Fresh Off A $3000 A Plate Dinner In Miami For F1, Mario Carbone, Of Famed Major Food Group and Carbone Restaurants, Says The Way Men Dress Today Is Pathetic And Needs To Be Cleaned Up, And I Could Not Agree More

Dante5/09/2024 11:00 PM

Mario Carbone is an interesting guy. The son of immigrants from southern Italy, he put himself through culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America, then begged his way into a job scaling fish at Mario Battali's famed "Babbo." He then partnered up with his roommate and friend Rich Torrisi to open Torrisi's Specialty Italian Goods in 2009. Since then, the two of them, along with their equity partner Jeff Zalaznick. Since then, the three of them have been on a fucking rocket ship to the stratosphere. A stack of culinary awards, a slew of new restaurant openings every year, and fame out the wazoo have all snowballed. In large part thanks to the brand's juggernaut, the Greenwich Village behemoth, aptly named "Carbone", which took over a 90-year-old, old-school Italian neighborhood restaurant called "Rocco's", and which has become an institution in itself as well as a franchise all on its own.

Now he's got his own retail spaghetti sauce line, locations across the country and in Saudi Arabia, and even his own clothing line.

If this sounds like I'm sucking his dick it's because I am.

I respect the hell out of him.

Mario is as self-made as they come; he's a proud Italian-American, he runs an incredible operation top-to-bottom, and he's a winner.

(And he’s somehow convinced the world to fight over the opportunity to get into his restaurants and pay $40 for a plate of peasant food macaroni. Hat tip cugino.)

All of that said, Carbone is in a good position to comment on a subject like "dress", and "class", and the lack thereof.

And I could not agree with his assessment any more if I tried.

Have you looked around at us in this country lately? To quote the philosopher George Carlin, “it’s fuckin embarassing.”

(sidebar- I know full well I’m gonna get ripped for this take, for the same reasons Kelly Keegs recently called me “worst dressed at the barstool film awards”. So be it. I’ll own it. I stand by the fact that I grossly underestimated our Chicago office’s ability to clean up and wear something you don’t wear to the gym and/or to bed to the office. I wore an Italian designer suit with a white hoodie underneath in hopes to dress down a little bit because I didn’t want to be way over dressed. I was badly mistaken and the entire office looked fantastic. And I looked casual. Lesson learned. Won’t happen again.)

But I remember a time, not too long ago, where you actually put a little bit of effort into looking presentable when you left your house.

Dinners, going out, even going to work meant looking your best.

You never know who you’re going to meet, who you’ll run into, and first impressions are everything.

When I first came to Chicago, Lincoln Ave in Lincoln Park was the place to be on weekends. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, there were lines out front of every single bar and club up and down the street as far as the eye could see.

Youngn’s today might laugh but it wasn’t out of the question for spots like Halligan, O’Malley’s, and Lion’s Head to charge a cover and enforce an upscale dress code just like the good old “clubs” Max Bar and Blue did.

My friends and I used to have to wear dress pants, khakis or black pants, dress shoes, and a button down if we wanted to have a prayer of getting into the best spot in Lincoln Park, "The Apartment". (No joke. Place was stockpiled with smokes. The music was awesome. And they had a bunch of bars in the place you could get drinks quick.)

And that wasn't even "downtown". If you were going downtown you had better have money, or looked like you had money.

And therein lies the problem.

This younger generation today equates the price tag on something for "fashion".

I can't tell you how many guys I see turned away at doors to places fighting with doormen and bouncers yelling that their pants (which are sweatpants) cost $400, their sneakers cost $300, and their ballcap is a limited edition from Supreme or some shit.

No offense to anybody at all, but I was trying to pull up a reference for this article on what the younger generation today dresses like to go "out", and I logged into twitter and this is what appeared. No lie. Call it divine intervention.

It's wild going to really expensive steakhouses, or spots like Carbone, and seeing guys in baseball hats at the dinner. I don't own any fancy places (yet), but I can't imagine having a spot where I'm slinging $150 steaks and $1000+ bottles of wine to businessmen swiping their company expense card, and seeing my dining room littered with slugs who look like they're taking a sick day on the couch at home.

It's only been getting worse and worse as the years go by.

Casual and comfortable have become the priority and as with everything now, it's about the individual and their feelings more than it is about expected etiquette or standards. "I can where whatever the fuck I want, to wherever I want because I feel like it." Leisurewear has become the norm. And I'm not finance-shaming anybody here. I'm not saying you have to wear expensive or designer shit to "look nice". Quite the opposite. Again, it seems like people today think just because something costs a lot of money means it looks good.

(Reminder Kanye was selling these homeless shirts for like $350 a pop and they flew off the shelves.)

It starts at the top though. And the top today, celeb and upper class wise, doesn't exactly scream pomp and circumstance. (Aside from George Clooney of course.)

Long gone are the days of The Rat Pack looking dapper as fuck 24/7.

Bettmann. Getty Images.

Look like more of a slob Elon Musk. You can't.

p.s. - that pic there was from Mario and Co.'s event, "Carbone Beach" in Miami for F1 this past weekend.

Vibe - Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix took place on Sunday (May 5), but the night before, superstars gathered for American Express’ Carbone Beach party hosted by Major Food Group founders Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick, and Rich Torrisi. Notable attendees included LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes, Kevin Durant, Elon Musk, Derek Jeter, and more. It was an entire weekend of fun, as LL Cool J, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, and Pitbull hosted shows, too.
Musk, on the other hand, kept a fellow billionaire nearby as he sat at a table with Citadel CEO Ken Griffin. Other wealthy attendees included real estate exec Stephen Ross, investor Jorge Pérez, and Miami Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel. As far as athletes and celebrities go, there was Steve Stoute, Victor Cruz, Tyreek Hill, Myles Garrett, Joe Burrow, Jimmy Butler, Maverick Carter, Will.i.am, and several others in attendance.
The party reportedly cost $3000 to attend and included unlimited caviar, Dom Pérignon, cocktails by LeBron James‘ liquor brand Lobos 1707 Tequila, and Belvedere. There was also a four-course Italian dinner for attendees to enjoy.

$3000 a plate, rubbing elbows with the richest and most famous people in Miami for the 1%ers favorite sport, is no joke. 200 seats, times four nights, means Major Food Group grossed 2.4 million dollars on this alone. Ay Madone. Not too shabby.

p.p.s. - there was some decent talent at this thing if you're into that sort of thing.