Usually, it’s the aspiring chefs who suffer a daily roasting while working with Gordon Ramsay.
But when the celebrity chef took a team of four doctors into his kitchen for the Channel 4 show The F-Word, he certainly felt the heat.
The evening reached boiling point when one of his amateur chef’s splattered hot liquid in his eye - by accident of course. more…
Chef Jay James, who runs Chef Jay’s Bistro at 122 E. Broughton St., told police he warded off a man who came into his kitchen on the morning of Thursday, July 13, and demanded money.
According to James, the suspect, who had his hands hidden in the pockets of a sweatshirt, stated, “Give me all your money or I’m gonna hurt you.”
James said he held up his knife and told the robber to leave or else he would hurt him, at which point the robber fled down the alley on foot without taking anything. more…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Seven astronauts are in space, and their lives depend on the good work of thousands of people on the ground.The WESH 2 I-Team has investigated a major federal lawsuit questioning whether those NASA employees are at risk.We’re not talking about working conditions at the Kennedy Space Center. We are talking about bad or rotten food.
…Vargas worked at the headquarters cafeteria for three years. She claimed that her superiors would force her and others to put food out on the cafeteria line that was old and past its due date — food that sometimes would be spoiled.
“We have three racks of raw chicken. Two days later it’s still sitting there,” Vargas said. “I said, ‘That chicken is smelling. That chicken is no good.’ It was rank,” she said.WESH 2 I-Team reporter Stephen Stock asked Vargas what they did with the meat and if they served it.”They cooked it,” Vargas said. “Yes. And served it.” more…
By Gabrielle Banks, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A former manager at More restaurant in Oakland who had worked there for decades was sentenced yesterday to 26 to 52 months in prison for embezzling nearly a half million dollars from the family business.
Tina Marie Horn, 46, of Oakland, was ordered to pay the More family $400,624 in restitution, continue drug and alcohol treatment, and serve five years’ probation.
As Common Pleas Judge Randal B. Todd rendered his sentence, restaurant owner Elisa More, who said she had considered Ms. Horn “like family” during her 28 years of employment, burst into tears.
When the defendant left the room in handcuffs, escorted by a sheriff’s deputy, her mother collapsed onto the courtroom floor and was taken away on a stretcher minutes later. Before that commotion, a tipstaff had asked the defendant’s sister to leave the courtroom because she was laughing and making comments to the victims. more…
Food-loving scammers are hitting up New York restaurants with the old ‘dine and dash’
Several times a month, Bolivar Arias, a dining-room manager at Havana Central in Times Square, nips a “dine and dash” in the bud.Though one might think it’s something only a drunken frat boy might pull, there is no shortage, it seems, of New Yorkers who love feasting on lobster and steak, but don’t much like paying the bill afterward.
“It happens much more than people realize,” says Arias, and “usually, they’ve planned their move before they step foot into the restaurant.” Typically, the “dashers” will head to the bathroom around check time, he says, leaving only one diner at the table, poised to bolt. “One person went so far as to change shirts in the bathroom so we wouldn’t recognize him on his way out.”
“The bill is usually high - a few hundred dollars - but others will try it for just a beer and a sandwich,” he says. “Some people just want to beat the system.”
It’s happened so many times at the Cuban restaurant that staffers now alert Arias at even the slightest suspicion. “I’m built like a wrestler, and I go to the table and give the last person sitting there a look,” he says. more…
Police investigating a series of bomb attacks on the luxury Basque country resort owned by the French master chef Alain Ducasse have arrested and questioned a member of his staff.
Mr Ducasse, who at 33 became the youngest chef to win three Michelin stars, holds a record for simultaneously running three three-starred restaurants in Paris, Monte Carlo and New York.
Now 49, he has designed food for astronauts with the European space agency and catered for Prince Albert of Monaco’s trek to the north pole, but has focused on expanding his group of restaurants and country inns across the world. more…
“We are offering fast food consumers what they truly want,” announced Hardee’s last January. That’s when the fast-food chain started switching “to an entirely new menu focused on 1/3-pound, 1/2-pound, and 2/3-pound Angus beef burgers, called Thickburgers.”
“Thick” is right…and it doesn’t apply only to the burgers.
The smallest (1/3-pound) Thickburger has 740 calories and 16 grams of saturated fat. That’s roughly double what you’d get in a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, which is missing the Thickburger’s mayo and cheese (and some of its meat).
But apparently that’s just a snack to those Hardee’s customers who “truly want” the 1,090 calories and 29 grams of sat fat in the 2/3-pound Thickburger. more…
OSSIPEE, N.H. –Anthony Balliro is innocent of two arson charges and did not kill the cook found inside his burning restaurant, his public defender said Friday.
“We maintain Anthony’s innocence. He did not commit these crimes,” public defender Jesse Friedman said after Balliro’s arraignment on the arson charges in Southern Carroll County District Court. The charges are felonies, so he could not enter formal pleas.
Prosecutors say the cook found dead Wednesday night in the burning Moose Tracks Restaurant in Bartlett had been stabbed repeatedly, but as of Friday afternoon no charges had been filed. more…
The relationship of the suspects in a hold up at a Columbia McDonald’s in May is not a typical pairing.
Police say two of the people involved are a mother-son team. Sgt. Florence McCants says, “It’s just sad you’ve got family members involved in that.”
Sgt. McCants says 42-year-old Lori Gilliard and her 20-year-old son Kahmel robbed the McDonalds on Forest Drive around 4:00am May 26th.
Investigators say Kahmel used to work there. They say the mother and son were also with Ashley Turner and Joe Nathan Hargrave, the restaurant’s assistant manager. Using Hargrave’s key, police say the four unlocked the door and went in as workers were making breakfast. more…
WEST CHESTER, Ohio — A restaurant owner and his son were airlifted to University Hospital after they were burned over most of their bodies in a fire late Thursday.The blaze broke out at Steak Thyme Subs on the 8100 block of Princeton-Glendale Road shortly before 9 p.m.According to a report in the Hamilton Journal News, the restaurant has been vandalized three times since late May. Each time, it appeared that someone had tried to set fire to Steak Thyme.”A rock was thrown through a window, and there’s evidence people were inside the business trying to ignite a fire with accelerant, so there’s been progression,” West Chester police Lt. Dave Tivin said. more…
A Queens couple convicted of nearly starving their baby girl to death could be freed later this month after the state’s highest court threw out their felony convictions yesterday.Lawyers for Joseph and Silva Swinton, both 35, were ecstatic after the unanimous decision found the evidence against them was “legally insufficient” to prove they assaulted the baby with “depraved indifference.”
The little girl, Ice Swinton, now 6, and her younger brother, born to the Queens Village couple after their arrests in 2002, have been living with relatives.
“This was a loving mother. She was no monster,” said defense lawyer Kevin Costello. “She sends me pictures all the time. They are such nice-looking children. It’s hard to believe they were once sick.”
Ice was fed what prosecutors called a bizarre diet of mostly vegetables, fruits and nuts. At 16 months, she weighed just 10 pounds, had a distended belly and brittle bones, authorities said. more…
Richard Petty was standing next to one of the country’s best chefs, but he wasn’t at all impressed with what he was dishing up.
It was the night before a 2004 NASCAR race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Petty, king of the stock car racing circuit, came to a private dinner that Food Network host, restaurateur and cookbook author Mario Batali was preparing for drivers.
The redheaded, pony-tailed culinary star’s spread included penne all’Amatriciana - pasta that’s usually tossed with guanciale, or dried, salted hog’s jowls, tomato sauce and red pepper flakes. The dish might be appreciated by the adventurous diners jamming the reservation book at Babbo, Batali’s New York Italian ristorante, but it apparently didn’t spark Petty’s appetite. more…
Hot cars, hot food: Chef Mario Batali (right) entertains NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip during practice day for the Nextel Cup race in Long Pond, Pa.
Police captured Bartlett restaurant owner Anthony Balliro yesterday after his cook was found stabbed to death inside the burning restaurant and Balliro’s apartment apparently was set ablaze.The 45-year-old was arrested without incident at a North Conway home about 3:15 p.m. following a day-long search for the former Seacoast man some residents described as having more swagger than smarts. more…
ASPEN, Colorado (AP) — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was briefly hospitalized early Friday after he fell ill at a restaurant where he was dining with former President Clinton and others, police said.
Aspen police Sgt. Bill Linn said the four-star general told him it appeared to be a combination of altitude sickness and something he ate. more…
Wellington, New Zealand (AHN) - The Judge at Christchurch District Court jailed two Indian chefs at the Two Fat Indians restaurant, for raping a schoolgirl. The convicted Kirti Ram, 40, and Manish Kumar Tyagi, 30, were found guilty of raping the 17-year-old girl in their restaurant on January 2 last year.
The trial heard that the two men had taken the girl to the restaurant and had subjected her to sexual assault. The girl later managed to escape when she was being taken to a taxi.
However, the two men alleged that the act had been consensual and it had been arranged in lieu of payment. more…
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police said four people were shot inside a north side restaurant early Sunday, including one fatally. more…
When a woman claimed to have found a human finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili, Denny Lynch was the point man for the giant fast-food chain.“This was grotesque, gruesome,” Lynch said. An expert at damage control for decades, Lynch went to work. With the help of the local restaurant’s staff and a carefully chronicled record of deliveries from suppliers along the food chain, he was able to prove that the woman was a liar.
Something similar happened when Jim Taylor went after a woman’s claim that she found a mouse drowned in her soup at a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant.
Borrowing a page from what could be a “CSI: Rodents” script, Taylor found scientists who could prove the mouse was dead before it landed in the soup. Clues: No soup in the lungs and a telltale broken skull.
Major fast-food chains have established rapid-response teams that are dispatched at the first hint of such claims. And the chains say they are becoming much more aggressive. more…
Suspects accused of trying to pass drink recipes to rival company PepsiCo
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are usually bitter enemies, but when PepsiCo Inc. got a letter offering to sell Coke trade secrets, it went straight to its corporate rival.
Six weeks later, three people face federal charges of stealing confidential information, including a sample of a new drink, from The Coca-Cola Co. and trying to sell it to PepsiCo Inc.
“Competition can sometimes be fierce, but also must be fair and legal,” Pepsi spokesman Dave DeCecco said. “We’re pleased the authorities and the FBI have identified the people responsible for this.” more…
Three people face federal charges of stealing confidential data — including a sample of a new drink — from Coca-Cola and trying to sell it to rival PepsiCo.
WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — Knocking on doors, handing out flyers, and talking with neighbors is standard procedure when investigators want to crack a case. But in this case, there are two homicides to solve. And two agencies — Raleigh police and the Wake County sheriff’s office — have joined together to do that.“We have not said that we linked the two cases, but we’re just saying that we’re working cooperatively on them,” said Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue.The first case took place in May. Samuel Haj-Hussein worked at the In and Out Food Mart and was found shot to death inside. Three weeks later, an employee found Leroy Jernigan shot and killed inside the Circus Restaurant. more…
Rob Schneider was back on the set of his directorial debut film a day after collapsing from heat exhaustion and food poisoning, his spokeswoman said on Friday.
Schneider, a former “Saturday Night Live” player and star of such films as “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” was taken to the San Joaquin General Hospital in central California on Wednesday after he fell ill on the set of “Big Stan,” spokeswoman Shara Koplowitz said.
“Rob had a slight case of food poisoning and the 107 (41 Celsius) heat brought on nausea,” Koplowitz said. “He went to the hospital, was treated for nausea and released the same day.” more…
Cancellation of 8th-grade ceremony touches off firestorm in Region 12
A decision to cancel the eighth-grade graduation in Region 12 is causing turmoil in Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury.
The controversy over whether the decision was warranted has been the talk of the district since the annual Shepaug Valley Middle School graduation ceremony was called off following a food fight involving eighth-graders at the school.
Parental furor over the principal’s decision to cancel the June 22 ceremony was so intense that Region 12’s superintendent had a state trooper posted outside the school’s front door that day.
Principal Lorrie Rodrigue canceled the planned ceremony after a food fight in the cafeteria June 21, which she said was planned by eighth-graders, damaged property and posed a hazard to fellow students and faculty. more…
WASHINGTON, Conn. — A raucous food fight among eighth-graders Wednesday at Shepaug Valley Middle School prompted the principal to punish the class by canceling Thursday’s graduation ceremonies.The disciplinary reaction infuriated some parents, who thought the response was too harsh for the deed, particularly for those not involved.
Administrators, though, are holding the entire class accountable because the fight was so destructive and disruptive, and the majority of students knew what was planned. more…
The California Department of Fish and Game fanned out across the state and in Oregon on Thursday, arresting 17 people accused of buying and selling black-market abalone, sturgeon and caviar. The agency called the operation one of the largest poaching busts in state history.
“We have zero tolerance for those who illegally commercialize California’s natural resources,” said Nancy Foley, chief of enforcement for Fish and Game, in a news release. more…
Joe Mello, a warden with the state Department of Fish and Game, carries an abalone shell and shark fins, part of evidence retrieved from Bob’s Sushi restaurant in San Francisco near Fisherman’s Wharf. Associated Press photo by Ben Margot
OSSIPEE, N.H. –A restaurant has pleaded guilty to charges related to the drunken driving deaths of six people in Wakefield (New Hampshire) five years ago. The Pine River Steak House Corporation, owned by Edward Donnelly of Brookfield (New Hampshire), pleaded guilty today to two charges of reckless conduct and was ordered to pay up to 24-thosand dollars in fines. Prosecutors alleged the restaurant was criminally negligent when it served alcohol to the driver of the car that caused the deaths. more…
Comedian Rob Schneider is recovering from heatstroke and food poisoning after reportedly fainting on the set of his new movie. more…
San Francisco, Calif. (KCBS) — Authorities have arrested an owner of a San Francisco restaurant suspected of illegally serving abalone and shipping some of it overseas.
A little after sunrise this morning, officials with the state Department of Fish and Game went to the Visitation Valley home of Bao Zhang, operator of Bob’s Sushi, located on the 300 block of Bay Street.
Authorities say Zhang served abalone at his restaurant, and shipped some of it to Hong Kong.
Fish and Game Captain Dave Fox told KCBS’ Janice Wright that Zhang allegedly bought abalone from undercover agents and sold it in his restaurant. more…
A former Dormont businessman who owned restaurants at Pittsburgh International Airport was charged Wednesday with 15 counts related to a scam “to support his lavish lifestyle,” according to a federal court indictment. Christopher Fekos, 48, of Peters, Washington County, is charged with conspiracy, bank fraud, mail fraud, bribery of a bank employee, possessing forged securities of an organization involved in interstate commerce and money laundering. Also charged in the 26-page indictment is Joseph Howcroft, 26, of Pittsburgh. more…
DOLGEVILLE, N.Y. — A restaurant collapsed into a creek in New York on Wednesday, and the whole thing was caught on tape.It happened in Dolgeville, just east of Utica. more…
CHICAGO A man who claimed to be a culinary student was arrested Tuesday when he was spotted carrying a butcher knife on a CTA platform, police said.
A CTA passenger spotted the man on the Lake Street platform at Lake and LaSalle about 8:25 a.m. Tuesday, according to Illinois State Police Protective Services Sgt. John George.
The passenger alerted two CTA workers about the man, George said. One of the workers engaged the man in conversation while the other went to find the nearest law enforcement officer, who turned out to be an ISP trooper, he said.
The man claimed the reason he was carrying the knife was that he was a culinary student on his way to class, but those claims were unsubstantiated, George said. more…
A cook at a Park Ridge restaurant was arrested on drug charges last week, accused of selling cocaine while working at the establishment.
Valentin Romero, 34, of the 5000 block of West Grand Avenue, Chicago, was charged with felony delivery of a controlled substance and felony possession of a controlled substance after Park Ridge detectives initiated an undercover cocaine purchase on the night of June 21. more…
Executive Chef Marlon Hysi
Marlon started working on the culinary field since he was 18 years old. His first job as a line cook was at Bon-Appetit catering at Stanford University, Palo Alto California. Inspired from the line of work, Marlon decided to open his own little business which was called Alba-Cafe, in Redwood City California. The Cafe served Italian Pannini’s, espresso drinks, exotic salad, and classical french pastries and cakes. After working there for two years, Marlon relocated back to Boston and opened his own restaurant with the support of his family. While Marlon was attending the restaurant he was being trained by a very prominent Albanian Chef, Shpetim Kadiu. After being trained for a year Marlon decided to bring his knowledge one step further and decided to join a classical French-Mediterranean culinary school ( Le Cordon Bleu). After the completion of the program Marlon poured his newly ganed knowledge into the dishes that he freshly prepares daily.
The father of a chef accused of allegedly serving alcohol to an 18-year-old waitress and letting her sleep in his home said the teen was seen drinking on the job. “I felt so horrible,” said Tani Hysi, who holds the liquor license for Café Apollonia at 146 Belgrade Ave. in Roslindale. “I didn’t want her to drive home. I try to be a good parent.” more…
By JIM SALTER
Associated Press Writer
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Steak n Shake Co. will pay $180,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a woman who worked as a teenager at a suburban St. Louis restaurant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday.
The lawsuit alleged that in the summer of 2002, 17-year-old Amanda Nichols was subjected to unwanted sexual advances by a fellow employee, and a restaurant manager and assistant manager refused to help her. The suit was filed in July 2004.
Nichols said in the suit she was groped by the older co-worker, endured explicit comments and was even threatened with sexual assault.
The lawsuit said Nichols quit after the co-worker tried to coerce her into sexual activity on the parking lot of the Steak n Shake in Ballwin, Mo., one of about 400 the chain operates in 19 states. more…
Amanda Nichols
SAUGET, Ill. — Fast food restaurants may soon notice burger lovers with a sweet tooth, and it’s all thanks to a minor league team’s unhealthy but tasty creation.An independent baseball league in Sauget, Ill., has begun to sell what they refer to as “baseball’s best burger.” more…
A 19-year-old woman was fatally shot on the South Side Sunday evening while working at an area restaurant, and police think they know why someone killed her. more…
LAKE PLACID — A Lake Placid woman faces second-degree assault charges after breaking a wine glass into a man’s throat in her home early Saturday morning, according to village police Sgt. William Moore.
Lynnette L. Patterson, 40, allegedly “slapped” a wine glass into the left side of the man’s throat in her residence on Sentinel Road around 5 a.m. Saturday, village police said. The glass broke on impact, and the man was taken to the Adirondack Medical Center in Lake Placid. His condition is unknown as of press time. more…
NEW YORK — The actor who plays temperamental chef Artie Bucco on “The Sopranos” avoided jail time for driving while impaired in a plea bargain deal, authorities said.
John Ventimiglia, 42, who portrays Tony Soprano’s high school buddy on the HBO show, will visit 30 schools to caution against drinking and driving under the agreement announced Monday in a Brooklyn courtroom. more…
THE SOPRANOS star JOHN VENTIMIGLIA pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in a New York City court on Monday (26JUN06). The 42-year-old actor, who plays Chef Artie Bucco in the mob drama, agreed a plea deal with prosecutors and was fined $500 (GBP277) and had his driving license suspended for 90 days in Brooklyn Criminal Court. (more…..)
LOS ANGELES — A takeover robbery occurred at a Carl’s Junior restaurant in the Baldwin Village area of Los Angeles late Thursday night, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Investigators say three masked men smashed their way in by shattering the glass front door of the restaurant with a hammer. Police say the men pistol-whipped an employee and stole about $1,000. The employee who was injured is reported to be in stable condition.
Longtime Madisonville Mayor Peter Gitz was beaten and robbed Wednesday night as he was closing the landmark restaurant he has owned for 30 years, authorities said Thursday.
Gitz, 71, mayor of the river town since 1976, remained hospitalized Thursday at St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington. He was hit in the head with a blunt instrument, receiving a wound that required 14 metal pins to close, authorities said. Gitz also suffered an eye socket injury and a mouth injury. more…
Just five days after flames engulfed The Pioneer Drive-In, James “Junior” Ramey III said he still is shocked. His busy, small-town family restaurant, always full of memories and often filled with the people who made them, was gone in a matter of minutes after 54 years of existence.”It was the best it ever looked. It’d been doing better than it ever had. Last month was the biggest month The Pioneer had ever had. We took in more than ever before. At this time, I had the best employees I’ve ever had, too,” Ramey said. The restaurant has been operated by Ramey’s family since his grandmother opened it in 1952. more…
LAKELAND — The landmark Red Barn Steak House at 6150 New Tampa Highway was heavily damaged by a fire that started just after 8 a.m. today.
The Lakeland Fire Department responded with nine units, including its aerial ladder truck, and 24 firefighters. It took two hours to bring the blaze under control after a quick flareup. more…
ARLINGTON — Fire razed the Black-eyed Pea restaurant at Lincoln Square shopping center in north Arlington early Thursday collapsing the roof and destroying the building, fire officials said.
No one was injured. Fire officials were still investigating early Thursday, but do not believe it is an arson case, said Fire investigator Keith Ebel. more…
A preliminary hearing date of July 27th was set in Memphis for singer Hank Williams Junior on assault charges.
Williams appeared briefly in court yesterday on charges of assaulting a Peabody Hotel waitress on March 18th.
He is accused of grabbing Holly Hornbeak, choking and verbally abusing her in the lobby of the hotel. At the time, Williams was in Memphis while his daughters received hospital treatment for injuries they received in a serious car accident. more…
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Seven black men who met at a Golden Corral restaurant to plan college homecoming activities have reached a $100,000 settlement with the city of Fayetteville and the restaurant after they were detained during the investigation of an attempted robbery.
The group will also receive an apology from the city and got the city’s pledge to improve the training of its police officers. A federal lawsuit filed by the men was dismissed last week, following a settlement reached May 8. more…
A onetime Chicago grocery store owner pleaded guilty Friday to ripping off $1.6 million from the food stamp program after running phony transactions in his grocery store.
Hatem Fariz, 33, on Friday admitted in federal court he ran the massive fraud in his store, T & T Foods, in the 2700 block of West North Avenue. He agreed to pay more than $1.4 million in restitution. more…
At least 45 inmates and three staff workers at the Miami-Dade County Jail became ill this week, forcing the department to shut down its kitchen and have sandwiches shipped in from West Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight correctional facility.
Five people were sent to Jackson Memorial Hospital for observation after the illnesses surfaced Tuesday evening. Of the five, three are staffers who have since been released. There was no word late Friday on the condition of the two inmates.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Janelle Hall said the sicknesses included vomiting and diarrhea, and that the county’s health department was called in to investigate. more…
CARLISLE, England, June 17 (UPI) — Five British restaurant employees, the owner and his wife were treated for exposure to a light bulb that was too bright for the kitchen.
Mauro Mingotti, owner of La Pergola in Carlisle, said he was accidentally sold a tanning light bulb instead of an insect-fighting bulb, the Mirror reports. more…
The grisly murder of a much-loved cook at Mama Mia Pizza in Valencia left residents shaken Monday. Edward “Eddie” Politelli, 72, was stabbed to death shortly after 8:30 a.m., according to information from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff’s officials said Politelli was found by an assistant manager shortly after 8:30 a.m. as a man savagely attacked Politelli with what may have been a machete.
Detective Charles Morales said the witness arrived for work and entered through the front doors of the restaurant, in a corner of the parking lot of the Valencia Marketplace on The Old Road. The witness told deputies he heard a violent exchange from the rear of the building and ran back outside.
The witness told officials that once outside he saw Politelli crawling around the back of the building, calling to the witness for help. At that point, Morales said, the attacker reportedly continued hacking at Politelli. more…
Police artist sketch of suspect wanted in the slaying of Edward Politelli, 72.
Police are searching for a prisoner who escaped from a Nottinghamshire prison in a shipment of chef hats. more…
