The new Netflix true crime hit Bad Vegan follows the downfall one of NYC's most beloved eateries.
The docuseries shows how Sarma Melngailis, owner of the vegan restaurant Pure Food and Wine and the related raw-vegan-products brand One Lucky Duck, met and married Anthony Strangis, a scammer who Melngailis alleges coerced her into stealing money from her own business and later going on the run from authorities.
The duo were ultimately charged with transferring more than $1.6 million from the restaurant into personal accounts.
The raw vegan restaurant Pure Food And Wine was founded in 2004 as a collaboration between Melngailis and her boyfriend at the time, chef Matthew Kenney, with funding from restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow.
In 2005, Melngailis bought out Kenney's stake and ran it herself, with the Gramercy eatery building a loyal clientele, including celebs like Anne Hathaway, Owen Wilson, and recurring Bad Vegan namedrop Alec Baldwin, who met his wife Hilaria at the restaurant in 2011.
Melngailis and Strangis began failing to meet payroll in 2014, with workers missing checks five times that year, per New York Post.
Pure Food and Wine closed temporarily in the winter of 2015, after servers, bartenders, and kitchen staff walked out, protesting the lack of pay.
After opening again for a short time, with a round of new investors, the restaurant closed permanently in the spring of 2016.
Melngailis ended up pleading guilty to stealing $1 million from the restaurant.
In addition to stiffed investors, Melngailis owed roughly $63,000 to employees, per Vanity Fair.
Though the possibility of a future restaurant run by Melngailis is still up in the air, fans of Bad Vegan will have the chance to try food by two former Pure Food and Wine chefs.
A three-course meal from The Bad Vegan Kitchen—cooked by Chef Nikki Bennett, the former head chef, and Chef Missy Maidana, the former pastry chef—will be available for order on Postmates for one weekend only, March 25 through 27.
The meals will include a Caesar salad starter, a raw lasagna main, and a Mallomar dessert, all from the restaurant's original menu and all available for free, with no delivery fees—plus a custom tote—while supplies last.