New York Trip Feb 2009 - Part 2: The Afterparty (extended)

There is always downtime in between the runway show and the after party. I assume this is because New Yorkers like to do things late in the evening. The problem with this is, if I am left in a hotel room with a King sized bed after 8pm, there is no way I’ll make it. We decided that dinner was a much safer option. Jenn and Jenny from CIBU came with me, Evan, my mother, Jan and Molly to eat at Salute a few blocks from our hotel. The concierge recommended the restaurant and I am so happy that he did. This was by far the best meal we had the whole trip. It was only two blocks away from our hotel, but we managed to get lost and ended up right in front of a Payless Shoe store which made us all chuckle a bit. We finally found the restaurant using Molly’s GPS on her phone (thank goodness for those things).

I found this review on opentable.com and agree that it is right on. The service was absolutely fantastic. The whole restaurant experience was what you expect from fine dining in New York. I had a wide noodle pasta dish with fresh mozzarella, Mom had a soup with beautiful meatballs, Evan had a meat ravioli dish and Jan and Molly had a beautiful salad with filet minon. The meal was amazingly light and filling. Usually, after eating at an Italian restaurant, I am ready for bed, but this was the perfect portion in a lovely atmosphere. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone staying in the Midtown area. Go there for dinner!

Salute
270 Madison Avenue
(corner of 39th and Madison)
New York, NY 10016

After dinner, we were ready to party. The party started at 10pm (way past my bedtime) at the W Hotel. I don’t remember which W Hotel, but I do know that a few people went to the wrong one at first. We got lucky with travel for the first time on our visit. We jumped in a cab and got there with a few minutes to spare. The bar at the Hotel was all roped off with girls with clip boards at the door. I gave them my first name and while they searched for me on the list, my mother pushed through announcing, “I’m the mother.” At this point, I decided to follow her lead and headed for the bar.

I think that I had 10 glasses of champagne in the two hours that we were at the party. Amazingly, I was not the drunk person in the room. Some of Chris’ friends from home had not had a meal during the downtime and seemed to have spent it somewhere having cocktails. It is pretty difficult to embarrass yourself at a party when everyone there is simply looking for the most famous person in the room. Needless to say, that that person was not me or any the friends from home so we were off the hook. I had fun mingling with friends, Chris’ interns and random people at the event. We got to talk to Chris for a minute, but it was obvious that he was exhausted and was there mostly of obligation to thank all of his team and for some quick photo ops.

Tori Spelling showed up for a little while, but that was almost annoying. She is extremely nice, but she came in with the film crew from her reality show and sat at a small table across from where we were. This is when we realized that Evan had been filling his glass with the vodka and orange juice that was reserved for her arrival. Oops. All of the sudden every camera in the room, including Evan’s, was snapping away. In my opinion, it sort of ruined the mood. I totally understand that it was good that she came and I of course appreciate her support of my brother. It was just kind of a buzz kill for a few minutes while all the flashes were going.

My mother proved that she really has no shame when it comes to her behavior at these kinds of events. There were a few Bravo celebs at the party and for some reason all seemed to want to talk with her. I mean she is entertaining, but why they flock to her I’ll never know. She went from one to the other with her wind up, disposable, Kodak camera and snapped photos with each and every one of them. They all loved the wind up. The climax of this mania was when she pulled out blank index cards and sat three of them in a row to sign autographs for her to take back to school with her. It was unreal to see, Malan and Kevin Christiana, both from Project Runway and Ronnie from Make Me A Super Model all lined up on the couch bent over their index card writing essays to my mother. It was the same way I imagine she gives an assignment to her elementary school students and these three men didn’t dare refuse.

I spilled a good amount of Champagne on the front of my dress, but luckily I was wearing black and it was dark. I think the only person who really noticed was Evan. The bar closed at midnight and shortly after, we decided to go. My mother got caught using her pre-pay cell phone by the LG sponsors. They told her that they would send someone to show her how to use the LG Lotus Phone that they gave her at the Spring Fashion Show and offered us a ride home in their Hummer Limo. That part was a little weird, but the ride back to the hotel was pretty short. I’m pretty sure I passed out at this point. It was a long day and I’m not a big drinker these days. Jumping in to a King sized bed with lots of fluffy pillows was the perfect end to a hectic and wonderful day.