Inside Lucien Smith’s Messy, Mouth-Watering Pie Pageant

Photos by Eric Helgas.

FRIDAY 4:36 PM OCTOBER 31, 2025 CHINATOWN

Earlier this year, the artist Lucien Smith brought Gordon Matta-Clark’s iconic Chinatown restaurant FOOD back to life, reviving an old haunt that once defined SoHo’s fine arts scene in the 1970s. One surefire to recapture the magic of New York’s halcyon days? Host a pie-eating contest on Halloween, replete with crust-covered noses and jam-smothered shirts. Last Friday, we asked the photographer Eric Helgas to swing by FOOD and document it all.

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