It seems as though we have been receiving an inordinate number of birthday invitations over the past couple of weeks. We can only surmise that the frigid January temperatures (about 75 in Miami but chillier points north) a few decades ago resulted in extra canoodling for warmth among the parents of more than a few friends and local personalities, making for some fun and interesting birthday gatherings, to fete our favorite Libras. From Hadley Henriette’s Cuban-Chinese themed party, to Michael Valdes’ soiree in which the best-dressed guests received prizes, to Gino Campodonico’s outlandish Barbie-themed bash at the dollhouse, which featured Lady Gaga impersonator, Rosie Herrera, (who just received rave reviews for her directorial/producer debut with Various Stages of Drowning: A Cabaret performed earlier this year the Adrienne Arsht Center), Libras celebrate creatively. Other locals celebrating their birthdays this month include: Katrina Campins, Navin Chatani, Erica Freshman, Michael Madd, Hassan Radouane and Angela Santopinto, all of whom hosted a Libra Zodiac party at Red, the Steakhouse on Wednesday. More birthday parties are in the works for Michael Leonidas Kirkland, Vanessa Poskanzer, and Max Shore.
About Last Night…Dates, Nudies and Cheeks
It’s hard to resist a party named after one our favorite 80’s classics, About Last Night. Enter Pacific Times’ celebrated chef, Jonathan Eismann, with provocatively named, scrumptious dishes such as the gnudi (pronounced “nudie,”) “dates” and “grouper cheeks” and we are hooked. O.K., so the food names aren’t so funny in the cold light of day, but they were pretty amusing amidst the glam/hipster (which we’ve recently come to identify as any cute 20/30-something donning a fedora and/or decorative neck fabric) crowd that packed the Design District eatery for the weekly “About Last Night” party, which could be easily confused for the set of a photo shoot or show on the WB, except for the fact that food was present even though the model-types seemed to be more on a liquid diet (duh). The premise behind the party is that guests spend the night Tweeting and updating their Facebook posts. How this is different from any other party, fashion show, restaurant outing, date, movie watching, back scratching, driving experience…took us a minute to figure out. Turns out the party’s unique draw, aside from the hot crowd and outstanding food is that the event itself is a Facebook/Twitter “friend” so those who’ve enjoyed a few too many libations and/or suffer short-term memory loss can piece the night together the next morning. (Not necessarily a good thing.) Inaugural hosts Sean Drake and Michelle Leshem drew in a great crowd including Tara Solomon, Nick D’ Annunzio, Megan Harris, Sam Baum, David Glass, Jose Ortiz, Jacquelynn Powers, Eric Newill, Bill Kearney, Debbie Ohanian and Manny Hernandez. It comes as no surprise that the outstanding food created by Eismann, which is served in style by adorable, friendly waiters resulted in a shout out for Pacific Time by Esquire Magazine as one of the “Best New Restaurants in the U.S.” To be blunt, and quote a fellow diner whom shall remain nameless, “Flavors of orgasmic proportions.”
Coming Up:
Ladies Lunch
Ladies Lunch was recently held at Smith & Wollensky, and offered a terrific opportunity to network with women from all different careers and occupations-not that we ever need a reason to “lunch.” At the gathering, each attendee brought materials and causes to share with the group during a 30-second introduction. Which brings us to our point: if you’re ever in need of a divorce attorney, life coach, or locksmith (certain situations may call for all three), Ladies Lunch is the place to make your connections. The next lunch will be held on Thursday, October 8, at La Goulue in Bal Harbour Shops and will feature Michelle Marchand, an expert in training and development, who will get the ladies involved and inspire the group to get motivated. The next Ladies Lunch South Beach will be held on Thursday, October 15. The SoBe Luncheon will feature guest speaker Pat Morgan of Smooth Sailing Success who will discuss Empowering Women to Be More, Create More Fun & Build Better Relationships. We highly encourage you to bring plenty of business cards. For more information, please contact events@m3events.net or 305-865-5733.
Perks for those in the Biz
A Fish Called Avalon’s executive chef, Brian Cantrell, invites those in the bar, nightclub, hotel and restaurant industries to experience the restaurant’s award-winning cuisine by offering specialty items including wine by the glass or bottle, beer, well cocktails and all signature appetizers at half off the menu price on Monday nights. The 20 year-old South Beach landmark offers modern American seafood with tropical influences and sleek minimalist décor. It is open daily from 6:00-11:00 p.m. For restaurant reservations please call 305.532.1727. Visit www.afishcalledavalon.com for more information.
Celebrity Sightings:
Rapper, Ludacris, was at Meat Market last week, celebrating his birthday and drinking his new cognac. Later in the week, Jared (of Subway fame) dined at Meat Market with five friends. He had the wedge salad and Kobe skirt steak. Sounds like that might be a great addition to the Subway menu. Sing it, 50…50 dollar foot-long!
Josh Groban hung out at W South Beach’s WALL nightclub on Friday night – showing up late with a group of friends. He took two tables and sipped on Grey Goose and Patron. Saturday night, Pete Wentz left his show in West Palm Beach to head down to LIV and DJ at the Ocean Drive Magazine Fall Fashion event for Chloe. Wentz asked party guest, Michael Jordan, for a photo but was denied by security.
Earlier on Saturday, Michael Jordan had dinner with Miami Heat/LA Lakers coach, Pat Riley, at Mr. Chow. Later on, Jordan visited Louis with his girlfriend, Miami girl, Yvette Prieto, where he was low-key, enjoying a bottle of Macallan’s 15 Year old Whisky and puffing on a stogie at a table across from the DJ booth, as his party danced around him and ordered cocktails. Generous as usual, Jordan over-tipped his waitress by $100 dollars. On the same night, designers, Julian Chang and Karelle Levy along with reality star, Michael Cohen, celebrated Hadley Henriette’s birthday at her gorgeous North Bay home.
The Chapelle Show’s, Charlie Murphy, (fans, insert your Rick James impersonation here, “I’m Rick James, B$%ch”) enjoyed a quiet dinner at Houston’s Coral Gables on Sunday night.
Last, because of chronological order, NOT order of significance, former President, Bill Clinton, dined and enjoyed a cigar (how cliché) at Acqualina Resort & Spa on Tuesday night. The former President was served food from Il Mulino. According to the staff, he was extremely friendly.
Bibbity, Bobbity, Bubble Q
Sophisticated diners bubbled over at the most gout-worthy event during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, Bubble Q. Top Chef Tom Colicchio served as ring master over the circus on the sand that brought South Beach glam to the friendly neighborhood barbecue.Bubble Q’s sexy location, chefs as smokin’ hot as the food and gorgeous people doused in champagne, made for a bash to rival Brazil’s Carnaval.This was the epitome of the true South Beach Diet: limitless, perfectly seared meats and seafood paired with free-flowing PerrierJouët.Now there’s a diet we can commit to!Serving up the food and fun this year were some of our favorite chef-lebs, Marcus Samuelsson, Ilan Hall, Al Roker, Jonathan Eismann, Elizabeth Karmel, and Todd Miller, several of whom guzzled champagne along with the rest of us, just adding to the chaos.During the last hour of Bubble Q, the tent turned into a gigantic ball pool, (like the ones you see at Chuck E. Cheese) wherein the revelers (who had been magically transformed into a bunch of second graders under the spell of Perrier Jouët) joined the chefs and FIU sous chefs, in recklessly hurling the plastic balls that were intended to resemble champagne bubbles, to the chagrin of the DJ, who feared for his equipment.Bubble Q was definitely a chef-lebration we wish we could remember.
The mosh-pit-eating-marathon, otherwise known as the Grand Tasting 
Village on Saturday and Sunday, offered up hearty helpings of food from all over the nation and chef-lebrity cooking demonstrations and book signings by Martha Stewart, Emeril Legasse, Katie Lee Joel, Rachael Ray, Tom Colicchio, Paula Deen, Tyler Florence, Bobby Flay, Robin Miller, Masaharu Morimoto, Ingrid Hoffman, Guy Fieri, The Neelys and Michael Symone.On Saturday afternoon, guests uttered a collective groan when it was announced that everyone needed to exit the tents at the premature hour of 5 p.m.(What, only four hours of gorging and imbibing?)As we disappointedly sauntered into the hospitality area, our spirits were uplifted when we heard Heavy Metal blaring from the speakers.Rushing over to the packed cooking demonstration we discovered that the self-proclaimed Culinary Gangster Guy Fieri was in the house.This “Guy” makes Emeril seem shy and introverted.Not only did Fieri throw out steak knives (wrapped in aprons) to the crowd, he took a break from making his 8 foot sausage and beef hoagie to blend an enormous margarita right on stage and pass out shots of Patron to the crowd, who cheered and sang along to “Tequila.”
To say that the tribute dinner honoring Emeril Legasse later that night was a much more subdued affair is an understatement.Emceed by Martha Stewart, the dinner was created by Charlie Trotter, Norman Van Aken, Eric Ripert, Mario Batali and Bobby Flay.One of the highlights was the marching band, dressed in full regalia, who paraded Legasse through the ballroom before his official introduction. Sunday’s, Oscar Night America Sobe Style at the Paris Theater, capped off the weekend extravaganza with a glitzy affair hosted by Bobby Flay and wife, “Law and Order: SVU” star, Stephanie March. Special guests included Laurie Jennings, who emceed and Guy Fieri.
There were a couple of moments of the festival that we would just as soon forget.For Paula Deen, the biggest roar from the crowd during her cooking demonstration had nothing to do with her southern comfort food, (the thought of which makes our arteries quiver), but with a mishap during which Deen lost her pants as she walked off the stage- talk about a southern moon over Miami, the sight of which left us longing for another shot of Fieri’s margarita.Earlier in the week, Mario Batali dropped the F-bomb in the presence of King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain, as he tried to get the crowd’s attention during the $1,000 a plate dinner, ¡Viva España! The Wines and Food of Spain, which was held on Thursday at the Biltmore.Yeah, yeah, blame it on the Spanish wine.Mama Mia, Mario!Guests in attendance included Emilio and Gloria Estefan, Governor Charlie Crist, and Grammy award-winning Spanish singer, Julio Iglesias.
Three D-words come to mind when looking back upon the eating extravaganza otherwise known as South Beach Wine and Food Festival- Divine, Decadent, Diet and Detox.
Coming Up
MOCA Pop Bollywood
The buzz surrounding a certain little Indian flick entitled, Slumdog Millionaire only adds to anticipation for POP BOLLYWOOD, the Museum of Contemporary Art’s sixth annual POP fundraiser which will take place this Saturday night.Fittingly, this year’s theme embodies the movie magic of India.Bollywood actress Pallavi Sharda, will perform during the party, which will feature The Ruby Room, a private Cartier lounge area, complete with club entrance, concierge, champagne, signature hors d’oeuvres and a chance to bid on exclusive silent auction items.
Heavenly Bodies
Cosmopolitan magazine will host its second annual Bikini Bash on March 14th, hosted by sexy starlet Kristin Cavallari, on the sand at Nikki Beach Club.This unique event will feature hundreds of hot, bikini-clad beauties in skimpy, sexy swimwear spelling out the word C-O-S-M-O for an aerial photograph to be included in Cosmo’s August issue. To add to the heat, David Barton Gym’s hunky trainers will provide stretching exercises before the shoot.The after party will be held the same night at Mansion.
Spotted:
Most Hollywood stars stayed, well, in Hollywood, being that it was Oscar weekend, but we still had our requisite celebrity sightings. On separate occasions, both Martha Stewart and Brooke Shields popped into trendy fashion boutique, The Webster, and shopped up a storm!Stewart splurged on Miu Miu, Balmain and Lanvin, while Shields, who was with her two daughters, bought Lanvin and Prada dresses and shoes by YSL.The night after being shocked by Batali’s blunder at the Biltmore, Gloria and Emilio Estefan dined at Asia de Cuba and sipped a few cocktails at the Sunset Lounge at the Mondrian.Gnarles Barkley’s Cee Lo, performed Crazy at SET on Saturday, during the launch of Belvedere IX.During Mansion’s five-year anniversary bash, Swedish DJ, Steve Angello spun for the crowd of over 2, 500.Sunday at Mansion, Ryan Leslie performed Diamond Girl and Addiction at his album release party.Actor Scott Conant was spotted at LIV on Saturday. Broadway superstar, Bernadette Peters was recently seen dining at YOLO Restaurant/Lounge in Fort Lauderdale.
Activate the Wp-cumulus plugin to see the flash tag clouds!
|
