Michelin-starred eatery NYC Cesar accused of labor – Business News
Customers at two-Michelin-starred eatery Cesar on Hudson Street pay up to $368 for a 13-course tasting menu. But chef and proprietor Cesar Ramirez and his accomplice, spouse Adriana Rodriguez, served staff a tasting menu of state labor law violations, in keeping with a class motion lawsuit filed final month.
Former captain and expediter Oscar Molina, who was fired in July, and at the very least three present staff declare 333 Hospitality Group cheated them out of suggestions by illegally sharing them with managers, paid staff beneath minimal wage, and cheated them out of additional time pay.
Ramirez even “personally” compelled them to understate the quantity of hours they labored, amongst different allegations within the civil case in US District Court.
The proprietor of Michelin-starred eatery Cesar faces a lawsuit alleging labor law violations.
“The class includes all past and present service employees at Cesar,” mentioned the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Michael Digiulio — up to 40 people.
The legal professional mentioned Molina hopes to “recover all of his and his co-workers’ stolen wages and tips. He worked extremely hard and devoted his life to this restaurant. It is unfortunate that, in return, Cesar treated him, and his co-workers, so poorly and refused to pay them what they are owed.”
If the court docket guidelines within the staff’ favor, “damages could run into the millions,” a source mentioned.
Ramirez’s lawyer Aaron Nathaniel Solomon mentioned he couldn’t touch upon pending litigation. The defendants have till Sept. 14 to reply to the claims.
Cesar is a marquee institution within the thriving Hudson Square restaurant scene. It has annual income “in excess of” $500,000, in keeping with the swimsuit.
It earned its two Michelin stars much less than 5 months after Ramirez opened in a former printing plant at 333 Hudson Street in 2024. The Michelin Guide praised its “world-class seafood menu” and Ramirez as one of a “select few top-level chefs who can still be seen presiding over the stoves night after night.”
GQ Magazine food critic Alan Richman, left, and chef Cesar Ramirez, proper, at a GQ celebration occasion in 2011. WireImage for GQ Magazine
The prestigious OAD, Opinionated About Dining, platform named Cesar the No. 1 restaurant in North America, forward of acclaimed spots akin to Le Bernardin and Atomix within the Big Apple and The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif.
Ramirez is no stranger to courtroom drama. He beforehand manned the stoves at three-Michelin-starred Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare from 2009 to 2023. After it moved to Manhattan, he was fired by proprietor Moe Issa, which set off a bitter spherical of legal claims and counterclaims — together with that Ramirez stole over $500,000 price of wine and tools and that Issa diverted $400,000 from the restaurant’s account and had the chef and his spouse falsely arrested in entrance of their children.
The instances are nonetheless winding their means via the courts.
In 2014, staff at Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, the place Ramirez was head chief, sued him and Issa for alleged labor law violations in a case that resulted in an undisclosed settlement.
