Lisa Vanderpump’s Restaurants Sued for $100,000 Over Unpaid Produce Bill

Los Angeles produce supplier West Central Produce has filed suit against Pump Restaurant and the shuttered Villa Blanca for non-payment of delivered goods this month. Both restaurants are owned by reality television star Lisa Vanderpump and her husband Ken Todd, and have featured prominently in their reality shows.

West Central Produce alleges that it is back-owed approximately $100,000 plus interest from both Pump and Villa Blanca produce orders that were delivered, but never paid for. The distributor claims that it last received payment in March 2020 from both restaurants, where Villa Blanca paid $8,890.10, and $9,144.70 for Pump, reports TMZ, leaving an outstanding bill to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.

Both restaurants temporarily closed at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, but Pump reopened in October, while Villa Blanca closed permanently last July.

In other news:

• Now Serving has a new addition to its collection: Chinese Protest Recipes, a project created by Clarence Kwan to support Black Lives Matter, reports the Los Angeles Times.
• The owner of Playa Vista’s Connie’s Cafe was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer, and NBC-4 showed up to profile the owner on her battle to keep her restaurant afloat while also fighting the disease. Customers have even begun a GoFundMe to help owner Connie Ambacher pay her bills.
• KCRW interviewed Fat & Flour’s Nicole Rucker to find out how business is going inside LA’s favorite food bazaar, Grand Central Market.
• The food isn’t the only challenge of running a pop-up these days, says the LA Times. Keeping a handle on all the technology behind the ordering, the menus, the pickups, and the payments is pretty tricky, too.
• There’s a surplus of restaurant equipment from restaurant auctioneers, reads Santa Monica Daily Press, meaning some expensive items are being sold at deep discounts (for those who can afford it) right now.
• Two Pasadena restaurants were damaged by fire in January, but Kathleen’s and Villa Soriso are operational again, writes Pasadena Now.
• Downtown’s Barcito & Bodega was broken into over the weekend, though ownership says the business was quick to reopen. What’s more distressing, they say, is the “state of our city, and the desperation of its people.”

• Lisa Vanderpump Shuttered Restaurants Sued ... Gotta Pay For Fruits & Veggies [TMZ]