Gossip Central

Meeting Chef Mauro Colagreco: Reinventing Mirazur

Among the many pleasures of the documentary-rich Tribeca Film Festival, Reinventing Mirazur is particularly yummy, the best word for a film about food. Or rather, the transformation of a multi-star Michelin restaurant in Menton, France during Covid. At center is a brilliant chef, the Argentinian Mauro Colagreco, named best in the world, who expected to be studying cooking in Paris for a few months—as one does— that stretched into twenty years, ending up in the most gorgeous setting, on the French Riviera—actually the perfect place for a restaurant that went from just great and innovative food to a more planet-conscious culinary experience. Mauro is a teddy bear of a man in the film, beyond friendly and loving to family and to his restaurant staff. Not that life was easy. During Covid, he could not fly back to Argentina when his beloved mother died. He went through great growing pains as a restaurateur. 

Cut to this film premiere at Tribeca, and an after party at Carbone where he would be the guest of honor. Intrigued and thoroughly seduced by the film, I was pleased to be invited to meet this world-class chef, fueled by the fantasy that he would be dishing out tiny slivers of lamb layered with leaves, as he does in Reinventing Mirazur. When I arrived at Carbone, no one could say he would be there. I had a glass of chardonnay in a corner, and ample samples of Carbone’s signature meatballs and veal parmigiana as the small venue filled with scenesters. The food was delicious.

Martha Stewart Brings Her Flair for Perfection to Southampton

Patrick McMullan

Without even saying “It’s a good thing,” Martha Stewart’s reassuring presence sanctions any project. This past weekend, the occasion was a swank party in Southampton attended by a who’s who of who’s out east: from Brooke Shields to Chuck Scarborough to Alina Cho. The event was designed by Bronson Van Wyck and photographed by Patrick McMullan. And, because the party was organized by Peggy Siegal, the concept was high-minded, bringing cultural awareness to a great literary cause: The House of Speakeasy Bookmobile delivering books to children in underserved neighborhoods. The founder and author Amanda Foreman introduced a panel of writers on architecture, Peter Pennoyer and Paul Goldberger, joining Martha Stewart (that makes it Peter, Paul and Martha, someone quipped) to discuss the Coopers Neck Lane site, owned by David Walentas and now on the market. So yes, that’s culture/ cause/ commerce.

Martin Scorsese’s Rat Pack

Whatever else happens, no matter what other Oscar nominations The Irishman garners, Best Picture is guaranteed. The New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review, to name two groups, have already augured its success. But of course, winning is anyone’s guess. After decades of movies, Martin Scorsese seems to take the award season in stride, flanked by his posse including Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, as he was this week at Tao for the NYFCC. Picking up an award at Tao this week, jet lagged following the Golden Globes on the other coast, he spoke about another of his pack, Harvey Keitel, wanting to jump ship at that event. “We were sinking,” he confessed defeat. Harvey switched tables for Tarantino’s.

But there Marty was front and center at Tao, with everyone paying homage to the master as they took the stage.

Julian Schnabel’s Sculpture and other Delights at LongHouse Reserve

Two white sculptures stood grandly erect on a corridor of green, stately gentlemen greeting guests for the annual summer benefit at LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton. In plaster over burlap, the work by the artist/ filmmaker/ sculptor Julian Schnabel fit the earthy yet well-groomed site, a home to art by Yoko Ono and Buckminster Fuller. Schnabel was to be honored that evening, along with fashion designer Donna Karan. At cocktails, Schnabel’s family, his wife Louise Kugelberg, and sons Vito, Cy, and Olmo Schnabel circled Julian as Hal Willner, Zac Posen, Laurie Anderson, and Benjamin-Sainte Clementine gathered and kibitzed before the celebration. Laurie would perform that evening, and Julian brought Ben to perform too, at a dinner hosted by Jack Lenor Larsen. Ralph Gibson, Florence Fabricant, Fern Mallis, and many others wore rose for the occasion, themed la vie en rose.

Mary Wilson Reigns Supreme at the Café Carlyle

Photo: David Andrako

Most women are loath to tell their age. Not Mary Wilson, the former Supreme now holding court at the Café Carlyle. When you see her, as you absolutely must, you will understand why 75 is a point of pride. Sassy and smart, sublime and simply gorgeous, she commands the stage, singing songs you know. When she forgets the lyrics to the 1966 hit, “My World is Empty Without You,” she’ll tell you, I was too busy doing my “oohs, ahs, and baby babies” behind Diana Ross (also 75, by the way) to actually say those words. And the audience, eating it up, helps her out, even as she segues into “Fever.” We are all backups for the night.

Food Bank of New York’s Can Do Dinner

The carpet was orange at Cipriani Wall Street, for the annual Food Bank of New York’s Can Do Dinner this week. The Four Tops in white sequined jackets as well as Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka basked in its glow. One prize auctioned at the gala was a meal cooked by Cordon-Bleu trained chef, Burtka for your guests at your home. The couple would take over your kitchen, Harris acting as mixologist. With Christie’s Lydia Fenet keeping it fast and funny, that item went for a tidy $30,000 with the money going to help the hungry. Among the honorees, Jose Andres was feted for the great work he’s done this year, particularly in bringing food to Puerto Rico still recovering from two hurricanes two years ago, when the island suffered food and electricity shortages. You do remember a certain orange person tossing some Bounty to the hungry populace.

John Lloyd Young Sings Songs of Love at the Café Carlyle

Photo: David Andrako

“You’re just too good to be true,” goes the lyric of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” a signature hit for John Lloyd Young. Now in his eighth residency at the Café Carlyle, the line, the first of the night, also describes his dreamboat performance. Some men just don’t get old: Dark glasses cannot hide John Lloyd Young’s dimple-chinned prom date good looks, but then again, his music does not age either. Just ask his fans who follow wherever he plays, and return to the Carlyle night after night.

Chef Flynn: “Don’t Hold the Salt:” The Hamptons International Film Festival Celebrates Summerdocs in its Tenth Year

Under a makeshift tent, a staging spot for plating his culinary creations at the Brock residence in East Hampton, Flynn McGarry, a phenomenon as a young chef with his own Lower East Side restaurant, Gem, and a new documentary about him, Chef Flynn, shook hands, his fingers coated in egg yolk. “That’s how you want your chef,” smiled Flynn, at the party celebrating him, the movie about him, and the Hamptons International Film Festival’s Summerdocs 10th Anniversary: “Enjoy my food, and my life,” he told the crowd. He is 19. His Beef Tartare on a grilled lettuce cup, beautifully situated on trays, was a delight to look at, fleurettes with a sprinkle of sesame seed, and even better to eat.

Carla Hall Bucks Food Trends: Stirring the Pot with Florence Fabricant

Carla Hall is all about cooking with love. Sharing her food notes and anecdotes with Florence Fabricant at Guild Hall’s popular series, “Stirring the Pot,” the two foodies could not agree more about the limiting nature of food trends. For example, who says that beets must always be served with goat cheese? Duh. Well someone decades ago made that combo a standard and now diners expect that. Cooking with love is way more intuitive about what can go with what, and what is fresh and available.

Remembering Anthony Bourdain

The irreverence of Anthony Bourdain’s CNN series, “Parts Unknown” always struck me as a sign that behind this foodie’s yen for travel and exotic eats was a beat soul. One segment had him on an island off Italy fighting with the fishermen. In Tangier, a city I know well, he found the funkiest place to shoot a crackerjack Moroccan feast. His programs did not feel over-produced. He allowed for the mayhem of spontaneity. And I loved that.

Waiting for Alec Baldwin at the Guild Hall Gala

Yes, G. E. Smith previewed Guild Hall’s first annual guitar masters festival, to take place in July, but that was not the only music at this year’s winter celebration of Guild Hall. Honored for her career in the visual arts, Audrey Flack, brought her History of Art band to The Rainbow Room to perform her tribute to Jackson Pollock on banjo and spoons. Her feminist take on the iconic painter dovetails with the current Me Too movement, and as she is quick to tell you, “he came on but nothing happened. He was way too drunk.”