An alleged foodie fraudster well-known among the Brooklyn restaurant scene that she’s accused of scamming free meals is being held on bail after her latest lunch.
Officials confirm Pei Chung was arrested Friday after dining out at a Williamsburg restaurant and allegedly refusing to pay the $149 tab she racked up. A judge ordered set her bail at $4,500 in cash.
Chung has made a name for herself in recent weeks by documenting her gourmet grift online. The 34-year-old is known for ordering multiple courses, snapping pictures of the food and later posting that content to her Instagram page. But every time she gets arrested, Chung is charged with theft of services, a Class A misdemeanor like turnstile jumping, and gets released.
According to police records, Chung has been arrested more than half a dozen times over the last month for failing to pay her bill at trendy restaurants.
In her recent attempts to grab some gratis grub, Chung spent an evening at Chinaloa, a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant in Williamsburg. The owner told NBC New York that the moment she walked in, he knew who she was just based off her clothes and accessories.
“Gucci bag, Prada, her shoes were Burberry, stuff like that. She’s like a diva,” said Alex Arias.
Dripping in designer duds and snapping away with a professional camera, Arias said there were some red flags about her right away. To confirm his suspicions, Arias asked to see a credit card.
“When I saw her name on the card, practically I refused to serve her,” he said. “I told her, ‘You have to go.’ So then she started laughing, [saying] ‘I already ordered my food I’m going to eat.’ And I said no, I’m going to call the cops.”
Surveillance video showed Chung leaving the restaurant and walking down Grand Street. But Arias wanted to put the word out about her.
“She was walking to other restaurants so I started screaming, ‘She’s a scammer!’” he said.
The infamous influencer visited Peter Luger steakhouse in October, where an employee told NBC New York she ordered nearly $150 worth of steak, sides and dessert for herself. On her food blog, Chung posted pictures of her meal and gave Peter Luger a glowing review.
But the employee at the famed steakhouse told News 4 that waiters thought it was really strange that she stayed for hours, and when she was given the bill, she allegedly told employees that she could not pay. The worker also said she tried to barter with items from her bags, including a set of kitchen shears.
Ultimately, the cops were called and Chung was escorted away. The restaurant employee said the so-called Anna Delvey of fine dining came back to Peter Luger the next day — but by then, employees knew who she was and showed her the door.
Shockingly, one restaurant owner in Williamsburg recognized Chung from NBC New York’s reporting and from social media — and still decided to serve her.
“I knew she was not going to pay,’ said Mimmo Cappiello, who runs the Italian Restaurant Baccia & Abracci – which is notably not a free soup kitchen. “I felt OK, why not? I’ll give her a meal or something.”
Photos posted to Chung’s Instagram show the meal she got for free: margherita pizza, linguine with clams and she even got dessert. But she also had another request.
“She wanted a steak to go and she even said ‘If your kitchen is closed, I can cook it at home myself,” said Cappiello.
That’s where he drew the line.
“No, didn’t give her the steak. Actually, I gave her the check before that and she said oh I don’t have money. ‘And you want the steak as well now?’ I said…and she left,” Cappiello told NBC New York.
At Chung’s most recent arraignment, prosecutors asked for bail, but a judge decided on supervised release.
“She’s going to keep doing it and its not fair for us, for a small business like this one,” Arias said.
So what will Cappiello do if Chung comes back? The same thing as before.
“I think I’m going to feed her again. Hopefully we won’t have a line of people that I gotta feed. I cannot afford that,” he said.
Chung did not reply to requests for comment. Court records show she is being represented by a public defender.
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