So many celebs enter the world of restaurant ownership thinking that if they put their name on it, diners will come. Their logic seems to be that because they like eating in a restaurant they are thus qualified to own a restaurant. For diners that means here today and gone tomorrow restaurant concepts - like so many of said celebs' careers. And for critics it translates to fodder for scathing reviews. The problem always seems to be that they lend their prestige -- not their business savvy or sweat-and-tears. Someone should tell them that, like everything in life -- you get out of it what you put into it.

But when Chris "Ludacris" Bridges set out to open a restaurant, he defied the odds by being a hands-on operator and serving great food at Straits, his Singaporean restaurant in the heart of Atlanta's Midtown. Food and Wine gave it 10 pages in the May issue and it recieved nods from diners as well. Singaporean cuisine may seem like a departure for a Grammy-award winning Hip Hop star but Bridges was confident that by putting the right people in the kitchen and on the floor - he would have a hit.

Bridges was right. One year later, the restaurant has enjoyed positive press, a packed dining room and a buzzing bar. On Friday, May 22, Jane Fonda and Mayor Shirley Franklin joined Bridges in toasting Straits' one-year anniversary. Here's to hands-on celebrity operators and Straits in Midtown -- I'll be at the bar drinking a Lychee Martini and eating the Chicken Lollipops.