It's Ellen, not Meredith, getting hitched

Ellen Pompeo, the Everett-bred beauty who stars on "Grey's Anatomy," is getting hitched. Pompeo's peeps confirmed for us yesterday that Dr. Meredith Grey is engaged to her boyfriend, fellow Bostonian Chris Ivery. According to People, Ivery, who's 37 and a record producer, proposed last Friday -- Pompeo's 37th birthday -- presenting the love of his life with a 3.5-carat, emerald-cut diamond in a platinum setting. Although Pompeo and Ivery grew up here, they didn't actually meet until 2003 in LA. A decade ago, the attractive Ivery spent some time in the pen, serving 14 months in federal prison for possession of stolen mail and credit card fraud. He was released in 1995.

Like father, like son

If his foul mouth is any indication, Nick Cassavetes is a chip off the old block. The son of seasoned actress Gena Rowlands and tough-talking actor/director John Cassavetes dropped more than a few F-bombs while talking to BU students about his crime flick "Alpha Dog." Based on the true story of Jesse James Hollywood, a 20- something drug dealer who's been charged with kidnapping and killing a 15-year-old boy, the movie might be described as "Scarface" meets "Laguna Beach," and stars Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Boston-born actor Ben Foster, and Justin Timberlake, who, believe it or not, plays a drug thug, albeit a very nice one. Asked about casting the world-famous cutie, Cassavetes said Timberlake was a natural. "He's not heavy, but he moves good and he's easy," the director said. "This kid's not a [ expletive ] thug."

Writer retreats from Nantucket slam

Pitifully, Nick Paumgarten's already apologizing for his pan of Nantucket's restaurant scene. Reviewing Sfoglia's new site on the Upper East Side, the New Yorker scribe wrote that the eatery got its start on the island, which he characterized as a "culinary backwater." The crack didn't sit well with anybody, and Michael and Orla LaScola , who own American Seasons on Nantucket, promptly invited Paumgarten to a dinner they're doing tonight at New York's James Beard House . Paumgarten politely declined, but tried to make amends. "Damn. Now I feel bad. My Nantucket dining experience has been fairly limited," he admitted in an e-mail to the restaurant's rep. "It was perhaps an ill-considered throwaway remark." . . . Add local actress Christy Scott Cashman to the list of those with a role in "Chatham," a Cape Cod-based romantic comedy about three 70-something sea captains competing for the attention of a much younger woman. Due to be shot on the Cape, the prospective cast already includes Peter Boyle, Martin Landau, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, and Anne Archer . Today, Cashman's in the Big Apple with Brooke Shields, Rita Wilson, John O'Hurley, and Bebe Neuwirth for a 10th anniversary performance of "Chicago" benefiting the victim - assistance agency Safe Horizon.

Congrats to onetime talk show host and Channel 7 anchor Darlene McCarthy, who got hitched over the weekend. No, the former "Daytime Diva" didn't wed George Regan, with whom she used to walk around (and who was at Saturday's bash at the Boston Harbor Hotel ) . McCarthy's new man is a Brit named Michael Barnfield. . . . Among those expected to be mingling last night at the newly renovated Morton's on Boylston Street were meat-eating muckety-mucks Mayor Tom Menino, Bruins VP Charlie Jacobs, designer Joseph Abboud, Reebok's Paul Foster, Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, and the host with the most Jim Apteker. . . . Never mind Jon Stewart, or should we say Jon Leibowitz, how about a hand for Nancy Kaufman, the only Bostonian on the Forward 50, the Jewish newspaper's list of the most influential members of the American Jewish community. "I'm afraid I'm not as funny as Jon Stewart," Kaufman told us, referring to "The Daily Show" star who ranks No. 1 on the annual list. Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, is recognized for her role in mobilizing support for the state's landmark healthcare legislation.

Homegrown hero Doug Flutie was awarded the 2006 Red, White & Blue Award at Symphony Hall last night, a prestigious honor previously bestowed upon Bruce Springsteen and Oscar Robertson. Performers paying tribute to the former football star included the great James Montgomery as well as several members of the band Boston.

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