Batali Acquitted, But So What?

The thing I remember most about Mario Batali’s restaurant, Del Posto, was the steel swizzle sticks at the bar. They were pretty cool. The food was fine, and extremely expensive, but that was the price of going to a restaurant by this new breed of creature, celebrity chef. What happened in the back of house was historically raunchy, vulgar and private. Drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll, but anyone who sought a place on the line knew that was the lifestyle, wrong though it may be from the outsiders perspective.

Us outsiders learned of such things from Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, may he rest in peace.

Mario Batali wasn’t special back then. He was just as raunchy and vulgar as anyone else in the kitchen, but so what? Then it all changed, when chefs became stars. Batali was on food network, and the Chew, where he had to maintain an image for the public. But that didn’t change the past couple decades of reality, where he was just a raunchy chef. And then came MeToo, turning conduct that was wrong, bad but shrugged off years ago into new stories of outrage.

Minutes into their conversation, she recalls, he told her, “Come work for me, I’ll pay you double what you’re making.” Moments later, someone bumped her glass, spilling wine all over her chest and down her scooped-neck shirt. She alleges that Batali began rubbing her breasts with his bare hands while saying something like, “Let me help you with that,” as he groped her chest. “He just went to town, and I was so shocked,” the chef says. “Jaw on the ground, I just stepped back from him in utter disgust and walked away.”

The chef is one of four women who allege that Batali touched them inappropriately in a pattern of behavior that appears to span at least two decades. Three of the women worked for Batali in some capacity during their careers. One former employee alleges that over the course of two years, he repeatedly grabbed her from behind and held her tightly against his body. Another former employee alleges that he groped her and that, in a separate incident, he compelled her to straddle him; another alleges that he grabbed her breasts at a party, though she no longer worked for him at the time. The woman whose allegations are described above has never worked for Batali, though she works in the restaurant industry.

There’s nothing in these stories to be proud of. If true, Batali was a pig. But now he was a ruined pig, as he was compelled to leave the kitchen of his dining empire, and his once-adored restaurants suddenly took on the taint of his disgraceful conduct against the women in his kitchen.

But only one sought a criminal prosecution against Batali, Natali Tene.

The woman, who had long been a fan of Mr. Batali’s, told the Boston police last June that what she intended as a selfie session with the chef in March 2017 turned into an assault when he grabbed her breasts, buttocks and groin, forcibly kissed her mouth and cheeks, and suggested they head to his nearby hotel. The woman is about 30 years younger than the chef, who is now 58.

The irony of the scenario was that Tene was a Batali fan who sought a picture with him. Batali didn’t pursue her, but she put herself in his “clutches.” And then the texted about it.

The only other witness called was a friend of Ms. Tene’s, Rachel Buckley, 37. She said Ms. Tene sent her a picture of Mr. Batali the night of their encounter, along with texts that described him as appearing extremely drunk but didn’t mention his grabbing her. Details of the groping and kisses from Mr. Batali came up in subsequent conversations, Ms. Buckley testified.

Much of the evidence in the trial came from two years’ worth of Ms. Tene’s text messages, which sometimes showed her being flippant about selling the photos or getting money from Mr. Batali. They revealed incidents in which she lied to get out of a gym membership and, in an effort to avoid jury duty, told another court that she was clairvoyant. Once she was seated on that jury, she violated court rules by searching the defendant’s background and texting a friend that she thought he was guilty.

Notably,the litany of “trauma-informed investigation” rules provide excuses for such things, that no matter what a “victim” does, it can be explained away and she’s still the victim. Judge James Stanton didn’t buy Tene’s testimony.

The judge noted those incidents and her disregard for the courts, in addition to photos from the night at the bar that showed her smiling after her first encounter with Mr. Batali. Three minutes later, she took another round of selfies with the chef.

“Her reaction or lack thereof to the alleged assault is telling,” the judge said.

The defense called no witnesses. Batali didn’t testify. Tene and her friend Buckley did the job on their own, undermining her credibility and providing substantial doubt as to what happened and her motivation for accusing Batali, which was money. But the judge pointed out that Batali wasn’t “covered in glory” either.

“His conduct and his appearance and his demeanor were not befitting of a public person of his stature at that time,” he said. “It is a lesson for all of those people in public or celebrity positions.”

When accusations of impropriety first emerged, Batali didn’t deny that he behaved badly.

At the time, Mr. Batali offered an apology. “My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility.” It was attached to a newsletter that also included a recipe for pizza dough cinnamon rolls that was widely mocked.

Investigations follow, but Tene’s was the only one to lead to prosecution.

Much has changed in the years since. The New York Police Department investigated three sexual assault complaints against Mr. Batali, but a department official confirmed in 2019 that it had closed those investigations because of a lack of evidence and the statute of limitations.

It’s not as if anyone, Batali included, contends that he was a particularly virtuous fellow, the image of a celebrity chef to be admired on the television. But his restaurant empire is gone. His celebrity is now notoriety. And he was acquitted at trial.