Inside Mario Batali’s restaurant empire 5 years after the scandal that rocked NYC

nypost.com:

A post shared by MELS NYC (@mels_nyc)“This is a new era,” said Youjin Jung, the executive chef at Babbo. “The restaurant had been under big shadows.

Let’s call it ‘orange shadow with a ponytail.'”It’s been nearly five years since Mario Batali was brought down by accusations of sexual assault and harassment from more than a dozen women.

In the wake of the allegations — and what many in the food world saw as the revelation of a longstanding open secret about Batali’s behavior — the celebrity chef was swiftly fired from the ABC gab fest “The Chew.” In 2019, Batali was fully divested from both Eataly and all of his former restaurants, an eatery empire with partner Joe Bastianich that included many of the city’s most iconic and beloved spots, such as Babbo, Lupa and Casa Mono.

Now, as the city and its restaurants come back to life post-Covid, the impact of Batali and his cancellation is still being reckoned with.