"EricaWang" news and stories

In this exclusive installment of the "Behind the Apron," Chef Todd English opens up about a difficult personal issue, which drew headlines. In October 2009, reportedly on the day that had been scheduled for his wedding, Todd broke things off in a long-distance telephone call with his fiancée Erica Wang, leaving her to deal with the invited guests and resultant turmoil.

For months Todd has kept his silence on the subject, but in this interview he discusses his reputation as a "playboy," how the troubling incident has led to introspection on his part, and whether or not the difficult publicity hurts his brand as a restaurateur.

Related: Touring the New Food Hall with Todd English

Todd English and Erica Wang. Photo: David X Prutting, PatrickMcMullan.com

Todd English is speaking out for the first time since calling off his wedding to Erica Wang.

"I couldn't go through with it," the 49-year-old chef of Olives told People. "I thought I'd met my partner, but as things progressed [it] went down hill."

English has appeared on "Iron Chef America" and PBS's "Cooking Under Fire."

In the People interview, English accused his jilted fiancee of "physical and verbal abuse" and allegedly hitting him in the eye in September. The New York Post reports Thursday that English visited a New York City police precinct to report the allegations.

But she denied the abuse allegations to the New York Post earlier this week, telling the paper that English has left her without a job (she was his personal assistant) and an apartment, and forced her to pay $12,000 for wedding expenses.

"An animal wouldn't treat another animal the way he has treated me," Wang told the Post. "He is forgetting I am human. I don't deserve this. He has caused me, my friends and family so much pain."

Slashfood reported on Oct. 5 that Wang had thrown a party despite the nuptials being called off.

[Via People, New York Post]

Todd English and Erica Wang. Photo: David X Prutting, PatrickMcMullan.com

What do you do when you and your celebrity chef husband-to-be call it quits just days before your extravagant wedding at an upscale New York City hotel?

If you're Erica Wang, the recently ex-ed fiancee of Todd English, you put on a chic black dress and party it up with your family and friends, the New York Post reports. English is the previously married 48-year-old owner of the Olives restaurants and star of season three of the reality-TV show "Top Chef."

Wang and English called off the wedding days before it was to take place at the St. Regis Hotel, and since several guests had already made the trip to New York for the event -- which gossip blog Gawker reports English had already paid for -- the would-be bride and "about 150 of Wang's closest friends and family packed into the posh party space 20 stories above Fifth Avenue," the Post reported.

"Everybody is having a fantastic time," a source told the Post. "People are dancing their butts off."