I'm Back, Mario Batalli and... Playboy?

Playboy Brazil Mario Batalli Spread!

Las Vegas and Los Angeles can really spoil you if you live in New York, but I miss this city...

In what seemed like the longest 10 days (good ones mind you... just no sleep) I am back. And it's back to wearing jackets and (today) a bit of snow...

No matter, I had a very nice surprise waiting for me here.

VC28 (Victor Affaro & Carlos A. Varela) had our first assignment published, and it was for Playboy Brazil!
No women (this time), but a great subject nonetheless...
Superstar chef Mario Batalli.
We had to follow him throughout a typical workday. We were told to meet him at Otto (one of his 7 or 8 restaurants) at exactly 10:10 A.M. and from there our day took off.
He really is a great down to earth fellow who treats everyone as his equals and has a amazing sense of humor.

He told us so many fun stories (like flying to Canada with Michael Stipe on a whim to see a U2 concert then having dinner with U2 and flying back the very next day)...
He invited us to one of his favorite restaurants in the Village for a lunch meeting he had (he asked the receptionist to add three more to his table) and later gave us really great tours of Otto and Babbo -including some private rooms that only certain client friends can request...

He had one shot that he really wanted us to take...
He told us that he had been waiting for a publication such as Playboy for it...
Look back at the opening image, and you can see why!













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I will tell you all about Las Vegas and my meeting with Yervant over the next several days...