SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) - An award-winning cookbook author and California restaurant owner says anyone wearing a red "Make America Great Again" baseball cap will be refused service at his restaurant.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is a chef-partner of the Wursthall restaurant in San Mateo and says in a tweet Sunday that he views the hats as symbols of intolerance and hate.
"MAGA hats are like white hoods except stupider because you can see exactly who is wearing them," Kenji Lopez-Alt tweeted. "It hasn't happened yet, but if you come to my restaurant wearing a MAGA cap, you aren't getting served, same as if you come in wearing a swastika, white hood, or any other symbol of intolerance and hate."
Lopez-Alt's decision was met with mixed reaction by restaurant clients.
Diners interviewed by the newspapers said they understood Lopez-Alt's stance but questioned the hat ban and said he could have found a way to start a dialogue on the issue.
Lopez-Alt wrote the 2015 book "The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science."
He says his restaurant received threatening emails following the tweet and declined further comment.
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