Legendary BC restaurateur Umberto Menghi (Il Giardino, etc) has been ordered by a judge to pay damages of $88,438 (in lost wages and tips) to a 38 year old manager he wrongfully canned in a fit of blind pique at his Il Caminetto restaurant in Whistler last year…

From the Vancouver Sun:

The famed B.C. restaurateur and Tuscan-cooking-school operator blew a gasket in his tony eatery after a customer complained Menghi took her table and made her wait while he and his friends dined.

In a blistering tirade afterwards, he blamed Sarah Chapple, a 38-year-old long-term employee, and told staff she was never again to set foot in his restaurants.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper presented him with a bill on Tuesday for his boorish and profane conduct — $88,438 plus interest.

She found Menghi’s self-serving account of the evening unbelievable and concluded that in his snit, he wrongly axed Chapple.

Read the whole thing here. It’s quite the yarn.