There’s an old saying, “If you want to know…just ask”. The Soho Hotel in  downtown Toronto is what they call a boutique hotel. I’ve never really understood what that meant until my partner and I spent a couple of days hanging out with our inductees, which included Armand Assante. Yes, that Armand. The staff at the Soho is what I call hip and pronto and very informed. Lanfranco, the Italian concierge, has been in the room business forever and his encounter with celebrity cakes has been many. Over the past couple of years we have become good friends with Franco and often converse in our native tongues. I walked into SENSES, a dimly-lit upscale watering hole with comfortable couches, designer chairs and an assortment of alcohol that lined the endless bar like a lightshow. We made contact with Mr. Assante and greeted each other in the customary Italian fashion, hug hug, kiss kiss. Our server was quick and I ordered two Martini and Rossi, red, frozen-cold, without any ice.

Having spent the last 30 years in Tinsletown hasn’t hardened me. I still feel the aweness of meeting someone special and “Il Duro” was very much that. We chatted about kids, making movies, living on a farm. We even managed to discuss my fall that left me broken-fingered. We talked about family and roots. The more we filled the room with colorful common verbiage, the more we connected. Our humorous repartee confirmed the commonality of our heritage and the strength that our ancestors had endured for us.

We made our way to Forget About It, a trendy restaurant in the ever-expanding entertainment district of TO. The last time we were there was for a reading of Ice Time, a film based on the life of legendary hockey icon, Phil Esposito, which seemed to have melted away to nothing. Like true hungry gladiators, we all managed to down a feast of Italian delectable dishes, a few bottles of wine and more tasty conversation. Mike, our click-happy photographer never missed a moment in capturing the purity of undisguised presence. In the famous words of Elvis, “It was a night, um what a night, it was really such a night.”  We undid a few holes in our belts and proceeded to hail a couple of cabs to take us back at the Soho. It was hug hug, kiss kiss, once again and a buona notte to an evening that will dance in our hearts forever.