PHILLY
EVENTSBrooke de la Villanova: High Society
- Rowan Barnes Murphy
Well, munchkins, I’m happy to be entering autumn after this beastly summer. The searing temperatures did not keep me from my appointed social rounds, as I dragged poor Edgar on a rare trip across the Ben Franklin (as a rule, we try to stay within a three-mile radius of Radnor) to the Moorestown home of seafood sultan Bobby Chez for his wedding to Linda Safir.
Such food! Served from buffet stations (how … egalitarian), the menu included yummy rack of lamb, Chilean sea bass, duck confit, and of course the groom’s signature crabcakes. Edgar ate like a horse! The actor James Gandolfini, said to be on the invite list, was not present, though we’re sure he would have felt at home amid the Sopranos-like decor of chez Chez. We loved the grand fireworks display, though we confess we felt terrible for the poor swans in the rear lake, who were manic from all the kerfuffle. …
Edgar says the real estate section is the new gossip pages, and I must agree. The phone wires were burning with the recent news that Mitchell Morgan and his wife, Hilarie, had taken $19.5 million out of their joint checking to buy the Spanish-style Palm Beach hacienda of the late Curt Gowdy. (My son, Basil, tells me Mr. Gowdy had something to do with baseball.) The 1929 spread has a suitable pedigree, having once served as the residence of a Rockefeller. I hear the estate was originally listed at $27 million. That Mitch — always the bargain hunter! …
If you’re looking to schedule an office power lunch, ring up Ira Luber. He and Dean Adler have just unpacked in luxe-y new digs in the very tippy-top point of the Cira Centre, with views to … die … for. …
Finally, what two local entrepreneurs entered a $200,000 bet to see who could lose 30 pounds first — only to cancel? Well, I suppose there are easier methods to stay off the foie gras. …
Such food! Served from buffet stations (how … egalitarian), the menu included yummy rack of lamb, Chilean sea bass, duck confit, and of course the groom’s signature crabcakes. Edgar ate like a horse! The actor James Gandolfini, said to be on the invite list, was not present, though we’re sure he would have felt at home amid the Sopranos-like decor of chez Chez. We loved the grand fireworks display, though we confess we felt terrible for the poor swans in the rear lake, who were manic from all the kerfuffle. …
Edgar says the real estate section is the new gossip pages, and I must agree. The phone wires were burning with the recent news that Mitchell Morgan and his wife, Hilarie, had taken $19.5 million out of their joint checking to buy the Spanish-style Palm Beach hacienda of the late Curt Gowdy. (My son, Basil, tells me Mr. Gowdy had something to do with baseball.) The 1929 spread has a suitable pedigree, having once served as the residence of a Rockefeller. I hear the estate was originally listed at $27 million. That Mitch — always the bargain hunter! …
If you’re looking to schedule an office power lunch, ring up Ira Luber. He and Dean Adler have just unpacked in luxe-y new digs in the very tippy-top point of the Cira Centre, with views to … die … for. …
Finally, what two local entrepreneurs entered a $200,000 bet to see who could lose 30 pounds first — only to cancel? Well, I suppose there are easier methods to stay off the foie gras. …
Originally published in Philadelphia magazine, September 2007
Posted by Jovan | Sep. 1, 2007 at 7:49 AM