Famous Food

Paul Prudhomme, the famous New Orleans chef who made redfish so popular it almost became extinct, has died.

Prudhomme's Big Easy restaurant, K-Paul's, has become a national landmark. He rolled out blackened redfish which became an obsession around the country, and introduced turducken to the world.

He authored 9 cookbooks and his own cooking show on PBS. He also created a line of kosher seasoned spices.

Paul died after a brief illness. He was 75.

RIP

Pete Rose is betting on himself again ... opening the Pete Rose Bar & Grill in Las Vegas -- where you can definitely watch sports ... but can't bet on them.

Charlie Hustle says the Pete Rose Bar & Grill will open on Las Vegas Blvd. in mid-October ... and says the place will be chock full of TVs so sports fans can booze and eat and watch ANY sporting event they want.

As for the menu ... Rose says it's essentially a love letter to the cities where he played with items like:

-- Cincinnati Chili on Spaghetti for the Cincinnati Reds
-- A classic Philly Cheese Steak for the Philadelphia Phillies
-- And a spin on Poutine for the Montreal Expos, topped with brown gravy and cheese curds.

As for gambling, we're told there will be NONE -- not even those video poker machines at the bar -- because Rose says he really wants to focus on the food and the atmosphere.

T.I. had a real lunch special Friday ... a customer so angry, so out of control, cops had to come, restrain her in a gurney and take her away.

A woman showed up at around 2:30 pm and at first seemed like a normal customer at his Scales 925 ATL restaurant. She quickly flew off the handle and began pushing over plates.

It's unclear what upset the woman, but law enforcement tells us she seemed so irrational they took her to a hospital for mental evaluation.

The Carl's Jr. Tex Mex commercial featuring hot babes in a standoff in a volleyball game on the Texas-Mexico border is NOT RACIST ... so says one of the models in the commercial.

Our photog spotted Kara Del Toro, who reps Team Mexico in the ad, and she sorta says you can look at anything and come up with a Grassy Knoll theory, but really the commercial is about burgers and babes.

Kara also dispels any myths about models not eating the burgers they hawk ... or does she?

Chipotle did NOT nail the order of one customer, who says she found a screw buried in her burrito bowl ... and almost busted a tooth.

We're told the woman visited the Chipotle location at The Grove in LA Monday night. She ordered her usual -- a chicken bowl with brown rice, salsa, guacamole and lettuce ... to go.

She says she bit into something that "felt like a rock" and when she spit everything out, she found the screw. She immediately called the restaurant, and claims she was told there was nothing they could do about it.

So, she called Chipotle's corporate office and finally got some satisfaction -- 20 free meals. She doesn't know if that includes chips and guac, but says she'll be pissed if it doesn't.

A Chipotle rep described the situation this way, "She has been taken care of. All is well."

DMX took a turn at the griddle and whipped up a mean chicken fajita omelette at an IHOP outside Buffalo, NY ... but don't worry, he's not ditching hip-hop for pancake flippin'.

X, who was released from the slammer on Friday, was spotted behind the IHOP serving window over the weekend, days after his release, leading folks to think he'd gotten himself a new post-prison gig as a line cook.

Not so ... we're told he was there to meet his manager and after the meal wanted to meet the cooks who made his meal, and that's when he got a little too comfortable with the grease and pan.

You can't blame the guy ... he was locked away for a couple months and likely worked up some cravings.

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."