Celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s shiny new Tin Building foodie mecca opened with a bang in New York’s South Street Seaport on Wednesday.
Vongerichten threw a bash that brought out Brooke Shields, Martha Stewart, Vanessa Williams, Babyface, Questlove, and former “The Real Housewives of New York City” stars Carole Radziwill, Dorinda Medley, and Luann de Lesseps, who told us she’s gearing up for BravoCon and more cabaret shows.
The eye-popping scene at the 53,000-square-foot, two-story food hall as included choreographed dancing “chefs” doing a routine in front of the building as the party kicked off.
“Newsies” also greeted guests at the door, with faux newspapers explaining the history of the building. Meanwhile, performers walked around on stilts. A woman with a lampshade on her head danced seductively in front of the hall’s Asian-themed market that hides a secret Chinese restaurant, House of the Red Pearl.
Foodie magician Josh Beckerman was off the clock, but manged to pull out some of his magic tricks anyway. Beckerman, naturally, told us, “It was a magical night!”
Domestic diva Stewart roamed around with her longtime publicist, Susan Magrino, and we caught her indulging in a heaping mound of caviar. Shields and her husband, Chris Henchy, held court with Colin Cowie, who produced the event, in a vegan section where we also caught downtown cool mom DJ Vashtie sampling the dishes.
Unfortunately, news of rapper Coolio’s death put a damper on the evening for some guests. A devastated music publicity pro shared the breaking news on their phone just as Questlove and Babyface were ushered into the secret restaurant/jazz lounge.
Other notables at the opening included Indochine’s Jean-Marc Houmard, Sandra Ripert, Ann Dexter-Jones, Omar Hernandez, model Tommy Dunn, Fern Mallis and Michelle Hicks.
