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Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
Drew, the fired intern from "The Restaurant," wants to make one thing clear: "I might seem a little cocky at times, but under no circumstances am I a monster."
Apr 27, 2004 | When Drew Abruzzese first arrived on NBC's reality show "The Restaurant," he looked liked a potential replacement for "Apprentice" schemer Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth.
The 20-year-old intern turned up at Rocco's 22nd Street this season as part of a team brought in by financier Jeffrey Chodorow to help rescue the money-losing restaurant run by Rocco DiSpirito. We quickly learned -- as the camera cut frequently to Abruzzese's smirking face whenever Chodorow bemoaned the restaurant's financial screw-ups -- that there would be mischief to come. And as soon as Abruzzese, who looks as though he may have just had his first shave, bragged that he had 15 years of experience in the business and that his specialty was solving problems, a reality-show star was born.
Cut to Monday night's episode of "The Restaurant": Abruzzese was caught arguing with Chef Tony, giving away free margaritas while working (underage, illegally) behind the bar, and generally annoying everyone around him. Even Rocco's good-natured mama cautioned Abruzzese to stay out of her son's way. Finally, after Rocco overheard Abruzzese refer to him as "Captain Douchebag" on the phone, Drew the Intern was sent packing.
Salon caught up with the University of Delaware junior on his cellphone this weekend as he drove through his hometown of New Hope, Pa. He had just returned from doing a little shopping in preparation for an appearance on "Access Hollywood" later this week.
How exactly do you know Jeffrey Chodorow?
Jeffrey is a neighbor of ours. His main house in Pennsylvania is about a mile away from my parents. Jeffrey is a regular at my dad's restaurant, the Pineville Tavern [in Pineville, Pa.]. They became friends, although not incredibly close.
How did you manage to turn that into such a high-profile internship?
NBC needed another person to be on the show who didn't mind the cameras. All the people who work for Jeffrey are corporate chefs, corporate consultants; they were there to do a job and were not concerned with entertainment. Jeffrey came into the restaurant for dinner one night with his family. He said, if I can ever do anything for you, if you want to get involved with the TV show, just let me know, because producers are breathing down my neck to bring someone in who doesn't mind the camera situation. He asked me right then and there [to be on the show]. I dismissed it initially: I'm in school. I'm busy. But when I went home and told my dad, he said, "You call Jeffrey right away and say, 'Absolutely!'" Once my father gave me the OK to pursue it, I was pretty proactive. My school felt comfortable calling it an internship because it was very connected to my major, hotel-restaurant institutional management.
You're only 20 years old. Can you explain what you meant when you said, "I've worked in the business for 15 years"?
