VERBATIM

Next time you brave the prices at the Columbia Bar & Grill, just remember: Don’t mess with their mints. The top brass of “Cheers,” “Roc,” “Wings,” “Empty Nest” and “Dear John,” who regularly head over to the CB&G; after taping, recently found themselves the bewildered recipients of a petulant letter from Jayson Cohen, managing general partner of CB&G.; Addressed to “Dear Tuesday Night Patrons,” the missive informed 29 producer types that “one of our green chairs that adorns the lobby was stolen! Our after-dinner mints were thrownthroughout the lobby. . . . I am personally offering a reward to anyone who saw this act of thievery and mental malfunction. . . . We have given you a beautiful and inviting place to gather and enjoy yourselves. It is obvious that some of you cannot respond to this type of environment . . . . “

The sitcom types were not amused; the executive producers of “Roc” fired back a letter saying they were “deeply saddened by the loss of your chair and the mistreatment of your mints” but reminding CB&G; that the accusing letter was no way to address the patrons who spend “thousands of dollars” nightly. “P.S.,” they added, “Nine dollars for crab cakes!?”

Several days later, Cohen sent out an apology letter, saying the mints were under control and the chair found in the beach house of producer Paul Junger Witt, an investor in CB&G.; But the executive producers of “Wings,” who weren’t even present the night of the mint mayhem, were having none of it. “Even if we had been there, we would still have taken offense at your letter accusing us of being recalcitrant schoolchildren . . . . Will we boycott? It’s been discussed. Our guess is we will simply continue to patronize the Columbia Bar & Grill, but with much less frequency and infinitely less enthusiasm.’