Monday, Oct. 27, 2008 | 12:26 p.m.
*Tattooed chef and DJ Steve Martorano played host to Sen. Joe Biden’s family when they visited Café Martorano at the Rio for the best Italian food from Philadelphia. I was enjoying the new menu and tackling the eggplant, mozzarella, tomato tower stacks when the Democratic vice president nominee’s son Hunter along with the senator’s younger brother, Frank, popped in for pasta, pepperoni and parmignon -– and everybody was so KO’d with the fabulous food they even posed for this exclusive Luxe Life photo!
*Just where do chefs go when they want a night off from behind the grill? When famed former Food Network and new PBS star Mario Batali and his restaurant partner, winemaker Joe Bastianich, hit Vegas they booked at the new LAVO hotspot restaurant in the Palazzo -- and wound up for some fancy footwork on the upstairs LAVO nightclub dance floor. Also dining there was famed French designer Catherine Malandrino and her family, feasting on the octopus salad and tuna tartare while her son stuck to pizza margarita along with actor Johnathan Schaech and girlfriend, actress Jane Kramer also dining on the octopus with a bottle of Jordan Cabernet plus MTV star Trisha Cummings and some of her cast mates from Real World Sydney.
*Movie-star Eddie Murphy wasn’t hiding his affection for the young lady he took to see the Cirque du Soleil Beatles Love show at The Mirage. He was clad head to toe in an all white outfit -– and throughout the performance they held hands. Also in the VIP seats Sir Elton John’s musical director and bandleader Davey Johnstone. Incidentally, Elton John’s live-in partner, David Furnish, celebrated his birthday Hard Rock style. Meantime over at the Luxor, actress Michelle Pfeiffer took her family to see Cirque’s new Believe show with Mindfreak magician Criss Angel.
*Caesars Palace headliner Bette Midler flew to Los Angeles to join Billy Crystal and director Steven Spielberg to honor legendary veteran actor Kirk Douglas with the USC Shoah Foundation’s “Ambassador for Humanity” award. Spielberg founded the Shoah Institute to document stories of Holocaust survivors and witnesses that Kirk used to promote tolerance. Then Bette flew onto New York City where as part of her
Green Initiative she dedicates hip-hop star 50-Cent’s contribution of a community tree-and plant-filled playground PARK in his old Queens, New York neighborhood.
*Congratulations to Vegas musician Billy Hinsche for getting onto the Official 2009 Grammy Awards Ballot for the Dennis Wilson Forever long-form music video of the Beach Boys star that he produced and directed. Now lets get everybody to vote for Billy so he wins!
*A bi-coastal dinner for just two people in the oh-so-tough to get into Rao’s restaurants in uptown Manhattan and here at Caesars Palace sold for a whopping $7,000 at the James Beard Foundation Taste America chefs dinner at the Palazzo. Superstar chef Charlie Trotter bid $10,000 for his own catered dinner party for 10 people in the Presidential Suite at the Palazzo, but was topped by Beard Foundation President Susan Ungaro at $11,000! We’re now editing all the photos from the two amazing days with 25 of America’s top food stars for a Luxe Life special feature later in the week. After the dinner, LAVO’s chef, Ludo Lefebre, brought several culinary kings to party in the nightclub there including gourmet gurus Francois Payard, Gregory Gorreau, Bradley Ogden’s chef de cuisine Todd Williams, Franck Savoy who runs his father Guy Savoy’s namesake restaurant at Caesars Palace and chef Olivier Dubreuil, who heads up the kitchens of both the Venetian and the palazzo.
*SPORTS STAR SURVEILLANCE: Denver Broncos tight end Daniel Graham and running back Selvin Young partied at the LAX nightclub in the Luxor while over at the sister Pure nightclub in Caesars Palace, Chicago Bears quarterback Rex Grossman mingled with fans at his VIP table until the early morning hours, but stuck simply to Fiji Water. Meantime, World Wrestling Entertainment star Batista hit Victor Drai’s Tryst nightclub at the Wynn where he was given a champion’s welcome between two line-ups of cocktail servers and dancers holding sparklers to light his way to a VIP table adorned with his memorabilia.
TONIGHTS TIP:
Acrobats, swimmers and aerialists from the different Cirque du Soleil shows around town will create vignettes from the Rocky Horror movie at the Beatles Revolution Lounge in The Mirage … Those lusty leggy lingerie lasses from the Fredericks of Hollywood catalog will be at Prive inside the Planet Hollywood for an unbelievable underwear unveiling!
TOMORROWS TEASE:
Girls Next Door’ blonde beauty, Holly Madison returns to Vegas to kickoff Halloween and Criss Angel’s new Believe show as Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps gets an award for his nightclub spree. The topless beauties from new Rick’s Cabaret adult men’s club just might wind up in one of our casino hotels!!!!
COMING SATURDAY (NOV 1): Our brand-new, state-of-technology multimedia website -- www.VegasDeLuxe.com -- is on its way with daily 24/7 breaking news updates for all the luxury lifestyle secrets of Vegas plus all the latest celebrity happenings all over the Strip.
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