Xzibit, the rapper and host of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride,” brought his posse of 10 to Arnie Morton’s Steakhouse in Los Angeles recently. Janetcharl tonshollywood.com reported Xzibit exhibited a diamond-encrusted watch while the group ate and drank its way through a $1,700 tab. Xzibit paid the bill and left a miserly $100 tip. We don’t have to pimp our calculator to figure out that’s less than a 6 percent gratuity.
Jeffrey Chodorow, owner of the Kobe Club, was so dissatisfied with the review of a restaurant by New York Times critic Frank Bruni he took out a full-page advertisement in the newspaper. The ad cost Chodorow – remember the money backer behind “The Restaurant” headed by chef Rocco DiSpirito? – $115,000. The New York steak-house earned zero stars out of a possible four from Bruni, whom Chodorow accused in the ad of being biased and unqualified. “I got to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore,” Chodorow told Bloomberg News Service. Bruni, who referred to Chodorow as a “gimmick maestro” in his review, said, “These are just my honest opinions, without any agenda. I have no personal bias against him.”
Gordon Ramsay has worked in Hell’s Kitchen, but his younger brother is facing a different kind of hell. Ronnie Ramsay, 39, has been jailed in Bali for heroin possession, the Daily Mirror reported. The Indonesian island country has the death penalty for such offenses, but Ronnie had a small amount and more likely would face a 10-year sentence or less if convicted. A spokesman said the celebrity chef “and his representatives are flying out to Bali to try and help.”
The newest celebrity-inspired restaurants, Carlos Santana’s Maria Maria, features the rock guitar legend and his authentic Mexican cuisine. Santana, 59, and his wife, Deborah, in partnership with Dudum Sports & Entertainment Corp., will open the first of three California restaurants in April in Walnut Creek. Eateries in Mill Valley (May) and Santa Rosa (June) also will open, according to an Associated Press report. Jeff Dudum, DSE’s chief executive, said the restaurants “honor and celebrate Latin American culture, food and music.”
