Owners of a New Automat Find Bad Blood on Their Menu
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They sure do serve it up fast at the Automat — whether it’s a $2 “chicken potpie kroket” from a vending slot or a $2.5 million lawsuit.
After opening its storefront less than four months ago in the East Village to fanfare for the nostalgic concept, the Bamn! Automat’s business partners already are mired in a legal dispute in Manhattan Supreme Court.
One of the partners, Robert Kwak, alleges in court papers that David Leong and “Nobu” Hai Nguyen blocked his access to the store’s cell phone and e-mail accounts, tried to “terminate” him, and banned him from the premises.
When Bamn! debuted this summer at 37 St. Mark’s Place, Mr. Kwak promoted the shop as a modernized throwback to the precursor of today’s fast-food joints. The first Automat opened in 1902.
The coin-operated windows at Bamn! resemble yesteryear’s Automat, but unlike its historic predecessors, which offered generous seating, Bamn! is only about 600 square feet. It serves mostly fried foods, not lamb stew and clam chowder as in days of old.
The city’s last Automat closed in 1991. Now, Mr. Kwak in effect has asked the court in legal papers to repeat history and dissolve his own Automat company, though Mr. Kwak’s lawyer, Adam Feldman, said yesterday that he’s had “constructive conversations” with his opponent’s lawyer, and his client now doesn’t want to dissolve the company.
“They’re going to be able to work something out,” Mr. Feldman said, retracting some of the allegations made in the papers he filed Wednesday, including that Mr. Kwak was banished from the store.
“Unfortunately when tempers flare, these sorts of things happen, and they grow a life of their own,” he said.
The restaurant’s outside publicist, Steven Hall, said the dispute was between friends, two of whom had met nearby as classmates at New York University.
“Obviously there’s bad blood,” he said.
Mr. Kwak hasn’t been to Bamn! in more than a month, Mr. Hall said, and Messrs. Leong and Nguyen had been negotiating to buy out Mr. Kwak’s stake.
“Next thing they know, they were served papers,” Mr. Hall said.
The legal woes haven’t stopped the oblivious passersby buying freshly made teri-chicken burgers, New York grilled cheese, or chicken nuggets for a few bucks.
“It doesn’t really affect me at all,” restaurant employee Phillip Park said yesterday as customers fed coins into vending machines. “No drama or any of that.”