Mr. Chow's kooky kitchen caper

The battle between South Beach's chichi Chinese restaurants Mr. Chow and Philippe has a new, wacky twist that's something out of a Scooby Doo episode. It seems that someone may have sneaked into Mr. Chow's kitchen last week dressed as a chef and was busted and photographed (see surveillance photos below) snooping around. The Chow team suspect it was an impostor acting in concert with their arch rival, Philippe at the nearby Gansevoort. Mr. Chow reported the incident to the police and filed an amendment to the original lawsuit that cited unfair competition by corporate espionage and civil trespass. “This incident further reinforces our suspicion of the deceptive practices and lengths the defendants will go to misrepresent themselves.  It’s not enough that they’ve tried to steal our signature dishes, but now they appear to be trying to update their menu with new ideas from our kitchen," says Alan Kluger, attorney for Mr. Chow. In response, Philippe partner Stratis Morfogen told us, "This is beyond bizarre and at this point we have no further comment describing Michael Chow's delusional and paranoid state of mind." As Shaggy would say, zoinks!