Series Review: "Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives" (2022).

From the director of Fyre and Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal comes Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. This docuseries by director Chris Smith. A scandalous four-part documentary series that uncovers how Sarma Melngailis, the celebrity restaurateur behind the New York hotspot Pure Food and Wine, went from being the queen of vegan cuisine to the tabloid-touted “Vegan Fugitive” when she falls for a man who promises to make her dreams come true. Millions of dollars, immortal dogs, meat suits, and secrets lead to a twisted tale of love turned criminal.

In June 2004, with Chodorow and Kenney, Melngailis opened Pure Food and Wine as New York City's first upscale raw food restaurant. Located in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood, the restaurant was listed twice in New York magazine's "Top 100 Restaurants" and five years in a row in Forbes magazine's list of "All Star New York Eateries." The couple opened One Lucky Duck Juice and Takeaway, a takeaway retail store attached to Pure Food and Wine. In 2005, OneLuckyDuck.com, launched. In December 2009, a second One Lucky Duck location was open in New York City's Chelsea Market. In January 2015, it closed. In 2014, One Lucky Duck Juice and Takeaway's first location outside of New York City opened in San Antonio, Texas. In January 2015, Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck staff walked out en masse due to Melngailis' failure to pay employees a month's worth of owed wages. This was the second time within a year that a month's worth of wages had been withheld, the first being in July 2014. In February 2015, Melngailis addressed the walkout and subsequent closure of both restaraunts in a blog post. She apologized for the incident, but her blog post was subsequently removed. In an interview, Melngailis said that the delayed wages were due to slim margins caused by debts and expensive ingredients. During the ordeal, Melngailis provided employees with a different explanation, blaming the situation on changing banks. In April, Pure Food and Wine, One Lucky Duck, and OneLuckyDuck.com reopened. A majority of staff did not return to the restaurant after its reopening. Again, in July, the staff of both restaurants walked out due to unpaid wages. Both have since been permanently shut down. In mid May 2016, it was reported that Sarma and her then husband Anthony Strangis (also known as "Shane Fox") were arrested in Sevierville, Tennessee. In late December, prosecutors offered Melngailis a plea deal in which she would agree to serve one to three years in prison. In May 2017, Melngailis pleaded guilty to stealing more than $200,000 from an investor, and scheming to defraud, as well as criminal tax fraud charges. She received a nearly four-month jail sentence. In May 2018, she filed for divorce from Strangis.

Smith delivers a sporadically interesting yet mostly underwhelming documentary that feels like it's missing huge chunks of the story. The film is a pretty solid example of how to direct a documentary regarding a case whose controversy speaks for itself.

Simon says Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives receives:

Also, see my review for 100 Foot Wave.