The chef and co-owner of a popular Los Angeles restaurant has asked for a restraining order against her husband and business partner in a divorce filing in which she also accuses him of killing the couple’s cats, the L.A. Times reports.  

Elizabeth Johnson and Will Aghajanian opened Horses in late 2021. The nearly 90-year-old building on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, which formerly housed Ye Coach & Horses before becoming the Pikey, was an instant hit, with a Jan. 2022 Times review referring to the restaurant as “the city’s most exhilarating new dining experience in the last year.”  

In Nov. 2022, Johnson requested a restraining order, alleging domestic violence by Aghajanian, saying that she feared for her safety and that of others. She also claimed that she and her husband “had cats that mysteriously ended up dying,” the Times reports. 

In her divorce filing, Johnson said in one instance, Aghajanian joked about feeding a kitten they had just gotten to coyotes and claimed that she later witnessed him abusing the cat, according to the Times.  

“I caught Will violently shaking the cat late at night, and he died the next day. Will put the dead cat in the trash and insisted on keeping the corpse in the house,” Johnson claims in the court filing.

For his part, Aghajanian denied his wife’s allegations in his own court filings and requested a restraining order against Johnson. He also alleged that it was his wife who abused their animals, the Times reports.  

“She falsely accuses me of things that she has done or that she threatened to do to me and my pets. My pets are like children to me and I love them dearly,” Aghajanian said in his court filing.  

In December, a judge approved the domestic violence restraining order against Aghajanian and reissued it again on May 1. The order requires Aghajanian to stay 100 yards away from Johnson and the couple’s three dogs, according to the Times.  

Whether or not the restaurant remains open is unclear, though Eater Los Angeles reported that as of Wednesday afternoon, Resy.com showed a few available reservations.  

KTLA has reached out to Horses for comment.