Vacheron Constantin, the world’s oldest watch manufacture in continuous operation, recently celebrated the grand opening of its first ever US boutique on Madison Avenue New York City with a series of three black-tie dinners featuring world-class chefs. A mile moment in the brand’s 180 year history with the US, the event attracted New York’s most prominent individuals.

Hosted by Juan Carlos Torres, CEO of Vacheron Constantin and Hugues de Pins, President of Vacheron Constantin North America,the dinner series was kicked off September 20th and was prepared by Chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin. Special guests included Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky, actress Kelly Rutherford, Gilles Mendel, Waris Ahluwalia,  Dr. Lisa Airan, David and Lesley Schulhof, Natasha Silver, and Chris Mack.

CEO Juan-Carlos Torres, Darren Aronofsky, and President Hugues de Pins

The following evening, Wednesday September 21st, Mr. Torres was joined by Chef Thomas Keller of Per Se and The French Laundry for a dinner with friends of the company.  Chef Thomas Keller served a delectable menu which drew exact correlations between the precision of watchmaking and fine dining.  On Thursday September 22^nd, the culinary methods of Chef Sergi Arola, from Madrid’s Gastro, were enjoyed by Mr. Torres and important clients.

Guests enjoying the dinner of the series

“We are extremely pleased to have opened Vacheron Constantin’s 28^th boutique worldwide and first in America,” said Mr. Torres. “Vacheron Constantin has a long history with the United States, having begun operations here in 1832.  What better way to celebrate that history than with exceptional chefs over three amazing evenings”.

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If you had any qualms about the power of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, there are new reports indicating that Facebook is not only the king of social media, but it is also attracting a significant portion of the top talent in Silicon Valley.

Some people debate about what is the definitive hot spot to work in Silicon Valley – Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, LinkedIn – however new reports are indicating that overall, there’s not really much competition, Facebook is stealing the show by far.

Top Prospect looked at employment patterns in the biggest Silicon Valley companies and learned that right now the currents are pushing much of the area’s talent towards Facebook.

While the data is a little confusing, basically it found that for every 3.6 people who left Yahoo for Micorsoft, only one person left Microsoft for Yahoo. Arrows in the below diagram point in the direction of the “winning” company and as you can see, many arrows and high ratios are pointing towards Facebook.

The top companies included Google, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Apple, which is probably not surprising considering they are the biggest and most innovative companies. They all also constantly develop new products that require new hires.

While Microsoft and Google recently lost a lot of employees, they were able to replace them. Yahoo, eBay and Amazon, on the other hand, have lost employees at a much higher rate than they hired them.

Source: Mogulite

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Swedish Automobile, the company that owns Saab and Spyker, has sold the Dutch half of its business to North Street Capital, a Connecticut-based private equity firm.

According to the Financial Times, neither Swedish Automobile nor North Street Capital has released any terms of the deal. Over the past several months, however, it is known that Swedish Automobile had been negotiating to sell Spyker to a Russian/British group funded by the Russian investor Vladimir Antonov. Those talks, however, have since fallen apart as Antonov and his partners announced plans to resurrect the Jensen Interceptor as a boutique sports car.

Despite the change of plans, the sale of Spyker is good news for Swedish Automobile, which reportedly needed the extra cash to help get Saab out of bankruptcy. Additional details on the sale are expected to be released at some point in the near future.

Source: Car and Driver

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Raw food lover? Eat only organic food? Chances are, your love of sweets has diminished with your diet. However, Benchic chocolates will change this. This chocolate is made from organic, pesticide free ingredients. Even better, there are only six ingredients that make this delicious chocolate: raw cacao butter and powder, raw wild honey, raw almonds, goji berries,and lucuma. Owner Ben Tseitlin wanted to live a healthy lifestyle but still enjoy the most delicious things in life, such as the ultimate comfort food chocolate. He created these homemade, organic chocolates in 2009 and they have been a hit ever since. Companies such as Google and Facebook have enjoyed them and now you can too!

If you live in or around the San Francisco area, Ben is teaching a class on how to make his delectable chocolate. Students can learn the chocolate making process from scratch as well as learn modern chocolate making techniques and learn about historic Mayan practices. This is a must go to class and spots are filling quickly! Go to this class and indulge yourself in these chocolates…guilt free.

Class information:

Thu, Oct 13th, 2011
7:30pm – 9:45pm

Hub Soma
925 Mission St, Suite 105
San Francisco, CA

Visit www.benchic.com for more information on Benchic chocolate.

Source: Wikipedia

A licensing company has agreed to pay $1.3 million to use the name Tavern on the Green for restaurants outside metropolitan New York, under a deal approved by Tavern’s bankruptcy trustee.

New York City retained ownership of the name in New York state, Connecticut, New Jersey, and part of Pennsylvania in an earlier settlement. Under a deal approved on Thursday by the trustee, Jill Mazer-Marino, Tavern International can use the name and license it outside that area. The company can also use the name on products, but cannot sell them in the New York area without getting the city’s permission and paying it a royalty, said Gerald E. Singleton, the city’s senior attorney for intellectual property.

Tavern International was set up by Lou Bivona, a financial manager, who will be working with Michael Desiderio, the former chief operating officer of the restaurant. They say they will require licensees to donate a portion of revenues to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which Mr. Bivona has supported for many years.

At one time the name Tavern on the Green was appraised at $19 million, but that was when the LeRoy family, the restaurant’s former owner, thought they owned the trademark and could sell it to the city. A federal judge ruled last year that the city owned the trademark and that Warner LeRoy had obtained it fraudulently.

Source: The New York Times

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Source: Grubstreet

SBE hospitality group’s Mercato di Vetro, an ambitious Italian eatery, marketplace and bar with corporate chef Danny Elmaleh heading the impressive four kitchens, is set to open in early October in West Hollywood.

The two-story Santa Monica Boulevard space is connected by a floor-to-ceiling glass wine case. The design, accented with gray marble and reclaimed wood, includes four kitchens: one for antipasti, cheese and charcuterie, which is lined with bar seats; an open kitchen with a wood-burning oven for pizza and a pasta-making area; a cocktail kitchen for in-house syrups; and a traditional restaurant kitchen for all the composed dishes.

Antipasti and starters include artichoke chips with lemon and rosemary; hen of the woods with aioli and parmesan; and caprese with buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomato. A raw bar features oysters, carpaccios and tartares. Primi pastas will be made with a vintage Rosito Bisani pasta machine:  carbonara with pancetta; ravioli with potato, ricotta and egg; squid ink spaghettini with bread crumbs and spinach. A dish of bucatini with shrimp, scallops, clams and mussels is prepared in a bag (pictured below), presented at the table and cut open to allow the steam and aromas to release.

And for secondi, there’s branzino baked in a salt bread crust with grape leaves; pork osso bucco; game hen; lamb with rosemary honey; and roasted bone marrow with oxtail marmalade. Elmaleh also will be responsible for Mercato di Vetro’s pastry and mixology menus. And a retail area will sell olive oil, daily fresh pasta and jarred antipasti.

Source: LA Times

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Source: insidescoopsf.sfgate.com

Here are some daily foodie reads: Josh Sens reviews Boxing Room in Hayes Valley, Jonathan Kauffman reviews Red Tavern on Clement, Bon Appetit finds the greatest wine glass you’ll ever drink from, some LA guy ate at every single Zagat restaurant … and more.

From the local scene:

• Josh Sens reviews Boxing Room: “Hardly does a Southern mainstay get left out—or mistreated … The well-crafted cuisine, imported from a region that, for all its fame, is underrepresented in San Francisco restaurants, shines against a bright California backdrop. Even if you’ve suffered through a mournful workday, you leave Boxing Room in lighter spirits, a jazzy spring and rhythm in your step.” [San Francisco Magazine]
• Self-checkout alcohol sales at grocery stores might be a goner. [SF Examiner]
• Jonathan Kauffman reviews Red Tavern, a Russian/Continental restaurant in the Richmond:  “After two solid dinners that left me enthusiastic about the place and a third, punishingly mediocre one, I’d have to conclude that the food zigzags from the good to the odd, but the meal is rarely boring.” [SF Weekly]

From the national scene:

• Is this the greatest wine glass of our time? Adam Rapoport thinks so. [Bon Appetit]
• Big Ag is getting angry about all this bad publicity! [New York Times]
• Tom Sietsema approves of Chipotle’s new Asian endeavor, ShopHouse: “As young as it is, however, ShopHouse tastes like it’s on the fast track to success.” [Washington Post]
• Chefs love chicken skin. [New York Times]
• This guy ate at all 2,000 restaurants in the Los Angeles Zagat Guide. [CNN]
• Vintage culinary gadget fails, like wind-up spaghetti fork and the butter sleeve protector. [HuffPo]

Source: Inside Scoop SF

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A grand 32,000 square foot mansion being built in Naples, Florida is almost complete. Owned by industrialist Neil Whitesell, once finished the estate will be Collier County’s largest home.

The total square footage includes garages, storage and outdoor living. The house is being built on two waterfront lots that span 1.56 acres. The main house will feature 6 bedrooms and 7 full and 3 half bathrooms. Located on Gulf Shore Boulevard, the home is just south of Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.

The largest completed home in Collier County for the moment belongs to Sandra Gerry and is located at 3400 Gordon Drive. It is more than 30,000 square feet with 16,772 square feet of living space.

To put the enormous size of these homes into perspective, according to the Census Bureau, the median new home size was 2,135 square feet in 2009. The White House is 55,000 square feet.

The average home grew from 983 square feet in 1950 to 2,393 square feet in 2010, however the growth of house fell last year, with square footage dropping by 46 square feet between 2009 and 2010. Despite this average, the U.S. Census Survey of Construction reported that home with more than 3,000 square feet grew from 13% of the market in 1991 to 26% in 2007.

Randy Kurtz, owner of Kurtz Homes Naples LLC, said large homes are great for accommodating larger family gatherings and providing owners with space to indulge in hobbies or display collections. “The type of home they want varies. We have some clients that want really ornate homes and others want more contemporary architecture. They all want easy of maintenance.

Of the 10 largest homes in Collier County by living area, seven were built after 2011. Beverly Lutgert’s home in Estuary at Grey Oaks is the most recently built and was completed last year. Jerry Galeana’s home is the oldest of the top 10, having been built in 1991.

Kurtz said there is an obvious trend toward newer homes. He said he has actually participated in tear-downs of homes that are sever years old or newer. “We have done a lot of renovation work in condos where the people are gutting them,” he said. “The architecture is outdated or they have bought something that isn’t their personality.”

Source: Homes of the Rich

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Source: why-fashion.blogspot.com

If you’ve ever wondered how consumers cough up a small fortune for an Hermès Birkin or Collier de Chien, the Festival des Métiers, which will make its pit-stop in Hong Kong from September 30 at Metal Zone in Elements, will show you the painstakingly meticulous human element behind that pricey Hermès piece.

A showcase of the virtuosity of Parisian artisanship, this week-long event is a must-see that has charmed many others in tours around Europe, America and now Asia. We teased you earlier about the upcoming Festival des Métiers making its pit stop in Hong Kong. Here’s a bit more on the Festival of Crafts, and why you should make a sojourn down for a look-see.

Eight stations will introduce you to the dedication that goes into making every detail on your product just right, like the stitching of leather bags and accoutrements; the layer-by-layer silkscreening of the House’s legendary carré; and the affixing of individual diamonds using the tiniest of tweezers on your Collier de Chien cuff.

Held in a sumptuously contemporary setting – designed by internationally acclaimed Milanese designer Paola Navone, no less -  at Metal Zone in Elements, the exhibit will officially open to the public from September 30 through October 5. A truly unprecedented and intimate glimpse into the private workings of the Maison, be prepared to be blown away by the deft showmanship of the most representative métiers of the House. Learn more here.

Source: Luxury Insider

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Source: Wikipedia

Rat Island – the 2-1/2-acre rocky islet in Long Island Sound – is once again up for sale.

This time, owner Edmund (Red) Brennen plans to auction off the property, which sits about half a mile east of City Island.

Brennen tried selling it outright for $300,000 two years ago, without success.

“I had a few people kicking the tires, but they never really got into it because of the economy,” he said last week from his Jupiter, Florida, home.

Now, the 73-year old retired marine contractor is asking for $250,000, and he’s quick to note all of its “amenities.”

“You’ve got privacy, the view of the Long Island Sound, the tranquility, the sunsets, all that romantic stuff,” he said. “You can set your lobster traps right outside your front door.”

The islet, which the city has appraised at $265,000, is zoned residential.

Some of its history is a little murky. But as real estate broker Orazio Crisalli tells it, Rat Island has a storied past.

“It’s got history dating back to the 1800s when the city used it to quarantine typhoid patients,” he said.

The island got its name from convicts, nicknamed rats, who attempted to escaped from the nearby Hart Island prison by swimming and were caught there.

“It might be a giant rock in the middle of the Long Island Sound, but it’s interesting.”

He added that the islet could support a solar-powered house or become a public fishing area, even a summer picnic spot for families.

Rat Island changed hands between public and private groups over the years. Brennen bought it from a Brooklyn lawyer in 1972 and used it to store marine construction equipment and to break up salvaged barges.

Brennen sold his business and moved to Florida in 2004. He said he’s selling simply because he no longer has any use for it.

Though the economy is still rocky, Brennen remained optimistic about selling Rat Island.

“I think it’s pretty unique,” he said. “Besides, how often does an island in New York City become available for sale?”

Auction Details:  The Rat Island auction will be held at 1 p.m. Oct. 2 at 718 City Island Ave. Bidders must bring a certified check for $10,000 made payable to Syracuse Realty Group.

For information, call broker Orazio Crisalli at (315) 410-0373.

Source: NY Daily News

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