Referring to the lawsuit brought against him by Jehangir Mehta, Jesús Nuñez told us earlier today, “I don’t need someone saying that I used the fame of another chef.” So what does that other chef have to say? We’ve just heard back from Mehta’s rep, and here’s their statement.
To nip this in the bud this is simply about the similarity in the names. When filing the complaint it was important to point out the similarities in the restaurants that besides the name might confuse the public, and one of those points is the use of uncommon ingredients. Jehangir does not pretend to have invented “pop rock cuisine” but it is an ingredient that he’s used for some time and Nunoz referred to pop rocks in an interview with the Huffington Post, and that is exactly what the complaint states. Jehangir’s team did attempt to reach an amicable solution with Graffit’s team, but they did not follow up. The complaint also states about customer confusion which has already coast both restaurants business.
All very reasonable. Maybe Graffit should just choose another name that reflects eating as well as its chef’s work as a graffiti artist? Maybe something like Fish Tagger?