By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WEST VILLAGE — Three armed men robbed celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman's Barbuto's Restaurant Saturday, leaving an employeed bound and blindfolded as they made their getaway, police said.
The men broke into the restaurant at 775 Washington St. and West 12th Street shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday, police said.
They overpowered a lone, 25-year-old Barbuto's employee, who was tied up and blindfolded as one suspect held a knife to his throat, according to the NYPD.
After that, the men tried to break into the restaurant's safe but fled with two laptops when they were unable to crack the code, police said.
A police officer from the West Village's Sixth Precinct found the tied up employee hours after the robbery when he heard noises coming from inside the restaurant, police said.
The victim was not injured, police said.
Waxman, who competed as a Top Chefs Master, was previously a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.
Police are searching for the suspects, who were captured on surveillance footage.
