Nation's Restaurant News

(Jan. 28, 2008) During the third season of the acclaimed HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the show’s creator, Larry David, and real-life actors Ted Danson and Michael York were portrayed as they struggled to open a trendy, celebrity-owned eatery in Los Angeles.

Over the course of the season, the wannabe restaurateurs were called upon to deal with a strange array of challenges, such as a corpse-sniffing dog, a cook who lies about his baldness and an executive chef afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome. On the restaurant’s opening night, the chef ends up triggering a obscenity-laced, communal free-for-all that, in real life, would have sent any self-respecting operator scrambling for good legal representation.

n real life, celebrity-backed restaurants rarely must endure the kind of bizarre events that plagued the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” crowd. Yet this past year certainly was fraught with its own share of high-profile scandals, meltdowns and controversies involving those in the spotlight. Celebrities Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Michael Vick have all made headlines for things that had nothing to do with their respective professions.

And, curiously enough, several of them also have had interests in the restaurant business.

Spears, whose media exposure this year has focused, among other things, on her questionable parenting skills and high-profile divorce, closed her short-lived Southern eatery Nyla in New York in 2003.

Vick, recently sentenced to 23 months in prison for operating an illegal dog fighting business, was one of the investors for the East Point, Ga.-based wine restaurant, The Tasting Room. Wachovia Corp., claiming Vick and another investor defaulted on the restaurant’s $1.3 million loan, currently is suing him.

Rumors also have circulated that Lohan, whose year included of two stays in a rehabilitation center, is considering opening a restaurant in Los Angeles.

But even acknowledging the potential for an overheated celebrity scandal, most operators are not afraid to work with some of today’s hottest names.

Clearly, a big-name celebrity can be counted on to help attract business to a restaurant, particularly when it first opens and the operation is still “hot.”

On the other hand, operators say, customers often are not aware that a celebrity has invested in an establishment.

“Celebrities are associated with our restaurant, but only on an investor level,” says Lonnie Moore, co-founder of the Los Angeles-based Dolce Group. “Besides the crowd who reads ‘US Weekly’ or ‘In Style,’ our restaurants are frequented by foodie types and locals who don’t even know the celebrity involvement.”

Moore and his lifelong friend, Mike Malin, who gained stardom on the CBS reality show “Big Brother,” oversee The Dolce Group. In 2003, they opened Dolce Enoteca e Ristorante with a number of celebrity backers including “That 70s Show” alums Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, Danny Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama. Chris Masterson of “Malcolm in the Middle,” Dulé Hill of “The West Wing,” and “Scream” veteran Jamie Kennedy also are investors.

 he restaurant group also is the operator of Geisha House, a futuristic Japanese eatery with locations in Hollywood and Atlanta; Ketchup, an upscale American restaurant in West Hollywood; and Bella Cucina Italiana, located in Los Angeles.

Moore is so confident in his relationship with his celebrity investors that contracts are not needed to protect the restaurant if one of the A-list stars suddenly becomes embroiled in a scandal.

Email The Prakas Group