Red Stixs, one of the upscale Chinese eateries involved in a heated competition, has crumbled like a fortune cookie.
The Midtown hotspot — favored by Nicki Minaj, Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid — has closed its doors at 216 E. 49th St. It owes around $560,000 in rent and is being evicted, the eatery’s lawyer, Vincent Ancona, told Side Dish.
Sources said one of the restaurant’s partners drained its bank account and fled with cash — a situation Ancona said he could not confirm.
“Let’s just say that the cast of partners aren’t pleased with each other,” he said. “The restaurant just didn’t work.”
Red Stixs also shut down its East End outpost in Water Mill and auctioned off the contents.
In December, Page Six reported that a Red Stixs waiter filed a police report against Michael Reda, a Red Stixs owner and founder of rival Philippe Chow, for allegedly choking him and threatening to kill him when he tried to work for a rival.
The waiter alleged that Reda went ballistic after he told him he wanted to “pick up some shifts” at Jue Lan Club, owned by Reda’s ex-partner, Stratis Morfogen.
It was just the latest drama involving several interconnected Chinese eateries. In 2014, Philippe Chow sued Red Stixs in the Hamptons for being a copycat. That was after Philippe was sued in 2009 by Mr. Chow for allegedly stealing its name and its dishes.
We hear … Manila Social Club chef Björn DelaCruz has created a $150 tequila-infused Patrón Platinum Donut in time for Cinco de Mayo. The Williamsburg chef fills a rose petal donut with cream and a spicy ginger-jalapeno margarita jelly, slathers it in a sweet tequila frosting and tops it off with sheets of edible silver and platinum. Each donut must be specially ordered.
