Restaurateurs bet on NYC despite Mamdani’s…

A socialist mayor is creating the most anti-business climate the Big Apple has ever seen — but that hasn’t stopped quite a few Big Apple restaurateurs from doubling down and investing in town they love so a lot.

Stathis Antonakopoulos is opening seven eating places right here this yr — the first, effective eating eatery Delos, opened in Midtown in January.

“Mayors come and go, but the city remains,” he told Side Dish. 

Stathis Antonakopoulos is opening seven eating places right here this yr — the first, effective eating eatery Delos, opened in Midtown in January. Courtesy of Mentis Studio

He strongly opposes Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push for the state to enhance the minimal wage to a jaw-dropping $30 per hour in the Big Apple.

“You can’t change the state’s minimum wage. New York is still a city, not a state,” he said.

Like many in the business neighborhood, Antonakopoulos is also against Mamdani’s far-left calls to tax the wealthy, saying of the concept: “It helped him get elected but the reality is that he can’t implement it in this city because you can’t pick and choose to only tax the rich.”

Undeterred, Antonakopoulos opened Delos on West forty seventh Street earlier this yr. He has plans to open another outpost this fall in Tribeca.

He is also opening Carnegie Diner & Cafes from Tribeca and FiDi to Brooklyn’s City Point and Paramus, NJ, through next yr.

That’s on top of the 5 Carnegie Diner & Cafe places he already runs in town, plus branches in New Jersey and Virginia.

Antonakopoulos strongly opposes Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push for the state to enhance the minimal wage to a jaw-dropping $30 per hour in the Big Apple. Courtesy of Daniel Kwak

“Nobody puts New York City in the corner. Nobody puts baby in the corner. We learned to dance dirty many years ago,” Antonakopoulos said, quoting a well-known line from the film “Dirty Dancing.” 

He’s also opening his first rooftop bar, Voco Roofbar, at the Voco Hotel in Times Square. 

“I think that the mayor will have an awakening when he sees how the city really works after his first year,” Antonakopoulos said.

He ought to know – he moved to town from Athens in 1999, when he was 21.

“This is the city that never sleeps or dies. I will never turn my back on New York,” he said. “It gave me every thing I’ve. 

Antonakopoulos opened Delos on West forty seventh Street earlier this yr. He has plans to open another outpost this fall in Tribeca. Courtesy of Mentis Studio

“I’m not sidelined by politics — local or federal. If you give people good food and good service, they will come.”

Antonakopoulos just isn’t alone.

Renwick Hospitality — the drive behind Lindens, Foxtail, ART Soho and a lot more — is opening Golden Child, a rooftop bar at Hotel Park in Midtown. 

“I like to think that all of the mayors of New York are hoping for the best for businesses,” said Gary Wallach, Renwick’s managing companion.

“Whether you agree with [Mamdani’s] politics or not, you want to be hopeful that the politicians you elect will improve their cities for the people who live there and the businesses that offer spaces for people to enjoy.”

Renwick Hospitality — the drive behind Lindens, Foxtail, ART Soho and a lot more — is opening Golden Child, a rooftop bar at Hotel Park in Midtown.  Courtesy of Nicholas Lee Ruiz

“I like to think that all of the mayors of New York are hoping for the best for businesses,” said Gary Wallach, Renwick’s managing companion. Courtesy of Nicholas Lee Ruiz

Golden Child’s trendy American menu is from government chef Carsten Johannsen. It presents a playful take on childhood favorites, like a gourmand PB&J with pear, brie and ham, and “The Only” Golden Osetra Caviar served with potato chips, crème fraîche, chives and caramelized onion. 

There will also be elevated pizzas, along with burgers and chicken “tendies” with a caesar salad dip, plus a enjoyable cocktail program.

Meanwhile, restaurateurs Kiril and Metodija Mihajlov – who own the favored Consulate with branches on the Upper West Side and Midtown – are gearing up to open their third outpost at 560 Third Ave. in Murray Hill in the previous Rio Grande space next month. They are also opening an elevated sports activities bar, At the Office, at the same deal with at the same time. That’s after the couple opened The C Cafe in the West Village in September. 

Restaurateurs Kiril and Metodija Mihajlov – who own the favored Consulate with branches on the Upper West Side and Midtown – are gearing up to open their third outpost at 560 Third Ave. in Murray Hill. A rendering, above. Courtesy of Larisa Mihajlova

“I invested millions, so I can’t stop,” Kiril Mihaljlov said. Courtesy of Larisa Mihajlova

Kiril Mihaljlov said he signed the lease for the Murray Hill space last yr, before the mayoral election.

“I just watch my business,” he said, including that the issues he’s dealing with — “like the price of eggs going up 100% this week” — aren’t linked to the mayor. 

“I invested millions, so I can’t stop. I have to open the businesses and try to make money. I can’t close,” said Mihaljlov, who continues to create neighborhood eating places that New Yorkers love.

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Bob Barker had sex with ‘Price Is Right’ beauty in…

The darkish secrets and techniques behind legendary ”The Price Is Right” host Bob Barker have been uncovered.

The host, who died at 99 in 2023, has been accused of creating a poisonous office in a new E! docuseries Dirty Rotten Scandals, in which “Barker’s Beauties” Holly Hallstrom, Kathleen Bradley and Claudia Jordan spill on the long-running show.

E’s new docuseries, spotlights Barker in a two-part episode and delves into the secrets and techniques of his sordid past.

One of the most important scandals on the show, where Barker hosted from the Nineteen Seventies until the early 2000s, centered on an affair between Barker and model, Dian Parkinson.

At first they tried to disguise the illicit affair but it shortly turned apparent, particularly as the pair would recurrently have dressing room sex during movie breaks.

The fashions on the show — identified as “Barker’s Beauties” — say the environment behind the scenes grew so poisonous it turned insufferable. Getty Images

Barker died in 2023 at 99, but the darker chapters of his story are only now coming to mild.

The fashions on the show — identified as “Barker’s Beauties” — say the environment behind the scenes grew so poisonous it turned insufferable.

Holly Hallstrom, Kathleen Bradley, and Claudia Jordan seem in the docuseries, offering gritty particulars.

One model — Dian Parkinson — allegedly had an affair with Barker. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

In an interview with PEOPLE, Hallstrom said, “I first realized long before the rest of the set knew that Dian and Bob were having sex.”

“I was really kind of surprised because Bob also had a girlfriend. As time went on, people were noticing.”

“She would go downstairs during the breaks and go into his dressing room, and that’s when some hanky panky was going on,” Hallstrom told the magazine.

Bradley — the first black model on the solid — said she “knew from early on that there were mixed feelings about her joining the show.” Getty Images

“The next thing you know, I get a call from Bob’s girlfriend,” discussing Dian’s relationships with celebrities, including black males.

“She said, ‘Oh my gosh, Bob has no idea that he’s had sex with a woman who has had sex with black men. Bob has always said that black men are the most diseased people on Earth,” Hallstrom added.

Parkinson would ultimately go on to file a lawsuit against Barker for inappropriate harassment, though she later dropped the go well with.

After Hallstrom refused to testify in court for Barker and his attorneys, not wanting to commit perjury, she was warned that her weight was turning into a drawback. She was told to deal with it, and ultimately misplaced digital camera time.

The show reportedly allowed only two black contestants at a time. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

“Next thing you know, my lawyers called and said, ‘Bob Barker just filed a lawsuit against you for defamation,’ and after that, no one spoke to me.”

Hallstrom was pressured into early retirement and ended up dwelling out of her car.

“I misplaced the whole lot. I used to be completely broke and dwelling out of my car.

“I couldn’t afford to stay in this lawsuit, and I would have to settle, and I was not going to do that,” she explained to PEOPLE.

She would go on to sue Barker 5 years later for “malicious prosecution.”

Bob Barker handed away in 2023 at the age of 99. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Bradley — the first black model on the solid — said she “knew from early on that there were mixed feelings about her joining the show.”

“[It was] not a good feeling… And one of the members of the production team brought to my attention that, inside a production meeting, when models weren’t in there, they would use the N word,” Bradley revealed to the leisure magazine.

Jordan would later be part of the solid and shared her own story about a producer who used the “reverse Oreo.”

He’d say, “Claudia, you get in the middle of the two white models, or tell me I’m the ass model because stereotypically, Black women have a larger behind. And I guess that’s why he wanted to grab and feel it.”

The show reportedly allowed only two black contestants at a time.

“They would have a letter B written on the card… It was pretty sad. A Black contestant may try to hug Bob Barker, and he’d kind of shrink away from them.”

Parkinson and Hallstrom weren’t the only ones to take legal motion. Bradley and other fashions also sued Barker.

Bradley revealed, “Eventually, the truth came out why all six of us were fired. We all refused to lie to save Barker’s ass.”

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