Ruth's Chris Sends Cease and Desist to Parody Indian Steakhouse Pop-UpRuth Krishna's Tandoori Steakhouse has been renamed Randy Krishna's for David Chang's satiric one-night pop-up restaurant event.
ByKate Taylor•
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Ruth's Chris has a bone to pick with a parody Indian pop-up steakhouse run by celebrity chef David Chang.
The steakhouse chain sent a cease-and-desist notice to the creators of Ruth Krishna's Tandoori Steakhouse, a steak-centric Indian restaurant created as a one-night-only promotional stunt for the "Fantasy" issue of food magazineLucky Peach.So, the faux restaurant concept run byLucky Peacheditor and celebrity chef David Chang and chef Akhtar Tawab, is rebranding to "Randy Krishna's."
While Chang, Tawab andLucky Peachcould have fought the case in court, using similar justification to last year's "Dumb Starbucks”,团队决定避免诉讼,tellingEater,it's "better to spend money on lunch and comic books and paying bills than it is on lawyers when you don't need to." According to the publication,Lucky Peachchose to rebrand Ruth Krishna's as Randy Krishna's after contemplating a number of names including Steak 'n' Saag, Goa-head Make My Steak, Priya Luger and Corporate Buzzkill Tandoori Steaks.
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Randy Krishna's will still serve up dishes like tandoori ribeye, creamed saag paneer and biryani onion rings for customers who have already purchased tickets for the sold-out event on Sept. 17 in a made-over Italian restaurant in Manhattan.
Dumb Starbucks, a non-Starbucks affiliated coffee shop featured on comedy-reality showNathan for Youin which every item adopted the "dumb" precursor,may be the case most similar to Ruth Krishna's in relation to parody law. However, the pair are far from alone when it comes to supposed imitators getting in trouble with the law – though in most cases, the copycats are actual restaurants, not just satiric pop ups.
In2005, Starbucks forced Sam Bucks, a coffee shop run by Sam Buck Lundberg in Astoria, Ore. to change its name to Downtown Coffee. In-n-Out hassuccessfully filed lawsuitsagainst burger joints with similar menus and signage. However, one "imitator"remains standing: Ronald McDonald, the proud owner of McDonald's Family Restaurant, which opened just one year after the first McDonald's.
Related:Will 'Dumb Starbucks' Be Smart Enough to Get Away With Selling Parody Coffee?
