4 June 12-18, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | MONTHXX–MONTHXX,2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | 86 THE CHEF Michelin-starred Konro chef busted for domestic violence for a second time. Against a second wife. BY ALEX DELUCA C hef Jacob Bickelhaupt, the founder of several Michelin-starred res- taurants, including Konro in West Palm Beach, has been arrested on charges related to domestic violence. This is not the first time. Bickelhaupt, who was previously arrested for attacking his ex-wife and business partner, was taken into custody by West Palm Beach Police on June 2 on felony charges of aggra- vated battery causing bodily harm and domes- tic battery. According to an arrest report, staff at St. Mary’s Medical Center had notified po- lice that fire-rescue workers had brought an injured woman into the intensive care unit from Palm Beach In- ternational Airport, where she’d appar- ently had a seizure at a ticket counter while trying to purchase a ticket to Denver, her hometown. According to the arrest report, the woman told police she’d been in a car accident. But medical staff quickly realized that her injuries weren’t con- sistent with that scenario. Police were dis- patched to Bickelhaupt’s West Palm Beach home to conduct a welfare check, where they detained him for their investigation. The ar- rest report indicates that police observed that the woman had two blackened eyes, multiple bruises across her face, dried blood under her nostrils, and swelling around her face. Her arms, shoulders, wrists, and hands were also bruised. In a sworn statement, the woman said Bickelhaupt had attacked her for two hours, from 2 until 4 a.m., after she found him asleep on the couch and attempted to awaken him. “When she approached him, they began to argue about marital problems they were ex- periencing,” the arrest report reads. She said he followed her after she re- turned to the bedroom. “[S]he advised J. Bickelhaupt began to hit her on her head and face multiple times with open and closed fists and kick her, which caused her to fall onto the bed, before ultimately falling to the floor, and losing recollection for a few moments...,” the arrest report reads. “She tried to get away from J. Bickelhaupt by crawling out into the hallway, bathroom and the office areas of the home, where the physical confrontation con- tinued until it stopped hours later.” She said she packed a few belongings, called a ride-sharing service, and went to the airport. At Bickelhaupt’s home, officers found blood splatters in the hallway leading to the bedroom and on the bed. Evidence photo- graphs “revealed fresh red swelling upon the exterior of his hands and wrists to indicate he’d recently been involved in a physical al- tercation,” according to the report. The report further notes that the woman was being treated for a subdural hematoma and was sent in for emergency surgery after her condition began to decline owing to “the presence of an irregular heartbeat.” Her current condition remains unknown. Bickelhaupt, who asked to consult an at- torney when advised of his rights, is being held at a Palm Beach County jail on a $90,000 bond. Reached by email Wednesday after- noon, Bickelhaupt’s public defender, De- vereaux Stephens, declined to comment on the case. “Thank you for reaching out, but I am unable to comment on open cases,” Ste- phens wrote in an email to New Times. An Illustrious — But Violent — Past Bickelhaupt made waves on Chicago’s food scene with an underground supper club he launched alongside his first wife, Alexa Walsh. That paved the way for the couple’s next venture: 42 Grams, a high-end restau- rant that opened in 2014. Less than a year later, 42 Grams earned two Michelin stars, and Bickelhaupt found himself a rising star in the culinary firmament. His rapid ascent to fame, and the personal costs that came with it — including the dissolution of his marriage to Walsh — became the focus of a 2017 documentary also called 42 Grams, which chronicled the transformation. That same year, the restaurant abruptly closed. While the reasons were unclear at first, the circumstances eventually came to light: In June 2017, during a dinner service, Bickelhaupt assaulted his ex-wife in the restaurant’s park- ing lot, dragging her by her hair and striking her with a bottle. That night, he posted a tweet from the restaurant’s account announcing its closure. He later pleaded guilty to battery. Bickelhaupt attempted a comeback with another underground supper club, Konro, fol- lowed by another restaurant, Stone Flower, in 2019. He also sued Walsh for going public about the assault, which he claimed cost him $250,000 in lost business. (He dropped the lawsuit.) Stone Flower closed in January 2021. As Molly Martin, food editor at Westword, our sister paper in Denver, noted in a story published earlier this year, Bickelhaupt’s story picked up with another documentary featuring him as the protagonist: 86ed. The two-hour film follows his move to Colorado, where he and his new wife, Nadia, relaunched Konro from their home. The tagline on the documentary’s since- deleted website, 86edfilm.com, describes the film as “a story about a two-Michelin-star chef hitting rock bottom with cancel culture and finding redemption.” The summary reads, “After being canceled in Chicago fol- lowing a violent incident with his ex-wife/ business partner, 42 Grams chef Jake Bickel- haupt moved to Denver in the midst of CO- VID-19 for a fresh start. However, his past continues to haunt him as the cloud of cancel culture and online bullying renders him nearly paralyzed in his search for redemp- tion. During these times of uncertainty and change, watch as Jake fights against all odds to rebuild his life.” In 86ed, Nadia tearfully recounts the negative public reaction to the Bickelhaupts’ attempt at a fresh start, including a episode in which Bickelhaupt was chosen to be part of the Colorado Five, a group of chefs meant to represent the best of the state’s culinary scene, who would cook at a series of annual pop-up dinners and other events. After public backlash, Bickelhaupt was asked to leave the group. The film ends with Jacob and Nadia host- ing a Konro dinner in their Denver home. In October 2022, the couple moved to West Palm Beach and announced plans to open a restaurant there. That chef’s-table omakase establishment debuted in October 2023. Earlier this year, the restaurant earned a Michelin star. The National Domestic Violence Hotline number is 800-799-7233 (SAFE). Counselors can also provide support via online chat. The confidential services are available 24/7. [email protected] For the second time in less than a decade, chef Jacob Bickelhaupt has been charged with domestic violence against a spouse. Screenshot from the 86ed trailer/YouTube | METRO | BICKELHAUPT WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY BY WEST PALM BEACH POLICE ON JUNE 2. It’s Only Money State bill threatens $3.8B tourism industry. BY ALEXANDER LUZULA M iami’s tourism industry is at the cen- ter of a growing debate after pro- posed state legislation threatened to strip millions in local tourism funding. Rep. Monique Miller and Rep. Fabián Bas- abe, both Republicans, in February introduced H.B. 1221, which aims to remove the Tourist Development Tax (TDT), a state and local tax that resorts, hotels, restaurants, and rental properties pay to help fund tourism marketing and development. It would require local governments to di- vest the funding collected from the TDT into other areas and dissolve all county Tourism Development Councils, nine-member volun- teer boards established under Florida law to promote tourism and stimulate local eco- nomic growth through cultural and special events. In 2023 and 2024, Miami-Dade County col- lected $61 million in tax revenue via the TDT, generating $3.8 billion for Florida, according to Curtis Crider, President and CEO of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Associa- tion. In 2024 alone, Miami’s tourism economy generated over $2 billion in tax revenue for the state, creating an average tax saving of $2,200 per household. Miami hotels’ TDT rate is 2 percent, though Miami Beach, Surfside, and Bal Harbor hotels charge 4 percent. Crider says Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, and downtown Miami are the strongest-performing tourist areas in Miami- Dade County. According to Crider, the funding | SUBSECTION NAME | >> p5
