Mob Wives: My Meeting With Renee Graziano @ Sugar

Chiara Soprano meets her favorite Mob Wife Renee Graziano

All I can say is WOW! I should have just stayed up and blogged last night because between the wine and meeting Renee and Jennifer, I was not in sleep mode at all. I kept waking up during the night thinking about what I was going to say. If not for the fact that I pitied my poor husband and he needs his sleep, I would have had an all night writing session. So here is what you have been waiting for, the blow by blow account.

I had dinner reservations for 8 PM at Sugar. I was celebrating my wedding anniversary and the finale of Mob Wives. We arrived promptly on time and I asked the hostess if she knew when Renee was getting there. She informs me that Renee has 9 PM dinner reservations. Now, I am super excited, because I know I will still be there and maybe get a chance to say hello. My husband and I sit down and order four things off the menu. The menu at Sugar’s is like none we have ever seen before. Our waitress, Dana, explains how the menu works. They serve a variety of dishes, ranging from $12 to $18 each, which they are called hors d’oeuvres in any other restaurant. You get 4 of each item, so on average, you should order 2 to 3 plates per person. This is what we ordered from the menu: Grilled Shrimp a l’Orange, Smoked Pulled Pork Mini Tacos, Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes, and Baked Spinach & Artichoke Fondue. The food was delicious! And, it was Ladies Drink Free from 8:30 till 10 PM so I had two complimentary glasses of white wine.

We finished eating and it’s approaching 9 PM. There is a big, empty table about four feet behind us. My husband keeps saying they are saving that table for Renee. I say to him, what are the odds I will be sitting this close to Renee? I jokingly say, I can practically pull my table over and join her, if she is sitting there. Well, at 9:10 there is a lot of activity around that big table. They were adding seats and dishes and utensils etc. and making sure everything was just right. A couple of minutes later, I turn around and there is Renee. I say to my husband, who may think I am crazy, “There’s Renee!”

The Mob Wives Blogspot's version of Charlie's Angels: Renee Graziano (Mob Wife), Chiara Soprano (Blogger) & Jennifer Graziano (Executive Producer)

As Renee gets a little closer to me, I stand up and say, “Hi, Renee.” Thinking I am a fan, she comes right over to say hello. I seize the chance to tell her who I am: “Hi, I’m Chiara from mobwives.blogspot, and can I have a picture?” She gives me a hug and announces to her whole table of friends that I am from mobwives.blogspot. Then I see her sister Jenn! And like the genius I am, I tell Renee, “That’s your sister Jennifer!” And before my mouth gets in touch with my brain, I blurt out to Jennifer if I can take her picture. Renee jumps on it. She tells Jennifer to take a picture with her and me and asks one of her friends to use my camera. Then Renee has someone use her phone to take a picture of the three of us so she can tweet it. I am just blown away and in shock. The whole blog experience is only two months old and here I am standing between Renee and Jenn! I thank them, go back to my table and Renee follows me. She has a picture of herself that she is going to autograph right there for me and my husband, for our anniversary. So, I ask if she can please give me one for Mob Mistress, so I can mail it to her. Renee jumps right up and brings back another picture and autographs that too! I cannot tell you enough what a sweet and charming personality Renee has. In a couple of minutes it was like I had known her all my life. Meanwhile, people are calling her over to their table, and she keeps telling them all she will be there in a minute. She tells my husband how much she loves our blog and that she reads it all the time. It’s really quite a compliment coming from her. I don’t have to tell you that she won me over, right? She is not only my favorite Mob Wife, she is my favorite of all the Housewives on Reality TV!

As she is done with the autographs she tells me she will be back. She has to mingle with the other fans. By this time, she has already exceeded all my highest expectations, but I say to her, can I tell you one thing before you go? She says, “sure.” I told her what I have been wanting to say to her all season long. I said, “your son AJ is a remarkable young man. I cannot get over what a great kid he is.” In this day and age to see a child raised the way he has been raised, who loves and respects his parents, who is so mature, who shows that he has a good moral upbringing, who does well in school and so many other things…that’s a huge accomplishment. Her eyes light up (she has beautiful eyes), and she thanked me, as any mother would, who loves to hear nice things about her child. AJ means everything to his mother and as a mother I totally understands how she feels. She is so proud him and she has every reason to be. But, I also wanted to get across to her, and I hope I did, that Renee deserves the credit for that. She practically raised AJ by herself and she did nothing short of an amazing job as his mother. I really mean that from my heart. And, mothers aren’t told often enough, when they raise wonderful children, that they have done an extraordinary job. So I hope she understood, from one mother to another, that I appreciate all it took on her part, for her son to turn out to be a young man that any mother would be proud of. She thanked me again and with that she left, promising to be back.

We can only hope Renee keeps that phone safe from fellow Mob Wife Drita D'avanzo

My husband and I finished our drinks while I texted Mob Mistress to give her a quick update on what was going on. I couldn’t talk because of the noise. We stayed there until 10:15 PM, and then a gentleman from the restaurant came over. He seemed to think I “knew” Renee, and I almost feel like I really do. He told us he would need to remove our table, along with a few others to make room for a dance floor. I told him it wasn’t a problem, we were leaving in a minute. I went over to Renee to say good-bye. She gave us each a hug, and I said I would love to talk to her again. I passed by Jennifer and stopped for a second to wish her the best of luck on her spin offs and told her I couldn’t wait! As we headed for the car, I dialed Mob Mistress to fill her in on every detail of the evening. I should thank her too, not just for her idea to blog the show, and for her help and guidance, but also for strongly suggesting I attend last night’s Mob Wives, Finale Party. It was just amazing. I’ll never forget it.