Maple & Ash Investors File Lawsuit Against Owners Who Are Already Suing Each Other

The Maple & Ash legal saga continues. In previous installments, co-owners David Pisor and Jim Lasky sued each other. Pisor filed a lawsuit against Lasky, alleging that Lasky locked him out of the corporate office and cut off his access to electronic reports after Pisor refused to sell Lasky his stake in the company. Lasky countersued, accusing Pisor of removing $265,000 from two company bank accounts and transferring them to his own private account. Now, nine outside investors are suing both Pisor and Lasky, Crain’s reports, claiming the pair took $3 million they invested in Maple & Ash and using it to fund other restaurants they own. Both Pisor and Lasky deny the accusations, so at least there’s one thing they can agree on. Meanwhile, their latest venture, the all-day Cafe Sophie, which opened in April, is temporarily closed to tend to maintenance issues, according to its website.

Edgewater Starbucks workers go on strike

Workers at the Starbucks at 5964 N. Ridge Avenue in Edgewater are on strike today and tomorrow, SB Workers United Chicago announced on Twitter. Since they voted to unionize on May 25, the workers say, the Starbucks corporate office has cut the store’s hours and refused to approve new hires to fill vacancies, leading to understaffed shifts. The workers are also collecting donations for a strike fund via GoFundMe.

A west suburban restaurant group faces Facebook hacking

The Facebook account for the Bien Trucha Group, which owns four restaurants in the western suburbs, was hacked, Julio Cano, the group’s chief technology officer told the Tribune. The hackers changed Bien Trucha’s page to make it look like an investing service instead of a restaurant, charged thousands of dollars to the restaurant for cryptocurrency ads (though Cano was able to cancel the credit card), and posted nude photos on Cano’s personal Facebook page. Cano told the Tribune that he didn’t want to have to start over because Bien Trucha’s restaurants have a combined 30,000 likes and followers — the result of 14 years of work — and Facebook is an important tool for recruiting new staff. Facebook was unresponsive to Cano’s inquiries. Since the Tribune story ran on Wednesday, though, the Bien Trucha Facebook page seems to have returned to normal, proving that a shaming from a large metropolitan newspaper is an effective tool in fighting Facebook.

Argyle Night Market returns next week after two-year hiatus

The Argyle Night Market, the weekly summer festival and market, will return to Uptown next Thursday, July 7, after a two year pandemic hiatus, and will run every Thursday on Argyle Street between Kenmore Avenue and Sheridan Road from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. through August 25, Block Club reports. The night market, which features music, street performers, and food from the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, has been running since 2013.