Eva Longoria-Parker Gives Us Un Beso

Chef Todd English & Eva Longoria Parker at the opening of Beso Restaurant in Hollywood, March 6, 2008.

Photo: Sara De Boer / Retna Ltd.

Is Gabrielle Solis trading in her yoga mat for a frying pan? Not likely, but her alter-ego Eva Longoria-Parker is. The Desperate Housewives star opened her new restaurant Beso in Los Angeles yesterday, with a little help from celebrity chef Todd English. "Everything is painted, every candle is lit, every glass has arrived,"
she tells People magazine. "So we’re not like, 'The chairs are not in!' So far there has not been a catastrophic emergency
happening. So I am very excited."

The pint-sized star has always had a big appetite for good food—not just eating it, but cooking it as well. "I'll go to a restaurant and if I have an amazing dish I'll go to the kitchen and ask the chef how he made it. And then I'll make him teach me. You can ask [my husband] Tony [Parker], I do it all the time. I'll leave him at the table for like 30 minutes."

Though Eva won't be doing the cooking at Beso herself, but two of her signature dishes are on the menu: "I make the best guacamole in the world," says Parker. "And my tortilla soup for which I am renowned for."

Eva's Desperate Housewives co-stars Doug Savant, Nicolette Sheridan and Felicity Huffman were the first honored guests at Beso's opening yesterday. As for whether or not Eva plans to expand her business into an empire, she responds, "let's tackle this one restaurant at a time."