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I think I will never go to Pearl Oyster Bar again. I guess until POB opened there wasn't such a thing as a new england seafood shack otherwise some one would be suing her. She really needs to get over herself. Does she really think two more "lobster shacks" are going to hurt her bottom line? She gets plenty of business.

Can someone name a place or two in L.A.? I would love to put this assertion to my own tastebuds when in L.A. later this year.

I wish I didn't know this: Kobayashi beat Joey Chestnut in a Krystal burger eating competion. What made it special was that Kobayashi had won the event last year eating maybe 65 burgers. When he beat Chestnut the next year he ate closer to 100. (beating chestnut by Iess than 10). The point being, Kobayashi eats enough to win. I will be interesting to see if he can amp up hot dog consumption by 33%. My money would still be, if I cared, on Kobayashi.

Los Angeles has the best Chinese food. It's odd that at a time when New York is going through a chinese food rut, LA's going through a chinese food explosion, but it's pretty much the reality of the immigrant experience. The best chinese food is now in the ethnoburbs rather than in a city's Chinatowns. I've eaten in NY and SF chinatowns, but the suburbs in east LA was an absolute revelation.

Go to Din Tai Fung and Meilong Village for dumplings.

It is amazing how many people are commenting about this when A) they have not seen the complaint and B) they have no idea what the issues are. Inane gossip, speculation, and erroneous conclusions just muddy the waters. The complaint is online and Rebecca Charles is suing for trade dress, identity theft and breach of fiduciary responsibility.

She doesn't claim to have invented anything but HER OWN restaurant, which she is trying to protect.

She doesn't want to stop you from getting your cheaper, closer lobster roll, nor does she lay claim to inventing them, just HER OWN. (Pearl's roll is a completely different animal than the traditional New England shack roll, which is why it's the one everyone copies.)

She couldn't get more customers in the joint and if she were trying to make money, she would have opened several, which brings me to the next point.

It seems McFarland is partnered with businessmen (one a millionaire/political wannabee, according to google) who intend to open of these.

In NYC on biz this week I went to both places for lunch and dinner and ELB looks exactly like Pearl. This is not Ed Levine's bias, it's reality. The paint colors down to the green in the bathroom, gray wainscoting and the white painted brick wall are identical; as are the marble bar and side bar; the beer tap; bathroom furniture; pendant lights; window seat; chairs; floor stain; odd long cabinets behind the bar; glassware, plates, coffee mugs, and doilies; waiter's station; large mirror like Pearl's placed in the same way behind the bar; and the actual layout of the dining room. The placement of the pictures, "sconces," chalkboards, what is written on them and how, menu and wine list are all identical.

Almost every item on Ed's menu is something I have eaten at Pearl in the past or can get today and this includes the lunch menu which no one is mentioning. The presentation of the dishes is identical; the sides are the same, the tartar sauce, the mignonette, etc. The mussel dish and the bouillabaisse (not clam shack dishes) were exactly the same as was Pearl's pot pie. He even makes her blueberry crumble pie. The quality paled but the intent was clear.

I lived in SF for more than a decade, went to Swan all of the time and the restaurants are nothing alike. And anyone familiar with clam shacks knows that Pearl Oyster Bar is much more than that. Tie up all these ends at Ed's and you have AN ILLEGAL FRANCHISE. Right, which I understand is a bit of an esoteric, obsolete concept these days, and the law are on Rebcca's side.

Not to me it isn't. What if Rebecca wins, this changes everything. What if there was only one place in NYC where you could experience a "seafood shack".

Exactly. I think IP rights have been pushed too far already (a copyright term of life plus 75 years?), and a victory by POB could have serious consequences. Everyone steals from everyone else -- that's how ideas and art (and cuisine) evolve. Allowing someone to own the right to a restaurant concept could really stifle creativity and innovation.

Maybe McFarland violated her trust. Maybe he's a worldclass jerk. But IMO she crossed the line when she filed the lawsuit.

I don't know much about legal matters, so I believe others when they say this case has no legal merit, but I am confused by people who compare this situation to one where you have restaurants with similar concepts in different cities that are 100's or thousands of miles apart. These places are a mile apart and almost look they could be part of the same chain.

Did Gertrude Stein sue Ernest Hemingway for stealing her rhythm? Did Cezanne sue Picasso? Did the crack dealer on my corner sue the crack dealer across the street - oh wait, there was that gunfight. The Anxiety of Influence strikes the seafood sector - someone tell Harold Bloom.