Del Posto owner and chef Mario Batali in hot water over failed restaurant The John Dory

Mario Batali is in a different kind of hot water.

The famed Manhattan chef owes nearly $75,000 in rent at his recently shuttered Chelsea seafood restaurant, The John Dory.

Batali and business partner Joseph Bastianich, both guarantors of the failed eatery, are on the hook for two months worth of payments on the restaurant's former digs at 85 Tenth Ave., according to a suit filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The high-flying pair owe about $45,000 in rent in addition to other expenses, including $15,000 for chilled water, the suit says.

The seafood shack, located just next-door to Batali's posh eatery Del Posto, opened to rave reviews late last year. But it closed abruptly Aug. 29 after being in business for only nine months.

"It's going to be settled," said Bastianich, the son of celebrated chef Lidia Bastianich. "We've returned the space back to the landlord, and the rent is going to be paid today or tomorrow."

Batali did not return phone calls. Cory Weiss, the lawyer for landlord 85 Tenth Avenue Associates, declined to comment.

Batali, who turned 49 Wednesday, is one of the world's best-known chefs.

The rotund ex-star of the hit Food Network show "Iron Chef" owns more than a half-dozen restaurants in the city, including Babbo in Greenwich Village.

Batali also runs hugely popular eateries in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and is featured in a PBS show on Spanish cuisine with Gwyneth Paltrow, titled "Spain...on the Road Again."

In an interview two weeks ago, Batali acknowledged that the grim economy forced him to scale back the menu at John Dory's upscale neighbor.

"At Del Posto, our fanciest restaurant, we have taken some of the luxury items off and dropped the fancy menu from $275 to $150," Batali told USA Today. "There's less caviar, foie gras and truffles, but they're still there. They're just not on nine courses. They're on one course."