The Deal of the Century Wouldn't Have Happened Without Vito Schnabel

Vito Schnabel, the art-dealing son of painter/filmmaker Julian Schnabel, has been a part of the extended Torrisi Universe since at least 2013. In the spring of that year, Vito joined forces with Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi, and Jeff Zalaznick as an investor in Carbone, and he helped curate the art that hangs upon the walls of that great Thompson Street restaurant. Since then, he's been a behind-the-scenes player in many of the Phase 2 Torrisi projects, including Dirty French and Santina. And now, as the Torrisi Squad gears up to open what might arguably be the biggest restaurant of the decade, the Post reveals that there would be no deal between Major Food Group and Seagram Building owner Aby Rosen if it wasn't for Schnabel's networking magic.

Vito is a mutual friend of Rosen and Zalaznick, you see, and he helped introduce the two years ago. "It is how Aby and I got to know each other," Zalaznick explains. And now Rosen is partnering with the Major Food Group in the as-yet-unnamed 2016 revamp of The Four Seasons space. In related news, today, Zalaznick offers a note about how the team is going to handle the transition: "We’re going to make sure to do everything we can to make sure the regulars are equally comfortable and excited in the new place." This is literally the only restaurant that anyone wants to talk about right now, with the exception of maybe Santina, which keeps knocking it out of the park, especially during the a.m. hours.

Vito was last seen playing golf with girlfriend Heidi Klum in Sardinia.