Best restaurants to spot a celebrity

At Manhattan’s legendary Four Seasons Grill Room, the titans of media and Big Apple politics gather and jockey for tables everyday at lunch, so you might hobnob with Mayor Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch and Jann Wenner there. Once, while filming a TV show, Lauren Hutton and Raquel Welch tussled and tumbled into the babbling pool in the Pool Room. Ralph Lauren says that “the quality, the design, the food, and the people all come together to make a certain magic—there is no place like it.”

On the West Coast, Hollywood's restaurant-of-the-moment is the one drawing the most celebs. Restaurant publicists tell the media who dined where and when, and if an L.A. restaurant doesn’t have what they call a “sizzle factor,” it’s not likely to stay open long. The new Beso (which means “kiss”) is a Todd English restaurant—himself a celebrity chef—with partner Eva Longoria, who draws pals like Sheryl Crow, Jessica Simpson and Paul Abdul to sip mango mojitos and chow down on Mexican tapas like tortilla soup and skirt steak fajitas. The tortilla soup and guacamole are said to be Longoria family recipes. Angelino magazine advises that “the booths along the east wall offer the best views.”

Ortolan is a swanky French restaurant owned by Chef Christophe Eme and his wife, actress Jeri Ryan, who attracts her star friends and not a few Trekkies who come to see the woman who once played the Borg named Seven of Nine. Other good bets for celeb-watching are the more secluded and reclusive hotel dining rooms like the Bar Marmont at Château Marmont Hotel and Bungalows (Charlize Theron, Keanu Reeves, Courtney Love, Johnny Depp, Amy Winehouse, Sting); the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel (especially breakfast for studio bigwigs courting stars); and the poolside tables at the Bel-Air Hotel—Marilyn Monroe’s favorite, now where Russell Crow, Liz Taylor, Al Pacino and Tom Cruise drop by for the exquisite California cuisine.

Given that Las Vegas has developed a high-powered entertainment scene along with first-rate restaurants, you’ll find celebs visiting on a regular basis. Those who wish for a bit more seclusion from the crowds—like Sen. John McCain, Rush Limbaugh, Steven Spielberg, and Scottie Pippin—like to go to the Country Club Grill, a small restaurant tucked away inside Wynn Las Vegas.

In Washington, D.C., pols have to be pretty careful who they’re seen with and where. The best bets for sightings are at Teatro Goldoni, which also attracts the network media figures like Ted Koppel, Suzanne Malveaux, and Wolf Blitzer, and The Monocle, just shy of the Capitol, where senators go for lunch, alerted by a dining room bell that summons them back for an important vote.

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