Bad Vegan's Sarma Melngailis is back in NYC.

Discover the latest in the Pure Food saga — a new deal, a missing salary, Bella Thorne, and more. [curbed logo](   A Second Act For Bad Vegan’s Sarma Melngailis [Melngailis sitting in her empty restaurant with her dog, Leon. Photo: Jeff Brown]( About six months after Bad Vegan came out on Netflix, Sarma Melngailis sat on the floor of her old Gramercy restaurant, Pure Food and Wine. She took out her phone and began filming herself. The space — where Alec {NAME} and Gisele Bünchden once came for raw vegan lasagna and master-cleanse-tinis — was empty and dark, formerly brick-red walls whitewashed. “It feels strange,” she says, beginning to cry. “I’m just grateful to be back and excited to be able to tell people and really happy to be doing this, just coming back with a solid foundation and coming back as a different person.” The documentary series had been a massive hit — directed by Chris Smith (who’d produced Tiger King just two years before), it was watched for nearly 30 million hours in its first five days. The show depicted the years Melngailis, spent under the control of her con man ex-husband, Anthony Strangis. He’d promised her and her pit bull, Leon, immortality in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars, leading them to dupe investors in the restaurant, leave workers unpaid, and finally bankrupt the place. The couple were eventually arrested at a hotel outside Dollywood in 2016 when he ordered pizza using his real name and were sentenced to pay $844,000 restitution to investors and serve time at Rikers — her four months, him a year. With the show being a massive success, it didn’t take long for former associates to approach Sarma Melngailis for a follow-up. Will we see Bad Vegan, part 2? [READ THE FULL STORY](   [New York Magazine]( [Subscribe now to save over 60%]( on unlimited New York Magazine, plus get a free tote.   Popular With New York Readers [The Fast-Food Obsessive Who’s Still Trying to Solve Lunch]([Steve Ells built Chipotle and its burrito bowls. Now he’s working on vegan burgers cooked by robots.](   [All the Winners of the Creative Arts Emmys]([The Last of Us was the big winner. And Detroiters alums Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson both snagged trophies!](   [Tom Scocca: Unraveling My Medical Mystery]([The strangest things happen to other people’s bodies. Then they began happening to my own.](   [I Was Told No One Wants Fat Girls]([Growing up, my body was a punch line.](   [The Company That Veganizes Bodega Favorites, at Your Favorite Bodega]([One BEC, hold the bacon, the egg, and the cheese.](   [Curbed]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. View this email in your browser.Â]( Opt out of marketing emails [here.]( Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on e-mail newsletters please contact AdOps@nymag.com [unsubscribe](param=curbed) | [privacy notice]( Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.