THE LIFE VICARIOUS

Trump SoHo is charitable with their opening date.

It's beyond us why the significantly unsold Trump Jersey City never went the co-tel route but Trump SoHo isn't being shy about its offerings, making its first suite available six months early. The building, its spa and its restaurant (recently before CB2) should be ready by October 1st according to a donation Trump SoHo made to Better Middler's New York Restoration Project Spring Picnic. Besides an opening date, the auction listing gives some insight into the hotel's pricing. Dinner for two at Quattro, one couple's spa treatment and two nights in a one bedroom suite is $5000.

Back in 2006 when Trump Jersey City was opening in our neighborhood we were acquiring donations for the charity auction benefiting the Cathedral Arts Festival, Jersey City's longest running arts festival raising money for the Grace Van Vorst food pantry. Seeing as Trump was new to town we thought he'd like to spread some good will like so many local hoteliers and restauranteurs. His donation? We were told if we mailed a SASE we would receive an autographed picture to auction in return. Just one more reason why we're glad the city council here decided not to name a street after him.

So as pricey as Trump SoHo is we can't fault him for spreading some good will. Maybe he's hoping karma comes back around. We previously reported how the nearly sold out A Building across the street from Trump Jersey City beat the Donald to opening a restaurant - Cobblestone is on its way - it now has a second tenant, A+ Drycleaners, opening soon. Also opening in the neighborhood, a new Dunkin' Donuts at 10 York Street, which would be wise to open in time for the 4th of July fireworks on the Hudson this summer. At least Trump Jersey City will have those going for it once every 400 years.

The non-competitive road to influencing dining editorials.

Food & Beverage magazine is offering a Food Writer's Challenge through our friends at Culintro. Pitch an article by June 1st and by June 10th you won't only be published in the September issue but receive a summer internship as well. Or you could just buy your way in. As we've been on a charity kick of late we couldn't help but notice this auction to buy your way into the magazine to raise money for the Taste of the Nation. (And don't they deserve it for importing those Korean tacos?) $500 is the starting bid to have your article published in the magazine between August and December. (A bargain compared to an internship at the Huffington Post currently up to $13,000.)

Matthew Broderick's sister lands a new role; Sarah Jessica Parker's shoes to follow behind.

And those shoes may be missed the most. If you haven't heard already, shortly after a fundraising letter went out from Jersey City's Grace Church Van Vorst asking for the community's "time, talent and treasure," the next day a letter arrived announcing Rev. Janet Broderick's departure in March, following a brief sabbatical, for a new parish in Morristown. Whatever your opinion of her - brusque and absentminded or erudite and impassioned - it was clear she basically knew two things well. 1.) Pottery. No, really. And 2.) Sarah Jessica Parker. Whereas Matthew chose Judaism early in life, he still contributed to his sister's faith whether coming through to screen his films or donate works of their mother's art to benefit the church. SJP was a little less enthusiastic but her donations were always a big hit. She'd often if begrudgingly come through with something uninspired and untouched in her closet at the last moment, bringing the same hollow Sex & The City cache to the Cathedral Arts Festival one might find now on the show's bus tour. Not that it wasn't a boon but needless to say due to recent personal events, even before the good Reverend announced her departure, it was likely Sarah Jessica's generosity would wane this time around. And just like SATC leaving HBO, the Reverend's departure is better late than never, leaving in time to provide a fresh start to those departed parishioners turned off by recent turns of the church toward theatrics, profit and exclusion. Your time and talent is once again in fashion to make Grace Van Vorst the treasure for the Jersey City community it once was and could be again. So for all interested parties, brainstorming sessions for this year's Cathedral Arts Festival are coming up fast. (And brainstorming for a new logo is always a good idea...)

Related:

Previewing the Cathedral Arts Festival gala. (05/02/08)

Charity this Christmas begins on eBay, ends at Per Se.

We haven't posted about charity auctions in a while, indeed the only auctions with which we've been involved have involved emptying our shelves onto eBay as we move into a new apartment. But catching our eye on CharityBuzz was a dinner at Per Se with a starting bid of $8000, quite a bit above the most notable meal served there to date, the $1500 a head, 20 course dinner with Grant Achatz last month. What could possibly top Chicago's most talented chef? The 20th anniversary of Babette's Feast.

Tickets are actually available for $3500 each or $6000 for a couple. The auction doesn't detail how many seats it includes but estimates the value at $15000. The dinner benefits the Alloy Theater Company, following a screening of the film. The meal offers Keller's take on dishes like green turtle soup and foie gras stuffed quail encased in puff pastry, a far cry from what he was cooking up last month with Achatz. But it should make good practice for another vintage dinner he's serving in February.

A bargain by comparison, Per Se is one of several restaurants participating in Zagat's Vintage Dinner Series, running from January 12th to March 25th. Those involved include Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Bouley, Daniel, Jean Georges and Le Bernardin. On January 12th Cafe des Artistes is serving up the same menu as Per Se in honor of Babette's Feast, officially kicking off the series. Dinners run from $160 (at Des Artistes) to $575 (at Per Se) per person. And either a portion of that price will benefit charity, or will the proceeds of restaurants auctioning off tables. Which is why we bring this up. The charity auctions end on 9am Christmas Day.

That's a really terrible idea. Who's bidding on eBay on 9am Christmas Day? Worse, who's bidding at all? No one! The auctions have been up for days now, auctions benefiting City Meals on Wheels, the Alzheimer's Association, Window of Hope, The Food Bank of NYC and more, but no one has bid on any of them yet. So whether you're looking for a last minute write-off or something impractical to stick inside a DVD of a twenty year old foreign film there's no better time to bid.

Related:

Feed starving artists, masses, this Christmas. (12/08/08)

A trashier way to help the Food Bank of New York.

If you weren't drinking at the Hotel on Rivington yesterday, another way to help The Food Bank of New York (and the Chernobyl Project International) is by bidding on a custom designed dustbin from the good Danes at Vipp. A few months ago we were in our natural state of drinking champagne and keeping our mouth shut while the shopping bloggers around us were debating the trash cans that would be available at the new Ikea in Red Hook. Long a Vipp customer (we love their towels) we felt a little out of our element but tomorrow that won't be the case as we descend upon the Winston Wachter Fine Art Gallery for Helena Christensen's Vipp Charity Auction featuring designers ranging from Mario Batali to Bono. (Pictured left, a dustbin by Dominic Wilcox.) There could be no more chic place for the garbage amassed in last night's goodie bag. Pre-bidding is available now at the New York Conran shop.

Bid well and pretend you're connected, September edition.

Our newest feature, which we'll update each month, is the best CharityBuzz auctions allowing you to participate in our serial morality tale told below, improving your social standing by paying a lot of money to do what better connected people can do for free.

For example, if this describes your daughter - "she doesn't get coffee for anyone... calls in sick all the time and wears funny outfits" - bidding is up to $1100 on the perfect internship for her. If she has some bizarre desire to be drenched in blood, $1000 will giver her the chance at Donna Karan. And if she wants to go completely unrecognized in the doldrums of niche Manhattan print media, so she can eventually work her way up to checking coats here, $500 will get her started at an internship absolutely no one else wants.

But that's for your baby girls. What about you? Want to make deals over incredibly bland food, just the way Ron Perelman does? He doesn't just go to Michael's and the Four Seasons, for $2500 bid on all you can eat pasta for four. (And while we make fun, the man is connected. This includes the tab and any night you want, and we can speak from experience that that never happens.)

Finally while your wife is now tending to an empty nest and you're busy making power plays, she's got to do something. Maybe she takes long baths reading Vanity Fair afraid to come out until the maid is gone, channeling Ellen Barkin and fantasizing what it would be like to read about her divorce from you on one page and picking a new husband from the Power List on the next. If so, keep her away from bidding, now up to $1600, for dinner at Swifty's where her celebrity companions will give her all the advice she needs.

By next September she'll be out of the house and hosting these auctions and you'll still be bidding on tickets to Fashion Week for your new girlfriend who's going to be seated behind your ex-wife by your clipboard-wielding daughter hooked up with a better internship by her new daddy.

But that's just one scenario. Really. Give to a good cause. Just don't be so greedy about it. If you don't respect the gavel at the auction, it's not going to respect you at the trial.