Celebrities Who Love Drag Queens: Tyra Banks, Prince Albert of Monaco, Ashley Olsen, Joe Frazier, Yoko Ono, Britney Spears, Richie Rich and Traver of Heatherete, Amanda LaPore, Richard Branson, Jimmy Fallon, Queen Latifa, Bernadette Peters, Elvira, Vivian Westwood, Donna Karen, Kelly Ripa, Victoria Gotti, Margeret Cho, Ed Bradley, Tina Brown, Peter Brant, Stephanie Seymour, Wendy the Snapple Lady, Robin Byrd, Candace Bushnell, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tina Louise, Veronica Webb, Boy George, Joan Rivers, Ted Danson, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, Winona Rider, Matt Lauer, Bryant Gumbel, Stephen Baldwin, Dite Von Teese, Paulina Porizkova, Patrick McMullen, David LaChappelle, Wesley Snipes, Madonna, Ivana Trump, Gennifer Flowers, Lenny Kravitz, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kenny Scharf, Matthew Barney, Bjork, Dominick Dunne, I Love New York, Michael Griffith, Paul Licalsi, Sy Presten, Kristy Hume, Eleanor Mondale, Quenton Crisp, Donovan Leatch, Ali Sheedy, Jerry Springer, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Michael Musto, Drea DeMateo, Johnny Knoxville, Dennis Rodman, Sylvia Miles, Stella, Lola, Jacqueline, and Vito Schnabel, Bill Kuntzler, Rene Ricard, Zac Posen, Don Ho, Monica Lewinski, Gennifer Flowers, Jack Wagner, Heather Locklear, Jose Eber, Oliver Stone, Kate Moss, Robin Givens, Ivanka Trump, Betsey Johnson, Cynthia Rowley, Angelica Torn, Mary McFadden; Debbie Harry, Mary Wilson, Ahn Duong, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Grace Jones, Elle McPherson, Connie Stevens, Ru Paul, Nicole Miller, The B-52’s, Ethan Hawk, Taylor Dayne, Thierry Mugler, Sally Jesse Raphael, Tommy Lee, Rip Taylor, Christy Turlingon, Irina Panteva, Sarah Michelle Geller, Betsy Johnson, Joan Chen, Ron Jeremy, Alana Starr, Jon Sedaca, Rosie O’Donnell, Ricki Lake, the Spice Girls, Bret Easton Ellis, Donny Bonaduce, Grace Jones, Tommy Tune, David Byrne, Debbie Boone, Robert Plant, Luther Vandross, Christy Turlington, No Doubt, Robert DiNiro, Kate Shaw, Shalom Harlow, Robin Leach, Beverly D’Angelo, Mary Steenburgen, Joanne Worley, Sandra Bernhard, Amy Irving, Amber Valletta, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Ford, Calvin Klein, Toni Braxton, Roseanne Barr, Cindy Shu, Ron Jeremy, Harvey Fierstein, Dee-Lite, and Matt Dillon.
A Selection of the Best New York Post Mentions
New York Post. New York, N.Y.:
"Sightings"BRITNEY Spears blushing when a drag queen performed a lap dance at a pal's birthday party at Lucky Cheng's, where she brought her mother Lynne, little sister JaimeLynne, and brother Brian . . .PAULINA Porizkova with three gorgeous pals at Lucky Cheng's, convincing one of them to enter an erotic banana eating contest.
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Apr 30, 2005
"Ashley - It's Not B.Y.O.B".
DIVA-in-development Ashley Olsen and a passel of pals partied at Lucky Cheng's on First Ave. and tried to bring their own booze. The mini mogul, in her trademark giant shades, pulled up in a limo with a half-dozen girlfriends at 3:30 a.m. one recent night after the joint had already closed its doors. The manager let them in and gave them the run of the Karaoke lounge, but he had to confiscate a bottle of Absolut vodka one girl was toting. Olsen tried to pull rank, but the manager informed her, "I do not know who you are, I am French. I don't watch MTV. You need to take off your stupid sunglasses." At one point, an Olsen pal pulled her dress up and flashed her panties, but they didn't try to get more drinks. "By the sounds of it they didn't need any more alcohol," Cheng's owner Hayne Suthon told PAGE SIX's Jared Paul Stern. "It doesn't sound like it really had anything to do with Ashley," Olsen's rep says.
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Dec 20, 2004
"Gladly Omitted"
DRAG-queen eatery Lucky Cheng's has disappeared from the Zagat Survey altogether after a nasty battle with the restaurant guide. Last year, the East Village spot sued Zagat after receiving a pitiful 9 food rating and a scathing write-up. The court ruled the review was protected by the First Amendment. "I guess we were too hot to handle," Lucky Cheng's owner, Hayne Suthon, told us. She says the restaurant was "damaged" by Zagat but prefers to be left out rather than nastily included. In any case, she's busy working on a reality TV show about the search for the next Lucky Cheng's "waitress."
ZAGAT 'SKIRTS' LUCKY CHENG SUIT
DAREH GREGORIAN. New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Aug 20, 2004
What a drag. A Manhattan judge yesterday tossed out a transvestite-themed restaurant's suit over a bad review in the Zagat Survey.A lawsuit by Lucky Cheng's said the bad write-up caused them to be "greatly humiliated [and] exposed to public ridicule and contempt." "God knows 'you don't go for the food' at this East Village Asian-Eclectic - rather you go to 'gawk' at the 'hilarious' 'cross-dressing' staff who 'tell dirty jokes,' perfect 'impromptu floor shows' and offer 'lap dances for dessert,' " said the review in the survey's 2003 edition.."While the restaurant owner believes it has 'hit the sweet spot' with its menu and food choices, the Zagat reviewers suggest the selection misses the mark a bit, notwithstanding that the establishment as a whole offers an entertaining and engaging evening. This disagreement over taste and fashion is not the stuff of defamation," the judge wrote."A restaurant review, no matter how harsh, is not an appropriate basis for a libel action because it reflects an individual's subjective opinion about the quality of food, service and decor," the decision says, adding that Zagat's is upfront about how they assemble their reviews - through a broad survey of customers' opinions.
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Apr 10, 2004
THAT wasn't a female impersonator ripping off men's clothes at Lucky Cheng's the other night - it really was Britney Spears. The pop princess jumped onstage during drag queen Princess Diandra's "boxers or briefs?" contest, in which her tour manager was competing, and stripped off the clothes of all three men on stage. "Isn't this one of the best female impersonators you've ever seen?" cracked emcee Diandra. "She looks just like Britney Spears!" But one of the lucky guys had a girlfriend in the audience who didn't think it was funny. She tried to jump onstage when Spears was exposing her man but was shooed away by security.
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Jan 2, 2004
"DOG DAYS"
ETHAN Hawke (above) is cutting a lonely figure this holiday season after cheating on and losing Uma Thurman. Hawke's only pal these days is his dog. Last week he dined at Lucky Cheng's and took his leftovers home for the pooch. Another spy spotted Hawke taking his pet for a walk down Eighth Avenue in Chelsea the other day, talking to an unidentified man about his "really painful breakup." Meanwhile, spies on his upcoming movie "Billy Dead" tell us he's feeling so low that he's not returning phone calls and seems preoccupied.
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Dec 11, 2003
LUCKY Cheng's, Hayne Suthon's gender-bending hotspot, celebrated a decade of drag queens and dumplings Tuesday night. Club kid-cum- Heatherette founder Richie Rich hosted a pansexual crowd that included Johnny Knoxville, Drea de Matteo, Charlotte Ronson, Patrick McMullan, self-proclaimed dandy Patrick McDonald, and ubiquitous Amanda Lepore, who popped out of a cake and into an impromptu striptease. "The cake's inedible but she's not," quipped Miss Understood, one of the restaurant's resident drag queens. The edible version bore the inscription, "To Another Ten Years of Beauty - Thanks to Plastic Surgery."
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Dec 24, 2003
The Post visited Lucky Cheng's last night and did its own Zagat- style review.Lucky Cheng's is so much fun, most of the customers said the food was almost an afterthought."I've had worse food, I've had better food," said Andrew, 29, a repeat customer of the cross-bending bistro. "You come here for the entertainment."Robin Mercado, who brought her daughter, said it's more about the fun atmosphere and eye candy."The food's OK, it's not bad," the Brooklyn resident said."It's a lot of fun, though. You have to go in with a certain attitude. It's not for everybody."And more conservative diners might want to consider ordering takeout."My husband would never come here," admitted 29-year-old Jennifer Nassar.But she loves it - last night was her third visit. She thought the crackling duck confit is worth coming back for."I love this place," she said. "It's hilarious, it's fun. You have to go."
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Jun 10, 2003
DRAG queen-themed restaurant Lucky Cheng's is accusing Gray Line tours of anti-transvestite discrimination. Owner Hayne Suthon tells us the popular tourist bus line refused to allow Lucky Cheng's to use the word "drag" or "queen" in an ad Suthon bought in the maps handed out to Gray Line passengers. "It's just ridiculous, especially with the success of 'Hairspray' at the Tonys," Suthon sniffs. "We had to list it as a comedy, karaoke and cabaret. I can't imagine anyone being offended, but GrayLine said it wasn't appropriate. But what about those poor unsuspecting people who see 'comedy cabaret' and show up and see all these drag queens?" Incidentally, we're told that on the Gray Line tour through St. Marks Place, tour guides often mention Lucky Cheng's as the area's most famous drag queen-staffed eatery. Gray Line reps could not be reached.
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Nov 6, 2002
"Spray Paint and Drag Queens"
Tina Brown, trawling for material for her London Sunday Times column, got more than she bargained for at Lucky Cheng's on Monday night. The party was for former graffiti artist Kenny Scharf and the launch of his animated show, "The Groovenians," on the Cartoon Network, so Scharf had spray-painted the walls of the restaurant, which features cross-dressing waitresses. Polo-playing art collector Peter Brant and his supermodel wife, Stephanie Seymour, hosted for such guests as Lenny Kravitz (with his daughter Zoe), Patrick McMullan (with son Liam), Nicole Miller (with son Palmer) and Andre Balazs and Katie Ford (with daughter Alessandra). According to Scharf, "The Groovenians" involves two frustrated artists - is there any other kind? - living on an oppressive planet called Jeepers. Glindy (voiced by Dreena DeNiro) and Jet (Paul Reubens) dream of escaping to the planet Groovenia, where artists are free to indulge their passions. Scharf, who lives now in California and is staying at Lenny Kravitz's loft, called the restaurant after midnight to get his cans of spray paint. Seems Lenny wanted one of his walls done, but the paint had been thrown out.
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Mar 14, 2000
"MELROSE Place" pals Jack Wagner and Heather Locklear had a great time last weekend. The two showed up at Serena's and enjoyed a seductive fan-dance performed just for them. Later, they popped into Lucky Cheng's where Locklear insisted Wagner show some of her pals his tongue. "He really knows how to use it, too," Locklear added.
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Dec 8, 1999
"Angry Ally"
SOME unruly transgender staffers nearly upstaged Ally Sheedy at her Chanukah party at Lucky Cheng's the other night. The "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" star was about to sing for her guests but some waiters were chatting among themselves. "Can't you bitches be quiet?" asked Sheedy. They settled down momentarily, then began screaming for one of Sheedy's fellow brat-packers. "You want Molly Ringwald?" said Sheedy. "Bleep you!"
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Aug 3, 1999
"Photog drags his party elsewhere"
BAD boy photographer David LaChappelle is taking a few steps back from the cutting edge. LaChappelle - famous for his hyper-sexualized shots of women, men and everything in between - moved tonight's celebration of his Tony Shafrazi Gallery exhibition from gender- bending restaurant Lucky Cheng's to Bowery Bar because of an overzealous transvestite, according to a source. The photog was dining at Lucky Cheng with Stephen Baldwin when their cross-dressing waitress, Cody Ravioli, hopped into Baldwin's lap and stayed there. Stephen wasn't the least bit upset, says a witness: "He was laughing the whole time and saying, 'Can I go s-- the waitress now?'" But LaChappelle was "quietly put off" and began fretting about how such a scene might affect some of his tonier friends' sensibilities. Our spy says LaChappelle moaned, "What if one of my important guests like Graydon Carter or Tina Brown have drag queens jumping all over their laps?" The next day, LaChappelle relocated the soiree to the garden at Bowery Bar. "His decision had nothing to do with Lucky Cheng's. He loves the owner," says LaChappelle's publicist, explaining that his client simply didn't want to miss Bowery's Tuesday night "Beige" party. "Plus, he liked the idea of eating outside."
NIGHTCRAWLER: TRUMP & TRANNIES, WHAT A DRAG
Jared Paul Stern. New York Post. New York, N.Y.: May 13, 1999. pg. 31
IT'S highly doubtful that Ivana Trump knew exactly what she was in for by agreeing to host an AIDS benefit at the Lower East Side drag queen eatery Lucky Cheng's. While the attraction of Ivana for drag queens as a sort of over-the-top aesthetic role model is obvious, their appeal for her seems dubious at best. Most likely she saw it as an opportunity to promote her new magazine, Ivana Style, which showcases the so-called taste of this Eastern Bloc Imelda Marcos in the Martha Stewart mode. The current issue of Ivana Style was on every table at Lucky Cheng's on Monday night, alongside the in-house 'Dragazine." It was a toss-up as to which one was scarier, but suffice to say the combined effect was as no appetite suppressant yet invented.Just then the emcee, a drag queen called Miss Understood, got up to grate on our nerves. She introduced a couple of others, Baby Jane Doe, a 'dairy queen" from Wisconsin, and Hedda Lettuce. The first mocked Ivana's accent, chiding, 'I can't understand a f- - -ing word you say," and the second fondled her boyfriend, Ferrari dealer Count Roffredo Gaetani, and praised his 'luscious nipples." Then Miss Understood came back on stage and asked Ivana if she'd gotten her dress at Kmart. By this time Ivana wassurely wondering why she was being abused instead of lauded as the shiny celebrity hostess that everyone loves. When she probably thought the worst was over, Robin Leach took the stage to auction a chapeau, offering that 'For $300 you can have this hat; for $500, you can have this hat and [oral sex] in the bathroom."
GANG GREEN
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Mar 24, 1999.
THEY'RE still talking about the party photographer Patrick McMullan threw on St. Patrick's Day at Lucky Cheng's - the East Village boite where the Asian waitress/performers are certifiably gorgeous but not certifiably female. Chowing down on the chow mein were designers Betsey Johnson, Cynthia Rowley and Mary McFadden; singers Debbie Harry and Mary Wilson; actresses Tina Louise and Ahn Duong; uniformed fireman Terry Quinn; decorator Jeffrey Bradfield; and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, who shot "that woman"for her book cover and describes Monica as "Mae West reincarnated."
PARTY'S NO DRAG FOR IVANA; [All Editions]
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Nov 27, 1998
IF you tried to formulate a New York 400 (a la Mrs. Astor) today, you'd really be scratching. "Society" seems to know no boundaries, as demonstrated by the birthday bash Village Voice columnist Michael Musto threw himself the other evening. Musto, as funny as he is outrageous, chose the gender-bending Lucky Cheng's for this year's fete. TV schlockster Jerry Springer was the designated host and Ivana Trump was the stellar guest, along with Eleanor Mondale, Robin Leach, dear old queen Quentin Crisp, author Rona Jaffe and dragsters Lypsinka, Lady Bunny and Miss Understood.
Ivana had such a good time that she doffed her made-for-TV jewelry and gave it to an admiring guest. She and the cross-dressing waitresses really bonded, and the former Mrs. Trump says she'll have her birthday party in February at Cheng's. We're surely not in Kansas.
MUST-O ATTEND
New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Nov 13, 1998
IT'S bound to be a night of mayhem on Wednesday when Jerry Springer presides as ringmaster at the Lucky Cheng's birthday bash for Village Voice columnist Michael Musto. Previous guest hosts have included Brooke Shields, John Wayne Bobbitt, and Divine Brown. This year's invite says, "Jerry, please help me! I'm a young lady trapped inside supposedly male gossip columnist Michael Musto's body!" The party will undoubtedly make Springer's chaotic TV freak-fest look tame in comparison. And the eatery's gender-bending troupe of transvestite "waitresses" plan to parody Jerry's show with a skit in which they rip each others' wigs off. |
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