Hamburger Project

San Francisco Chef Geoffrey Lee Allegedly Continues to Post Negative and Threatening Messages to Influencers After Leaving His Trio of Restaurants | Eater SF

"This restaurant became the center of a public controversy after a December 11, 2024 review by influencer Kathleen Ensign that rated it "good but not great" (7.2) and, according to Ensign, led to the chef's attention about 10 days later. Ensign alleges he followed up with negative comments calling her "weird" and "unstable," and that a voice memo purportedly from his young daughter called her a "dumbface." Ensign shared these messages on social media, prompting an online furor that culminated in the chef stepping back from his role at this and two sister restaurants on Friday, January 3; Ensign says she has not corresponded with him since January 8. In a February 26 Instagram video Ensign highlighted a series of direct messages and emails she says were shared with her from other women who claim they had similar run-ins, and told Eater SF, "I feel awful. I wake up to dozens of nasty comments every single day. He opened up a conversation that hasn't stopped." An anonymous February 6 email sent to multiple members of the food media alleged additional misconduct; Eater was not able to independently verify those claims. The chef denies the new accusations, says he "holds himself accountable for the initial disagreement with Ensign in late 2024, but says since everything went public in January he's ceased reaching out to customers and reviewers," and says others have created accounts to impersonate him online. He provided Eater with screenshots of alleged spoof Instagram and email accounts and said, "My email's been hacked, my social media's been hacked." He also told Eater, "I wholeheartedly deny any of those weird statements are from me. I am in shock that someone would go to this extent to create accounts and impersonate me. It's spiraling, and it's scary. I thought we were moving on." The restaurant group replied to media that he was no longer at the restaurants and reiterated on Instagram, "Geoffrey has not been a part of our day to day operations at any of the restaurants since Jan 3" and added, "We are as appalled as everyone else by the recent revelations on social media regarding his actions and communications with individuals online. Please know that Geoffrey is not acting on behalf of our partners, our staff, or our principles." Eater was unable to verify the identity of the alleged spoof accounts or independently confirm the anonymous email's allegations." - Paolo Bicchieri