celebrity restaurateur

Chazz Palminteri To Open A Restaurant in Baltimore

Chazz Palminteri is famous for his New York style. Now the actor is bringing a taste of the Bronx to Baltimore for a new celebrity restaurant, a venture called Chazz: A Bronx Original.

The Baltimore Sun says that Palminteri's Charm City adventure began when he was in Baltimore's Little Italy in 2009 searching for some good Italian food while in town with his one-man show "A Bronx Tale." He discovered Aldo's, a popular local restaurant. He ordered the linguini with marinara sauce and liked it so much he came back the next 10 nights in a row.

Clearly impressed by the food, he made friends with the owners and found collaborators for a new restaurant. Chazz: A Bronx Original which is described as "a garlicky valentine to the Italian-American table" is set to open this spring in the Harbor East neighborhood. The 160-seat restaurant will have a coal-fired pizza oven and Palminteri says that he will be visiting the restaurant frequently to hang out with the locals. He told the Baltimore Sun he's been getting tips on life as a celebrity restaurateur from his longtime friend actor-turned-hotel-and-restaurant-owner Robert De Niro.

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Tags: baltimore, celebrity restaurants, celebrity restaurateur, chazz palminteri, italian, italian food

Eva Longoria's Beso Restaurant Files For Bankruptcy

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

In 2009 Eva Longoria and celebrity chef Todd English took their Beso restaurant concept to Las Vegas. Now a little over a year after the opening of the restaurant in the Crystals complex in CityCenter, Beso LLC has filed Chapter 11. The Wall Street Journal reports that Longoria owns around a third of a stake in the corporation which operates both the Beso Restaurant and Eve nightclub in the MGM Resorts entertainment and retail complex.

The first Beso (which means "kiss" in Spanish) opened in Hollywood in 2008. Both restaurants feature Tex-Mex items such as Eva's tortilla soup, her avocado guacamole and chili rubbed skirt steak. The Chapter 11 petition, filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas, list assets of $2.5 million and $5.7 million in debts. According to the WSJ article, Longoria herself is owed nearly $1.1 million on an unsecured loan and an additional $375,000 for legal fees she paid on the company's behalf. The Las Vegas Sun says that the restaurant projects ongoing losses of $76,000 per month and owes $1.8 million to landlord Crystals at CityCenter. There is also ongoing litigation involving contractors the construction of the club as well as former partners.

Both Beso Hollywood and Beso Las Vegas remain open. In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press Longoria said that she would plan to Las Vegas and take charge of the future of the restaurant and looks forward to "a more proactive, hands-on approach" with her Las Vegas businesses.

Gallery: Celebrity Restaurants

Tags: celebrity restaurant, celebrity restaurants, celebrity restaurateur, eva longoria, Eva Longoria Parker, todd english

Darryl Strawberry Opens Queens Restaurant

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Celebrity Design

Former professional baseball player Darryl Strawberry may have picked up some business skills in his brief stint on "The Celebrity Apprentice" because he's got a new venture, a restaurant in Queens, New York. Strawberry's Sports Grill opened this week with celebrities Justin Timberlake, Whitey Ford, current Yankees Nick Swisher and David Robertson, Ali Fedotowsky of the Bachlorette, and Miss USA Rima Fakih in attendance at the grand opening party.

The restaurant in Douglaston, Queens is decorated with sports memorabilia including Strawberry's Shea Stadium locker from his Mets days and two World Series trophies. Strawberry partnered with Eytan Sugarman of Southern Hospitality and the menu features some Southern treats like a house-smoked BBQ brisket, cornbread, collard greens and crawfish and cheddar hushpuppies. There is also also a complete burger menu, a dessert menu with pecan pie, milkshakes and deep-fried Twinkies served with strawberry sauce and vanilla ice cream and a special adults-only dessert menu with ice cream topped with fruit puree and liquor sauces.

Our sister blog Slashfood sat down with Strawberry and learned that Strawberry plans to be a hands-on owner, sticking around for the first six months to keep an eye on things. Check out their story for a tour of the restaurant.

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Tags: celebrity restaurants, celebrity restaurateur, Darryl Strawberry, strawberrys grill

Francis Ford Coppola Opens New Restaurant

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Director Francis Ford Coppola is a man who loves his food and wine and he'll be combining both at Rustic, a new restaurant inside the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, California. The full title of the restaurant is Rustic Francis' Favorites which gives a clue to the fact that the menu is geared toward the tastes of the great man himself. The restaurant will serve Italian favorites including Neapolitan style pizzas as well as meat cooked on an Argentine-style parilla and a Brazilian-style Tomasi rotisserie. Seasonal produce will be sourced from the on-site vegetable and herb garden. Eater SF recently had a photo tour of the total facility which includes two tasting rooms, a cocktail bar, retail area and plenty of movie memorabilia including as Don Corleone's desk from The Godfather.

Inside Scoop chatted with Coppola about his new creation and the vision behind it. He wanted to put the focus on rustic country cuisine serving hearty fare using fresh ingredients. Starting this fall the restaurant will have 'a tavola' service on Sundays. Instead of order ing from a menu, guests will be served a variety of dishes that the chef prepares and sends out, a nod to old-fashioned family Sunday suppers.

Tags: celebrity restaurant, celebrity restaurants, celebrity restaurateur, francis ford coppola, geyserville, winery

Eva Longoria Parker's Expanding Restaurant Empire

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Celebrity Design

The restaurant world may not be having its best season but one celebrity restaurateur is ready to expand. People Magazine reports that Eva Longoria Parker is taking her Beso restaurant concept to Las Veas. Beso Las Vegas will open on New Year's Eve 2010 with an event hosted by Longoria Parker. The exact venue is still under construction but the menu will resemble Beso Hollywood with items like Eva's tortilla soup and chili rubbed skirt steak on the menu.

Longoria Parker and her business partner celebrity chef Todd English (who already has a version of his signature restaurant Olives in Las Vegas) plan to make the Las Vegas version a little different with a variety of specials and drinks and an upstairs lounge called Eve. Las Vegas is a smart move for a burgeoning restaurant chain, Although tourism is down in Las Vegas, the city still brings in hungry tourists looking for a special experience. Tao Las Vegas has topped the list of highest grossing independent restaurants for several years.

Longoria Parker is also planning a series of smaller airport versions called Besitos (little kisses in Spanish). The first one will be in Los Angeles. English can guide her there too, his Bonfire restaurant has outposts in both Boston's Logan Airport and New York City's JFK Airport.

Gallery: Celebrity Restaurants

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Tags: beso, celebrity restaurants, celebrity restaurateur, CelebrityRestaurants, CelebrityRestaurateur, eva longoria, eva longoria parker, EvaLongoria, EvaLongoriaParker, las vegas, LasVegas, restaurateur, todd english, ToddEnglish