeld curse?

        Not so, says Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as she tries to succeed in an area where two former Seinfeld co-stars have failed.

        “It's a Seinfeld blessing,” the 41-year-old actress says. “Without Seinfeld, I wouldn't have been able to do this show.”

        In her new sitcom Watching Ellie, Ms. Louis-Dreyfus plays a struggling Los Angeles club singer whose life is examined each week in episodes that are presented in real time. It appears Tuesday nights on NBC.

        The network and Ms. Louis-Dreyfus have a lot riding on the show. NBC desperately wants to rebound from sitcom failures earlier this season and Ms. Louis-Dreyfus doesn't want to go the way of Jason Alexander and Michael Richards. Their sitcoms after Seinfeld both flopped.

Runner enters a Sahara-thon
Gotta guy gets home fix-it jobs right
Real style: It's a jungle in her closet
'Eureka' is only a whisper of expected greatness
Local lit: new books by area writers
MU students make artful museum site
Three moms opening boutique in Hyde Park
People, places and things
Get To It