Spurs PG Tony Parker famously suffered food poisoning from a dodge crème brûlée during the 2003 Western Conference Finals, and as such, the Frenchman is rather wary of dining out in opposing cities. Which makes the accusations of Memphis chef Kelly English somewhat suspicious, with Yahoo’s Marc Spears reporting the former claims Parker was denied a table at Restaurant Iris.
English, a Grizzlies fan who has the team’s “Grit, Grind” slogan written on his arm in his Twitter profile photo, then explained the decision in a subsequent tweet, saying Parker wasn’t given a table at the restaurant because he didn’t have a reservation.
Parker, however, said he ate room service dinner from his hotel while watching the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers play Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals that night. Parker said he never even left his hotel room.“I don’t know what is going on with that, man,” Parker said before the Spurs’ practice on Sunday. “I did not do that. Can you stop doing promos? Is that a new way of doing promos? That’s a new way of doing promotion now, using my name? I did not do that.”
“I stayed in my hotel room, never called or anything,” Parker said. “…I don’t know why you [media] keep fueling that. I guess he’s going to have a lot of people now going to his restaurant because you guys keep talking about it. It’s a great way to promote it with a fake reservation.”