Despite a few setbacks, the restaurant business still sizzles for the stars
Focus
One need only look to Steven Spielberg for proof that the celebrity restaurant business is a sink-or-swim affair. Dive!, his Los Angeles sandwich palace, went under early this year—although a Las Vegas branch remains afloat. Planet Hollywood, with Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger behind it, plans to file for bankruptcy protection next month. "The name can only go so far," says restaurant consultant Patricia Esgate. "A lot of people who see it as easy money forget one principle—good food." Yet the stars continue to flirt with what seems to be a star-crossed business. How are they faring? Scoop sampled the current crop.
Michael Jordan: The eatery that bears his name is still doing brisk business in Chicago after six years, his retirement from the Bulls notwithstanding. A new location recently opened in Manhattan, where The New York Times criticized the Jordan-size portions as "absurd."
Wesley Snipes: His China One boîte in L.A. attracts a big crowd—and though Jerry Springer has been a guest, no fights have been reported.
Robert De Niro and Robin Williams: The part-owners of San Francisco's chic California-French restaurant Rubicon say it's packed. The Los Angeles Times food critic loves the crab-cake special.
Ricky Martin: Co-owner Martin dines regularly at his popular Casa Salsa in Miami Beach. "He eats like crazy," says the former manager. "I don't know how he stays so thin!"
Bill Wyman: Princess Diana used to treat Princes William and Harry to burgers at the ex-Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers restaurant in London. Patrons still pour in.
Emilio and Gloria Estefan: Guests at the power couple's Bongos Cuban Cafe at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., can wait up to two hours for a table. The Estefans are also part-owners in Larios on the Beach, the Cuban restaurant still popular in Miami Beach seven years after it opened.
Don Johnson: The Nash Bridges star plans to open a modern Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square this fall.
Jury System Emmy Style
Drew Carey did not submit an entry for the Sept. 12 Emmy Awards (all contestants must submit a tape of their TV work and a $125 entrance fee) because, as he has said to the press in the past, he does not believe in popularity contests.
Perhaps he was unaware how few friends he'd need. As it happens, only about 80 members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences choose winners in the major categories. Chalk that up to a requirement that voters attend a marathon two-day session at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where they must watch at least two episodes of nominated shows. "It's a very fair, noble process," says Tom O'Neil, author of The Emmys.
It's also easy to manipulate. Here are O'Neil's tape tips:
Show emotion: Roseanne's John Goodman lost seven times because his clips lacked "emotional punch."
Have a problem: While on Cheers, Kirstie Alley won with an episode where she drank too much.
Consider cloning: Judges "are suckers for playing twins or people with multiple personalities."
A Rough Road to Recovery
A grand jury will decide Sept. 30 what charges, if any, should be pressed against motorist Bryan Smith, 42, who struck and seriously injured author Stephen King as he walked along a Maine road June 19. But King already knows the punishment he'd advise: Take away the man's driver's license.
"He has no business on the road. He's a danger to himself, and he's a danger to others," King, 51, told the Bangor Daily News last week in his first public comments since the accident. The paper reported that Smith, a former construction worker, has committed several driving offenses over 10 years, including driving under the influence and four speeding violations.
The accident, which Smith said occurred after his rottweiler in the back of his van distracted him, caused multiple fractures to King's right leg and hip, a collapsed lung, broken ribs and a scalp laceration. When an ambulance arrived, King said he asked the medical technician, "Am I going to die?"
The medics reassured him, and he was later placed in a helicopter for a flight to the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. En route, a lung collapsed. "I could see the blue sky, I just couldn't breathe anymore," King said. A tube was placed in his lung.
Two and a half months later, after six operations, King will need almost a year of physical therapy before he can walk at 85 percent of his old strength. "They're teaching me to rebend my leg," he said.
The injuries will curtail promotional efforts for his new novel, Hearts in Atlantis, to be released Sept. 14. Still, King keeps his humor. "I watched Titanic when I got back home and cried," he joked, "and I knew that my IQ had been damaged."
A Wheely Big Deal
Would you buy a used car from Tom Selleck? Chip Connor did and paid $211,500 for the privilege. "I got a great deal," said the businessman of his newly acquired 1928 Bentley. "No one in this country understands the value of these cars." Well, not exactly. Hundreds of classic-car fans—including Nicolas Cage and wife Patricia Arquette, who declined to say if they bought anything, and Jay Leno, who just looked—drove to Pebble Beach, Calif., last week to inspect 73 vintage cars at the Exceptional Motor Car Sale run by Christie's auction house. The event netted $18 million.
Fitness Face-off
Linda Evans, the former Dynasty diva, has endorsed a chain of 11 gyms in the San Francisco area. She also pitches the Rejuvenique Ultimate Facial Toning System, a $199.95 Friday the 13th-esque mask that, her infomercials claim, will do for the face "what exercise does for the rest of the body" by sending electrical impulses to your facial muscles. This puts grimaces on the faces of the gym owners, who say a 1994 contract with the actress (creating the Linda Evans Fitness Centers) gives them exclusive rights to her name when it comes to selling fitness. Both sides are suing each other. Evans declined comment on the dispute while promoting the mask last week. She did stress the importance of a youthful face, though, telling fans at Macy's that "in my profession, this is the key to survival."
A Career Move That's Taylor-Made
Duran Duran sold more than 40 million albums with hits such as "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "The Reflex." Their good looks—and sculpted haircuts—made them darlings of the MTV set, with bass player John Taylor setting teenage girls' hearts aflutter. Taylor, 39, left the band in 1997 and makes his film debut this month playing a musician in Sugar Town, a movie that pokes fun at aging rock stars. He knows the subject matter well and discusses it with Scoop.
Why become an actor now?
I'm from a very repressed English Catholic background. I'm just peeking out from my shell. But these last few years have really kind of shown me that anything is possible.
It wasn't much of a stretch for you to play a musician, was it?
Believe me, musicians are all different. It's like acting out a love scene. We've all made love, but do you think you can do it on-camera convincingly?
Do rock stars curse as much as they do in the film?
I took my dad to see the movie in England. I thought he was going to swallow his false teeth. The language is authentic.
Do you miss the rock star fame?
When people stopped recognizing me in the street, I was not disappointed. You have to come down and get a taste of the other world.
You now live in California. What's different from London life?
I miss the rain and the bad food and the four channels of television. I miss the politics. With my family over there, we'd be up all night talking about the way the world turns instead of where movies are made.
Why did you leave Duran Duran?
I wanted to be independent, although that's an illusion.
Would you ever rejoin the band?
Never say never.
Duran Duran is touring. Will you attend their concerts?
No. That would be a little too weird. Although I send my spies along to report. What songs did they sing? How did the [new] bass player look?
ON THE BLOCK
HOPPSTER'S HABITAT
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's all-time leading scorer, still likes big numbers. He's asking $3.8 million for his 7,000-square-foot, five-bedroom Beverly Hills home. Fortunately for the 7'2" basketball star, the home already had 20-foot ceilings and extra-tall doorways. He then installed a gym, a four-car garage, an outdoor hot tub and an indoor sauna. Located on an out-of-the-way hillside, the property, listed by DBL Beverly Hills, offers views of the Pacific, the Santa Monica Mountains and downtown Los Angeles. Abdul-Jabbar, who finished a stint coaching high school basketball at an Indian reservation in Arizona earlier this year, will move to another house he owns.
- Contributors:
- Larry Sutton,
- Erik Meers,
- Liza Hamm,
- Ken Baker,
- Kelly Carter,
- Michelle Caruso,
- Ivory Clinton II,
- Tom Cunneff,
- Eric Francis,
- Mary Green,
- Rachele Kanigel,
- Bob Meadows,
- Aixa Pascual,
- Fannie Weinstein,
- Margaret Wright.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
