Chef Mario Batali prepares dishes for the crowd at the world premiere of Volkswagen’s new Jetta compact sedan in New York City in 2010.
If he’s not at one of his 16 restaurants in New York, Las Vegas or Los Angeles, Mario Batali is easily found on TV these days.
* * *
Unfortunately for Batali, the road trip this week ended in a New York federal court, where 117 waiters, captains, servers and busboys sued Batali and his business partner, Joe Bastianich. According to the complaint, the workers say the owners took their hard-earned tips in some cases as much as 5 percent of the nightly wine sales to supplement their own profits.
* * *
A judge must sign off on the settlement before it’s final. That’s expected to happen by this summer.