Milk Street Cafe sours on celebrichef's similarly named venture

The owners of Milk Street Cafe are suing former America's Test Kitchen frontman Christopher Kimball over his plans to open a Milk Street Kitchen just down Milk Street.

In a lawsuit filed in US District Court in Boston this week, Milk Street Cafe, located at 50 Milk St., says the public is already getting the two mixed up and demands Kimball cheese it and come up with a less similar name for his test-kitchen effort at 177 Milk St. to take on his former employers.

Since this recent announcement, Milk Street Cafe has received numerous job applications for “Milk Street Kitchen” and inquiries from customers believing that Milk Street Cafe is owned by Kimball. Milk Street Cafe’s internet and social media presence also has been usurped by the prominence of “Milk Street Kitchen” and the public persona of its founder. ...

Kimball also has threatened to attempt to cancel Milk Street Cafe’s federally registered trademark and has filed his own trademark application for “Milk Street Kitchen” that emphasizes “Milk Street” in large bold letters.

No whey, Milk Street Cafe says: They've been open on Milk Street since 1981, have opened Milk Street Cafes elsewhere, are well known in the Boston area and Kimball should stop being such a bully.

According to the complaint, Marc Epstein, who runs Milk Street Cafe with his family, met with Kimball earlier this month to try to convince him to find another name. Instead, the complaint continues, Kimball hired some bigfoot New York law firm to threaten legal action on his behalf against Milk Street Cafe.

Two can play that game, of course, so Epstein hired a bigfoot Boston law firm to strike first, with a lawsuit that asks a judge to order Kimball to knock it off, find some other name and pay Milk Street Cafe damages and penalties for being so bullheaded.

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