This holiday season how about a plate of comfort food with sex on the side? In the case of celebrity-chef Mario Batali, that might not be such a tall order. As sexual harassment allegations continue to balloon, the restaurant industry is now on the front burner, and it looks like it’s getting hotter by the minute. Actress Siobhan Thompson decided to go on the record and detail her story of being “groped” by Batali when she worked as a hostess at one of his restaurants, and she is only the latest in a series to come forward.
Indeed, women are sprinting out of the famous kitchen to detail sex abuse by Batali and restaurateur Ken Friedman, who owns the Spotted Pig, where Batali is an investor. The New York city establishment is marketed as a “gastropub” and apparently serves more than just Irish/English and Italian fare. Both men have stepped away from day-to-day duties at their eating establishments as more and more women come forward with tawdry tales of sexual misconduct.
Here are just a few items on Batali’s dinner menu, according to Grub Street:
When women complained to Friedman about Batali, whom they dubbed “The Red Menace,” his rejoinder was simply “Get in F**** line!”
As you can imagine, there are many more items on Batali’s menu, but no need to bore our readers with the sexually explicit details. You get the picture. For his part, The Red Menace issued the following apology to Eater New York: