C's get some home cooking

By Mark Shanahan , Globe Staff  |  June 13, 2008

Star chef Todd English (inset) hosted a special off-day dinner for the Green Team at his new Hollywood hotspot Beso. English arrived late, and there was no sign of the eatery's co-owner Eva Longoria, but the assembled C's nonetheless enjoyed themselves in a private dining room upstairs. Celebratory yet subdued, the affair was attended by Celts owners Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca, team president Rich Gotham, former player Jo Jo White and his son, actor Brian White, comedian Dom Irrera, who was joking around with C's court jester Scot Pollard, Celts scrub Brian Scalabrine, dance team director Marina Ortega, super fans Marty Joyce and Mike Rotondi, and Tom Brady's right-hand man Will McDonough, who'd winged to the West Coast on Tudor Investments titan Jim Pallotta's private plane. New Kid Donnie Wahlberg and actor Matthew McConaughey were both on the guest list, but didn't show. (That came as a great disappointment to the TMZ.com videographer trolling the sidewalk outside the restaurant.) English told us cooking for his hometown boys was a no-brainer. "I had to do it," he said. "I couldn't take the chance that they might get poisoned somewhere else."

Not far from the C's shindig, Sudbury-bred actor Chris Evans (inset) was celebrating his 27th birthday - with Celtic Brian Scalabrine - at Rande Gerber's LA club Stone Rose. (Evans's actual birthday is today.) It's clear that the "Fantastic Four" actor, a onetime flame of Tom Brady's girlfriend Gisele Bundchen, remains a favorite of the ladies. Among those in the crowd at the Stone Rose was "American Dreams" actress Brittany Snow.

Mark Wahlberg hit the red carpet last night for a special screening of his new thriller, "The Happening," at the AMC Boston Common Theatre, and what a happening it was. Throngs of fans and media types mobbed the hometown hero, who looked every bit the movie star in a sharp black suit and shades. Of course, Wahlberg brought a posse of his own. "There are at least 35 people with the last name Wahlberg in the theater," the star's brother, Jim, told us before the screening, not to mention members of the Boston police and fire departments. And after the movie? A swanky bash was slated for the Ritz penthouse, where all eyes were presumably on a certain basketball game. No surprise, Mark Wahlberg is rooting for the local boys. "I'd be happy for Kobe [ Bryant]," he admitted to us, "but the Celtics are a better team."

LOS ANGELES - Had enough of all those Hollywood stars sitting courtside? Hang in there. Mercifully, there's just one game left in La La Land. It was more of the same last night as a slew of celebs again scored the best seats in the house for Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Aside from usual suspects Jack Nicholson, Dyan Cannon, and Penny Marshall, nabobs on the NBA's guest list included buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, whose better half, Jennifer Garner, was sitting elsewhere in the arena, talk show type Jimmy Kimmel, soccer star David Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Larry David, Spike Lee, and A-list actors Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Tobey Maguire, and Dustin Hoffman. Surfer Kelly Slater was riding the wave of excitement, as were "Idol" judge Randy Jackson, Ryan Seacrest, actors Damon Wayans and Donnie Wahlberg, and Chili Peppers bassist Flea. Former Celtic Bill Walton, whose wife, Lori, was wearing a pink sleeveless Obama T-shirt, said he'll be happy if his Laker son, Luke, wins it all. "But they have to win all three in LA or they have no chance," boldly declared Big Red. Nonsense, said Andy Garcia. The actor said Boston fans know better than most what can happen in a seven-game series. "Look at the Red Sox," he said. (Garcia confessed to us that he'd be rooting for Kevin Garnett if he didn't love the Lakers so much.) Another former Celtic, Rick Fox (who also played for LA), was on hand, as were Maria Sharapova (in a "We Love LA" T-shirt) and Nicky Hilton. Other famous faces expected in the crowd included figure skater Michelle Kwan and gridiron guys Jerry Rice and Matt Leinart.

Make no mistake, these are the salad days for Boston sports fans, says Patrick Sullivan, son of New England Patriots founder Billy Sullivan. "I hope people aren't taking any of this for granted," says Sullivan, whose company Game Creek Video is producing the Celtics/Lakers series for ABC. "I don't ever remember a city dominating sports the way Boston is right now." Based in Hudson, N.H., Game Creek has a hand in producing every major sporting event in the US, including the World Series, Super Bowl, and NBA Finals. This year, Sullivan said, it's been "gratifying" to have a rooting interest in each one. No doubt.

Duff Goldman, the extreme baker and Food Network star whose Charm City Cakes is featured on the hit show "Ace of Cakes," says he's already drawing up blueprints for the almost 4-foot-tall, telephone booth-shaped cake made with plexiglass and blinking lights that will be served to ticketholders at Thursday's Wang Theatre premiere of "Get Smart." Goldman will be there, as will his feisty bakeshop manager Mary Alice Fallon Yeskey, and the film's star Steve Carell. The visit to Boston for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute benefit screening will be a homecoming for the Baltimore bakers; Yeskey was born in Boston, and Goldman lived in Sandwich during his last two years of high school (he admits he started his career with a less-than-swanky gig at McDonald's in Hyannis). Goldman told us he's anxious to meet Carell because of a strange family resemblance. "He and my brother were separated at birth. Me and my brother look nothing alike. My brother and Steve Carell - they look alike."

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum - pieces of it, anyway - officially arrived in Boston yesterday, and that was enough to lure six living HOFers to the Museum of Science for a collective tip of the cap to hardball history. On hand for a preview tour of "Baseball As America," the traveling Cooperstown exhibit that opens to the public Sunday, were Red Sox legends Wade Boggs, Dennis Eckersley, Carlton Fisk, Bobby Doerr, and Carl Yastrzemski, along with Baltimore Orioles great Eddie Murray and ESPN's Peter Gammons (also in the crowd: former Sox first baseman Mickey Vernon). Gammons invoked the late Tip O'Neill's maxim that "greatness is not accidental" in praising Fisk's grit, Eck's sense of accountability, Boggs's work ethic, Murray's winning attitude, and Yaz's toughness. After formal remarks were concluded, several HOFers mingled with exhibit viewers, sharing memories and opinions of the game that shaped their lives. Boggs and Fisk both marveled at the upgrades made to Fenway Park in recent years and at the enduring passion of Red Sox Nation. Calling ex-teammate Luis Tiant "the funniest guy to ever wear a Red Sox uniform," Fisk also saluted another pretty decent catcher, Sox captain Jason Varitek, as being "the glue that holds this team together." High praise, indeed. The night before, Fisk, Boggs, the Eck, and their wives joined Murray, Doerr, and Hall of Fame staffers for a feast at Locke Ober.

Meredith Goldstein and Joseph P. Kahn of the Globe staff contributed. Names can be reached at names@ globe.com or at 617-929-8253.