Evanston Bakery Sues Ex-Chef For Missing Recipe Book [UPDATE]

By Chris Bentley in Food on Apr 18, 2012 5:40PM

We’ve really got to try these Cinnamon Bombs from Fraîche Bakery Café, as they’re evidently litigiously delicious.

The owner of the Evanston bakery filed a lawsuit against former chef Mary Ann Huppert who made off with two ringed binders that contained the restaurant’s signature recipes.

The suit stated the recipes “were developed, assembled tested and honed over the course of 3 ½ years. That work cannot be readily reproduced. The damage to Fraiche’s goodwill from the inability to offer these items would be irreparable because it cannot be measured in money damages.”

But the supposed recipe heist was overblown, Huppert told the TribLocal:

“The whole thing is just ridiculous,” Huppert said in an interview, adding that she plans to turn over the recipes. “They told me to come get my stuff, and then they sued me to get it back.”

Fraîche owner Susan Davis Friedman claimed the recipes were her property, but the former chef says she cooked up the recipes on her own. Intellectual property law can get sticky when it comes to recipes. The parties reached a settlement in the short-lived lawsuit.

Apparently not contentious was the quality of the Noyes Street café’s product. The Cinnamon Bomb made Time Out Chicago's List of 100 Best Things We Ate (and Drank) in 2011.

(Update): And the lawsuit has now been dropped after Davis Friedman came to a settlement with Huppert.