Bataliwire

The breakdown of Mario Batali's plan to open a Babbo Pizzeria e Enoteca in Fort Point may be due to a dispute over a wood-burning stove, according to the Globe's "Names" celebrity blog. The story cites several unnamed "friends in the restaurant world" who dish on the failed lease negotiation, saying that the landlord had a problem with the "potentially costly system needed to vent the smoke" from a wood-burning oven. One source says that it could have worked out with "some cooperation," but "it was a difficult negotiation and Batali is used to getting what he wants." [BG]