Celebrity Justice
Mr. Chow -- Violent Imposter is Stealing My Biz

Mr. Chow claims his employees have been getting violent threats from a Mr. Chow impostor -- and it's all part of an alleged nation-wide conspiracy to steal business from the world famous Chinese food king.

 Mr Chow

Michael Chow -- the real Mr. Chow -- has filed a new lawsuit against a dude named Chak Yam Chau ... a former "food chopper"' who spent 25 years working at Chow's famous New York restaurant.

"Real" Chow claims "fake" Chau left Mr. Chow in 2005 to start his own restaurant in New York, which he named "Phillipe Chow" -- allegedly using the "Chow" name to dupe potential customers.

But now Chau is trying to open a restaurant in West Hollywood -- right near Chow's famous Beverly Hills location -- and Chow claims things are starting to get really nasty. "Real" Chow claims "fake" Chau's people have been waging an all out war to steal business, and suspects they have used the following tactics:

-- sending a spy -- disguised as a chef -- through a Mr. Chow kitchen to take photos
-- making "large group reservations for no-shows"
-- making "bogus calls purporting to place vast and expensive take-out orders which are never picked up"
-- making harassing phone calls to Mr. Chow employees
-- threatening Mr. Chow employees with violence
-- trying to steal contracted employees by offering unfair compensation
-- smashing the glass door at Chow's Beverly Hills restaurant
-- defacing paint on a Mr. Chow sign

"Real" Chow is suing for more than $10 million -- and demanding that L.A. County Superior Court forces the "fake" Chau to stop implying that he is affiliated with Mr. Chow in any capacity.

Ciao.

Tags: chinese food, ChineseFood, imposter, michael chow, MichaelChow, mr chow, MrChow

Reader Comments

(Page 1 of 2) | 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

1. Yikes! The Chinese Mafia!

Posted at 4:09PM on Sep 24th 2009 by mrez golucky

2. this story would be better if there was a chow chow running across the screen! =P

(still this is pretty messed up)

Posted at 4:13PM on Sep 24th 2009 by lilliana.m.garcia

3. Kick his ass Mr. Chow.

Posted at 4:30PM on Sep 24th 2009 by Biff

5. Soup`s on!.any chow is GOOD CHOW!

Posted at 4:33PM on Sep 24th 2009 by MS CHOW

6. Let the chopstick wars begin!!!

*grabs some popcorn*

Posted at 4:51PM on Sep 24th 2009 by Miles

7. yeah the old dolce spot. its cursed by lonnie.

Posted at 4:52PM on Sep 24th 2009 by Adam

8. lol.....Fake Chau and Real Chow..... so funny..

Posted at 5:01PM on Sep 24th 2009 by ChauChowCiao

9. Ciao. That's the first time ever TMZ made laugh out loud. Kudos. Comedy is all about subtlety guys...

Posted at 5:04PM on Sep 24th 2009 by Nia

10. OMG. that ciao at the end got me good. LOL!!!!

Posted at 5:12PM on Sep 24th 2009 by sweetmamma

11. Agreed with Nia, usually your little blurps add nothing or detract from the story, this time great job you got another lol from me at my desk at work.

Posted at 5:13PM on Sep 24th 2009 by ben

12. Doesn't he know karate!

Posted at 5:18PM on Sep 24th 2009 by nightcrawler

13. Mr. Chow's is just another over priced restaurant with decent food. Who cares if there is another one with a different name, but this other guy needs to get his ass kicked if what he is doing is true. I personally don't spend my money on food where the price is jacked up just because of the name outside. I hope Chak Yam Chau's place gets bad ratings and is closed down for the crap he pulled. He doesn't deserve anything but heartache.

Posted at 5:28PM on Sep 24th 2009 by Bruce Lee

14. I'm gonna open a restaurant in the same area and call it McChows.

Posted at 5:57PM on Sep 24th 2009 by Mikey

15.
I propose the customer starts bringing their own lunch in a lunchbox if going out. Alternatively, staying in and cooking at home.

It is not a requirement to eat at some stranger's house if you don't want to.

More Sensible Living advice as it comes to hand.

Posted at 6:33PM on Sep 24th 2009 by shuffler

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

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