The New York Times' restaurant critic could be in for an ass-kicking now that his snarky words this week about Top Chef's belly-baring sleepy beauty Padma Lakshmi are spreading around the world and back to her homeland (Padma is a Hindu Brahmin, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India).

India's DNA newspaper writes in tomorrow's editions that their native daughter has received "mixed" reviews for her performance as host and judge in the second season of the Bravo cook-off. But they quote, in full, Timeser Frank Bruni's words nasty shot:

"Top Chef offers the reliable, although perhaps not always intentional, hilarity... of its host, Padma Lakshmi, aka Mrs Salman Rushdie, a model-turned-actress whose epicurean musings are less riveting than her sluggish, mouth-full-of-molasses style of speech and strenuously come-hither poses. As she makes her costume changes, you can almost read her thoughts: Does this skirt go with hamachi? Is this too much cleavage for a chicken liver canapé?"

Hey, doesn't he know she was stoned?

And was he deliberately taunting Padma's sugar daddy, the author Rushdie? If so, DNA adds a warning: