Randy Jackson looked around a jampacked Al Biernat’s restaurant last night, impressed by all the star power in the room. “I’ve never seen so many L.A. people outside of L.A.,” Jackson said. The American Idol judge wasn’t kidding. At one prominent table, Gene and Jerry Jones and their offspring Jerry Jr., Stephen and Charlotte (Jones Anderson) were holding court with their guests, actors Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Not far away, Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler (currently starring in the flick Just Go With It) were breaking bread with folks from Sony Pictures and Moroch Entertainment. Meanwhile, beer magnate Barry Andrews and company were chowing down with actress Cameron Diaz and baseball’s Alex Rodriguez.
During the three-night (Thursday through Saturday) run-up to Super Bowl XLV, the popular Dallas eatery hosted a number of other athletes besides A-Rod (Sam Bradford, Reggie Jackson, Marcus Allen); Playboy playmates (Jaime Edmondson); media execs, and CEOs (David Holl of Mary Kay). After a disappointing start to the week the big-game build-up exceeded owner Al Biernat’s expectations by far, Biernat said, bringing in a record $100,000 in revenue Saturday (the “normal” Saturday take: $35K); $75K on Friday (vs. $30K) and $45K on Thursday (vs. $25K). And, it seems the L.A. glitter that so impressed Idol‘s Jackson is still coming through. When I called the restaurant to double-check these names and figures near noon today, Tobey Maguire had just walked in for brunch, apologizing for bringing along his own bottle of Pellegrino. He’s a guest of Dallas banking mogul Andy Beal.
