New York City‘s elites were pranked by a group of Generation Zer’s in a one-night only fake steakhouse meal that had the city’s A-listers believing, for a moment, they were part of an exclusive group picked to dine at this restaurant that didn’t exist.
The unmarked public-bathhouse-turned-event space on the Lower East side was the location this group of 20-somethings used to create the illusion of a Manhattan restaurant that doesn’t really exist, the New York Post reported.
The 140 patrons who showed up to dine at Mehran’s Steakhouse over the weekend believed they were the lucky ones who had gotten off the years-long waitlist for a chance to dine at the so-called exclusive, 100-year-old chop house. But in reality they were all part of an elaborate prank pulled off by a a 21-year-old AI startup founder and more than 50 of his close friends.
NYC’s fine-dining elite pranked by Gen Zer’s fake steakhouse https://t.co/gfpbkdsq9P pic.twitter.com/tjuJ2NycpP
— New York Post (@nypost) September 25, 2023
It all started during the pandemic in 2021, when Mehran Jalali’s housemates decided to mark their biweekly steak dinners he would cook for them by marking their location as a chop house on Google Maps.
The roommates then started leaving rave reviews of the meal they had leading total strangers to show up at their home wanting to dine on this wonderful meal.
In response, Mehran ended up creating a website for their booked, “revolutionary steak experience.” And by the end of 2022, the fake chop house had accrued nearly 3,000 people on the waiting list, the outlet noted.
So Jalali and his pals decided to make their fake restaurant a reality and gathered volunteers, found a venue, got a one-day liquor license and food handling permits. He then hopped on a plane to New York, because he currently lives in California, and the group picked some 200 people to invite to attend the exclusive fake steak house.
Many of the patrons who attended seemed to miss the subtle hints that it was all a joke, including portraits hanging in the lobby showing Mehran posing with celebrities throughout the generations, like Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Obama and JFK, he had supposedly cooked for over years and years.
Patrons were taken to their seats by “barely legal servers” where a 15-inch laser-etched wood-cut provided them with a comedic amount of text describing their upcoming, $114 prix-fixe meal as violin covers of pop hits played overhead. Waiters also were seen parading around with a gallon of whole milk, at one point, as if the liquid was some fine wine.
Despite all this, guests went through the evening as though nothing was off, the outlet noted. Two Upper East Side patrons told the outlet afterwards that, “Some improvements could be made.”
However, the report noted that not everyone was amused. “One couple threatened Mehran with legal action after finding out his ‘restaurant is fake.'”
But there were others who the outlet noted were thrilled to be part of the gag.
“It’s New York, you can eat anywhere,” opera singer Scott Thomas said. “But for it to be this fun is priceless.”