So, Natalie Merchant (right) went before 1,700 fans at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Tuesday night and talked about how she wasn’t feeling well and claimed it was because of a meal she had at the Columbia restaurant. Then intermittently added more jabs throughout the set.

“I’m sorry Natalie didn’t like it. Maybe she was having a bad day,” said owner Richard Gonzmart (left). “Maybe she was disappointed that she only sold 1,700 tickets.”

Gonzmart said he wasn’t sure at which branch of the restaurant Merchant ate before her show, and didn’t know what she had. She mentioned the house salad on stage, according to Sean Daly’s review in the Times, but that would be an odd choice for a vegetarian. The Columbia’s 1905 salad includes a healthy portion of ham.

“I was discouraged that she would slander us without proof (of what caused her illness),” Gonzmart said. “Our restaurants are up in sales. That isn’t happening everywhere right now. So we must be doing something right.”

Gonzmart said that he thought it was interesting that Merchant’s suggested that the fact that she was married to a Spanish man made her something of an authority on Spanish food.

“I’m a frustrated rocker,” Gonzmart said, “but I know I should just play in my office.”