Mike Isabella, the celebrity chef whose company once included more than a dozen restaurants, several stands at Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park and a 41,000-square-foot food hall at Tysons Galleria in Northern Virginia, filed for chapter 11 protection for his businesses yesterday in federal court, the Washington Post reported. It’s a major setback to the chef and his Mike Isabella Concepts, which just a year ago could seemingly do no wrong in Washington. But a sexual harassment lawsuit, filed in March, was the first public crack in the Isabella empire, and it had an almost immediate effect on sales and led directly to the Washington Nationals cutting ties with the chef. It also affected the media coverage of Isabella restaurants, including an outright ban of his eateries on all Eater lists and maps.
