Rao's Rumble: Punches Threatened Over a Charity Reservation

Apparently the promise of a Rao's reservation can inspire rage among the rich and famous who are its regulars. Celebrity detective Bo Dietl sold his standing Thursday night table at a children's hospital charity gala for $6,000 to a broker earlier this year — but the broker wasn't happy when Dietl's assistant called to reschedule the reservation twice, according to Page Six. Broker Christopher Bond said he refused to change the date again, and Dietl shot back, threatening to punch Bond if he showed up at Rao's. Dietl, a former detective turned actor and Fox News contributor, says Bond had yelled at his assistant. "Meanie's can't have my table," Dietl tells Page Six.

A reservation at Rao's — notoriously New York's hardest dinner to snag — has sold for $10,000 in charity bids, says Dietl, who's had his table since 1977, and Bond didn't deserve it because he was rude and underpaid. (In 2012, bids for a table for four in an online charity auction started at $1,700, with an estimated value of $5,000, but there's also been word of $20,000 tables.) The broker, meanwhile, says he was trying to treat his brother in the Army, who was flying in from Virginia for the meal. But after the spat, Dietl says only more cash will get Bond the coveted reservation. "If he's such a charitable guy, let him ante up," he says.