Confirmed on 11.10

Here's the gist:
user@comp:~/.local/share/applications$ alacarte 
* pressed New Item *
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/alacarte/Alacarte/MainWindow.py", line 311, in on_new_item_button_clicked
    process = subprocess.Popen(['gnome-desktop-item-edit', file_path], env=os.environ)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 679, in __init__
    errread, errwrite)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 1239, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception
OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
^CTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/alacarte", line 37, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/alacarte", line 34, in main
    app.run()
  File "/usr/share/alacarte/Alacarte/MainWindow.py", line 76, in run
    gtk.main()
KeyboardInterrupt
user@comp:~/.local/share/applications$ sudo alacarte 
[sudo] password for user: 
* pressed New Item *
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/alacarte/Alacarte/MainWindow.py", line 311, in on_new_item_button_clicked
    process = subprocess.Popen(['gnome-desktop-item-edit', file_path], env=os.environ)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 679, in __init__
    errread, errwrite)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 1239, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception
OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
user@comp:~/.local/share/applications$ sudo apt-get install gnome-panelReading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 gnome-applets gnome-session-fallback
  libpanel-applet-4-0
Suggested packages:
  gnome-netstatus-applet deskbar-applet cpufrequtils epiphany-browser
  desktop-base
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 gnome-applets gnome-panel gnome-session-fallback
  libpanel-applet-4-0
0 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 701 kB of archives.
After this operation, 2,765 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Get:1 http://mirror.isoc.org.il/pub/ubuntu/ oneiric/universe libpanel-applet-4-0 i386 1:3.2.0-0ubuntu1 [93.2 kB]
Get:2 http://mirror.isoc.org.il/pub/ubuntu/ oneiric/universe gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 i386 1:3.2.0-0ubuntu1 [5,004 B]
Get:3 http://mirror.isoc.org.il/pub/ubuntu/ oneiric/universe gnome-panel i386 1:3.2.0-0ubuntu1 [422 kB]
Get:4 http://mirror.isoc.org.il/pub/ubuntu/ oneiric/universe gnome-applets i386 3.2.0-0ubuntu1 [175 kB]
Get:5 http://mirror.isoc.org.il/pub/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates/universe gnome-session-fallback all 3.2.1-0ubuntu1.1 [5,028 B]
Fetched 701 kB in 2s (275 kB/s)              
Selecting previously deselected package libpanel-applet-4-0.
(Reading database ... 738169 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libpanel-applet-4-0 (from .../libpanel-applet-4-0_1%3a3.2.0-0ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0.
Unpacking gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 (from .../gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0_1%3a3.2.0-0ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package gnome-panel.
Unpacking gnome-panel (from .../gnome-panel_1%3a3.2.0-0ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package gnome-applets.
Unpacking gnome-applets (from .../gnome-applets_3.2.0-0ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package gnome-session-fallback.
Unpacking gnome-session-fallback (from .../gnome-session-fallback_3.2.1-0ubuntu1.1_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for gconf2 ...
Setting up libpanel-applet-4-0 (1:3.2.0-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up gir1.2-panelapplet-4.0 (1:3.2.0-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up gnome-panel (1:3.2.0-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up gnome-applets (3.2.0-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up gnome-session-fallback (3.2.1-0ubuntu1.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
user@comp:~/.local/share/applications$ alacarte 
* pressed New Item *

... and then it works!