If you happen to ever needed a plate of pasta that value $275, with a facet of Beyoncé and Jay Z, then you definitely went to Nello on Madison Avenue.

If you happen to needed to dine subsequent to Paris Hilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, then you definitely went to Nello.

And in the event you needed to pattern “sawdusty hen livers lashed with balsamic,” “lentil soup acquainted to anybody who owns a can opener” and “too-salty saffron risotto” — in accordance with the New York Occasions again in 2010 — then you definitely went to Nello.

However the NYC hospitality business is now mourning restaurateur Nello Balan, the richly-accented self-styled “baron of eating.”

He leaves behind grieving family members, a slew of lawsuits, and recollections of how he made 696 Madison Avenue the place to see the celebs.

Nello (by no means Mr. Balan), who counted Ivana Trump as one in all his shut associates, handed away aged 64 on Tuesday afternoon at New York-Presbyterian hospital, his daughter, Lucy, confirmed to Web page Six.”

“I used to be by his facet,” she mentioned.

The restaurateur underwent a profitable surgical procedure lower than two years in the past to take away a mind tumor, however he was recovering from a current ski accident that landed him “out and in of the hospital for a couple of month,” Lucy revealed.

Prior to now few years, Nello had spent his time touring world wide, together with residing in Rome for a yr along with his girlfriend, Princess Rita von Boncompagni Ludovisi.

He informed her it was his best romance.

He opened Nello in early 1992.

It was his first restaurant enterprise and got here to outline the thought of a celeb restaurant.

A yr later it attracted its first point out in The Publish.

We famous: “Chef Sandro Fioriti is now cooking at Nello on Madison Ave.”

However quickly, the boldface names and never the chef turned the story of Nello.

The one meals which stayed within the headlines have been the truffles (there was all the time a provide of black, and often of white too).

On any given night time, you would discover Mick Jagger on one desk, billionaire hedge funder John Paulson (simply “my good friend” to Nello) at one other and socialite Honore Ryan at a 3rd.

The lure of Nello crossed generations and genres.

Potentates, princes, Hollywood and Wall Road, lowbrow, intellectual: Nello welcomed all.

The listing was nearly actually countless.

Pierce Brosnan, when he was James Bond. Jennifer Lopez. Sting. Selena Gomez. A-Rod, even earlier than he was a Yankee.

Marlo Thomas. Uma Thurman. Charlie Rose. Mickey Rourke. David Duchovny. Robin Williams. David Hasselhoff. Roberto Cavalli.

“My pricey good friend Bob Dylan.”

Anne Hathaway. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Kate Moss. Clint Eastwood. Brad Pitt. The notorious publicist Lizzie Grubman. Sharon Stone.

However luring within the well-known went hand-in-hand along with his extortionate costs.

Nello as soon as tried to cost a gaggle of stars – together with Brian Cox earlier than he was “Succession’s” Logan Roy — $500 for a pasta dish with truffles.

Nello ended up paying the invoice himself.

In 2012, vacationer Craig Tall was left surprised when he was handed a invoice for $400 for an alcohol-free lunch for 3.

When he requested how the invoice may very well be so excessive, the waiters mentioned his good friend’s pasta value $275.

As Tall wrote to the NYT: “I used to be informed that Nello by no means discloses the costs of specials and that it’s the buyer’s responsibility to pipe up with questions.”

As for Nello himself, later that yr he informed Hamptons Cheat Sheet: “Overpriced, I’m not. Costly, I’m — for I supply solely the very best in teatro mundi. It’s the longest-running present with a full home every single day.”

If he was good at attracting celebrities, he was nearly nearly as good at attracting feuds and lawsuits.

He was compelled to go away his eatery in 2015 after falling out with co-owner Thomas Makkos.

After handing over management of Nello to Makkos, he informed Web page Six it was a “marriage that didn’t work”, including: “Some partnerships don’t work out, no one compelled me to go away Nello, it was like a wedding that didn’t work, and I made the choice to get out. I nonetheless personal 50 p.c of Nello however I’m not concerned within the each day working of it, I’m concentrating on my new venture. I’m fairly busy and completely happy.”

Makkos informed us the 2 “saved in contact” regardless of their restaurant divorce.

“I wouldn’t be the place I’m right this moment with out Nello. He elevated Madison Avenue. There’s the Empire State Constructing, the Statue of Liberty and there’s Nello,” he mentioned.

Then in 2017, Nello’s firm, Be My Visitor LLC — which hoped to open an formidable new area on West 58th Road, however turned locked in a vicious authorized battle with the previous occupant — went bust and filed voluntary chapter papers.

He was additionally going through legal contempt costs over $100,000 he owed to a different restaurateur, Max Burgio.

Nello had promised to bail Burgio out of failed restaurant B & Co., open his personal operation in that area on West 58th avenue and rent Burgio as a guide, however Nello didn’t come by way of with the money, in accordance with court docket papers, and his relationship with Burgio fell aside.

An outpost of Nello in Aspen, Colo., was shuttered after six months with greater than $300,000 in liens from suppliers, in accordance with native studies.

Alongside the best way, Nello was sued in 2012 by staffers who alleged that Nello and Nello Summertimes in Southampton made them work 60-hour weeks with out additional time.

Additionally they claimed they have been routinely cheated out of suggestions “relying on whether or not they have been in or out of favor.”

He was additionally sued by artist Jerome Luciani over a murals that was purported to be offered on his behalf.

A local of Romania with an unique accent, Nello claimed to be a descendent of Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Rely Dracula, and flaunted bleached blond hair.

His love life too had its ups and downs.

From his first marriage he had oldest daughters, Lucy — his enterprise companion — and Olivia.

He then had two kids, Madison and Grant, along with his Turkish ex-wife Elbi Askin.

In Could 2006, he was ordered to take six months’ value of courses on home violence after pleading responsible to an tried assault on ex-girlfriend, Heather Payne.

He went on to develop into engaged to fashionista Jasmine Oh in 2013, as Web page Six reported, though there was no marriage.

His remaining romance was with American-born Princess Rita.

Already traumatized after lately being thrown out of her $500 million palazzo in Rome by her late husband Prince Nicolo’s sons, she informed Web page Six she was “bereft.”

“Nello introduced pleasure into my life, as soon as once more…we’ve got shed many, many tears,” she mentioned.

She revealed that solely final week, the showman informed her their romance was the “happiest time of his life”.

Rita, 73, a former actress turned actual property dealer, who additionally counts former Democratic congressman husband, John Jenrette, as an ex-husband, mentioned the couple first met at Nello when he paid her invoice as a result of it was so costly.

“We spoke every single day, and I used to be on FaceTime when Nello died. It was very painful, Nello’s daughters are like my household. They’re fantastic and I like them and their kids,” she added.

Whereas family members will collect to recollect him at his funeral deliberate for Wednesday in Nice Neck, he remained “secretive” about his life, in accordance with his good friend, socialite and Hampton Sheet writer Joan Jedell.

Jedell informed us: “He was positively distinctive, a genius, take a look at all of the celebrities and royalty that got here to Nello.

“It was probably the most thrilling place in New York, however sadly he fell with the taxes and the opposite issues, he ended up shedding the restaurant and I feel that was the saddest factor ever for him.

“Even to his final day, he didn’t need to quit, his daughter informed me.”

She added that it was his dream to return to Nello, including: “In fact he would have needed to be again there, he would have saved it if he may.

Jedell even recounted how Nello made her go away her residence to dine with him exterior in a snowstorm.

“He was so humorous, he by no means needed to look unhappy or upset and weak. And if somebody was an fool, he’d say ‘you might be an fool’, he had no tolerance for idiots.

“He made New York enjoyable,” she mentioned.

Extra reporting by Emily Smith and Carlos Greer