James Beard Award-winning Italian chef and notorious tax cheat Roberto Donna is en route back to Washington today, escaping his culinary exile in Arizona after signing a one-year contract to cook at the forthcoming La Forchetta on New Mexico Avenue NW. Post food critic Tom Sietsema got the scoop late Tuesday. Owner Hakan Ilhan says he has a plan for success, telling Sietsema that he aims to keep the talented but trouble-plagued chef away from anything to do with “paying people or suppliers.” Smart!

Photo courtesy of Galileo III