ira-drukier

Happy Birthday

cityfile · 10/30/09 06:55AM

She got married last weekend, but Ivanka Trump will be getting another big stack of presents today. It's her 28th birthday. Also celebrating: Simon Doonan, Barneys' inimitable creative director, is turning 57 today. Mega-agent Binky Urban is 63. Fashion photographer Mario Testino is 55. Gavin Rossdale is turning 42. NBC News' Andrea Mitchell is 64. Private equity bigwig Wes Edens is turning 48. Former Page Sixer Paula Froelich is 36. Henry Winkler turns 64. Actress Nia Long is turning 39. Kevin Pollak is turning 52. Harry Hamlin is 58. Cash Cab host Ben Bailey is turning 39. And Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin is 20. A few weekend birthdays after the jump.

Eating & Drinking: Thursday Edition

cityfile · 05/14/09 05:07PM

Frank Bruni will soon step down as the Times' chief restaurant critic. Who will replace him? Eater rounds up some of the faves as well as a bunch of unlikely picks, like Katie Lee Joel, who has a 475,000-1 shot of landing the gig. [Eater]
Bruni's first appearance (second coming out?) after he steps down from the Times will be at the New York City Wine & Food Festival on Oct. 8. [GS]
• The UWS isn't the dining ghetto it once was thanks to the likes of Zak Pelaccio, Michael Huynh, Tom Valenti, Michael Psilakis, and Danny Meyer. [NYP]
• Start saving up: Marea, Michael White and Chris Cannon's temple of seafood, opens in the former San Domenico space on CPS tomorrow. [Eater]

Eating & Drinking: Thursday Edition

cityfile · 01/29/09 04:28PM

• Ago partners Robert De Niro, Richard Born and Ira Drukier have tapped Andrew Carmellini as chef; Ken Friedman is the design consultant. [NYT]
• Is Justin Timberlake opening a Southern Hospitality in Chelsea? [GS]
• Peasant in Nolita finally has menus in English. [Eater]
Martha Stewart went to Momofuku Milk Bar on her show today. [EMD]
• Scores may be gone, but you can still pick up bottles of the former strip club's private-label blanc de blancs. Perhaps you wanted a keepsake? [GS]
• Many places are extending their Restaurant Week menus. Here's a list. [W&D]

Real Estate Roundup: Pre-Thanksgiving Edition

cityfile · 11/26/08 11:35AM

♦ The car wash/gas station on West 14th Street (left) has been sold for $60 million to make way for a new retail development. [NYP]
♦ The Cooper Square Hotel opens in two weeks. [Curbed]
♦ An interview with Leigh Candler, NYC's new "co-op queen," best known for flipping aparments for Scott Bommer and listing Brooke Astor's former apartment on Park. [NYO]
♦ Some neighborhoods in Brooklyn are now more expensive than neighborhoods in Manhattan, according to StreetEasy. [NYDN]

Happy Birthday

cityfile · 10/31/08 06:29AM

Nightlife impresario Scott Sartiano turns 34 today. Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni turns 44. Dan Rather is 71. Esquire editor-in-chief David Granger is turning 52. Architect Zaha Hadid is 58. Novelist Kinky Friedman is 64. Jane Pauley is turning 58. Mega hotel developer Ira Drukier turns 63. Actor Dermot Mulroney is 45. Director Peter Jackson turns 47. Rob Schneider is 45. And Robert Van Winkle, better known as Vanilla Ice, is 41.

The Weekend That Was

cityfile · 07/15/08 06:55AM

1) The ACRIA benefit at photographer Steven Klein's Bridgehampton farm, sponsored by Calvin Klein Collection and Vanity Fair, invited guests for "Cocktails at Sunset." A boldface-heavy crowd including Bruce Weber, Jessica Stam, Donna Karan, Daphne Guinness, Rachel Zoe, Elizabeth Saltzman, Francisco Costa, Kelly Bensimon, Padma Lakshmi (above right), Carol Alt, Calvin Klein, Joy Bryant, Karolina Kurkova, Olivia Chantecaille, Mary Alice Stephenson, Anh Duong, Sessa von Richthofen, Zani Gugelmann, Jackie Astier, Lucy Sykes and Euan Rellie, and committee member/host Andrew Saffir (above left) ate mini-burgers and tater tots, and bid on a Steven Klein print of Madonna from W magazine. [FWD/Style.com]

The Weekend That Was

cityfile · 06/24/08 02:34AM

1) Rory and Elie Tahari hosted a bash at their beachfront house for God's Love We Deliver: 400 guests including Simon Doonan (above center) and Jonathan Adler, Martha Stewart, Arnold Scaasi, Kelly Klein, Debbie Bancroft, Richard Mishaan, Tory Burch, Kyle MacLachlan (above left) and Desiree Gruber (above right), Olivia Chantecaille, Dennis Basso, Melissa Berkelhammer, Gigi Mortimer, Karen Pearl, and Tiffany Dubin raised $1.3 million by bidding on auction prizes including lunch with Blaine Trump and Joan Rivers at Le Cirque. [Hamptons.com/Dan's Hamptons]

Ira Drukier

cityfile · 01/25/08 11:30PM

With Richard Born, Ira Drukier is the founder of BD Hotels, the company that owns boutique hotels like the Mercer, Chambers, and Maritime and also developed the Richard Meier-designed glass towers on Perry Street.