Chickie's & Pete's sues over 'Maryland Crab Fries'
A restaurant in Maryland dared to use the trademarked name for its 'seasoned french fries.'
Chickie's & Pete's sues over 'Maryland Crab Fries'
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Your Italian restaurant is in Maryland.
You serve Maryland Crab Soup, and that's fine.
You offer Maryland Crab Fries, and you get nasty letters from Pete Ciarrocchi's lawyer.
And now a federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Philly on Oct. 27, is in the mail to J & P Pizza in Westminster, Md.
In 2007, Chickie's & Pete's Ciarrocchi registered the trademark "Crab Fries," as in seasoned french fries, and he's passionate about defending that trademark. Two years ago, he successfully sued another Maryland restaurant, which had offered to change the spelling to Krabfries.
Sidecar Bar & Grille in the Graduate Hospital area has a dish listed on its menu as "THE APPETIZER FORMALLY KNOWN AS: A dish so controversial, we dare not type its name."
I should note that J & P has eight locations, and the offending "Maryland Crab Fries" is listed on one menu online, dated 2007. Another J & P location's menu lists the more generic "seasoned fries."
J & P's owners did not return a call for comment.
If there are no crabs in C&P's Crab
Fries, maybe someone should sue C&P— BIGMOE- I really dislike C&P. I mean is it a bar or is it a restaurant? It does both badly. Not a great menu, and who can enjoy a beer and a game when the place is filled with rugrats running around?— superturtle
- Everyone should boycot Chickie and Petes. This guy Pete Chiarocci is an ego maniac......He is dellusional about his importance in the city. He think he invented the french fry for PETES sake!!!!— PhillyTerm
- totally agree. sat behind him one time at an eagles game. he literally stood up and turned around at every dead ball so everyone could see him. he even pretended to wave at people so it looked like he was popular. Complete stooge if I've ever seen one. — bmc239
- French Fries covered in Old Bay have been around long before this tool "created" them.— gordon7
- I agree with the opinions expressed. The food at chickie and pete’s is fair, at best, and certainly not worth the high prices they charge. There’s nothing special about this chain; maybe their locations.— Jack O
- So can Pat's and Gino's sue Chickie and Pete's for selling Philadelphia cheese steaks? - you can't trademark food - Ridiculous.— phillydude
- Just change their name to crabcity fries.— farley
- Did you know the Original location in Mayfair only takes cash? Don't go in and order anything and think you can use a credit card. Whats up with that?
He has expanded so much and so quickly, it's no longer a destination to go to Chickies n Pete's. They're like McDonalds: one on every corner. Yuk!— Chr 
Comment removed.- They're only good on Robbins Ave. - don't know why. But if they have legal title to the name, the MD restaurant shouldn't be able to use it.— JenniferNaomi
- Those of us who grew up near the original on Robbins know what Pete is all about. It used to be a corner bar with decent snack food. Then the creep decided to make it a corporation. It wouldn't be as bad if everyone recognized this but the creep still has half the city fooled into thinking he's the only game in town.— JE40
- Unless C's & P's has locations outside of SE PA it makes no sense to waste the dollars suing the offending restaurants. In fact, if other places outside of the Philly region use the name, outsiders visiting the region will know exactly what 'crab fries' are. After all, they surely can't be the first people to sprinkle Old Bay on french fries. LOL
— pres - I had a car towed in the lot on Packer by this creep. We ate at Celebre's which shares the parking lot , and this jag off had us pay $185 to some shuyster Lew Blum who stole our car.— Joe Hoagie
- Comment removed.
