Mario Batali

At 4:30 on a recent Friday afternoon, Del Posto, the 10th Avenue behemoth of a restaurant owned by Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich, had a bustling and vaguely portentous feel. Servers in black and white scurried up and down the two grand staircases in the main dining room, which, multi-tiered and blandly opulent, has been compared to a hotel lobby. An imperious maître d’ in a suit and tie manned the phones from a desk in front of a massive dried flower arrangement, while a few bald, corporate-type older men, possibly holdovers from lunch, sipped wine at scattered tables. Mark Ladner, the restaurant’s Clark Kentish and taciturn executive chef, sat at the far end of the long granite bar in full chef regalia: white apron, designer jeans rolled at the ankle, white Crocs.

Mr. Ladner, 38, was finishing up a business meeting with a man in a suit. He is not in the habit of lurking around the dining room of his 26,000-square-foot, 400-seat, double-Michelin-starred restaurant, particularly when actual customers are present.  read more »

Friday's New York Post takes an unsanitary swipe at Mario Batali's Spotted Pig, citing the eatery's failing health inspection score of 34 -- perhaps in retaliation for Mr. Batali's earlier dig on the Post's "hapless" food writer Braden Keil?

(The restaurant's score was actually 33, according to the Health Department's Web site, but who's counting? A score of 28 or higher is failing.)

How bad is it at Mr. Batali's purported "pigsty"? Bungalow 8 bad, Coney Island Buffet bad -- but still a far cry from KFC-Taco Bell bad, or worse.

As far as food-safety scofflaws go, Mr. Batali ranks rather low, in fact.

 read more »

DR. SELMAN: How have you been?    read more »

DR. SELMAN: How have you been?    read more »

DR. SELMAN: How have you been?    read more »

“More feminine than masculine” is how the famous chef-proprietor Mario Batali describes his Gree  read more »

“More feminine than masculine” is how the famous chef-proprietor Mario Batali describes  read more »

It's already been a difficult year for Food Network mainstay Mario Batali, who has been involved in a much-publicized battle with his landlord over at Del Posto, his newest restaurant.

Now, the New York Post reports that Mr. Batali is putting Bistro du Vent on the market. The 42nd Street eatery has only been open for about 15 months.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

The chef Mario Batali was seated before a small table covered in white linen, speaking face-forward  read more »

The chef Mario Batali was seated before a small table covered in white linen, speaking face-forward  read more »

“Try these,” our beautiful, dark-haired Albanian waitress said as she set down a bowl of  read more »

July 11, 2005 5:30 am 7 pounds, 1 ounce New York Hospital–Cornell Medical Center  read more »

Rocker Billy Corgan has finally unloaded his luxurious Soho spread for $3.81 million, according to d  read more »

Bistro du Vent was packed with food people the other night.  read more »

Last Thursday evening, eight of New York's leading chefs were AWOL from their kitchens.  read more »

The cutthroat competition between New York’s celebrity chefs sometimes spills out of the kitchen.  read more »

Fit for a Thai King (or Queen):Sumptuous and Divine  read more »

Gastro-pub Girl comes to town; backed by Ken Friedman, Mario Batali-and maybe Bono-a British chef is  read more »

Going Back to His Roots,Batali Slings Pizza, 5th Ave.–Style  read more »

Even die-hard New Jerseyans (and we're betting that's a pretty small group) covet New York's culinar  read more »

The thing about the men in gray flannel suits, who came homefrom World War II and got married and bo  read more »

"Just when you think you've mastered the Italian menu, along comes one like this," said my companion  read more »

After months of trying, I finally managed to get into Babbo on the night of Hurricane Floyd.  read more »