Famous Food

Freedom isn't the only thing Jason Trawick gained after breaking up with Britney Spears -- and he's not tripping one bit ... proudly showing off his new gut during a weekend pizza run in Hollywood.

Oh yeah, he got Popeye's too.

Spears and Trawick -- her former agent -- famously started dating in 2010 and were engaged the following year. Barely a year after that, they were single again.

What a waist.

As for the pizza ... our own Gary says, "All fat guys know ... you never eat the pizza out of the box right outside the store. C'mon man."

4:28 PM PT -- Jason just responded on Twitter with a big belly photo, writing, "Thanks @tmz I needed this. Started my diet/workout program today. C u in a month!"

You're welcome ... but a month's pretty ambitious.

Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander reunited Monday for a SECRET project ... inside the famous diner where Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer dished about nothing.

Someone on the crew told our photog Jerry and Jason -- and possibly Larry David, who was also there -- were filming a Super Bowl commercial.

But another crew guy said the shoot was for an episode of Jerry's webshow "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" -- but that guy got kinda hinky when we pressed him about the Super Bowl. If we had to bet, our money is on Super Bowl.

Jerry left through the front but was mum ... Jason and Larry snuck out of the side door.

No puffy shirts were spotted.

Former "Real Housewives of New York" star Jill Zarin broke one of the golden rules of fine dining at the opening of a fancy steakhouse in NYC -- she asked for a doggie bag.

Zarin made the gourmet goof-up at the opening of NYY Steak in midtown Manhattan last week ... alongside the likes of Kris Jenner, Christina Milian and James Lipton.

We're told some NYY staffers were taken aback by Zarin's faux pas -- since most food snobs frown on great meats becoming leftovers.

Then again, Jill does have a dog. A tiny one, but still.

10:50 AM PT -- The bill came to $100 and we're told Obama tipped 30%. You can do the math.

President Obama escaped the White House with 5 young people ... and they hit up a very cool, neighborhood burger joint with almost no advanced notice.

The 5 young people are all working on the Affordable Care Act.

At the time we posted this, they were all still at The Coupe in Columbia Heights.

We're told Obama is enjoying a Coupe Burger -- "Our classic with fried onion rings, sauteed mushrooms and sharp cheddar. And get this ... we were told fries, but turns out the side is spinach.

We're told the restaurant got "vague word" yesterday the Prez might be showing up sometime soon, but there was no advanced interior sweep of the place ... they just showed up a short while ago.

In case you're wondering ... here's the menu.

Gwyneth Paltrow's kids have a question for passing drivers ... Would you like some smug with your lemonade?

Gwyneth and her kids set stakes in Pacific Palisades Monday ... hawking the hoity-est of toity-est beverages -- 100% homemade lemonade ... organic, and, of course, sugar-free.

Check out the sign -- clearly a Gwyneth creation -- a buck for a small glass, 2 for Venti and a bargain if you buy a cookie.

The Mission: Safely escort Sean Penn from the door at Craig's restaurant to his car (10 paces away) without a violent incident.

The Manpower: Three armed L.A. County Sheriff Deputies.

The Issue at Hand: Sean's a loose cannon and Craig's is surrounded by paparazzi. Sean doesn't take kindly to paparazzi. In fact, he likes to attack them.

So, was Sean able to walk 10 steps to his car -- with an armed escort -- without incident?

Watch the clip ...

8:01 AM PT -- The L.A. Sheriff's Dept. tells TMZ ... deputies responded to a call from Craig's around 11:08 PM, when restaurant staff reported a disturbance on the property.

Katy Perry's bypassing the time honored rock star demands of drugs and booze during her concerts -- and instead she's loading up on a crap ton of healthy, leafy greens.

So, her heart and liver will be fine ... but her colon will be working some major overtime.

Katy Perry made a slew of backstage demands for her New Year's Eve concert in Vegas ... crazier than Mary J. Blige's proviso requiring a new toilet seat for each venue.

TMZ got hold of the deal Katy cut with Caesar's Palace ... and her demands for backstage catering read like a farmer's market shopping list.

-fresh veggies AT ALL TIMES -- including spinach/broccoli/celery/beets/carrots/kale, etc.
-two large baskets of fruit -- one must be tropical.
-dinner must include a vegetarian option ... plus quinoa or couscous.
-ALL meals must be low-fat and health conscious and cannot contain MSG.

Katy's dressing room requirements are even more specific:

-fresh organic grown fruit (including SLICED pineapple, mango, kiwis, etc)
-fresh cut crudites (cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, snap peas & celery ... plus ranch dip)
-healthy granola
-dried figs
-whole grain tortilla chips
-large bowl hummus
-fresh made guacamole

Katy also likes fermented grapes -- 2 bottles of Pinot Grigio and 1 Argentine Malbec.

Someone needs to tell her ... wine is a gateway to the path of evil ... lined with Cheetos and pizza.

A stunning Hollywood actress just got a starring role in a crime drama ... she was arrested for shoplifting, but we're not talking jewelry ... we're talking avocados.

According to the police report ... Ayelet Ben-Shahar -- who has a role on "House of Lies" -- was placed under citizens arrested for allegedly pilfering $400 worth of groceries from a Gelson's Market in Studio City.

Ben-Shahar played a high-end jewelry dealer on the Showtime hit. You would think her sweet spot would be Cartier ... not some Valley supermarket.

Tom Arnold is half the man he used to be, dropping 90 pounds in 9 months -- but he tells TMZ, it wasn't easy ... he had to cut out sugar and bread from his diet and bust his ass exercising.

54-year-old Tom tells us his son Jax -- who was born in April -- is the inspiration for his weight loss. "My son is already cursed with an old dad, so he doesn't deserve to have a fat dad too."

According to Tom, the diet was a huge part, but he also did tons of circuit training, cardio, and took lots of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Muscle Pharm supplements.

Hasta la vista, belly.

Hours after retaining his championship belt and possibly ending Anderson Silva's career ... UFC Middleweight champ Chris Weidman continued his campaign of destruction -- by decimating a double bacon cheeseburger.

Weidman partied at Surrender nightclub -- washing down his burger with a cold Miller Lite.

UFC's other big winner Ronda Rousey also feasted in celebration ... she went with family and friends to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant at the MGM for her usual post fight chicken wings.

America!

They've got A LOT in common (killing poultry, homophobia) ... but the people at Chick-fil-A are adamant the company is NOT involved with a growing pro-Phil Robertson campaign called "Chick-Phil-A."

The Chick-Phil-A campaign is picking up steam on social media ... encouraging people to eat at Chick-fil-A restaurants on January 21st while wearing Duck Commander or camouflage gear to show their support for the "Duck Dynasty" star.

A Facebook page for the campaign says, "Stand for free speech. Sit for good food." So far, more than 40,000 people have already committed to participate

But despite the fact Chick-fil-A knows a little something about anti-gay marriage controversies, the restaurant says the event "is in no way sponsored by or affiliated with Chick-fil-A."

Chick-fil-A says Chick-Phil-A was created by an "independent group" ... though at this point, no group has come forward to take credit.

Cracker Barrel took such a ridiculous position by boycotting Duck Commander products with Phil Robertson's punim on it ... they had to give their employees a script to deal with pissed-off customers.

TMZ obtained a copy of a script Cracker Barrel created so its employees could justify the boycott. And this is funny ... the script is actually a modified version of how employees generally deal with unhappy shoppers. Seems to be a problem at Cracker Barrel.

The script was 86'd 24 hours after it was written ... when Cracker Barrel reversed its position because it realized it stood to lose customers and therefore lots of loot.

Apparently the company needs a new script, because angry customers are still calling about its position on Phil.

Cracker Barrel execs have cracked after just one day ... lifting their ban on Phil Robertson's merchandise ... and it's the ultimate hypocrisy.

A CB rep now says the company had no choice but to cave after "Duck Dynasty" fans blasted them via email, phone and social media.

Cracker Barrel decided to pull the products because it was so concerned about "equal treatment of all people" and "mutual respect." In other words, they felt Phil was loathsome.

But so much for principles when the almighty dollar gets in the way. Cracker Barrel now says, "You told us we made a mistake and you weren't shy about it ... you flat out told us we were wrong."

And this is precious ... They say, "We apologize for offending you."

So here's the upshot. On Saturday Cracker Barrel apparently felt Phil had offended gays and that's why they took a stand. But 24 hours later they realized a bigger problem than offending gays is offending customers who pay for CB stuff.

So now the CB rep took the position the company should have taken in the first place: "We respect all individuals' rights to express their beliefs."

How do CB execs move from office to office ... hard to do when you don't have a spine.

Cracker Barrel has become the first sponsor to cut bait with "Duck Dynasty" ... but not entirely.

The Southern-themed food chain reacted to Phil Robertson's anti-gay comments by removing "selected products which we were concerned might offend some of our guests" from their stores and restaurants.

We called a bunch of Cracker Barrel stores, and the managers told us the products that were removed were the ones that had Phil's face plastered on the packaging. Almost to a person, the managers added, "We still offer a wide variety of Duck Commander products," and then we heard a click.

C.B. offers this explanation ... "We operate within the ideals of fairness, mutual respect and equal treatment of all people. These ideals are the core of our corporate culture."

Steve Martin learned an important lesson about lasagna last night ... the dish can get racial.

The SNL alum was cracking grammar jokes on Twitter .. when someone asked, "is this how you spell lasonia?"

Steve's response ... "It depends. Are you in an African-American neighborhood or at an Italian restaurant."

Seconds later the 68-year old actor deleted the tweet and apologized. But the floodgates opened, the original tweet went viral and Martin atoned again: "I did apologize. But again, a second later I realized what an offensive thing I'd done ... In retrospect, bad joke."

A penne for his thoughts.