I gaze lovingly at Gordon Ramsay
Important Update – Read this new post for my experience at Sebastian’s AFTER Kitchen Nightmares AND learn about our free contest where you can win a Gordon Ramsay cookbook!
So after five episodes in New York, Gordon Ramsay comes to my neighborhood. Literally.
This week’s restaurant is Sebastian’s and it’s walking distance from my apartment in Burbank, California. I mean, really close. I shop at the Trader Joe’s across the street from Sebastians, drop my NetFlix rentals off at curbside mailboxes just down the street from Sebastian’s.
Here’s where it is…you get Google Street View and everything!
If you look at Sebastian’s website though, Burbank doesn’t get mentioned. Instead, the address is in Toluca Lake. Toluca Lake is part of the Southern California custom of trying to make sections of towns seem more upscale by giving them a different name. So, if living in Burbank sounds too déclassé, you rename it and it’s a new thing. (Hey, it worked for Marion Morrison.)
Toluca Lake’s major claim to fame is from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. When John Travolta shoots Marvin in the face, Travolta and Samuel Jackson go to Toluca Lake to clean the blood and bits of skull out of their car.
Here’s a scene with language Chef Ramsay would approve of, including the classic line “Well, I’m a mushroom cloud layin’ motherfucker, motherfucker!” Bon Apetit!
My brother Ken took me to Sebastian’s about a year ago. (My brother lives in nearby North Hollywood….oops, I mean he lives in Valley Village.) Sebastian’s is a sports bar and restaurant but more specifically it’s a Red Sox bar, where BoSox fans get together to watch games and cheer wicked hard for Dice-K and Big Papi and Manny. Ken and I grew up in Massachusetts, so there you go.
So I’ve eaten at Sebastian’s pre-Ramsay and it confirms my suspicion about the restaurants that Kitchen Nightmares is picking; generally speaking, they aren’t really bad or really in danger of closing down. This is a really a contrast with the original and superior U.K. version of Kitchen Nightmares, where the restaurants were so close to closing when Ramsay came in that some of them actually DID close down.
The menu at Sebastian’s was a bit weird and complex but the food was good, the couch seating was comfortable and most importantly – the place had customers. The biggest problem the restaurant probably has is parking; there’s a shared lot out in back.
So now I get to be a good little Gordon Ramsay investigative blogger, and have a meal at Sebastian’s and see how the post-Ramsay version is.
Here’s a weird fact from a really recent Yelp review….
After I emerged from the restroom, I walked past the owner of Sebastian’s who was watching Gordon Ramsay on an episode of his new show, “Kitchen Nightmares”.
“This guy doesn’t know anything about the restaurant business”, he mumbled to himself.
Call me crazy, but I think Gordon Ramsay, a 3-star Michelin chef with a worldwide empire of fine dining restaurants, might know a smidge more about the restaurant business than the owner of Sebastian’s, a mediocre restaurant in Toluca Lake with a painfully unfunny comedy night.
Sebastian’s Toluca Lake, Toluca Lake | Yelp
It sounds like the owner was complaining about Ramsay, post-Ramsay.
(If you like Gordon Ramsay, read my series of posts on Life Lessons from Chef Ramsay – here’s Part One or read my review of the U.S. version of Kitchen Nightmares)
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The oh so climatic argument between Gordon and Sebastian appeared to be some very poor acting. The US version of the show seems very contrived when compared to the UK version. It’s like processed, frozen, microwaved “reality” TV – tasteless.
Sebastian i’ll never eat at your restaurant because of how you treated the man trying to help your little DIVE get off the ground.
You need a serious reality check, grow up and grow some bollox.
I’ve heard from patrons that they’d just has well have cooked a Delicio frozen rising crust pizza then your food, prior to Ramsay being there.
Most of them won’t go back after watching your immaturity on the TV and blogs all over the net complaining what a moron you are and how your food is shit.
You won’t be open in 5 years if you don’t smarten up.
“The menu at Sebastian’s was a bit weird and complex but the food was good”
How could the food have been good? It was all frozen and boxed! Frozen mashed potatoes and pizza dough? A microwave?
You must watch Ramsey’s shows for the drama, it can’t be any interest in food, for you sir have no taste buds.
Wow look at all the blatant errors in Sebastian’s defense. He said he was about to close down, and now he’s closed. He lied about his calamari just ask his cooks. His own optimistic estimate of what’s frozen was 80%. Check out reviews of his restaurant and you’ll see he spends the day leering and making catcalls at women with his buddies. That’s real life we’re talking about.
Well, this is a real shitter.. As BDiego said, this dive shuddered and is now Robano’s. I don’t dare go in as my first experience at Sebastian’s was bizarre at best.. I’ll spare the Yelp review, but I will share my take on the Ramsay visit.. While I frequently find Ramsay’s disrespectful approach pointless (okay, so they glammed it up for telly), it seems that’s what it takes to get through to some people. Fine. Regrettably, the episode was cut off thanks to DirecTV’s superior traffic department. Anyway, other restaurants in hoity toity Toluca Lake might want to take a lesson and watch some of Ramsay’s episodes for the real message: Quick, fast, value, and good eats. I’ve worked in TolucaLand for several years now and have seen more than a few places go under. In, good, mmm, tasty, $ or $$, out… easy. done. Next?
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