Margarita Kallas-Lee and Phillip Frankland Lee Set Their Sights on Three Michelin Stars

Margarita Kallas-Lee and Phillip Frankland Lee now run more than 30 restaurants nationwide, including 14 Sushi by Scratch locations and 15 NADC Burger locations. In 2026, the husband-and-wife team opened Big Slick, a boutique steakhouse; Shokunin, a sushi bar; and Frank and Margie’s, an Italian-American neighborhood restaurant, in addition to expanding the number of Sushi by Scratch and NADC Burger outlets. Scratch Restaurants is a dependable A-list favorite, with guests including Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Falchuk, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joe Rogan.

The co-owners project at least 25 percent revenue growth in 2026. Over the next year, Kallas-Lee and Frankland Lee plan to open 10 additional restaurants, including Sushi by Scratch locations in La Jolla, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Nashville, and NADC Burger (which is co-owned with skateboarder Neen Williams) in Philadelphia and San Marcos. In 2027, they plan to open The Inn at Crumley Road Ranch, a four-acre farm with a seven-bedroom bed-and-breakfast and a fine-dining restaurant. They’ve spent the past four years building it, and aren’t shy about their Michelin aspirations.

Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee, both 2026 Nightlife & Dining Power List honorees, talked to Observer about building an inn on a Texas farm, avoiding outside investors and their three-Michelin-star ambitions.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

You’re married, and you own everything together. How do you divide the work?

Phillip Frankland Lee: We have been married for almost 15 years, and have owned restaurants together for about the same amount of time. We’ve always communicated well by setting strong boundaries. Margarita has the final say within her department, and I have it within mine. I can’t really think of the last time we strongly disagreed to the point where we’ve reached an impasse.

You’ve spent four years building the inn in Dripping Springs. Why aim for three stars on a farm in Texas rather than in a city? What would it mean to get there?

Frankland Lee: If you’re going to aim for anything, why not aim big? And if you’re going to aim big, why not aim the biggest? Three stars will be the pinnacle of any achievement you can get, as far as accolades go. But with that said, I would trade those three stars in a heartbeat for a sold-out establishment with people enjoying their time with us.

You sold a restaurant to private equity in 2021 and have said the buyer keeps hiring away your people. What did that sale teach you about growing without outside money?

Frankland Lee: I’m not sure the actions of a few should define the many; that said, we could probably be 10 times what we are now if we raised proper money. But then again, we’d have to answer to other people who don’t understand what we’re doing, and for that, we may actually be 10 times smaller. The short answer is there’s no real way to know what would’ve happened, but if you ask me if we’re happy today, we couldn’t be more grateful for the things that occurred, good or bad, that led us to where we are today.

How does a 10-seat omakase counter work in 13 cities? What can’t be copied from Montecito to Chicago?

Frankland Lee: Cuisine, spirit, hospitality and interior ambiance can all be replicated. The only real things that can’t be transported from city to city are physical venues and local sensibilities. That said, we try to lean into the terroir of each city we’re in. In Montecito, we have big glass windows near the beach, and in Chicago, we are located underground underneath an NADC Burger in an old Prohibition-era speakeasy.

How did a skateboarder end up as your burger partner?

Frankland Lee: He’s one of my best friends, and we started skateboarding and making burgers and other foods together for fun years before NADC became a business.

What was it like when you and your brother got Michelin stars at the same time? 

Frankland Lee: I got my first Michelin star in 2021; I believe Lennon got his in 2025. He happened to be present the day we got our first stars, and we were sitting next to him the day he got his.

Pastry chefs are often the last to get credit in a restaurant group. What does your role actually look like across 30-plus restaurants?

Margarita Kallas-Lee: Not only pastry chefs, but also as a co-owner of our company/restaurant group. Since Phillip and I created our first concept together in 2012, I’ve barely gotten any credit, and most of the time, people don’t mention that this group is half-owned by me, no matter how many times Phillip or I say it.