Friday, May 28, 2010

☞ EAT: Another Rao's Auction on eBay

Harlem Bespoke broke the original story on the eBay charity auctions at Rao's back in December (which received over 29 bids and over $3,000 for charity), and now the Wall Street Journal reports on a second, similar event. So Rao's, the 100 year-old restaurant in the former Italian Harlem section of Pleasant Avenue, is currently selling a dinner reservation for four on July 27th, 2010 to benefit the National Italian American Foundation. The legend goes that reservations are so difficult to get that even Madonna was turned away at some point. Former President Bill Clinton had to "loan" a table from a patron to get a chance to eat at this East Harlem institution. The restaurant is booked for the entire year, so this new charity auction, with bids starting at $5,000, is a way to secure a table if you have deep pockets. If competing with others is not your thing, the four-person meal can be yours for the "buy-now" price of $20,000. See more on eBay: LINK. Read more details in the Wall Street Journal: LINK. Photo by Ulysses

5 comments:

  1. I was hoping that there would be comments on this post. It is almost unbelievable that a reservation in a restaurant in NYC is so hard to get & I was beginning to think that this was possibly a private club of some sort.

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  2. @aFineLyne

    http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/crimelaw/features/n_9750/

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  3. Woooo - great article.
    Answered all my questions.
    Thank you, Sanou's Mum

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  4. Sanou’s Helpful MumMay 29, 2010 at 1:44 PM

    Here to serve, aFL

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  5. It didn't answer the question whether they rent, and how much, or do they also own the building they operate out of?

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