Acclaimed chef Barbara Lynch is free without bail after her arraignment Tuesday on a drunken driving charge in Gloucester.
Lynch was released on personal recognizance Tuesday after her arraignment in Gloucester District Court, the clerk’s office said. She is due back in court Aug. 18. Her lawyer declined to comment Thursday.
The South Boston native is known as the force behind restaurants like No. 9 Park, Menton, and B&G Oysters, and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. Her arrest was first reported by the Gloucester Times.
Gloucester police Chief John McCarthy said in a statement that Lynch crashed her 2015 Mini Cooper into an unoccupied 2006 Toyota Tacoma at around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday near 468 Washington St.
Lynch was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of liquor after a field sobriety test, McCarthy said. He did not disclose her blood alcohol level at the time of her arrest.
Kate Gardiner, a spokeswoman for Lynch, did not respond to directly to a request Thursday for an interview with the famed chef. Gardiner instead forwarded a statement she initially sent to the Globe Wednesday night.
“At this time, I can confirm that Chef Barbara was involved in a car accident early Tuesday morning,’’ the statement said. “There was damage to her car and a parked vehicle, and Chef was shaken up, but no one else was injured. For that, she is extremely grateful; however she is still understandably upset. As details are gathered, we’ll be able to provide more information.’’
In addition to her career as a restaurateur, Lynch also recently became an author.
In April, she published a memoir, “Out of Line: A Life of Playing with Fire.’’
An Amazon review says that in the gritty book Lynch credits “her upbringing in tough, poor ‘Southie,’ a neighborhood ruled by the notorious Whitey Bulger gang, with helping her bluff her way into her first professional cooking jobs; develop a distinct culinary style through instinct and sheer moxie; then dare to found an empire of restaurants ranging from a casual but elegant ‘clam shack’ to Boston’s epitome of modern haute cuisine.’’
The review says Lynch also writes candidly about her youthful struggles.
“She earned a daredevil reputation for boosting vehicles (even a city bus), petty theft, drinking and doing drugs, and narrowly escaping arrest — haunted all the while by a painful buried trauma,’’ the write-up states.
Danny McDonald of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.
