Famous Food

The NYC soup kitchen made famous by "Seinfeld's" Soup Nazi has an enormous problem with its stock ... a problem that has triggered a million dollar lawsuit.

It seems Soupman needed some quick cash, and a woman named Penny Hart came to the rescue. She claims in a new lawsuit she loaned Soupman a ton of cash ... in all she says she's owed more than $1.5 mil.

Hart says Soupman had 2 options -- either pay her back the money or give her 500,000 shares of stock in the company.

Short story -- Hart says Soupman screwed her and she's been stewing ever since. Now Hart wants payback.

A rep for Soupman says Penny will get the stock as soon as she holds up her end of the bargain. The rep didn't explain what she's supposed to do.

Loaning money to a soup kitchen is bisquey business.

File This Under: "Questionable Decision Making" ... but the Jamaican Bobsled Team competed over the weekend wearing helmets that looked like watermelons.

Of course, in the U.S. ... there's a well-known stereotype about black people and watermelon -- but in fact, it's not really a "thing" in Jamaica.

Still, a little weird to see a team consisting entirely of black people wearing helmets that look like watermelon.

With only 2 years left in his term, President Barack Obama should start planning for his next job ... and according to David Stern -- his first post-presidential gig could be NBA coach!!!

The ex-commish was leaving a State Dinner at the White House with his wife Tuesday night when we asked if he had any tips for B.O. when his term's up in 2016.

Stern's response: "Yeah, I'm gonna represent him ... he's gonna be a COACH!"

Stern wasn't the only sports figure at the State Dinner ... Kevin Johnson and Jason Collins were there too.

The Menu -- Guests dined on some pretty awesome food ... including caviar, quail eggs, 12 varieties of potatoes, a winter garden salad, dry-aged rib eye beef, chocolate malted cake made with bittersweet chocolate from Hawaii and tangerines from Florida and served with vanilla ice cream.

One of L.A.'s most popular radio star's, Big Boy (from Power 106FM) ... is the Martin Luther King Jr. of chicken -- because his confession about wings just helped kill a racist stigma, and brought all Americans closer together!

In related news ... Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley love beer pong.

Paula Deen -- like the Phoenix -- is rising again ... thanks to a $75 MILLION infusion of cash from a Phoenix-based investment company that could put Paula's wares in the back pocket of airplane seats.

Jahm Najafi clearly thinks the Paula Deen brand is still a marketable commodity, because his company is fronting the cash.

As for Najafi's plan ... we found it extremely interesting that in 2012 he bought SkyMall magazine ... which you've probably leafed through and then failed to buy anything from inside. So the question -- will Paula's pots and pans end up in the mag?

As you know ... Paula was unceremoniously dumped by virtually all of her sponsors after confessing she used the N word to describe a person who robbed the bank she was a teller at in the 80s.

By the way ... in addition to SkyMall, Najafi owns the Book of the Month Club and Columbia House.

"Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson made an impression during the State of the Union address -- not so much with the President, but with 2 waiters who are now THOUSANDS of dollars richer.

Radio host Sean Hannity posted the pics ... showing Willie and his wife at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in D.C. -- hanging with Sean, GOP Senator Ted Cruz, former Congressman Newt Gingrich and conservative radio host Mark Levin.

The group closed the joint down -- the restaurant normally closes at 11 PM but the group stayed 'til 2 AM ... and they racked up a $5,000 bill.

Willie grabbed the tab and left a gratuity -- FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS! In case you have trouble computing .... a 100% tip.

Obama recently went to a local burger joint last month and left a 30% tip. Respectable but no contest.

See? Republicans don't have any problems redistributing wealth.

Seneca Wallace went to Japan ... and all he got was this weird black penis cookie.

The former Green Bay Packers QB -- along with other NFL stars -- went to Asia recently to visit U.S. troops stationed abroad. But when the guys stopped in the Land of the Rising Sun, they stumbled upon an interesting cultural artifact ... baby penis cookie (chocolate flavored).

We ran the cookie box by our in-house Japanese expert (Yori our camera guy) ... who tells us the Japanese word at the top of the packaging translates loosely to "weiner."

Seneca tells TMZ Sports he wasn't offended by the black penis cookie ... partially because "there was a vanilla flavor with a white baby on the cover."

Japanese desserts -- extremely weird ... but not overly racist!

Heidi Klum basked in a make-shift banana hammock as she watched her son's soccer practice.

The "America's Got Talent" judge made it typically difficult for soccer dads to focus on the Brentwood, CA field.

A restaurant chain is being sued for millions for allegedly stealing Marilyn Monroe.

MM Cafe -- a chain of Marilyn-themed restaurants -- has her images plastered throughout the eating joints and according to a new lawsuit -- MM was supposed to pay a PP (pretty penny) in return ... but didn't.

The suit shows the ongoing power of the Marilyn Monroe brand. MM Cafe agreed to pay $1 million a year for 20 years in return for the use of Marilyn's images. But the dead actress' estate claims like Marilyn, they were stiffed.

The Marilyn Monroe Estate is suing for the remaining amount on the contract -- a whopping $18.35 million.

Rocky drank raw eggs for protein ... but Manny Pacquiáo takes things a step further ... 'cause TMZ sports has learned, the eggs he likes to eat are filled with UNBORN BABY DUCKLINGS.

It's true ... the boiled duck fetuses -- called Balut -- are all the rage in the champ's native Philippines. The little duckies are cooked ALIVE right before they hatch ... and are eaten out of the shell.

Pac-man was at a press conference for his upcoming Timothy Bradley fight in NYC today ... when we asked him if the popular Filipino snack tastes as nasty as it looks.

Check out the clip ... Manny's face tells the whole story.

Kate Beckinsale and Sarah Silverman needed some serious protection ... for the 10-foot walk from a restaurant to their cars last night -- at least someone thought so, since for some reason cops escorted them.

Two L.A. County Sheriff's deputies walked Kate ... and then Sarah ... to their vehicles outside Craig's in West Hollywood -- and there doesn't appear to be any major threat to their safety in the video.

There are about 10 paparazzi there, but that's status quo at a hotspot like Craig's.

The Sheriff's Dept. tells us it has no official record of a call for help from the restaurant ... so, it's a mystery why the deputies were there.

Fun fact: Jerry Ferrara got NO escort, but check out the clip -- he seems to be just fine when he gets to his car.

A similar scene played out last month when Sean Penn was walking out of Craig's -- but he got THREE deputies.

Chief Keef screwed over breast cancer patients by bailing out of a Cleveland charity concert hours before he was supposed to go on stage ... according to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ.

In court docs, Kim Productions claims it paid Keef a $15K deposit ... to perform at the RapCure cancer benefit last June. The balance -- $10K -- was supposed to be paid at the event.

Kim Prods. claims the day before the event, Keef demanded a $2,500 advance to cover travel expenses. Kim says the money was wired ... and Keef's agent claimed Keef was on his way.

According to the lawsuit ... Keef failed to show up on time ... so the concert was cancelled and ticket holders got their money back ... which meant the charity ended up in the red.

The company is suing for $26K -- the money it paid to Keef plus the amount spent on the theater, lights, equipment, advertising and the refunded tickets.

Diddy was clearly overdressed during a pre-Super Bowl visit to a landmark greasy spoon in Harlem.

We're told Diddy -- and his 15-person entourage that included Ashanti and French Montana -- rolled up at around 3 am to a famous outdoor food stand called O'fishole Sea Food -- long known in the hood by its previous name -- Willie's Burgers.

After ordering at the walk-up window -- 5 orders of cheeseburgers with fries and 3 fish and chips -- we're told the group created quite the spectacle as they sat on a brick wall and chowed down.

Ashanti left a $100 tip ... on a $40 bill.

The manager tells TMZ, "Coming here is the hood thing to do."

The decent thing to do ... stop wearing fur.

WWE Superstar Ryback took his catchphrase "Feed Me More" to the next level during the halftime of the Super Bowl ... by devouring the competition in a local wing eating contest.

Ryback posted video of the competition during yesterday's game ... and based on the footage, "The Big Guy" was clearly hungry -- 'cause he annihilated poultry like the Chinese in a Bird Flu scare.

The best part ... ya gotta watch Ryback's celebration in the restaurant after his commanding victory.

Adrian Peterson was like a living, breathing genie last night ... 'cause when his "n-word" DJ Whoo Kid asked for a red velvet cake, AP made it his personal mission to deliver the baked goods.

Whoo Kid made the plea for his favorite cake on TMZ just a few days ago ... saying he'd wave his $10,000 fee if a Super Bowl MVP asked him to DJ his party and provided his favorite dessert.

Whoo Kid said if anyone could make that happen, "I'll be your n-word for the night."

Clearly, Adrian got the message ... because he rounded up an RV cake with the message, "n-word we made it" ... and presented it to the DJ at W.i.P. nightclub in NYC last night.

Now, technically, Adrian isn't a Super Bowl MVP ... but he IS an NFL regular season MVP.

So ... does that count?

Super Bowl tickets are hard to come by ... even for the players ... which is why two Denver Broncos stars sprung to RENT OUT A NEARBY HOOTERS where their families can watch the game together.

Robert Ayers (defensive end) and Mike Adams (safety) both threw some cash in to take over the wing joint in Hackensack, NJ ... close to where the players grew up.

"I figured they have good food and, you know ... " a smiling Ayers told NJ.com. "It’s just a great sports bar and a nice place for our families to go enjoy the game."