Staffers sue 'Mr. Chow'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Michael Chow, whose designer restaurants in New York, Los Angeles and London attract the celebrity set, regularly degraded his staff at his two Manhattan locations, according to a federal lawsuit.
In one instance, the suit claims, a waiter was made to lie on the floor while Chow feigned kicking him.

The $5 million lawsuit, filed Monday by three former waiters, also accuses Chow of deducting waiters' tips for not listening attentively to him, speaking out of turn and failing to wear a perfectly starched uniform, which they buy with their own money.
Martin Singer, a lawyer for Chow, called the suit specious and without merit. It's completely frivolous.

Chow, who operates Mr. Chow on 57th Street and Mr. Chow Tribeca, says on his Web site that The movements of his waiters -- filling glasses, changing tablecloths, delicately de-boning rare, fresh pieces of fish -- are parts in an elaborate symphony of which he is, ultimately, the conductor.

But Louis Pechman, the lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, claims in the lawsuit that Chow was in fact a conductor with an iron baton, who demanded cult-like attention from his staff, tapping or lightly slapping waiters' heads to make sure they were listening.
Chow's Web site describes his restaurants as complex and long-running installations set in theaters of his own careful design.
He opened his first one, serving upscale Chinese food, in London in 1968.

He then took his successful formula to Los Angeles and New York, where celebrities can regularly be spotted, including George Clooney, Tobey McGuire, Robert DeNiro and Gwyneth Paltrow. He is slated to open another Mr. Chow in Miami in 2008.

The most glaring claim involves Costin Dumitrescu, an 11-year wait veteran at both Manhattan Chow restaurants. It says Chow berated Dumitrescu before the entire staff when he arrived late for a meeting after running an errand for Chow.
Chow ordered Dumitrescu to lie on the wooden floor in the middle of the staff meeting for about 40 minutes, then periodically walked up to him and feigned kicking him in order to make him flinch in fear, the suit says.

Dumitrescu was fired in July 2006. The other two plaintiffs are Josip Ricov, who was terminated in March, and Marin Alexandru, who quit in February.
The Web site also describes Chow as an art collector and Renaissance man with an extensive portrait collection that includes images of himself by Andy Warhol and David Hockney.

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