Famous Food

Since nothing's getting done in the White House, President Barack Obama took Vice President Joe Biden out for lunch in D.C. today ... hoping to fix the country's problems over a couple of sub sandwiches.

B and J hit up the Taylor Gourmet at 1750 Pennsylvania Ave moments ago ... surrounded by an army of secret service agents.

We spoke to the manager ... who told us Obama ordered the "Race Street" sub -- which consists of roasted turkey, prosciutto, pesto and fresh mozzarella.

As for the Veep, Biden had the "9th Street Italian" sub -- Genoa salami, capicola, prosciutto, and sharp provolone.

We're told the President covered the bill -- and left a "nice tip."

We've got a tip -- GET THE GOVERNMENT BACK TO WORK ALREADY!!!!!!!

Diana Nyad had a lot on her mind at LAX ... for starters, she says it was awesome watching Oprah "shufflin' around" in The Butler."

In unrelated news ... she's trying to corral "cool people" like Jay Z for her charity swim ... but she kinda threw Richard Simmons under the bus in the process.

In more unrelated news ... Diana settles the age-old fear about swimming after eating.

Detroit Lions star Nate Burleson tells TMZ ... the 911 caller was mistaken -- he wasn't woozy, or off-balanced or DRUNK in the moments following his car crash last week ... but he did fumble his pizza.

Nate says he was in shock in the moments following the wreck, in which he suffered a broken arm and cuts on his face after a night at Happy's Pizza and Pub in Detroit -- but the 32-year-old explains, "I was completely coherent. I was trying to grasp what was going on at the moment."

As we previously reported, one of the people who called 911 following the crash last Monday night told the operator Nate "was losing his balance" and "appeared to be intoxicated."

But Nate tells TMZ, "My arm was broken so that may cause you to stumble, but it was not alcohol-related at all."

In fact, Nate says the cops complimented him on how composed he was following the crash -- considering his injuries.

As for the pizza, Nate admits he tried to save the pie as it slid around on the front seat of his GMC Yukon ... but the food slipped through his fingers ... and that's when he lost control of the ride and crashed.

We obtained photos of the pizza carnage following the wreck ... showing the deep dish pepperoni (with mushrooms) all over Nate's whip.

"I get the jokes, 'cause reaching for a pizza isn't the way you wanna crash your car," Nate says ... "But I'm lucky to have walked away."

Moments after Nate Burleson smashed his SUV into a median -- a witness called 911 and said, "He was losing his balance" ... and that he believed the Detroit Lions star appeared to be intoxicated.

Burleson wrecked last Monday night, and police have said they do not believe alcohol or drugs were a factor -- but on this 911 tape you clearly hear the caller say, "He looks a little messed up. He's walking around, but if I had my guess I'd say he's drunk."

Nate told police he lost control while reaching for a pizza box that was falling off his front seat.

TMZ spoke to a witness at the pub and pizza spot where Burleson had been hanging out that night who told us he had a couple of beers.

Artificial sweetener companies appear to be in lockdown mode over the scene in the "Breaking Bad" finale -- where Walt tampers with a packet of Stevia and infuses it with the deadly Ricin.

It seems relevant to ask the companies for their opinions, given what happened in the '80s with Tylenol tampering. So we made the rounds for comment, and found the companies aren't even trying to be artificially sweet.

-- Sweet 'N Low. They were just plain rude. After a PR person said she hadn't watched the show, we explained what happened and asked if they had an opinion about the possibility of product tampering. The woman laughed and hung up on us ... twice. Yeah, we're a little persistent.

-- Stevia. They don't manufacture artificial sugar packets, but they do sell their product to companies that do. The rep initially told us there was a conference call scheduled later today where they would talk about how the episode might affect their stock. During the same call -- 5 minutes later -- the rep denied saying anything about a stock call and then hung up.

-- Equal and Splenda were unavailable for comment -- all day.

BTW -- Stevia went up 9.2%, from 15 cents a share, to 16.4 cents a share.

Seems that alleged bloody fight between Emma Roberts and Evan Peters is just water under the bridge ... 'cause the two went out for ice cream last night ... and flaunted some serious PDA in the process.

TMZ broke the story ... Julia Roberts' 22-year-old niece was arrested for domestic violence in Canada back in July after someone called to report a fight in the couple's hotel room.

We're told ... when cops arrived to the scene, they observed Evan -- who stars in "American Horror Story" -- had a bloody nose. Days later, Emma was photographed with bruises on her arms and legs.

But last night, it was like nothing ever happened ... when Emma and Evan hit up Sprinkles Ice Cream in Beverly Hills for some late night ice cream and couldn't keep their hands off each other while waiting in line.

Steven Tyler might wanna get comfortable sitting on the toilet -- cause he's getting a year's worth of Mexican food ... for free!

The 65-year old Aerosmith front man was cruising into LAX when he dropped the noticias -- Chipotle hooked him up ... even issued him his own fancy, personalized card.

Our Chipotle sources say he's only allowed one taco or burrito a day though ... so no family outings.

Michael Douglas took advantage of the senior discount at an Outback Steakhouse in New Mexico yesterday to celebrate his 69th birthday.

M.D. drudged along to his car with a friend after the meal ... no sign of ex Catherine Zeta Jones -- who he's reportedly trying to mend relations with.

We're not sure what he ordered ... but if it wasn't a bloomin' onion, then SHAME!!!

Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson's season could be over after busting his arm in an early morning car accident caused by ... wait for it ... a late night pizza pickup.

Police say the Lions' star was driving on a highway outside Detroit around 2:25 AM when he swerved and wrecked the vehicle ... breaking his arm in two places.

The painful twist here, according to cops, is Burleson was simply reaching for a pizza that had fallen off the seat when he lost control of the SUV.

Better than a DUI ... but still ... dude's season could be over. He also missed most of last season with a broken leg -- but that injury happened on the field.

Arnold Schwarzenegger appears to have sealed his split from estranged wife Maria Shriver with a kiss ... for his new chick.

Arnold was photographed planting a big wet one on Heather Milligan Friday night after a romantic dinner in Santa Monica. (FYI, they ate at Fig in the Fairmont Hotel. Nice choice.)

They arrived and left separately, but that didn't stop Arnold from slipping Heather a sloppy goodbye kiss as she got into her car. They've been rumored to be dating for months.

Talk about a slap in the face -- after earning $8 MILLION from her infamous Pepsi deal back in 2001, Britney Spears went turncoat by investing in Coca-Cola!

We've obtained new docs in Britney's conservatorship case, which detail her investment portfolio, including her overall gains and losses for the year 2012 -- the most intriguing part is what she dumped into Pepsi's arch enemy.

Britney sold 574 shares of Coke for a modest profit of $3,238.55. She held on to 208 shares. As for Pepsi ... it's nowhere to be found in her portfolio.

Brit sold a few other random stocks for a profit -- including AT&T and Deere & Co. -- but it wasn't all gravy: she lost $640.13 on McDonald's and $1,277.38 on Chipotle. She eats at both places enough that you'd think the stock would be worth more.

Overall, Brit netted $97,883 last year in stock earnings ... not bad, but for her it's chump change (she'll earn more than triple that PER SHOW in Vegas).

As for blowing off Pepsi, we don't dispense investment advice -- BUT PepsiCo has shown pretty consistent growth since the 80s ... so we gotta ask ...

"Top Chef" alum Leah Cohen -- who placed 6th on Season 5 of the show -- is in dire straits with her NYC restaurant Pig & Khao ... and now she's suing the restaurant's management company, blaming it for all her financial woes.

Leah filed the lawsuit against New York Restaurant Services Group -- owned by famed restaurateur Rick Camac -- claiming she signed a 50/50 business deal with it last year, agreeing to split ownership of her restaurant in exchange for its management services.

Leah says NYRSG agreed to oversee Pig & Khao's operations, including finances, development, marketing, advertising, training of staff, and a bunch of other management-related tasks -- but ended up getting Pig & Khao into a heap of money troubles instead.

According to Leah, NYRSG failed to pay the restaurant's suppliers, its staff, its landlord, and even the Tax Man -- resulting in massive unpaid bills and frozen bank accounts -- but still insisted on paying itself a 3% management fee.

Leah -- who claims to have invested $400,000 in the business with her father -- says the restaurant owes the government $47,283, her landlord is threatening to throw her out, and she's on the brink of losing everything.

She says the restaurant is "clearly failing," and has been operating at a loss pretty much since it opened last fall. (For what it's worth, Pig & Khao has stellar Yelp and Zagat reviews. So check it out.)

She is suing NYRSG for unspecified damages, and wants to terminate their business relationship ASAP. A rep for NYRSG had no comment.

The man who allegedly attempted to extort $250,000 from Paula Deen has just been sentenced to 2 years in prison, TMZ has learned.

As we reported, a man named Thomas Paculis contacted Deen's attorney claiming he would release "true and damning" information about the celebrity chef's n-word usage if he didn't receive a huge check. The FBI tracked Paculis down and he was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of extortion.

Paculis struck a plea bargain with prosecutors last month, agreeing to plead guilty to one count of extortion. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the remaining count.

Paculis was sentenced today to 2 years in a Georgia prison, plus one year of supervised release and 40 hours community service. He has already been remanded into custody.

Paula Deen is choosing to ignore her epic fall from grace -- telling TMZ, she doesn't need to make a comeback after her n-word scandal ... because she "never went anywhere."

Fact is ... Paula's reputation has been destroyed -- but the celebrity chef is refusing to wave the white flag.

We talked to Paula as she was flying to Houston ... where yesterday she got a standing ovation at a cooking convention, then broke down in tears -- a full 180 from the stiff upper lip routine she gave us.

Interestingly, the person by Paula's side at the airport ... none other than Hollis, her dutiful bodyguard. You may remember the New York Times interview, when she mentioned Hollis was "as black as that board," referring to the black background.

Paula Deen was a big butterball of emotion today during her first public appearance since settling the racial discrimination lawsuit that destroyed her career ... and we've got the pics.

Paula appeared in Houston, Texas today for the Metro Cooking and Entertainment Show to mark her return ... and got choked up after receiving a standing ovation when she hit the stage.

The 66-year old chef told the crowd she had been wanting her return to take place in Texas all along ... and was just shedding tears of joy.

None of Omar Epps' co-stars on the TV show "Resurrection" were complaining about the food on the set today ... that's because Omar dug deep into his pockets to pay for lunch ... for everybody!

The show is shooting in Atlanta ... Omar dropped $1,500 to rent the Sweet Auburn BBQ food truck ... which dished up grub to about 90 cast members, crew and extras.

Our BBQ sources tell us the Dirty South package-- brisket, pork, and chicken -- is to die for.

Fun Fact: "Resurrection" is a show about people who die ... and return from the dead.