How a Scamming Socialite Stiffed NYC Restaurants Like Le Coucou and Sadelle’s

How a young grifter scammed her way through NYC’s top restaurants and hotels

Impressively prolific scammer Anna Delvey made her way around NYC’s socialite scene pretending to be a wealthy German heiress, racking up huge bills at hotels and restaurants before it all eventually caught up with her and she landed in Rikers in October 2017. In a new profile in New York, writer Jessica Pressler looks at Delvey, who lived at 11 Howard, the hotel that houses Le Coucou, one of the restaurants where she often took business meetings with people like Martin Shkreli and charged meals to her room. But the hotel never had a credit card on file for Delvey, and she soon owed it and the restaurant $30,000. She paid it off eventually, but the cracks in her faux socialite facade grew. She also reportedly walked out on a huge bill for a birthday party at Soho’s Jewish-inspired restaurant Sadelle’s. Delvey cashed bad checks to keep the lie afloat, but her attempts to secure a loan for the Soho House-like business project she was working on during her time in NYC eventually exposed all her fraudulent activity.

A defense of Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas from an international pizza consultant

In a short Times profile of Anthony Falco, the former pizza czar at Bushwick’s Roberta’s, the pizza expert describes two of the pizzas that helped shape his love for the food: his great-grandmother’s traditional Sicilian grandma pies made with “Lots of sauce, bread crumbs and olive oil, onions and green olives, very little cheese,” and the fluffy, slightly sweet Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas. Clinging to memories of the latter, Falco has developed his own recipe for a souped-up version of the chain’s personal pan, made with a super buttery dough, honeyed sauce, pepperoni, and two kinds of mozzarella, which tops the pizza in excess. “I like to use nostalgia as a weapon,” Falco told the Times.

The cafe in a trademark battle with the MoMA is expanding

Owner Eric Cahan tells Bowery Boogie that matcha cafe/exhibition space Momacha will not be changing its name despite pressure to do so from the Museum of Modern Art, which filed a lawsuit against the small tea shop for having too similar of a name and logo. According to Momacha ownership, “to obtain a preliminary injunction, the MoMA must show a likelihood of consumer confusion, and the MoMA has not made and cannot make this showing.” Legal troubles certainly aren’t stopping the cafe from expansion. Ownership also announced that three more locations will open in the city with rotating artwork.

Coming attractions

A vegan café unfortunately called V ❤ U is heading to 428 E. Ninth St. in East Village. It comes from Junie Ishimori, who previously co-owned vegan ice cream shop Stogo in the neighborhood. It’s expected to open some time this summer. Also in East Village, London-based bubble tea franchise Bubbleology has signed a seven-year lease for 120 1/2 First Ave., where it will open a flagship shop with a backyard patio. This weekend, gelato shop L’Arte del Gelato will open a new location in the food hall Bowery Market, which also recently added The Fruit Sand, slinging sweet sandwiches made with fruits and whipped cream on Japanese milk bread shokupan.