Last night Jack Perkins, proprietor of Maple and Motor, took a break from flippin' burgers to check out his Yelp page. He noticed a review from Dace Street, the son of Gene Street, owner of Snookies and brother to Mariel Street, who owns the newly expanding Liberty Burger.
Turns out earlier this month, Dace gave one star to both Maple and Motor and Twisted Root Burger. Previously, he gave four stars to Black Eyed Pea and a few other joints, noting mostly quality service in his positive reviews.
And for that, Jack Perkins called him front and center by posting his review on the Maple & Motor Facebook page.
I happened to speak with Perkins last night, and he noted the audacity of Street to post a negative review of a competitor without even masking his identity. (Street has a photo on his Yelp page). D Magazine picked it up this morning. Word spread quickly, and around 1:30 p.m. Dace Street responded to Perkin's post:
I don't know who is screwing with me. Profile was jacked. Terribly sorry. Love M&M and so do my kids.
Within minutes the review of Maple and Motor and Twisted Root were deleted from Street's Yelp account, followed by quickly closing his entire account.
I just got off the phone with the slightly frazzled Street.
"Some a guy I never heard of just called me up and started chewing me out," said Street. "Somebody got in my Yelp account. I haven't logged on there but half a dozen times in my life. I just took the whole thing down."
Asked directly if he posted the negative reviews about Maple and Motor, he said: "Absolutely not! I've only been there once in my life about a year ago."
"Somebody's screwing with me and they got me good whoever it is," he said. "I sure as hell don't want to pick a fight with the guy at Maple and Motor. My apologies to the world. I wish no ill will to anybody. ... And I certainly don't want a fight with (Perkins)."