Magic, Martinis and Mario

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 25th 2008 at 3:02PM

A magician, mixologist and chef Mario Batali are combining for a new type of event. The Magic, Martinis and Mario event the first of which is taking place on September 18 at Del Posto, Batali's restaurant in New York, offers more than just a dinner. Mixologist and Fine Living Network star, Tony Abou-Ganim will design custom cocktails for this special evening and teach diners how to recreate them at home. Also during the cocktail hour, entertainer Billy Harris will show sleight-of-hand magic tricks.

Each of the four courses of the Italian meal will be introduced by Batali and the dishes will be paired with wines from LaMozza, Mario's own vineyard in Tuscany, as well as the Friuli Bastianich vineyard. After the meal Billy Harris will perform his stage show.

Guests will receive gift bag that includes a copy of Mario's latest cookbook, Italian Grill, Tony Aboau-Ganim's most recent DVD, Cocktail 101, samples of 10 Cane Run, playing cards and a ticket to the raffle to win an Ernst Benz Mario Batali wristwatch. Both Mario and Tony will be available to sign books and DVDs at the end of the festivities.

The tickets are $1,500 per seat and limited to 130 guests. $100 of the price will go to the EarthLab Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization providing functional outreach and reverse research and educational efforts in part through EarthLab.com. A new online segment at EarthLab.com entitled Food & Mario Batali shows how to make better food related choices for the environment.

Tags: bastianich, billy harris, BillyHarris, del posto, DelPosto, mario batali, MarioBatali, tony abou-ganim, TonyAbou-ganim