This article includes spoilers for “Black Rabbit.”
The Netflix drama series “Black Rabbit” stars Jude Law and Jason Bateman as brothers who run a New York City restaurant by that name. But while the show is new — its eight episodes dropped on Thursday — that restaurant will look familiar to many viewers.
The Black Rabbit is in many ways identical to the Spotted Pig, the clubby Greenwich Village restaurant that drew a celebrity clientele from 2004 to 2020, until it was swept under by a scandal over sexual abuse and harassment that kicked off the #MeToo movement in the restaurant business.
Zach Baylin and Kate Susman, the married creators of the show, said in an interview on Thursday that they lived near the Spotted Pig in the early 2000s, ate there often and borrowed much of its history for their fictional restaurant. (They said they also drew aesthetic inspiration from former New York hot spots like Prune, Beatrice Inn, Babbo and the Dressler.) The exterior of the Black Rabbit is a real, centuries-old wood-frame building near South Street Seaport that once housed Bridge Cafe; the three-story interior was built on a soundstage at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Here are eight ways the two restaurants resemble each other:
1. The Black Rabbit, like the Spotted Pig, is a downtown New York restaurant with cool, British-influenced vintage décor and a gorgeous crowd.
2. The Black Rabbit’s owner, played by Mr. Law, is Jake Friedken; the Spotted Pig’s owner was Ken Friedman. Friedken, like Mr. Friedman, is a charismatic former music manager who has genuine affection for his employees. In the show, Friedken has sexually harassed them and expects them to tolerate similar treatment from customers. Similar allegations were made against Mr. Friedman by 11 former employees, and in 2020 he agreed to a paid settlement brokered by the New York State attorney general’s office.
3. The modern gastro-pub food at both restaurants is great, but they are also popular because of their wild parties, where inappropriate behavior, drinking and drug-taking are not just overlooked, but encouraged.
4. The Black Rabbit’s chief investor is a Black music star who has a clothing line and collaborations with footwear brands, and collects modern art. A major investor in the Spotted Pig was Jay-Z.
5. The Black Rabbit, like the Spotted Pig, is housed in a centuries-old brick-colored townhouse on the corner of a cobblestone street. Inside, both have a restaurant on the ground floor, a private dining room on the second floor and a V.I.P. party space on the third.
6. The Black Rabbit’s chef — like April Bloomfield, the Spotted Pig’s — is a lesbian who has a close working relationship with the owner. Like Ms. Bloomfield, she is known for her signature burger, with a creative twist. The chef is accused by employees of turning a blind eye to the verbal and sexual abuse that takes place in the restaurant. So was Ms. Bloomfield.
7. At the Black Rabbit, a woman is sexually assaulted by a regular customer while apparently unconscious in the V.I.P. room. The incident is caught on a security camera, and ultimately contributes to the chaotic undoing of the restaurant — as a similar incident did at the Spotted Pig, after the episode was reported in a 2017 New York Times article.
8. In the series, that customer is a powerful older man — in the series a modern art dealer. At the Spotted Pig, he was alleged to be the celebrity chef Mario Batali, whose career imploded after multiple accusations of sexual assault were made public in 2017. In 2021, Mr. Batali and his former partners agreed to pay $600,000 to at least 20 women and men who were sexually harassed while working at three of their restaurants, according to an investigation by the New York State attorney general.
The show’s creators look back with mixed feelings on their visits to the Spotted Pig.
“We loved the warm glow of that restaurant at night,” Ms. Susman said. “But when the lights came up, all the cracks showed.”
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Julia Moskin is a Times reporter who covers everything related to restaurants, chefs, food and cooking.
The post 8 Ways ‘Black Rabbit’ Channels a Notorious New York Restaurant appeared first on New York Times.
