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Celebrity chef Matthew Kenney, who opened splashy plant-based Italian restaurant Baia in Hayes Valley in August 2020, thinks “Bad Vegan” docuseries subject Sarma Melngailis should take another shot at opening a restaurant, according to TMZ. The online tabloid reports a spokesperson for Kenney, who dated Melngailis in the early aughts, says the chef “believes in second chances and wishes Sarma the best,” adding that if Melngailis wants to open another restaurant, he thinks she should “pursue it.”
For those who haven’t already binged the four-part Netflix series, here are the highlights: the show chronicles the implosion of New York City raw vegan restaurant Pure Food and Wine, which Melngailis owned alongside Anthony Strangis. In the show Melngailis alleges Strangis exerted “coercive control” over her, influencing her to participate in a long list of criminal acts ranging from grand larceny and tax fraud to labor law violations.
Kenney has lent his name to scores of restaurants from San Diego to Sydney and formerly was an owner at Pure Food and Wine — though he split from the venture when he and Melngailis ended their relationship. Baia is the chef’s only San Francisco restaurant; it took over the city’s most memorable dining location, the longtime home of Traci Des Jardins’ Jardinière.
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