Famous Food

Mario Batali was puttering around the Big Apple Saturday on a vespa wearing matching shorts and crocs ... orange.

The star of "The Chew" was traversing the streets of Tribeca on his Vespa, protecting his noggin but leaving his feet somewhat vulnerable to vehicular attack.

Little Caesars caters to white women ... the problem is, they referred to one of them as "white woman."

We've learned a Caucasian woman went to a Little Caesars last Friday in Fallbrook, CA ... near San Diego. She ordered 2 large pizzas -- a Hawaiian and a pepperoni. When the employee handed her the order, a piece of paper with the words "white woman" was Scotch-taped on the top box.

The woman complained that identifying her as a "white woman" was wrong, and if it were another race everyone would be up in arms.

It didn't end there. The woman contacted Little Caesars' customer service department and demanded an apology.

She says someone from the pizza company contacted her and said the employee was not using race to ID her ... he claimed he was describing the shirt she was wearing. She was forgiving enough that she asked L.C. not to fire the employee.

Marlon Wayans wants a partial sex change so he can advertise bras ... but when he put his joking aside he delivered a pretty touching message.

Marlon was leaving the grand opening of Big Boy's new vegan restaurant, 2Good! in North Hollywood Tuesday night, when he started joking about what he would and wouldn't do in the sexual reassignment department.

Listen up Cubs fans, the Curse of the dreaded Billy Goat's about to end, courtesy of some famed competitive eaters -- including the legendary Kobayashi -- and a 40 lb. spit roasted goat.

Pro eaters Tim Brown and L.A. Beast tell TMZ Sports they came up with a genius plot while boozing in Chi town Monday night ... "We said, 'lets eat a f**king goat! We can reverse the curse!!'"

So, L.A. and Tim called Kobayashi and "Deep Dish" Bertoletti to tag team the goat. Their only problem was ... WHERE to do the deed? Naturally, they wanted a spot as close to Wrigley, but Brown says, "This morning we called bars around Wrigleyville, but no one would have us."

After 70-years under the curse, superstition runs deep ... so Brown kinda gets it. "If we don't finish the goat, they don't wanna be associated with re-cursing the Cubs."

The guys are still going for it. They'll begin chowing down at 7:30 PM local time at "Deep Dish" and Tim's restaurant called Taco in a Bag. It's not near Wrigley, but it could work.

Then again, the Cubs are already a virtual lock for the playoffs (as a wild card team). One might say, why rock the boat?

Big step for Serena and Drake ... the tennis star jetted up to Canada for the opening of Drake's restaurant Monday night -- and hung out with the rapper's mother!!

Drake was in Toronto to launch his new eatery Fring's ("I got onion rings, gotta lotta onion rings") ... along with the two ladies in his life.

Serena looked smokin' hot -- high heels and a pencil skirt -- and according to people inside, there was the usual restaurant PDA with Drake.

Unclear how much time Serena spent with Drake's mom -- but we're told the music was so loud inside, it would have been tough to have that "So, you're dating my son" conversation anyway.

As for Drake, he posted a pic from inside the restaurant with his mom ... calling her his "one and only."

No word if Drake's dad showed up -- after we spoke with him last time, seems he was also waiting for some quality time with his son's new boo.

When Ray J smells a bacon wrapped hot dog, it's time to bust out the Benjamins.

Ray J left Henry’s in West Hollywood Monday night with a case of the late night munchies -- easily cured by some street meat.

Ray J hit up a hot dog vendor and whipped out a hundo for 2 bacon wrapped dogs, and let the guy keep the change on a $100. Average price on the dogs is usually $5, so yeah ... nice tip.

As for how he takes his danger dogs? NO ONIONS!!! Check out the clip for the rest of his order.

Kylie Jenner dropped major stacks to have her favorite fancy Bev Hills restaurant come to her, just because she caught a case of the lazy Sundays.

Kylie was craving Philippe Chow -- the uber popular Chinese restaurant -- but didn't feel like trekking 45 minutes from her Calabasas pad, especially not on Sunday Funday. So instead, she opted for take-out ... the ultra rich way.

We're told KJ dropped $5k to have Philippe Chow send a private chef to feed 5-10 friends.

Nothing too fancy on the menu -- fried rice and chicken and shrimp satay. Normies ordering at the restaurant only drop about $10.95 for fried rice, and $15.95 for the satay ... so $5,000 = leftovers!

Someone's really getting used to having money to burn ... or sautée.

Matthew McConaughey's older brother Rooster just scored a year's supply of Miller Lite for naming his son after the brew ... but it may not last very long.

Rooster is what you'd call a Miller Lite superfan. He's always got a can in his hand, even on his new reality series "West Texas Investors Club." So, it's not outlandish he named his son Miller Lyte.

The folks at Miller Lite caught wind of Rooster's brand loyalty and they're sending him 24 cases ... what they consider a year supply. Here's the thing ... each case of Miller Lite has 24 cans and if you do the math, that's 576 beers ... or 1.5 beers a day.

Something tells us it's more like a seasonal supply for Rooster.

A Papa John's delivery guy who sported a Confederate Flag decal plate has been forced by the company to remove it or lose his job.

We're told the driver, who works at a location in North Carolina, is infamous around town for the plates and locals have been very upset. We're told customers have even taken to Yelp to voice their complaints.

Things got so serious, we're told corporate got involved, and the employee was forced to remove the plates.

A rep for Papa John's tells TMZ, "we do not condone these types of actions -- we have taken quick and decisive disciplinary action against the team member involved." At this point, the pizza joint says the guy still has his job.

You can call Russell Westbrook ... Swaggy P.B. -- 'cause the NBA superstar is getting a smooth hookup that could have a serious effect on his game during the upcoming season.

The OKC Thunder guard confessed to Jimmy Kimmel that he has to have a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich before every game, and not just any peanut butter will do -- Russ demands Skippy. He did not specify creamy or crunchy (though he seems like a creamy guy to us).

We found out the folks at Skippy got wind of Westbrook's ritual, and they're more than happy to keep him hooked. A Skippy spokesperson tells TMZ Sports, "We'll make sure he's got enough to fuel him all season long."

Take your senior pics at Taco Bell and you get a free trip to L.A. ... but only if you're a T-Bell nutcase.

Brittany Creech, a St. Louis native and self-proclaimed Taco Bell connoisseur, got a call from Taco Bell honchos after her pics were re-tweeted thousands of times.

The company just flew her out to L.A. to star in a new online marketing campaign for the brand.

As for compensation .... there is none, but a trip to L.A. is still awesome. And there's this ... she gets free Taco Bell the entire time she's on the left coast.

Talk about a deal ...

Ronda Rousey is crushing the fast food world about as quickly as she does MMA opponents -- her sexy commercial has Carl's Jr. grill jockeys slangin' at near record levels.

Kerry Simon -- the "Iron Chef" winner known as the "Rock 'n' Roll Chef," has died.

Kerry had battled a rare form of Parkinson's disease called MSA. He went public with his diagnosis in 2013 and his condition deteriorated. He had been confined to a wheelchair.

Simon got his big break when Ivana Trump hired him as a chef at the famed Plaza Hotel in NYC.

He owned several big restaurants in Vegas, including Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock, Simon at Palms, and KGB at Harrah's. They were all populated by celebs.

He also owned other restaurants around the country.

Carter Lay, an heir to the Frito-Lay potato chip empire, was found dead in his L.A. home Thursday.

Cops tell TMZ they got a call around noon for an unconscious male. When they arrived they found Carter in his bedroom, unresponsive. CPR failed and he was pronounced dead on the scene.

Carter was the grandson of Herman Lay -- the founder of Frito-Lay. The company is valued at $13.1 billion, according to Forbes.

An autopsy is underway. We're told there is nothing suspicious surrounding his death.

A friend of Lay tells TMZ he recently beat leukemia.

Carter, who has 2 kids, was 44.

A Louisiana teen could face Mc-Jail time after a video surfaced of her violently pulling a McDonald's employee through a drive-thru window.

17-year-old Kailin Holland was arrested and booked for second degree battery. Cops say they used the video and witnesses to track down Holland and 3 passengers who they say were instigators.

It appears Holland had long-standing beef with the Mickey D's employee.

Holland's 3 passengers have been ordered to appear in court for disturbing the peace and battery.

No break today for them.

Joey Chestnut's losing streak goes way beyond competitive eating ... 'cause the ex-champ is revealing a major defeat he suffered in the bedroom -- and it's pretty nasty.

Joey joined #DateFails, a podcast co-hosted by comedians Stephen Kramer Glickman and Kate Quigley last week ... and to stay true to the name of the show, he let loose with a tale about about a 2009 hookup with a chick he met at a party -- hours after he was in a chili burrito competition.

You gotta hear the story, but fair warning ... it ends with him paying $600 for a cleanup crew in the woman's bedroom.