Most Dramatic Chef Firings In Culinary History

WATCH: Danny Bowien Makes Jimmy Fallon Cook With Absurdly Huge Chopsticks

by Tina Nguyen

Yes, they look like props from a late night comedy show -- but any self-respecting Asian knows of the enormous chopsticks that their parents used for stir-frying. (Remember, the ones the length of a child's entire arm?). Danny Bowien respects the giant chopsticks.

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Eddie Huang On Cooking With Weed (And Cheetos)

by Tina Nguyen

Incredible revelations about the Human Panda abound in the latest edition of High Times. For instance: did you know that Eddie Huang smokes the reefer? If you didn't, prepare to be totally astounded by the rhapsody of weed that is this interview.

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Martha Stewart On Her Ex-Husband: 'He Went Nuts And Left Me! Can You Imagine?'

by Mariella Mosthof

Martha Stewart stopped by The Dr. Oz Show today to hawk her new book Living the Good Long Life, and while conversation turned inevitably to her Match.com dating life, she revealed a few bawdy tidbits we didn't expect to hear from ever-cordial Martha.

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GIVEAWAY: Tickets To Meet (And Eat With!) Adam Richman And 40 Of NYC's Best Chefs

by Laura Norkin

Richman's hosting the NYC event for the third year in a row, and says, "whenever you have a chef that's like, 'this is just something I'm playing with,' you know that's always going to be the dope shit." You know what else is dope? Winning free tickets to The New Taste of the Upper West Side. See how right here:

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You’re Fired! 9 Most Dramatic Chef Firings In Culinary History

by Julia Emmanuele 1:42 pm, July 12th

Getting fired is awkward, embarrassing, and often infuriating. But that’s just for us normal folks. When chefs get fired, things get crazy. There can be lawsuits, smack talk, bad reviews, angry tweets — we’re talking the whole shebang. Sometimes it even goes viral (although, “dramatization” might be a better word for that one). We’ve complied nine of the most dramatic chef exits and they’ve got all of the above and more. You know what they say: if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen… in as newsworthy a way as possible.

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1.August Escoffier v. the Savoy London

One of the most legendary chefs to ever impact the food industry, August Escoffier and his friend Cesar Ritz were fired from the Savoy London in 1898 for stealing £6,400 worth of liquor that they used to wine and dine potential investors. So, why have most foodies never heard about this? Ritz apparently had some juicy dirt on the Prince of Wales that people wanted kept under wraps, since it was a Jubilee year for Queen Victoria. The whole shady business wasn't discovered until almost a century later.

2.Jody Williams v. Gottino and Morandi

Jody Williams was hit with a lawsuit from her former partner at New York eatery Gottino who claimed that she only paid him $600 a week even though her take was $5,000. The lawsuit also claimed that Jody had been fired from her previous restaurant, Morandi for violating her contract. She denied all allegations, and eventually the whole thing quietly went away.

3.Paul Liebrandt v. Gilt

Paul Liebrandt is one of the most well-regarded chefs in New York, famous for both his temper and his feats of molecular gastronomy. However, in 2006, he was also famously fired from Gilt after the restaurant received a bad review from New York Times critic Frank Bruni. That incident, coupled with frequent arguments with management, led to Liebrandt being kicked to the curb while still on the rise as one of the city’s most prestigious chefs.

4.Nick Morgenstern v. Gilt

When Nick Morgenstern was fired as the pastry chef at Gilt in NYC, the news had been reported before Morgenstern himself was even aware of what went down. However, he wasted no time in firing back at his former bosses, saying “They’re doing a little dance, pointing at each other,” rather than whoever fired him owning up. However, Chef Chris Lee claims that Morgenstern’s “problem is his mouth”.

5.Fabio Viviani v. Cafe Firenze

Top Chef favorite Fabio Viviani was fired from his father-in-law’s restaurant Café Firenze amidst arguments over ownership. Fabio then sued his father-in-law, who claimed that Fabio hadn’t been cooking at the Moorpark, CA restaurant since he finished his first season of Top Chef -- the whole thing seems to be one very public case of he said/he said. No word on what happened with the lawsuit, so we'll never know whose side was the truth.

6.Jason Neroni v. Porchetta

Talk about leaving on bad terms: Jason Neroni was accused of stealing money from New York's Porchetta upon his departure. It was reported that there was a warrant out for his arrest, and although it turned out to be untrue, he considered suing his former restaurant for defamation.

7.Ryan Skeen v. Most of NYC

Chef Ryan Skeen has the lengthiest rap sheet, having worked in 10 different restaurants in 10 years. As is befitting of someone with such a record, he didn’t leave very many on good terms. He has said that he doesn’t think of Pera Soho as a “real restaurant” and called 5 Ninth a “shit show”. However, nothing tops his exit from Allen & Delancey which he called “pure evil”, and involved a series of rude tweets and his being locked out of the restaurant.

8.Sean Bernal (and various Servers) v. Estiatiorio Milos

The Miami restaurant had only been open for two weeks when Chef Bernal made a hasty exit in May of this year, but he never offered an explanation other than "You have no idea what I've been through". Shortly after the news of his departure broke, reports surfaced of Bernal and other employees being verbally and physically abused by the owner, Costas Spiliadis. Then, in June, many servers reported that they were unjustly fired because Spiliadis suspected them of talking to the press. And all of that went down within the restaurant's first three months in business.

9.Robert Irvine v. The Truth

In 2008, a Tampa Bay newspaper discovered that Dinner Impossible and Restaurant Impossible star Robert Irvine had made up many of his credentials, including his knighthood and his experience cooking at the White House. In addition, he allegedly owed thousands of dollars to people who invested in or partnered with him on his unopened restaurants. Irvine was fired as a result of the revelations, but, his ability to cook massive amounts of food in little time with little money resulted in his reinstatement in the Food Network lineup.