Charlie Trotter Breaks Bad At Student Photography Exhibit Inside His Former Restaurant

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Aug 30, 2013 2:30PM

When Charlie Trotter announced last year he was closing his eponymous restaurant and taking a sabbatical, few could have imagined the drama that has surrounded the chef in the ensuing months since he served his final meals. Trotter is front page news this morning after shouting obscenities at and kicking out a group of photography students from his former restaurant space Thursday night.

The students, part of a program sponsored by education charity After School Matters, were setting up their exhibit in Trotter’s space when the notoriously mercurial chef became irate when the students’ After School Matters instructor refused a request by Trotter to have the students sweep the restaurant’s floors and plunge toilets, kicked them out of the space and locked their work and personal belongings inside.

One photography student, Dominic Tafano, told the Chicago Sun-Times Trotter called him “a fucking idiot” because he didn’t think to ask if the chef wanted anything before heading to a 7-Eleven around the corner for a soda. A female student said Trotter allegedly asked her if she would get his name tattooed on her and said it wouldn’t be a “tramp stamp.”

Later, Trotter was filmed by media exiting his space looking disheveled, to say the least.

Regardless, Thursday night's incident is the latest in a series following his restaurant's closing last August. Trotter abruptly halted an auction of his restaurant's belongings last December after it became apparent many of his furnishings weren't selling. (The auction resumed online in January.)

Trotter was sued in June by two men who bought a bottle of 1945 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wine from him for $46,000, claiming the wine was counterfeit.

Trotter long ago earned a reputation for having a temper. Thursday night's display went over that edge with his disheveled appearance and odd behavior. Compounding matters further, Trotter sits on the advisory board for After School Matters. A supervisor for the charity who requested anonymity told the Sun-Times the photography exhibit was a month in the making.

Was he intoxicated? Is he suffering from something worse? Regardless, we hope Trotter gets some help because the man in the video is a far cry from the legendary chef who helped build the foundation for Chicago's modern restaurant scene.