MIDDLETOWN – When breakfast and lunch restaurant Tatum’s Table was preparing to open in the Lincroft Plaza strip mall last September, the veteran restaurateurs who operate neighboring Luigi’s Famous Pizza welcomed the new business with open arms.
“We would send over pizzas while they were trying to get ready to open,” said Kelly Emerson, who owns Luigi’s with husband Jason, in a Facebook post Sunday. “Then, when they finally did open, I enjoyed several breakfasts there with my kids and would sit with a friend and have coffee at the bar.”
She wrote in the post that she enjoyed “a wonderful relationship” with restaurant owner Tatum Menake and her family.
“We would both frequent each other’s establishments,” Emerson wrote, posting as Luigi’s of Lincroft. “We had a good thing going.”
But a social media post in recent weeks announcing Menake’s intentions to open Tatum’s Table for dinner shattered the relationship.
The problem, according to the Emersons, is that Tatum’s Table’s proposed dinner menu contained some Italian dishes that Luigi’s claims to have exclusive rights to sell, under the terms of its lease.
According to Kelly Emerson’s Facebook post, she and Jason spoke to the landlord, who advised Daniel Menake, Tatum’s father, that he would not give Tatum’s Table permission to open for dinner if the Italian items were not removed from the menu.
Tatum’s Table’s lease specifies it can open only for breakfast and lunch.
Daniel Menake’s response to the landlord was, “I’m selling what I want to sell,” Emerson wrote in the Facebook post.
Now, the food fight is in court. Luigi’s is suing Tatum’s Table, as well as Tatum and Daniel Menake, seeking to enforce the provision of its lease that gives Luigi’s exclusive rights to serve certain Italian dishes in the strip mall and to bar Tatum’s Table from serving those items.
The lawsuit pits a long-established eatery against a businesswoman who recently opened a restaurant inside a former Subway sandwich shop.
The Emersons have owned Luigi’s Famous Pizza since the ’90s. The restaurant sells pizza, pastas, entrées, hot and cold subs, sandwiches and salads, among other dishes. David Portnoy of YouTube’s “One Bite Pizza Reviews’’ gave Luigi’s pizza a score of 8.1 out of 10 when he visited the restaurant, calling their pie “super crispy,’’ “really, really good stuff’’ and “great pizza.’’
Tatum’s Table, in business less than half a year, touts a breakfast, brunch and lunch menu of specialty lattes, iced coffee flights, breakfast skillets, pancakes, toasts, grain bowls and sandwiches, among other dishes.
Attached to the Emerson’s lawsuit is a copy of Luigi’s menu, noting which dishes the restaurant claims to have exclusive rights to serve. Among them, according to the attachment, are pizzas, pastas and calzones, plus chicken, veal and seafood dishes.
The restaurant war is also raging on Facebook, where Tatum Menake responded to Kelly Emerson’s post within minutes Sunday. Both sides are accusing the other of intimidation and threats.
“When we first opened, we went out of our way to support Luigi’s and their staff,” Tatum Menake wrote in the Facebook post. “We gave them free breakfasts numerous times, simply because we wanted to be good neighbors and build positive relationships in the community. Sadly, despite our kindness, things have taken a negative turn.”
Luigi’s Facebook post generated 189 comments, was shared 48 times and had garnered 593 reactions — among them 272 “likes’’ and 117 heart emojis — by Wednesday afternoon.
In the same timeframe, the post by Tatum’s Table generated 130 comments, had been shared three times and garnered 32 reactions: 14 “likes,’’ 16 laugh emojis and two heart emojis.
Menake, in her Facebook post, claims she is being harassed over “a few items on my menu.”
The restaurant “is primarily a steakhouse with some pastas — not in direct competition with Luigi’s,” the post said.
In January, Tatum’s Table advertised a “Peter Luger-inspired steak night” on Instagram. The menu featured a menu of homemade rolls, thick-cut bacon, tomato and onion salad, classic Caesar salad, a porterhouse steak, German potatoes, creamed spinach, and homemade butter cake — dishes that are not on Luigi’s menu.
But, Tatum’s Table’s Valentine’s Day menu and proposed regular dinner menu contain some dishes that Luigi’s claims are exclusive to them, such as chicken parmesan and gnocchi.
An answer to Luigi’s complaint filed on behalf of Tatum’s Table contends there is nothing in Tatum’s Table’s lease prohibiting the restaurant from selling the Italian dishes. The Emersons say the exclusivity rights are contained in Luigi’s lease.
Attached to the answer filed on behalf of Tatum’s Table’s are that eatery’s menus, including the proposed dinner menu on which there are notations differentiating its items from Luigi’s. For instance, it notes that Tatum’s Table offers chicken parmesan on the bone and that Luigi’s boneless chicken parmesan is less expensive.
“Again, we are not compair (sic) oranges with organge (sic) here,” a notation on Tatum’s Table’s menu said. “High end VS lower end dining. Tatums (sic) price is $20 higher. This should benefit Luigis.(sic).’’
It had a similar notation for a veal dish.
Tatum’s Table’s answer to Luigi’s complaint, as well as its Facebook post, maintains that Daniel Menake does not own, control or manage the restaurant.
“I am a 21-year-old girl and the sole owner of Tatum’s Table,” Tatum Menake wrote on Facebook. “My father has no involvement in the business.”
Luigi’s lawsuit has been amended twice since it was first filed on Feb. 13, a day before Tatum’s Table planned to open for dinner for Valentine’s Day.
The initial versions of the suit seek temporary and permanent injunctions barring Tatum’s Table from selling the food items to which Luigi’s claims exclusivity. The complaint claims that if Tatum’s Table is allowed to serve those items, Luigi’s would be irreparably harmed and would lose goodwill, substantial sums of business and its reputation as an exclusive seller of Italian cuisine at Lincroft Plaza.
Following a hearing on Feb. 18, Superior Court Judge Mara Zazzali-Hogan issued a temporary injunction on Feb. 19 barring Tatum’s Table from selling any food after 4 p.m., essentially precluding any potential dinner business.
The most recent version of the suit, filed by Luigi’s on Tuesday, accuses Daniel Menake of making threats against Luigi’s.
“Defendant Daniel Menake, acting on behalf of Tatum’s Table and his daughter, Tatum Menake, has engaged in a campaign of threats and disparagement against Jason Emerson, the principal of Luigi’s, as well as Luigi’s itself, and its employees and customers,” the complaint alleges.
“The threats have included verbally and electronically communicated threats that Tatum’s Table would install a pizza oven so as to drive Luigi’s out of business, and other similar threats,” the complaint said.
“Tatum’s Table, whether by the actions of Daniel Menake and/or Tatum Menake, have engaged in a social media campaign with postings available to the public so as to disparage Luigi’s by claiming, among other things, that Luigi’s and its principal have been bullying Tatum’s Table and/or Tatum Menake and/or Daniel Menake in an effort to destroy the business of Tatum’s Table and/or to expend unnecessary sums of money on things like attorneys’ fees,” it said.
The amended complaint seeks injunctions not only prohibiting Tatum’s Table from serving the prohibited Italian dishes, but also from serving dinner and from threatening and disparaging Luigi’s, its owners, employees and customers.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Monday, March 24.
Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.