E & Drama from Entourage invest in new Restaurant

July 22, 2010

On television Kevin Dillon and Kevin Connolly play buddies in the popular series “Entourage” and in real life they are taking up a popular Hollywood past time, investing in restaurants. The pair are part of a newly formed investment group that purchased Siro’s Restaurant, a seasonal restaurant located trackside at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.

The investment group, called Racing Restaurants of America, is headed by president Keith Kantrowitz, president of New York City-based Power Express Mortgage; with managing partners Paul Carlucci, publisher of the New York Post; and Steven Schoenfeld, managing partner with MPS Global Securities, several jockey and horse trainers and Connolly and Dillon. The restaurant has been in existence for more than 70 years serving the horse racing aficionados who converge on Saratoga Springs each summer. The Albany Business Review reports that the restaurant went on the market early last year for $3.1 million but the price was later reduced to $2.7 million. The sale price isn’t known but the group has already gotten to work investing in the property, installing new televisions and granite countertops and improving the patio. Kantrowitz, a longtime patron of the restaurant and racing fan expects the revenue to be $6 million in just the six weeks of the racing season. The restaurant is traditionally only open during track season but will remain open on weekends through October.

A menu posted on the Siro’s website shows that the restaurant serves pricey dishes including seared Hudson Valley foie gras, broiled aged prime sirloin, roasted rack of Cassel Farm lamb and Maine lobster. Entries cost upwards from $30.

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Diddy on the record w/ Fuse

July 21, 2010

Diddy dropping some jewels in this interview, talking about the music business, different channels he uses to make money, also talks about his father, Melvin Combs (who’s murder when Diddy was 3 ultimately steered him away from the streets.)

He says that contrary to popular belief, his father never worked for Frank Lucas or Nicky Barnes. He says that his father was just as big as them (after the standard “I’m not trying to glorify” of course.) He also mentions that he had to research his father’s hustler history through microfilm at the library, because his mother never talked about him.

Paul Allen joins Gates and Buffett to give away his fortune!

July 19, 2010

Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft and now Allen is taking a page out of Gates’s book, announcing that he will give more than half of his estimated $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy. Just last month we learned about a plan that Gates, his wife, Melinda and Warren Buffett had cooked up to get the country’s billionaires to earmark half their fortunes to charitable causes. Other billionaires who have already committed to at least a 50 percent pledge include Eli and Edy Broad, John and Ann Doerr, H.F. “Gerry” and Marguerite Lenfest and John and Tashia Morgridge.

Allen already has an existing foundation, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. His projects have included the nonprofit scientific research done at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Allen institute and the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum. As the NY Times reports Allen has made Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the nation’s 50 largest donors, eight times. Last year, he ranked No. 11 for giving away $85 million.

Ryan Seacrest drops a $10K tip

July 10, 2010

TMZ has learned Ryan Seacrest dropped more than $50,000 on a super-fancy dinner in Sardinia last night … including a $10,000 tip!

According to TMZ: Our top sources in Sardinia — yeah, we’ve got those — tell us Seacrest and his chick Julianne Hough attended an ultra-ritzy dinner at the famous Billionaire Club for some kind of a business dinner.

We’re told Seacrest picked up the check for everyone involved in the sit-down — which included several people at multiple tables — and the grand total came out to just over $41,000 … plus the $10k tip.

As for what “business” was being discussed — sources tell us it may have been linked to the fact that Ryan’s radio deal is up at the end of the year … or possibly a deal with CBS.

Texas Women wins lottery four times in a row! worth $20.4M

July 7, 2010

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Urwerk UR-CC1 Black Cobra Watch

June 21, 2010

The new Black Cobra is in a black PVD coated case made from black AlTiN – a complex aluminum titanium alloy, better known as Aluminum Titane Nitride. 42mm wide on your wrist, the watch is almost 54mm tall. Inside the watch is a Urwerk made calibre UR-8.02 manually wound mechanical movement. The well over $100,000 Urwerk UR-CC1 Black Cobra watch will be limited to just 25 pieces.

Time is told on a few linear scales – styled like some retro speedometers. The lower scale is for the hours, then higher up you have the minutes, and at the top of the case is a seconds indicator. The hour and minute scales “jump” back to their starting positions when they reach the end of the line (according the Urwerk, that last little operation was a pain to develop). Actually, the watch as a whole took about three years to develop. source

Howard Hughes ‘Patek Philippe’ up for auction!

June 8, 2010

A 1949 Patek Philippe chronograph that belonged to Howard Hughes, the dashing movie mogul portrayed by Leo DiCaprio in The Aviator (one of the best movies of all time!), is being offered in Christie’s’ Important Watches Featuring the Leo Collection sale in New York on June 16.

The gold wristwatch, Ref. 1463, with breguet numerals is estimated at $150,000 – $200,000. In the 1960s the increasingly-paranoid Hughes gifted the watch to a private detective who carried out a number of surveillance assignments for him, and it comes accompanied by a note from Hughes to that effect.

Also featured in the sale is Roy Rogers’ Rolex, a stainless steel triple calendar chronograph Ref. 6036, manufactured circa 1952 and estimated at $40,000-$60,000, consigned from the estate of the so-called “King of Cowboys”; and a rare and extremely important platinum Patek Philippe Ref. 5016, estimated at $350,000 – $500,000

Rolls-Royce Ghost = Recession proof

June 8, 2010

Rolls-Royce is reporting sales of 678 automobiles through the first five months of 2010. Although that might not sound like a lot of vehicles at first blush, it represents a 146-percent increase over the same period a year ago. Company head Torsten Müller-Ötvös expects sales to continue in their upward path throughout the remainder of the year, saying that the automaker will post figures “at least double the volume of last year.”

While the slight uptick in the global economy may have something to do with the sales resurgence, the real driving force behind the increase is the new Ghost model for 2010. With a base price of around $250,000, the Ghost represents a substantial savings over the revered Phantom, which starts at some $380,000 and quickly rises from there. And while the Ghost may be less expensive than its big brother, there’s no doubt that it is every bit the exclusive luxury ride that its new owners will expect.