Much to our astonishment, Amy's Baking Company has yet to completely fade from the spotlight. Perhaps it's because of the public's appetite for owners Amy and Samy Bouzaglo's particular brand of crazy, but it might just be that the pair keeps pissing off the wrong people. Like journalists.
Case in point, Phoenix Business Journal reporter Hayley Ringle recently suffered through an attempted meal at Amy's Baking Company that involved fruit flies floating in her party's cocktails and ended in her group getting the boot from the Scottsdale, Ariz. eatery. Her article that followed was not kind, but justified.
But first, some context. When one of Ringle's dining companions -- Phoenix Business Journal's digital editor Adam Kress -- ordered a vodka martini on the rocks with a twist of lemon, it arrived garnished with a fruit fly. When brought to Samy's attention, the co-owner at first apologized and brought Kress a second martini, which also had a fly floating inside it. After some squabbling, Samy brought over a third drink -- with three flies in it.
Ringle and her companions complained, which is when Samy reacted in a manner similar to his appearance on "Kitchen Nightmares":
He immediately became defensive. He said there are no bugs in the drinks, and he would pay for all of our drinks and then said we needed to leave.
I asked him if there were no bugs, did he think we planted them in the drinks? He again told us to leave.
So our group of four, which had all ordered alcohol except for me, and had each ordered a dish close to $15, walked out at Samy's stern request.
But one victor may have emerged from this whole debacle: Pita Jungle, the restaurant next door. Ringle and her party decided to eat there after getting kicked out of Amy's and found the place "super busy and very friendly."
The Huffington Post reached out to Pita Jungle to see if our suspicions were correct in that the eatery's foot traffic or sales had increased, but a representative declined to comment -- which we respect. At least someone is taking the high road.
Read the whole account on the Phoenix Business Journal website.