Porn Stars And Meat — What’s All The Fuss About?

During my years as a journalist, I’ve met, interviewed and occasionally socialized with hundreds of rock and pop stars, quite a few Hollywood actors, a handful of professional athletes, and even a politician or two.  I’ve been backstage at dozens of award shows and countless concerts, and hung out on more tour busses than I care to remember. But the one event that gets the most attention from my friends is the one week a year I spend covering the AVN Awards – otherwise known as the Oscars of porn.

People just love the idea of being around porn stars.  They always want to know what they’re like in person.  And they seem to think that the AVN’s are just one non-stop orgy. Sadly, if there are orgies going on at the event, I’ve never been invited to them.  On the contrary, the vast majority of the ladies I’ve interviewed, and occasionally socialized with, are smart, serious businesswomen.  Sure, they have sex on camera.  But in a world where even congressmen send nude pictures to strangers, does that really make them all that different from the rest of the world (except for the fact that people actually want to see these ladies naked)?  So I was surprised to find certain casinos a little reluctant to allow me to film a video with Joanna Angel and Jenna Haze in one of their restaurants. 

I’ve known Joanna for a few years.  Her publicist is a longtime friend, and I’ve interviewed her numerous times at various AVN events.  I also love her because she’s the woman who popularized hardcore porn featuring women with tattoos, piercings and crazy hair colors – my kind of ladies!  But we’ve really never hung out socially.  So when I got an email telling me she and her friend Jenna Haze were coming to town for a vacation this Memorial Day Weekend, I decided I had to include them in one of my video shoots.

Since the ladies weren’t here on business, I knew I had to make it worth their while to leave the pool for a few hours and hang out with me.  Running through the topics I was planning to cover for Dining Invasion, including them in my lesson on steak just seemed perfect! Bad double-entendres began flashing though my brain faster than I could write them down: “Al Mancini shows porn stars his meat!”; “Chef slips the beef to adult film actresses!”– you get the idea.

The ladies loved the concept. And I immediately got offers from chefs who wanted to host. Unfortunately, with just a few days to arrange it before the holiday weekend, some casino executives were a little reluctant about rushing to jump into bed with a pair of porn stars – at least on camera.

But getting STK to participate was amazingly easy.  I’ve known Stephen Hopcraft since he was head chef at Michael Mina’s Sea Blue.  And when I bumped into him Thursday night at a big food festival at The Palazzo pool, he was in a great mood. (It may have been all the free cocktails, or maybe that was just me.) I told him I was having trouble finding a steakhouse that could clear my shoot, and he immediately called over an STK big-shot to approve it on the spot.  By the next day, everyone at STK’s corporate offices and The Cosmopolitan had approved it.

Once you view the video, I’m sure you’ll agree that nobody had any reason to be nervous.  Like every other adult film actress I’ve ever hung out with socially, the ladies were classy, smart and funny.  Just as importantly, they were anxious to learn about the different types of beef available, and taste samples of them all.  And while I was originally going include a lesson on Scotch whiskeys, they told me they were actually fine wine aficionados, and STK’s sommelier was more than happy to satisfy their needs. (Damn, there I go again.)

Like every episode of Dining Invasion, I hope this one serves two purposes.  First, of course, I hope it gives regular people some knowledge that will make them more comfortable when they dine out.  But I also hope it also proves that foodies come from all walks of life, and no restaurant should ever judge a customer by what he or she looks like, does for a living, or any other outdated criteria.  Thanks to the people at STK and The Cosmo for understanding that fact!

Enjoy the video!