— DIANE CLEHANE

We've truly hit the dog days of summer when there isn't one Fiji water sipping-celeb in sight come high noon at 55th & Fifth. Luckily, that didn't mean there was a shortage of Tinseltown talk in the dining room. The topic du jour — what else? — Lindsay Lohan's latest arrest on suspicion of DUI. (For those two people who've been on the moon, it's the starlet's second bust in three months and comes on the heels of her recent 45-day stay at Promises and her big show of wearing an ankle bracelet that was supposedly programmed to detect any alcohol in her system). "If I were her publicist," sighed one media maven, "I'd have my head in the oven." Uber publicist Ken Sunshine, who represents one-time rehabber Ben Affleck, told me he'd received "tons of calls" from outlets near and far to weigh in on Lohan's dire straits and said, "Her problems are beyond PR issues." The Today Show's Marc Victor says Lohan's relapse is sure to focus attention on the country club-like atmosphere of facilities that cater to coddled celebs: "That's certainly something that will be looked at now." The general consensus among today's crowd is that this story has gone from tabloid train wreck to a truly tragic tale. "She needs compassion," said Lisa Sharkey, Harper Collins' senior vice president and director of creative development who, together with the house's executive editor, Maureen O'Brien, was lunching with Sunshine. No doubt that's exactly what the editors of Us Weekly, In Touch and TMZ.com are thinking ...

Here's the rundown on the rest of the crowd:

1. Jeff Greenfield, Jerry Della Femina, Gerald Imber and another gentleman we didn't recognize.

2. Peter Brown

3. 'Mayor' Joe Armstrong, Today's Marc Victor and Men's Health editor Dave Zinczenko. Our pal Dave was overheard thanking Esquire's David Granger for putting a call into none other than George Clooney inviting him to speak at the upcoming American Magazine Conference about his work in Darfur. (Politicians are so last year!) To entice the Oscar winner, seems plans are in the works to see if there's a way to "incentive-ize" publishers into offering ad space to help promote Clooney's off-screen endeavor.

4. Wayne Kabak & Ken Friedman

5. Arnold Scaasi, Parker Ladd and an elegant-looking blonde haired lady.

6. Marketing maven Jaqui Lividini, Conde Nast's Richard Beckman and NRDC Equity Partner's CEO Richard Baker.

7. Dan Ragone

8. Bobby Zarem and two unidentified gals.

9. Pamela Keogh (loved the frilly aubergine frock) and PR maven Linn Tanzman.

11. Gerry Byrne

12. Writer Stephen Gaghan ("Traffic"), Terry McDonnell and a mystery man.

14. David Granger and David Katz. The intrepid Mr. Katz has gamely agreed to wear Thom Browne's four-sizes-too-small menswear for a month as fodder for an upcoming assignment. (I knew there had to be some reason why he looked like he mistakenly bought a blazer from the kids' department at Bergdorf's)

15. Tony Hoyt, Missy Godfrey & Andrew Amill

17. Ambassador Carl Spiegelvogel

18. Walter Sabo and marketing consultant Laura Wishnand

19. We couldn't see...

20. Glamour's Cindi Leive, looking chic in a sleek white pantsuit.

21. NBC's Jonathan Wald & Connie Dolan

22. Marie Claire's Cleo Glyde

23. Angie Dalton

24. Martin Puris

25. MPA's Nina Link and two gents

26. Scott Singer

27. Artemis Records' honcho Daniel Glass

28. Jim Friedlich

More faces in the crowd: business consultant Elinor Morris and InTouch contributing editor Lisa Arcella who dished over cobb salads at the bar.

Please send comments and corrections to DianeClehane AT mediabistro Dot com and lunch AT mediabistro DOT com.