Salt Bae Is Shuttering His Las Vegas Steakhouse

Salt Bae? More like Salt Bye.

Chef Nusret Gökçe, better known as Salt Bae, is closing his Nusr-Et steakhouse in Las Vegas, Eater reported on Thursday. Open for just three years, the restaurant is shuttering as the parent company announced larger changes to its operations. It didn’t say when Nusr-Et’s last day of service would be, however.

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Salt Bae rose to prominence in 2017, when a video of him sprinkling salt on steaks became a viral meme. The chef was able to parlay his five minutes of fame into a global restaurant empire, although it’s faced tough headwinds in the United States as of late. A couple of years ago, his poorly reviewed burger joint in New York City shut down. And his N.Y.C. outpost of Nusr-Et closed less than a year ago. The Las Vegas location is just the latest domino to fall.

There, at least, Salt Bae’s theatrics seemed at home—Vegas is a city of excess, just as Salt Bae is a chef of excess. Nusr-Et served up dishes such as $1,500 Wagyu steaks wrapped in 24-karat gold foil, Eater noted. There was also gold-leaf-wrapped pistachio baklava, and sides like truffle mac and cheese. In a city with a number of good steakhouses, though, Nusr-Et faced stiff competition.

Over the years, Salt Bae’s star has also faded. The chef has faced a couple of lawsuits, Eater wrote, related to pocketing tips and overtime wages. (The latter was dismissed.) And more recently, he was banned from the U.S. Open Cup soccer finals after some rather strange theatrics in which he got hold of the FIFA World Cup trophy.

Still, Salt Bae does retain a relatively strong presence outside of the U.S. Along with the announcement of the Las Vegas closure, his company said it would be expanding into the Latin American market with a Mexico City location this year. Plus, there are plans for outposts in Rome, Milan, Ibiza, and more cities, Eater reported. If you’re one of the few people mourning the loss of Salt Bae stateside, perhaps it’s time that you plan a trip abroad. There, at least, Salt Bae is seemingly still in the zeitgeist—maybe to the detriment of steaks worldwide.

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