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Posted on 11/09/2011 7:42:28 PM PST by nickcarraway
Del Posto and Babbo have the same celebrity chef as an owner, reputations for impossible-to-get reservations, and customers who can afford, say, Del Posto’s seven-course “menu tradizionale” at $145 a person. It is not unreasonable to imagine that a good number of those customers make a living on Wall Street.
So their reaction after word spread on Wednesday that Mario Batali had mentioned them in the same breath as Stalin and Hitler was to let their hefty wallets do the talking and threaten to cancel their hard-won reservations.
Some complained on Twitter, some on the Bloomberg terminals they use to follow the markets. A food Web site, Eater, said one investment bank had even circulated a memo saying it would not reimburse receipts from Babbo or the other restaurants in Mr. Batali’s group.
“The irony is that he has made millions of dollars building a restaurant empire off the backs of Wall Street wealth,” said a senior executive at a large investment bank who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. The executive, who said he had eaten often at Babbo and Del Posto, said he would not go back to any restaurant that Mr. Batali was involved with.
Mr. Batali made the remarks at a Time magazine event on Tuesday promoting its “Person of the Year” issue, which will appear next month. Time assembled a panel of celebrities to talk about who should be chosen Person of the Year and continue a tradition dating to 1927.
There, in comfortable tan chairs, were personalities like Brian Williams, the NBC News anchor; the law professor Anita Hill, who accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment 20 years ago; and Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who played the Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg in the film “The Social Network.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
A few Web sites quoted Mr. Batali, and soon the restaurant world was buzzing. On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Batali’s spokeswoman e-mailed an apology. “It was never my intention to equate our banking industry with Hitler and Stalin, two of the most evil, brutal dictators in modern history,” Mr. Batali said in the statement. Mr. Batali did not respond to a request for an interview.
Some financial executives who typed out comments on their Bloomberg terminals sounded as if they believed Mr. Batali had attacked them personally — and they made it clear they would never slide into any of his banquettes again. But they would not talk about it except on their terminals or on Web sites or on Twitter because their companies have policies barring them from speaking to reporters.
http://ny.eater.com/uploads/2011_11_tweetbatali.jpg
http://ny.eater.com/archives/2011/11/bankers_dont_appreciate_batali_comparing_them_to_hitler.php
http://ny.eater.com/uploads/2011_11_sutton.jpg
Maybe the "Obamaville Hippies" will drop by for dinner, not paying of course.
$145 a person for lunch. Maybe they should be learning to economize regardless of who the chef is. That is no "business expense" at that rate anymore than a $200 blowjob is.
All of them, including the elitist banksters who have been best friends with Clinton and then Obammy, are biting the hand that fed them. Leftists eat each other after they have feasted on the ethics, culture, wealth and happiness of a Nation.
Yeash.
What makes these people spout off like that? Some sort of free-speech thing? I think that should be seriously restricted to only the most elite of free-speechers. Sort of like Carlos Santana; what the heck is up with his ass?
Why can’t these two just shut the [bleed-oop] up and cook or play their guee-tar? We don’t hear Ted Nuggent going off on a nut every other day, eh?
There should be a law against people spouting nonsense; it should be a capital offense and strictly enforced.
It’s their money, they can spend it however they like. If you’re trying to get a millionaire to invest with your company, you can’t very well take him to Old Country Buffet.
No, their target audience is harpies that watch "The View". Last week Batali praised the OWS'ers, and getting a little agit prop going.
match chewie’s dress
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