Just in time for Spring Break and WMC, which hits our shores on March 23, are two new offerings in the club department:  Coco de Ville and Mokai 2010.  Coco de Ville, the LA transplant set up shop in the Gansevoort Hotel during Super Bowl weekend and has been getting lots of attention from cool kids and club rats ever since.  Coco De Ville’s Roy Alpert describes the vibe “like your hanging out at someone’s beach house. The programming is open format with more NY, LA style feel. The space is small so we keep the door pretty tight but if you show up with good energy and a good attitude them I am sure you won’t be hassled.”

Man-about-town, TARA, Ink. Principal, Nick D’Annunzio raves, “I love Coco De Ville. It’s the hottest spot in Miami, with the toughest door. You have to have a table or be genetically blessed to get in. I am not sure who is better looking, the crowd or the staff. And I am gaga over one of their signature drinks the Coco Cotton Candy. I die!”

 Up the street from Coco, Mokai re-opened last weekend with a new look and new ownership.  At the helm of Mokai 2010 is the Opium Group, which owns other South Beach hotspots, WALL, SET, Louis, Mansion, and Cameo, in addition to Opium Hard Rock and Prive up north.  The “new” Mokai’s facelift includes “eye popping cherry-red sofas, black lacquered walls, lipstick-pink panels, an ‘Alice In Wonderland’ array of custom-designed chandeliers, and a Baccarat-inspired chandelier pit – a modern take on a traditional fireplace –  Mokai’s design embraces modern New York sensibility and Miami joie de vivre,” according  to Vanessa Menkes, Opium Group’s vice president of communications. Mokai’s innovative music programming will include a mix of house music, open format, and electro formats.  Weekly parties will be announced soon.

The ninth annual Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival has come and gone, leaving the South Beach sand wine soaked, the air tinged with delicious aromas and our scales tilting in the wrong direction.  This year’s festival boasted an unprecedented number of events, with more than 50, 000 attendees, and over $2 million raised for the Florida International University (FIU) School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center.

The Amstel Light Burger Bash kicked -off the four day festival on Thursday night. Bobby Flay, Daniel Boulud, Guy Fieri, Rachael Ray, and Michael Symon all under one tent is any foodies dream, and this year’s carnivorous romp made that delectable dream come true as chefs from all around our nation battled it out to see who could come up with this year’s People’s Choice Award for “Best Burger.” The party, held in a giant tent behind the Ritz Carlton, was a blast, the cool weather adding to the already high-spirits of SBWFF lovers, who didn’t seem to mind the smoke and barbecue “fragrance” which permeated their lungs, hair and clothing.  Last Year’s defending champ, Spike Mendelsohn, wore a heavyweight championship belt, boxing trunks, robe and gloves and had the Rocky theme song blaring from his section, while serving his classic burger with American cheese and bacon on a soft bun accompanied with a cotton candy milk shake (yummy!).  Masaharu Morimoto’s burgers were rumored to be among the best, as evidenced by the line of people waiting that spanned the length of the tent.  The Iron Chef won for best “toppings” and was awarded a Tiffany Heinz Ketchup Bottle.  The 2010 People’s Choice Award winner was Michael Symon of B Spot and his Swiss, pastrami, and coleslaw burger (Pepcid, anyone?).  Former champ, Mendelsohn graciously handed over his heavyweight belt to Symon to solidify the win.  Our very own, Michael Schwartz of Michael’s Genuine Food (who in our humble opinion makes the best burger in Miami) took top honors earning the Allen Brothers Golden Grill Award – the judge’s choice for best burger for his bacon cheeseburger on brioche with a side of crispy hominy with chili and lime. Other celeb-chefs spotted included Sandra Lee, Michael Chiarello, Sunny Anderson, Rocco DiSpirito, Jeff McInnis, Govind Armstrong, Tim Love, Carla Hall, Art Smith, Anne Burell, and Michael Schwartz among many others. The delightful dessert selections from Jeni’s Splendid Gourmet Ice Creams (almond brittle and Cocoa Zin and salty caramel-ooh la la!) and Levain Bakery’s 6 oz cookies (yes, almost half a pound) capped off a perfect evening. 

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One of the most creative parties to date was the Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MOCA) Bohemian Bash which took place Saturday night at the museum.  The evening’s theme celebrated the role of the unconventional in the artistic process, a reference to the Dadaist movement of the early 1900s that included surreal happenings and feted the irrational (glad we paid attention in Art History).  And unconventional it was, with everything from an upside-down living room suspended from the ceiling above one of the bars; fortune tellers, spontaneous poets, who composed poems for guests on the spot; avant-garde films and images projected on dramatically lit oversized white balloons covering the ceiling, the Escher-inspired black and white optical illusion dessert room, a frenetic tap dancer covered in gold metallic-paint in a gold room, and sultry burlesque dancers performing behind a screen. 

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Vizcaya was a page out of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby on Saturday night for the glitzy and glamorous, Lingerie Miami, the only such showcase of lingerie in the United States. Aglow in pink lighting, the palace was reminiscent of Versailles, its beauty rivaled only by the gorgeous crowd of 500, who braved the uncharacteristically chilly weather, forking out $1,000.00 a head to support the 7Bar Foundation, a charity aimed at helping impoverished women around the globe. The event, hosted by actress Eva Longoria Parker and co-hosted by supermodel Veronica Webb, former Apprentice, Sean Yazbeck and spiritual leader and author, Deepak Chopra, (strange bedfellows indeed), was nothing short of spectacular, right down to the gold-gilded goblets, Swarovski-encrusted Moet & Chandon bottles and the raciest, sexiest lingerie this side of a Paris bordello. European lingerie designers, Fifi Chachnil, Carine Gilson and Agent Provocateur produced unique, sensual fashion shows, proving that lingerie is couture.

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The Super Bowl blew through town last week, taxing my endurance, bank account and liver (Forget the guest list, just add me to that transplant list will you?). And in addition to the game, there were celebrity appearances, concerts and parties, parties, parties!  Since the helicopter and speed boat were in the shop, I couldn’t make it to EVERYTHING, but managed to put together a “short” recap of who was where and what they were doing.  Unless otherwise noted most of the A-list celebrities (and B and C for that matter) spent most of their time at the parties they attended just hanging and milling about, as if they were a display at the Museum of Natural History.  The biggest bashes in terms of shear number of guests (Bashes for the Masses) were thrown by ESPN, MAXIM, TAO and Playboy.  Notable concerts included: Rhianna, Marc Anthony at the Icon Brickell, JLO in a cat suit at LIV, Ne-Yo at ESPN at the Fontainebleau, Wycleff Jean and Snoop Dogg at the 944 Hotel on separate nights, and an impromptu concert by Wycleff Jean at the Florida Room during which Queen Latifah and Robin Thicke jumped on-stage.   Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Days are here again! With just days to the Big Game, and the requisite parties (60 and counting),  promotions, events, concerts, goodie bags, celebrity and athlete appearances and fan experiences, what’s not to love about the Super Bowl, whether or not  you are a football fan? While we have yet to see events in the line-up to top the Ocean Drive magazine/ Market America Super Bowl party, voted “Best Party” of 2007, which featured concerts by Fergie, JLo and Marc Anthony, music by the late, great, DJ AM and just about every A-list celeb you can imagine we’ve managed to put together a short list of this year’s best Bowl bets.

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