GETTING a reservation at one of Mario Batali‘s eateries is now even more impossible if your name is Gordon Ramsay.
The beefy “Iron Chef” has prohibited the star of Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” who runs a fancy place at the London NYC Hotel, from entering any of Batali’s dining spots, including the Spotted Pig and Babbo, after Ramsay began calling him “Fanta Pants” to make fun of the orange shorts Batali sometimes wears. The effeminate moniker is a nod to the popular brand of orange soda.
“I’ve banned him from my restau- rants,” Batali sniffed to London’s Guardian. “Ramsay’s people call, trying to book tables, and I say no. I won’t have him in there.”
The feud goes back 18 months to when loudmouth Batali labeled rival Ramsay’s culinary fare dull and outdated and said he didn’t get New York. Batali says Ramsay retaliated by making up the nickname, which he sneakily spread behind his back.
“Gordon bugs me . . . Now he goes about town calling me Fanta Pants,” Batali fumed. He notes the ban could be lifted, “If [Gordon] called me himself and said, ‘Let’s sit down for a drink.’ I’m sure it would be fine. We’d be cool. But right now it’s not cool.”
Ramsay’s rep tried to make light of the simmering dispute, telling Page Six the two egomaniacal chefs will “get together someday and have a good laugh about it all.”
Meanwhile, in another kitchen drama, the divorce proceedings between London legend Marco Pierre White and his wife are getting expensive. Mati White has handed a $335,000 ring to her lawyers after running up nearly $1.4 million in legal bills, Britain’s Daily Mail reports. The ring is a flawless, 6-carat diamond set in an Art Deco platinum band. Friends said she turned down a lucrative settlement from the thrice-married, Michelin-starred chef before Christmas. Her lawyer, Marcus Dearle, didn’t get back to us but told the Mail he had no comment.