Last night, the W Hotel was all aglow with luminaries from the tennis world and celebs from music, fashion and TV out in glamorous full force at the BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis. The annual soiree celebrates the commencement of the US Open and raises funds for the NY Junior Tennis League.
This year’s lineup included tennis superstar Andy Roddick, Wimbledon marathon man John Isner and Wimbledon finalists Tomas Berdych and Vera Zvonareva. These tennis stars were teamed up with Katie Lee, John Villa of Tao, and Sue Torres of Sueños.
Guests mingled with their favorite tennis stars and hot chefs and danced to the sounds of DJs Kiss and Mel DeBarge, while sampling a mix of specially-designed dishes that were absolutely incredible! An eclectic mix of sampling dishes were prepared by:
Fernando Navas – SushiSamba, John Villa – Tao, Wendy Israel & Angel Elon – Baking By Design, Adrian Richardson – La Luna Bistro, Sue Torres – Sueños, Peter Andino – Heartbeat, Bart Vandaele – Belga Cafe, Bobby Hellen – Resto NYC, Kerry Heffernan – South Gate, Mario Pagán – Chayote, Brad Farmerie – Public, Ashley Palma – The Collective, Chris Rendell & Ryan Butler – Double Crown, Maneet Chauhan – Vermilion, Michelle Park – Kyotofu, Martin Maginley – Restaurant at Round Hill Marc Anthony Bynum – M Bynum Creations, Keith Kornfeld – Pranna, John Mooney – Bell Book and Candle, and Eva Pesantez— Brother Jimmy’s.
My favorite dish of the night came from Waffles and Dinges and featured a mini-waffle with their extraordinary Spekuloos Spread and heaps of whipped cream! I turned Ariel, one of TGATP‘s favorite contestants on last season’s “Hell’s Kitchen”, on to it. We were as blissful as small children and literally humming as we stuffed ourselves full of them! It was the usual TGATP pleasure to run into Alex and Simon from The Real Housewives of New York and John Legend and his lovely gal pal.
As per every year, and despite the fact that you needed a badge or a room key to even enter the hotel, Vadim Levin and all the denizens of Crasherville were in full effect! As they all had on badges, I wonder who they told the PR people they were this time?
This year’s BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis featured a number of marquee sponsors including: BNP Paribas, as title sponsor, Rums of Puerto Rico, W New York, Cadillac, Puerto Rico Tourism, Stella Artois, Saddlebrook Resort, FIJI Water, Dunlop, TENNIS.com, Turnkey Intelligence, and SNY.
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