Famous Food

The guy who says he found shrimp tails and other disturbing objects in a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch is going coast-to-coast to answer the burning question -- what the hell did he eat???

Jensen Karp, husband of "Boy Meets World" star Danielle Fishel, tells TMZ ... labs across the country are offering their services to figure out what exactly was in his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, including one here in Los Angeles and another in New Jersey.

Jensen tells us he struck out 3 times Tuesday in L.A. -- trying a diagnostics lab, a hospital and an emergency room to test the black objects from his box of CTC. However, he says a NJ-based company is stepping up to test the substance ... which he fears might be rat poop.

Sending it cross country will take a little more time, so Jensen's gonna have to wait longer than he hoped to solve the mystery. He's on edge because he says he ate one bowl before noticing the strange objects ... but so far, he says he's showing no ill effects.

Meanwhile, Jensen says folks at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County are setting him up with a company pledging to pay for DNA testing on the alleged shrimp tails.

Remember, CTC's initial response on Twitter was that Jensen didn't find shrimp tails, but "an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients aren't thoroughly blended."

We're told the DNA tests will not only tell if it is indeed shrimp but where the shrimp is from specifically. Millions of CTC lovers are on the edge of their seats, just like Jensen is.

A guy claims he found the tail end of some shrimp in his cereal -- something General Mills assures him can't be the case, but he's definitely not buying it.

Writer/Producer Jensen Karp documented what he claims was a gross morning breakfast session Monday, posting pics of various artifacts he says he found inside his new box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. He says he found shrimp tails in there ... 2 of 'em to be exact!!!

Jensen started by asking (and officially tagging) CTC's Twitter account why there were apparently crustacean remnants in his just-unsealed box ... which sparked quite a journey of what he describes as excuses and gaslighting.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch, at first, responded by apologizing and asking for more details ... while also offering a new box as a quick remedy. Then, CTC claimed, upon further examination, its quality control team came to the conclusion that they weren't shrimp tails ... but simply large, dried-up sugar clumps!

Jensen -- who's married to "Boy Meets World" star Danielle Fishel, BTW -- didn't seem to accept that answer ... as he posted close-up shots of the alleged shrimp tails. He claims he went digging even further and found more gross stuff ... including a small piece of string and tiny specks of black gunk on some of the cereal.

Some folks on the Internet theorized the stuff might be mouse or rat droppings ... which opens up a whole other can of worms that makes us gag just thinking about.

As for where things ended here ... Jensen says he's heading back to Costco -- where he bought the cereal -- to get some answers. He's also waiting for more from CTC's parent company General Mills.

We, too, have reached out to General Mills ... so far, no word back.

Krispy Kreme is offering a sweet reward for folks who get vaccinated against COVID-19 ... free donuts!!!

The nationwide donut chain says folks with valid COVID vaccination cards can snag a free Original Glazed donut just by showing proof of the shots ... and the offer's good every day for the rest of the year.

Think about it, a free donut every time you step into a Krispy Kreme with your vaccination card ... this may be a more effective way to get people vaccinated than celebrity endorsements.

Remember, former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter joined forces to encourage Americans to get COVID-19 vaccines ASAP ... but they weren't offering free donuts!

Krispy Kreme says the freebies are good at all of their 369 shops across 41 states with no purchase necessary ... ya just gotta visit the store in person or drive-thru.

Kent Taylor, the man who founded the wildly successful Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, has taken his own life after experiencing severe, post-COVID side effects.

Taylor suffered from tinnitus -- ringing in the ears -- which his family says greatly intensified in the last days of his life and ultimately became unbearable. At its worst, tinnitus can sound like a jet engine roaring inside the ears.

The family said, "Kent battled and fought hard," but ultimately the suffering became too great.

Kent was a master businessman, who founded Texas Roadhouse back in 1993. He came up with the idea on a cocktail napkin and brought it to life with the first restaurant located in Louisville, Kentucky. The plan took hold, and eventually, there were 537 Texas Roadhouses in 49 states, with 10 international locations.

Kent got national attention last Spring when he earmarked his entire salary to help support frontline workers during the pandemic.

He suffered from tinnitus, but it apparently flared up in a big way after he contracted COVID.   There's data indicating tinnitus is exacerbated by coronavirus.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said, "He was a maverick entrepreneur who embodied the values of never giving up and putting others first."

Kent was 65.

This would have been a case for Erik Estrada ... because one good chip deserves another.

A dude in Oklahoma City thought it would be a good idea to steal a Doritos truck that was sitting unattended at a local gas station. Yeah, he did that.

The dude in question -- Joshua Karpe -- and we do mean in question because a Doritos truck wrapped in one gigantic advertisement is not exactly your run-of-the-mill Honda on the road.

This was a layup for cops, who easily spotted the ad for Doritos Nacho Cheese chips.

Karpe didn't go down easy ... police chased him through 3 counties -- 90 minutes in all -- before shooting the tires out and arresting him.

Police Captain Jeff Spruill was incredulous ... “I would love to know the motivation of stealing a truck that’s very, very easy to spot and doesn’t go very fast,” adding, “What do you think you’re going to do with a truck like that?”

Kourtney Kardashian has some very specific, and graphic, sexual demands for her BF Travis Barker -- or she's a huge fan of 80s punk rock. Or both. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Travis and Kourtney hit up Nobu in Malibu at around 10 PM Friday ... rolling up in Travis's Rolls, and Kourt's fashion choice might say a lot about how she rolls, so to speak.

Yeah, take a closer look at her graphic (double entendre intended) tee -- it says "Beat me, bite me, suck me, f**k me" ... and there are a couple more lines we can't even write out.

We know what you're thinking ... So, that's what she's into!

Not exactly. Those are actually pretty famous (in punk rock circles) lyrics from a song called "Love Me" by The Queers -- and they make for eye-catching fashion too.

Travis and Kourtney have been dating for at least several months that we know of, although Kourtney confirmed it just last month when she posted a pic of their interlocking hands. Based on the shirt she picked for date night, we'd say they're verrry comfortable.

ICYMI ... they've been super close for years -- 15 to be exact. They met back in the day, when Travis was dating Paris Hilton. Memba that?

Kourtney and Travis have spent lots of time together, as have their kids.  She was a key player when Travis bought a house near hers in Calabasas country and helped him renovate it. It's a case of friendship simmering for a long time to a romantic boil.

JOEY CHESTNUT'S STILL GOT IT!!!

The food legend proved once again he's still the king of shoveling meat down his throat -- devouring more than 30 boneless wings in 90 seconds at an FCF eating competition ... all while beating out teams of massive football players!

The face-stuffing event went down Wednesday night just outside of Atlanta at the Infinite Energy Center, where the Fan Controlled Football league hosted its first-ever eating event.

37-year-old Chestnut -- the greatest eater of all-time -- was matched up against four teams of two ... which included squads featuring hungry-ass linemen.

Chestnut, though, was able to pound down more chicken by himself than every other team ... plowing through 33 wings in the allotted 1.5 minutes.

It was no boat race ... 2nd place ate 31 and 3rd place at 28 -- and even Joey had to tip his hat to the other guys after taking the crown.

"I knew I was going slow," Chestnut said, "but they were eating!"

Props to Joey for yet another win under his belt ... now get back to the hot dogs -- 4th of July is less than four months away!

Travis Scott went to work, literally, to make sure his new spiked seltzer hit local shelves ... but in the process, he caused a chaotic, and potentially dangerous, scene.

Scott hit up several grocery stores around Los Angeles Monday to promote his CACTI spiked seltzer. The rapper went inside a Pavillions in West Hollywood to check on his product and grab a pack of gum ... only to be swarmed by fans.

You can see the cashier and another customer get engulfed by the crowd as Travis signs autographs and tries to pay for his gum.

What's most upsetting about the video ... some fans aren't wearing masks, and every time he speaks, or yells, Travis pulls his own mask down ... defeating the whole point of wearing one.

Grocery stores have gone to great lengths to make sure customers can shop safely, and to see the safe practices like mask-wearing and social distancing completely ignored -- essentially over a pack of gum -- is sure to enrage store management.

Here's a true sign things are returning to normal -- Beyonce and Jay-Z getting swarmed by paparazzi leaving a celebratory dinner after an awards show.

The couple hit up a Grammys after-party at Giorgio Baldi restaurant Sunday night in Santa Monica, and everyone wanted a shot of Bey and Jay, but especially the Queen B ... who just set a record by winning her 28th Grammy Award.

Fittingly ... Beyonce's outfit looks like it's made of gold.

As we reported ... Beyonce set the Grammys' record with her win for Best R&B Performance, and during her speech, she shouted out her daughter, Blue Ivy. Blue -- who's only 9 years old -- won her first Grammy earlier in the night.

Meghan Markle's frozen yogurt shop shoutout is bringing a business boom to her first employer ... and now she's getting honored with her own special flavor.

Meghan mentioned her first job during her interview with Oprah, she says she served froyo at Humphrey Yogart in Los Angeles when she was 13 years old, and now the place is getting overrun with customers.

Check out the scene at the last remaining Humphrey Yogart ... there's a huge line, and we're told the shop served more than 200 folks the day after Meghan's interview aired. We're told a normal Monday sees 50 or so customers, so the Meghan bump is real.

Meghan didn't even work at this location, tucked inside a Gelson's grocery in Sherman Oaks, but that didn't stop fans from taking pics in front of the stand and snatching up all the merch.

FYI ... Meghan used to work at the Humphrey Yogart on La Cienega, which is now closed, just like every location aside from the original.

While the owners of Humprey Yogart tell us they don't even remember Meghan working for them, they're still honoring her and Prince Harry with their own limited-edition flavor, called "Banana Royale."

The special flavor is a blended combo of banana and peanut butter ice cream with chocolate chips mixed in ... we're told it's inspired by Meghan's love of chocolate chip banana bread and Harry's love of PB&J.

The only thing Tom Brady might hate more than losing ... BANANA TIPS!!

The 43-year-old NFL superstar was showing off his smoothie skills on TikTok when it came time to add the ingredients.

Blueberries. Protein powder. Pumpkin seeds. Banana.

Great, sounds delicious and healthy. No surprise there.

But, when TB12 prepped the banana for the blender, he ripped off both ends of the fruit like a psychopath -- and declared that he won't eat banana tips!

So, are we ALL off banana tips now?

Look, Tom's got some weird eating habits (avocado ice cream, anyone?) ... but his diet seems to be effective. You know anyone else winning Super Bowls at 43?

Ousted Papa John's founder, John Schnatter, is talking in doublespeak ... insisting he's not racist, but copping to having to purge the n-word from his repertoire to prove it.

The former CEO of the pizza chain -- who got the boot a few years back for allegedly uttering the n-word in a conference call -- made an appearance on the far-right news channel, OAN ... where he was rehashing his experience, which he paints as a de facto coup.

At one point, Schnatter says the Board wrongly portrayed him as a racist -- adding he's been up at night since then, wondering how they got away with it.

Then comes the contradictory line ... JS says for the past 20 months, he's had 3 goals -- 1) "to get rid of this n-word in my vocabulary and dictionary and everything else because it's just not true," 2) figuring how they did this and 3) to get on with his life.

That first goal is a doozy to unpack. On its face, it sounds like he's admitting the n-word is a regular thing that shows up in his convos all the time, and that he's needed 20 months to exorcise himself of it.

Something tells us that's not what he meant -- he might've been trying to say "get rid of this n-word scandal" -- but that's certainly not how it came out. BTW, Schnatter keeps putting his foot in his mouth with these TV interviews, intentionally or not.

Remember, in 2019 ... he did another TV spot where he admitted he'd eaten 40 pizzas in 30 days (to see how they're holding up without him) -- and it just came off as sad and pathetic.

Burger King has a funny way of promoting gender equality -- because it said something totally sexist about women ... as a way to plug a new initiative supporting them.

Yes, this is what honchos at BK's British office thought would be a good campaign to hype a new scholarship program -- tweeting early Monday, "Women belong in the kitchen."

As the Internet started dragging them, BK added ... "If they want to, of course. Yet only 20% of chefs are women. We're on a mission to change the gender ratio in the restaurant industry by empowering female employees with the opportunity to pursue a culinary career. #IWD."

See what they did there? Piss off everyone with one disgustingly misogynistic tweet, then hit 'em with ... wait, we're doing a good thing!

BK says the scholarship is meant to uplift their female employees, who wanna move past fry cook and be bona fide chefs.

BTW ... March 8 is International Women's Day -- a worldwide holiday aimed at celebrating ladies everywhere. For some reason, Burger King ran with this as their #IWD campaign.

A couple hours after the in-poor-taste rollout ... Burger King UK added one last clarifying tweet -- "We are proud to be launching a new scholarship programme which will help female Burger King employees pursue their culinary dreams!"

A couple claiming a Maggiano's seated all its customers of color in the back ... is getting an apology, but the restaurant chain also insists it wasn't segregating patrons.

Here's the backstory -- a Black woman named Dot claimed on Instagram she and her husband had reservations last weekend at the Maggiano's in Orlando, and when they showed up ... they were ushered all the way to the back of the joint.

That's when she says she noticed a "stark contrast from the patrons in the front of the restaurant, versus where we were being seated." Dot added ... "Guys….I s**t you not…this restaurant was segregated!!!!!!!!! In 2021!!!!!! Our minds were BLOWN!!!!!!"

Dot claims this pattern of seating people continued throughout their visit, and she posted a couple photos with her hubby to make her point. She also speculated that a nearby Trump rally that day may have factored into the restaurant's motivations.

While Maggiano's insists the seating situation had nothing to do with race, the restaurant chain still apologized, saying ... "We understand that two valued Guests felt unwelcome when they dined at our Maggiano’s restaurant in Orlando on Sunday, February 28, and for that we sincerely apologize."

As for an explanation, Maggiano's says it investigated the incident, and says the reason for the perceived segregation is because "a single large party of 30 African-American guests" requested to be seated together.

The restaurant says when Dot and her husband arrived, "our system suggested a table that was still occupied by Guests, which prompted the reassignment of their new table" ... which happened to be in the back.

However, Maggiano's acknowledges the table reassignment didn't make the couple feel welcome. It adds that it's going to work to ensure future seating arrangements "are not just computer generated but have a human touch."

Dot later revealed Maggiano's sent her a $200 gift card and the chain's President Steve Provost reached out to her.

"Yeah, it's over guys!!!"

Giannis Antetokounmpo had an epic reaction to Team LeBron's stacked lineup for the All-Star Game ... declaring an early victory while chowing down on some delicious lemon pepper wings!!

LeBron James' starting 5 is about as dominant as you can get -- with the Lakers superstar adding the Greek Freak, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic to his team Thursday night.

The Milwaukee Bucks star wasn't able to watch the ASG draft since he was on the court against the Grizzlies at the time ... but he was brought up to speed in a postgame interview after the close win over Memphis.

"That's the starting 5?!," Giannis asked, surprised. "Yeah, it's over guys!"

"Me, Lebron, Luka, Jokic and Steph?! Man, that's a good starting 5. That's a good starting 5!"

Side note -- this is all happening while Giannis is eating some of the most beautiful chicken wings you'll ever see. Why?? 'Cause he's in Memphis and that's what you do.

Back to the All-Star draft -- Giannis joked about being the first player picked out of the pool for the game ... asking if he gets any kind of special treatment.

"Do I get a hat? Do I get something? Do I gotta wear the suit now being number one overall?" Antetokounmpo joked ... before getting real for a sec.

"It's a compliment. I'ma just go there, have fun, try to represent the city the right way. Try to get a win for team Lebron and just have fun."

This marks the first time Giannis isn't a captain during the "draft-era" of the All-Star Game ... with Kevin Durant taking over duties in 2021.

KD's lineup is pretty scary, too -- with Bradley Beal, Joel Embiid, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and Jayson Tatum.

Celebs might be extra vigilant the next time they go out to eat in Bev Hills ... a woman was shot in the leg outside a super popular eatery in a brazen, daylight armed robbery.

The shooting went down Thursday afternoon outside Il Pastaio restaurant. We're told the shooter and 2 accomplices were after a $500,000 Richard Mille watch a man was wearing, and a woman was struck in the leg by gunfire.

An eyewitness told us the shooter fired off 3 or 4 rounds. The woman who was hit was having lunch near the man who was wearing the watch. The shooter made off with the timepiece -- and diners scrambled for safety -- as evidenced in the photos we obtained.

As far as we can tell no one else was shot, although diners were frantically checking themselves for bullet wounds.

Rapper DaniLeigh, who has been dating DaBaby, had just parked in front of the restaurant when the gunfire erupted.

As you can see ... the celeb hot spot is crawling with cops, and there's a ton of police tape wrapped around the restaurant's outdoor seating area, where a huge crowd of curious onlookers is gathering.

Celebrity photographer Tyler Shields was on the scene when gunfire erupted ... he said he herded a large group of people into a nearby parking garage when the shots rang out. Thankfully, he says everyone around him was OK ... and shared a message of love.

The Italian restaurant is extremely popular among famous folks ... we've seen lots of celebs dining there over the years, and it's where we get a bunch of them on camera.