Bonnie Crocker, a manager at Pure Food and Wine, said that Bad Vegan left her with more questions than she had before. “It didn’t track for Sarma for the answer to be like, ‘Sarma just gave all this money to this guy.’ That didn’t make any sense for what she wanted to do or for anything,” Crocker said. She added that the end of Pure Food and Wine and the tarnishing of Melngailis’ legacy “feels like a death in a way,” noting, “You never really know what another person’s going through no matter how well you think you know them.” Former Pure Food and Wine executive chef Nikkie Bennett revealed, “One thing that was a surprise for me was finding out that Michael Cordelano, who Sarma introduced me to as an investor, was actually Anthony, and I did not know that. I was on email threads with this person!” She added, “I still feel like there’s some mystery surrounding the whole story, and maybe we’ll find out [the truth] or maybe we won’t.” “He was promising money, he was promising that her debt would go away, he promising that she was gonna be immortal or whatever,” Pure Food and Wine staffer Nick P. Ross chuckled. “It’s hard because I just feel like, I have such a skepticism deep in my core. It’s too good to be true!” Joey Repice, former Pure Food and Wine beverage director, was appalled by the crimes committed. “The money that just kept flying out, the transfers that just kept happening—I was just blown away,” he said. “I would appreciate having her reach out and um, just connect to us.” “There were over a hundred employees there,” operations manager Jim Switzer said. “Before they lost their jobs, they didn’t get paid, and I didn’t think Sarma really showed any empathy for them.” He added, “Sarma’s journey was fraught with insecurity. Maybe too focused on trying to be the best in other people’s eyes.”
What did Sarma do?
Melngailis was a household name in the New York socialite set and Pure Food and Wine was a certified hotspot, attracting stars like former President Bill Clinton, Woody Harrelson, Rue McClanahan, Owen Wilson(who workers in Bad Vegan recalled walking through the restaurant’s kitchen barefoot), Anne Hathaway, Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchenand Alec Baldwin. It was through Alec and Hilaria Baldwin’s Twitter presence that she met Strangis, with whom she became romantically involved in late 2011. Strangis claimed to be an ex-Navy SEAL on secret black ops missions for the government and promised Melngailis everything from money to pay off her debts to immortality for her and her beloved rescue pitbull, Leon. Strangis and Melngailis married in December 2012, though she said in Bad Vegan that she didn’t truly want to be his wife; she reiterated her state of mind in Vanity Fair, telling the mag, “The impression in the doc is I intentionally married Anthony so he could transfer me money. That is completely not the case. At some point, Anthony did some of his mindf**kery and got me to marry him.” Strangis wasted no time coercing Melngailis to pass what he called “cosmic tests,” most of which involved transferring large sums of money from Pure Food and Wine into his own bank accounts. Other nefarious tests included sex acts that Melngailis alluded (though never outright said) weren’t entirely consensual, as well as tolerating his obesity and junk food habits. According to the Brooklyn district attorney’s investigation, Melngailis and Strangis began making fraudulent transfers from the restaurant’s business accounts into Strangis’ personal accounts in January 2014. Within a year, they spent $1.2 million of Pure Food and Wine’s money on gambling trips to Connecticut casinos, $80,000 on watches, $70,000 on hotels. and $10,000 on Uber rides. As it so often unfortunately happens, the workers were hit hardest initially by Strangis and Melngailis’ fraud: Because the pair drained the restaurant’s bank accounts to basically zero, they weren’t able to make payroll. In 2014, Melngailis owed her employees a massive five months’ worth of paychecks to the tune of $40,000. In winter 2015, Pure Food and Wine staff picketed outside the restaurant to demand their pay, and by July 2015, the restaurant closed. Melngailis and Strangis were on the run and finally got caught in a Tennessee hotel room when Strangis ordered Domino’s pizza and chicken wings. In March 2017, Strangis pleaded guilty to four counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree and was sentenced to a year in prison and five years of probation. He was released from jail in May 2017. Around the time Strangis walked free, Melngailis pleaded guilty to grand larceny, criminal tax fraud and a scheme to defraud in exchange for six months in jail and five years probation. She was released from prison in October 2017.
Was Sarma paid for Bad Vegan?
Melngailis was paid for Bad Vegan, but says she didn’t pocket any of the cash at all, instead using the funds to repay her stiffed Pure Food and Wine workers. “It’s standard practice—to say nothing of journalistic integrity—that subjects do not get paid for participation in documentaries, at least not the reputable ones,” Melngailis wrote on her website. “In my case, however, and at my insistence, the producers made an exception so that I could pay the total amount my former employees were owed—amounts that accrued after my disappearance in 2015. Of all the harm and the many debts resulting from my downfall, this portion weighed heaviest.” She further clarified, “Beyond getting former employees repaid, I did not otherwise profit from Bad Vegan. Netflix and/or the producers can confirm this. Anyone who’s been the subject of a reputable documentary or who works in the industry could also confirm the standard practice of not paying subjects.” After not paying Pure Food and Wine’s taxes during her marriage to Strangis, she declared the income from Bad Vegan on her taxes despite not receiving it directly, already showing some improvement and dedication to staying on the fiscal straight and narrow.
Did Sarma pay her employees?
Melngailis used the money she made from Bad Vegan to pay her staff their back pay through their attorney representing them. “In exchange for the source materials and images I contributed to the documentary, the producers paid an attorney on my behalf who then, on the same day (which happened to be the day NYC restaurants were first shut down due to the pandemic in 2020) wired full payment directly to the attorney representing the employees,” she wrote on her blog, adding, “I was relieved once this payment went through, but that was just a small part of what remains outstanding,” she concluded. “I want to be clear that I’ll keep working towards addressing it all—one way or another—eventually.”
Is Pure Food and Wine still open?
Unfortunately for fans of raw vegan lasagna, Pure Food and Wine is dunzo. While Strangis and Melngailis were jet-setting around the world on the restaurant’s dime, the eatery shuttered for good in summer 2015. Next, find out what Anthony Strangis thinks of Bad Vegan and its aftermath.
