“Cake Boss! Seriously? Can I get a picture?” I watch as a woman shakes her head in disbelief, then squeals at the sight of Buddy Valastro. In the 10 steps it takes to walk from Buddy V’s Ristorante, the reality show star’s Italian restaurant at the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas, to Carlo’s Bakery, his dessert shop across the walkway, he is mobbed with fans. “Of course,” he says.
They stand in front of a life-size cutout of the cake boss to take a selfie. Valastro is dressed like any other tourist. His black polo shirt is untucked above his jeans.
His hair is slicked straight back and he has a chunky gold watch on one wrist and a chunky gold bracelet around the other. He takes a few more photos, then ducks into the kitchen. The windows lining the bakery fill up with iPhones as people press up against the glass for a closer look.
“It would be much harder for me to get around if I were wearing my chefs coat,” he says, gesturing to the crowd. Valastro’s fans are enthusiastic, and from all over the world. His first reality show, “Cake Boss,” which chronicled the operations at his family’s 60-year-old Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, N.
J., ran for nine seasons, airs in more than 200 countries and is dubbed in 45 languages. He has four other shows about to be released on various streaming services, as well as nearly 40 bakeries and cake vending machines around the country.
His products are sold at more than 3,000 Walmarts. Valastro, who o.
