Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« Headline of the Week | With Apologies to Harper's »

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Food Fight

posted by on July 8 at 13:55 PM

Eric Banh, owner of the Monsoon and Baguette Box restaurants on Capitol Hill and in Fremont, was arrested for assault on June 27th after he got into a scrap with a former employee.

According to a police report, Banh and the former employee ran in to each other outside of Monsoon and got into an argument. The report says Banh was hostile towards the employee because he believed he had, while working for Banh, plugged up his restaurant’s drains with plastic bags.

Banh and the employee exchanged words and threats before, according to the report, Banh “turned and did a side kick to [the former employee],” striking him in the torso. The former employee claims Banh told him “you know martial arts. Defend yourself.”
The police report also states that Banh matches the description of a suspect in two other assaults.

Banh was arrested for the assault, but it appears the city has not filed charges for the incident.

Banh could not be reached for comment.

060814_hellskitchen_vmed9p.widec.jpg

Hat tip to CHS.

RSS icon Comments

1

It'd be pretty surreal watching some kung-fu fighting outside of Monsoon.

Posted by Your hill smells of carrorts | July 8, 2008 2:04 PM
2

Eric Banh is a better cook than Tom Douglas.

Posted by Amelia | July 8, 2008 2:04 PM
3

Eric Banh has been like this ever since Ang Lee gave him his big break.

Posted by elenchos | July 8, 2008 2:09 PM
4

I love Monsoon, and Eric has never been anything but kind to me when I have been there. But...one wonders if the pressure of having to close his current location, open new ones, etc., hasn't gotten to him.

In his defense, I'm told by eyewitnesses that the "victim" told Eric that he was "the stupidest person he'd ever met" or something similar. No excuse for losing it, but this victim is hardly blameless.

I hope Eric finds a way to get the peace back in his heart and focuses on those five spice ginger ribs.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | July 8, 2008 2:11 PM
5

at first I thought this was going to be an article about that food place on U Ave that has a stranger review comment about it - the one that isn't open yet.

Hmm.

I guess this is another SLOG post about plastic bags, cause you elitists just want to make the poor and middle class shell out 25 cents cause you're too lazy to recycle yours ...

Am I right?

Posted by Will in Seattle | July 8, 2008 2:35 PM
6

Monsoon is one of my favorite restaurants anywhere and Eric Banh is both a treasure and a hell-of-a nice guy.

Posted by Tim Keck | July 8, 2008 2:36 PM
7

What Tim Keck said. Jesus that is awful.

Posted by kid icarus | July 8, 2008 2:45 PM
8

"My pahd-thai-kung-fu is better than your baguette boxing"

Posted by elswinger | July 8, 2008 3:21 PM
9

I was at Fuel, watching while this went down. Nobody in Fuel said anything about Eric kicking the guy, and there were multiple people watching the yelling and subsequent "dude pacing up and down in front of Monsoon while announcing loudly on his cell phone that Eric Banh assaulted him." Granted, I didn't see the entire fiasco, but it seems like someone would have said something to the effect of "that dude kicked that other dude". Instead there was a lot of concern for Eric, and skepticism towards the other guy. I didn't stick around for the whole thing, I just got my coffee, gawked for a bit, and left.

I'm going to side with the skeptics on this one. I heard nothing about kicking, though there were some raised voices. Mostly I just wanted my latte.

Posted by Jessica | July 8, 2008 3:22 PM
10

The food at Monsoon is amazing and if Banh had to go upside someone's torso to defend his place then more power to him.

I will now eat there more often.

Posted by Jeff | July 8, 2008 3:34 PM
11

Eric is da banh, err, da bomb. We eat at the bar all the time and he is super gracious, outgoing, and schmoozes up the clientele.

Did someone say that Monsoon is closing, though? Did I read the right?

Posted by brad | July 8, 2008 3:38 PM
12

Not closing @11 but probably has to move

Posted by jseattle | July 8, 2008 3:41 PM
13

Based on the skimpy amount of fillings I've found in my very expensive Baguette Box sandwiches, I'd also accuse Eric of being a rapist.

Posted by notime | July 8, 2008 4:09 PM
14

#13 is correct. Baguette Box is lame like that.

:Q

Posted by Pine and Melrose neighbor | July 8, 2008 6:11 PM

Comments Closed

Comments are closed on this post.