Fabio: I'm Not a Businessman, I'm a Business, Man

Happy Turkey Day #TeamFabio! I hope that everyone is off of work and getting ready to gather around the table for an awesome feast with family. Maybe you even decided to try my Italian holiday stuffing?! I hope that your Thanksgiving is fantastic, and you are surrounded by the people that you love! This year I am thankful for so many things... I truly am blessed! I am thankful for my #TeamFabio of course. Also, for all my friends that I have made since I moved to this country. What is it that you are thankful for this season? Besides another fantastic episode of Life After Top Chef?! Ha!

People know me as the Italian who could not make an American hamburger to win Top Chef! But I am more than just a chef, I run several restaurants, and I see myself as a businessman first. This might be hard to see because so much of my business involves cooking, but I promise you that it is true! My business partners are also my closest friends because I want my work to never feel like it is a job... as much as possible. One way we try to do this is by having special martini dinners at my restaurants. They have been a great success if I can believe all the things that people say to my face about it... but who knows -- sometimes they like to blow smoke up my butt!

The success of the martini dinners is why Jacopo and myself have been working together to produce a line of designer drinks. Jacopo is a master at taking really unusual ingredients that you never would have thought of and making a delicious drink you cannot put down. Why would we not want to share this with the world?!

In order to do this, we needed to have an investor in the business, but Jacopo and I were not the only people looking for an investor this week. Chef Jen finally was able to set up her “pop-up” restaurant, and I am so happy for her! She is a fantastic chef, and I know that Concrete Blonde is going to be a hit. The investors that Spike brought to meet with her seemed very interested. I bet she will work out a deal soon... Jen, maybe if I ever get a vacation I will come by and have some of your seafood... it looks delicious!

Spike didn’t spend too much time on his restaurant this episode. But how nice is he for hooking Jen up with his investors? Maybe Spike is not such a bad guy after all... or maybe he is just trying to get CLOSE to you Jen! Be careful! Spike is sneaky...

I would also like to congratulate Richie for his successful opening of The Spence! You have a lot of strange things on the menu, but we’ve come to expect that from Richie’s haircut, so why would his restaurant be any different? I should not be surprised! I hope that you are able to take a break from The Spence and spend the time with your family this Thanksgiving. Remember what I told you before Richie? Keep your wife happy and your life will be a thousand times better because of it! At the end of the day, she is who you are coming home to... let them know that she is the MOST IMPORTANT! 

What did you think of this week's episode?! Not enough turtle Fabio or Spike’s mom? Tune in next week to see if they make a guest appearance. Let me know what you think @FabioViviani on Twitter!