Scene in the Tropics

Pack your knives and go! Top Chef auditions coming to Miami

Think you can hack it on Top Chef? Are you better than Top Chef Las Vegas's robotic brothers and you have a personality? Are you an androgynous, multi-pierced whiz in the kitchen who happens to have a tattoo addiction? Are you cocky, clever, creative or cutting? Ok, but just make sure you can cook, too. If you fit into any of the categories or are in a category of your own, run over to Club 50 at the Viceroy on Sunday, October 25, where from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. casting agents will be looking for the next foodies to tough it out on Top Chef Season 7. No need to bring your knives to this audition, but click here for details. 

Bubba's gumption: Bill Clinton can't get enough of Il Mulino

Following his appearance at the Americas Conference in Coral Gables, former prez and UN special envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton stopped by Acqualina Resort & Spa in Sunny Isles Tuesday night where he smoked a stogie (insert inappropriate joke here) while waiting to be fed al fresco from Il Mulino, the same restaurant where he broke bread in NYC recently with Prez Obama. Dining with an unidentified male, Bubba ordered a simple pasta dish with tomato sauce and cheesecake for dessert. Cigar and cheesecake aside, perhaps he's trying to exercise restraint in advance of his appearance on October 10 at the New York City Wine and Food Festival's Weight Watchers Presents Fun and Fit in the City where he will give opening remarks for a panel on how to live a healthier lifestyle?

Top Photo: Unidentified Clinton dinner guest, Jules Trump, Bubba, Stephanie Trump

Middle Photo: Bubba,  Acqualina Resort & Spa's General Manager Sase Gjorsovski and Il Mulino head Maitre d' Tino Ponticorvo

Bottom Photo: Bubba and Gjorsovski

 

Howie Kleinberg's a Hot Ticket

Due to overwhelming demand, the Grass dinner featuring in house chef Michael Jacobs and Top Chef Miami bulldog Howie Kleinberg, has been rescheduled to Thursday, Nov. 29 to accommodate the masses. Who knew?

Is Ludacris on Pacific Time?

Spotted on Lincoln Road yesterday looking at the much lamented Pacific Time restaurant: Ludacris, with a friend and two bodyguards. Says our spy, "It seemed like he was discussing the design of the space." Hmmm.

Prime One Twelve Tidbits

It's always an event at SoFi steakhouse Prime One Twelve. Especially when an ex Soviet president is in the house. As we reported, Mikhail Gorbachev was dining at the steakhouse for lunch yesterday, and now details are emerging about his hearty appetite. Eating with his grandchildren, Gorby ordered pasta----which isn't on the menu. Instead of turning down his request, as we're sure they would have if, say, you or I would make such a demand, staff ran out and bought some pasta and cooked it for him in their pasta-less kitchen. Cold war averted. Perhaps Prime One Twelve can broker peace in the Middle East?

Over the weekend, Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell--again, no Paula Abdul, sat at one big table, where, according to our steak-source, "Simon was getting so harassed by fans they had to move their table outside." We'd be willing to bet Simon moved outside so he could smoke. You know he loves the attention.

Note to Diana Ross: Maybe Priscilla Presley Can Borrow Your Doctor, Too?

Diana Ross is 63 years old and looks exactly as she did the night she performed in a lightning and rain storm in Central Park--especially the hair, which is fabulous---back in 1983. Miss Ross was in the Hamptons this past weekend for a big Barton G. blowout for the Diabetes Research Institute. Apparently An Evening Under the Stars, hosted by Jill and Cliff Viner originally at their Quogue estate was such a hot ticket, it had to be moved to another location. Our spies tell us that Miss Ross made several gown changes and "delivered the goods bigtime." If she didn't change gowns at least six times, we'd be worried. At any rate, she looks outstanding. We don't know where Michael Jackson's surgeon dropped the knife, but perhaps Ross could share hers with him, Priscilla Presley who is The Joker's doppelganger, and just about every other celebrity resembling rubbery blow up dolls.

Andy Garcia did DeVito

Andy Garcia took his wife and kids to dinner at DeVito South Beach last night, where, unlike Rosie O'Donnell, he allowed photos to be taken to prove that yes, there's at least one decent celebrity in town.

Photo: Red Eye Productions

Hungry for Winter

We know it's early, but it's still summer and we're really hungry for winter for several reasons, one being that we just got the exclusive on some of Southern Wine and Spirits and FIU's 2008 Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival's hottest events. Among them: a Paula Deen poker party at The Paris Theater sponsored by Harrah's and Jim Beam; the Moet & Chandon Bubble Q hosted by Giada de Laurentiis; Emeril Lagasse's Sugar Shack Desert party at The Raleigh and Mario Batali and Jamie Oliver's Fettucine and Fiorentina party at DeVito South Beach. The fest isn't until February, but tickets actually go on sale on October 15 at www.sobewineandfoodfest.com and are expected to sell out so consider this a very advanced warning!

Greasy Beer

Just spotted at the CVS on Alton Road: Brandon "Greasy Bear" Davis, buying a 40 ounce Bud Light. The regular size they have at The Shore Club isn't enough for his overactive sweat glands, but hey, at least it was light beer, right?

Ashlee and Pete: Lady and the Tramp Revisited?

Before making their appearances at Cameo on Saturday night, lovebirds Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz stopped by Fanucci's on Lincoln Road where they shared a very romantic plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Says one witness, "It was like Lady and the Tramp." With Wentz's love of guyliner, we're wondering, however, just who's who.