Famous Food

It pays to get into business with Peyton Manning ... TMZ has learned, the 21 Papa John's franchises he bought last year are KILLING IT right now -- and employees are calling it the "Peyton Factor."

We called up each of Peyton's 21 Papa John's in the Denver area, and the story is the same everywhere: business has greatly improved since the Broncos QB took the helm.

Before Peyton purchased the locations, several restaurants reported sales of $3,000-$4,000 on any given game day -- and that number has jumped up to roughly $5,000-$6,000/day ... which equals about 60 pizzas an hour.

One location reported a 25% increase in total sales since last year.

It helps that Peyton's killing it on the field too -- his Papa John's locations offer 50% off on Mondays after a Broncos win, and so far they're undefeated. Fans recognize Peyton's stores because they all feature cutouts of PM and Papa John ... and he even makes personal visits from time to time.

To compare, neighboring Papa John's locations NOT owned by Peyton reported no significant improvement in sales.

"MasterChef" star Josh Marks was diagnosed with schizophrenia 24 hours before committing suicide ... so says his mother, who claims the thought of dealing with more mental issues put him over the edge.

Marks' mom Paulette Mitchell is saying the reality star completed an out-patient treatment program Thursday -- where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia ... according to a family rep.

Mitchell first told the Chicago Tribune the chef had finally come to terms with his bipolar disorder ... but "couldn't bear the thought of another diagnosis."

Paulette claims Marks was upset about the doctors assessment ... so she spent the night with him and left the next afternoon to pick her daughter up from school.

A few hours later ... she received a phone call from a family member saying people had called saying Josh was walking through a nearby alley clutching a gun.

Mitchell says she rushed over to the alleyway to find him -- but instead discovered her son dead from a gunshot wound ... with a revolver at his side.

His mother also admits ... some of the Marks' delusions centered around Gordon Ramsay, and that's why he told cops back in July that the chef had possessed his body when he got arrested.

"MasterChef" finalist Josh Marks has been found dead in a Chicago alleyway -- just a few months after his infamous run-in with University of Chicago police -- and officials believe he committed suicide.

A rep for the Chicago PD says they received a call from a woman screaming for help Friday evening ... and after arriving to the alley found a 26-year old male with a gunshot wound to the head.

Multiple sources involved with the investigation tell us the victim is Josh Marks.

We're told officers also recovered a nearby weapon ... and they're still on-scene investigating.

You'll recall, 26-year-old 7-foot-2 Marks was arrested by U. of Chicago cops in July after allegedly punching an officer and trying to grab his gun. Three officers tried to subdue Marks with batons and pepper spray, but he broke free and took off running.

It eventually took 5 officers to chase him down and handcuff him. Once in custody, cops claim Marks blamed Gordon Ramsay for his outburst, claiming the celeb chef had possessed him and turned him into God. There was no evidence of drug use.

Months before the arrest, Marks released a video for the "Make a Sound Project" -- an organization dedicated to helping people struggling with suicidal thoughts -- revealing he suffered from bipolar disorder.

Police believe Marks was in a manic state during the U. Chicago incident.

Coolio put on the ultimate acoustic performance last night ... busting out "Gangsta's Paradise" while chillin' on a couch in a college kid's living room ... while a student with a guitar strummed out a beat.

The rapper was in England to play a gig -- and met a couple of University of Central Lancashire students in the V.I.P. area.

We spoke with one of the students, Lorcan, who posted his account of the night on Reddit ... and he tells us Coolio liked the kids and offered to cook the gang dinner (he's a big-time chef nowadays).

After stopping by a grocery store to pick up the ingredients for a caprese salad, a peach crumble and something called "Chicken á la Daaaamn" ... Coolio decided to treat the kids to a rendition of his biggest hit ... and it was awesome. We're told Coolio paid for everything.

After the performance, the student said Coolio was a "great guy" ... who "had some very deep and profound thoughts on life and his time in the business."

The whole thing is pretty awesome -- check out the clip.

Here's Victoria's Secret supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio taking a bite out of an actual piece of edible pizza in L.A. yesterday ... and carefully contemplating whether or not to spit it out.

It's not the first time Alessandra cheated on her supermodel diet -- earlier this year, she was spotted chewing on a breadstick in an L.A. supermarket.

Also, in 2012, she was photographed taking a bite of chocolate cake ... and was spotted with an ice cream cone in 2009.

Glutton.

Britney Spears dined out last night with her boyfriend and a bunch of his friends ... and alcohol became an issue.

The group of 8 went to dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village, near L.A. We're told before Britney arrived, a few people in the group ordered drinks at the bar. They all then went to their table in the restaurant, leaving the drinks behind.

Here's the deal ... Britney -- who once had a serious drinking issue that caused the custody judge to order her to undergo random testing -- has laid down the law with friends -- no one drinks when she's at the table. Someone who was there tells TMZ ... a waitress came by and brought a glass of wine that one of the women had been drinking, and apparently the woman knew the drill and said the waitress was mistaken -- she wasn't drinking wine.

Apparently ... it was too much for at least one of the people to take. We're told once Britney left ... one of the guys at the table made a beeline for the bar, ordered 3 vodkas in rapid succession and got kinda wasted.

Cheers.

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.