It was a year no food-lover will forget — dramatic, zany and appalling by turns. Business was robust. Confident restaurateurs launched new places almost daily. If any one trend stood out, it was the growing dominance of the “haves” — the large restaurant companies that grew and expanded no matter what the economic trends. Quality Branded … Read more
Babbo, the once-great flagship restaurant from once-great Mario Batali, is back with a new owner and a new chef — and, maybe hard to believe, it’s better than the fabled original. Babbo limped on after Batali was divested in 2019, in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Mega-restaurateur Stephen Starr bought the place … Read more
On her first day working as Mario Batali’s assistant in 1999, Laurie Woolever, then 25, got in a cab with the famous chef to go to a TV shoot. “Slide those thighs on over,” he told her. Woolever was taken aback. “Had he really expected me to f–king cuddle with him in the first five … Read more
Mario Batali has parted ways with the Big Apple for good, ranting, “there’s enough a**holes — I’m done with that town.” The chef who was once a Manhattan fixture launched the tirade during his first public return to cooking on screen Friday, in a livestream of his virtual cooking show “Molto A Casa,” from his … Read more