Eric Ripert Used to Be a Really Angry Chef

These days chef Eric Ripert conjures double rainbows into being, but who knew behind those dreamy eyes lurked a monster that might rival even Gordon Ramsay? On Friday, Ripert and his erstwhile cohort food writer/host of No Reservations Anthony Bourdain hosted their Good vs. Evil event in Boston, and they both "reminisced about throwing customers out of their restaurants."

Ripert is a calm fellow — he regularly retweets the Dali Lama — and has spoken with us about his past anger issues. He admitted he was not a "nice guy to my staff" — complete with "a lot of turnover" — but that one day he just "changed completely." At the event he shared with the audience an incident that went down in the dining room: "[He] whipped off the tablecloth and everything on it when a diner told him his truffles were 'fake.'"

Said Ripert: "I don't know what happened... I know I should not have done it. It wasn't the way to deal with a complaint." Probably not?

· Celeb chefs Bourdain and Ripert dish up high hilarity in Boston [Boston Herald]
· All Eric Ripert Coverage on Eater [-E-]