Kitchen Nightmares: Sebastian's in Burbank, CA
There should be a law against crazy restaurateurs. I mean it. Sebastian, the owner/chef featured on this week's Kitchen Nightmares is one whacked out dude. He's also a liar, a fraud, and a drama queen. In other words, he's perfect for reality TV!
Sebastian's is a quasi-pizzeria nestled among the studio lots in Burbank, CA. Sebastian bought the restaurant two years ago and has big plans for franchising. His only problem is that the restaurant is losing money quickly and could be closing in six months (or less). And why would the restaurant be losing money? It's because of his overwhelming 20-something gourmet flavor combination of a menu composed of pre-prepared food. He's also not exactly "management material" if he's had to fire 49 people in the last year. Of course, the customers are confused by the menu when they look at it. I wouldn't be able to figure out a damned thing to eat there if I dined there myself.
Gordon shows up on his shining white steed to try and save the day but Sebastian is a bull about everything Gordon suggests. (He sure didn't mind the re-design of his restaurant later though.) Sebastian got his feelings hurt when Gordon requested a puke bag after eating his food. Sebastian got ticked that Gordon didn't think his menu was magnificently unique. Sebastian became furious when Gordon called him delusional. Sebastian thought Gordon was crazy for not thinking he could franchise the place.
When Gordon suggested they actually use the pizza ovens in the pizzeria (shocking isn't it?) Sebastian didn't like that either because he thought it was cheaper to use the frozen prepared food. Hello Sebastian. That's why your food is crappy and nobody is eating there. Put on your listening ears little big man. Gordon threw out the gourmet flavor combination menu and simplified it. The pizzas off of that new menu looked mighty tasty!
After the re-design and teaching the staff how to toss pizza dough, it was time to reopen. It was Oscar night so they rolled out the red carpet to welcome the customers to a fully booked house. Things were going great. The customers loved the food, the staff was working as a team and then Sebastian decided to throw a temper tantrum about his office not being vacuumed. Hey crazy man. There are hungry people in your restaurant wanting to eat your food. They could care less if your office is vacuumed.
That little tantrum led to an even bigger one later on after Gordon found Sebastian going back to his gourmet flavor combination ways. After Gordon told Sebastian that he'd never met someone he believed in as little as him and told him he knew he'd be going back to his sloppy, frozen, shortcut ways the fit really hit the shan.
Sebastian began yelling and screaming at Gordon like a little girlyman back in the kitchen. It was loud enough that the customers had to have heard him. When Gordon asked Sebastian to stop shouting and to calm down, Sebastian merely asked Gordon if he'd speak to him like a man. Wha? Sebastian, you're not the man in this little relationship right now. Even more hilarious was when Sebastian told Gordon that his act is a joke and that he's the phony chef. Oooh. Keep on telling yourself that Sebastian.
So while Sebastian went outside to cool down, Gordon took control of things in the kitchen and somehow managed to successfully get everybody back on track. Sure enough, Sebastian then came back in with his tail between his legs admitting to Gordon that everything Gordon said was true. I think somebody slipped Sebastian something because that sure was a quick turnaround (or as Amber from this season's Big Brother would say, a quick 360).
After the night's service was complete, Gordon told them all that it was a job well done. Later though, Gordon said he had mixed feelings about Sebastian's and knows that Sebastian has little interest in changing things up for good.
There were no updates on the restaurant so I wonder how it's doing. Is it even still open? If it is open, would anybody in that area be willing to go eat there and provide a review of how it is now? This is a restaurant I would really love a follow-up on. Seriously!
If you know of or run a restaurant that's down in the dumps, why don't you give FOX a call? They're casting right now for more featured restaurants. The number is: 866-226-2226. Please pass it on.
What did you think about this episode? What would you have ordered from that gourmet flavor combination of a menu? If you're in the Hollywood area, would you please go eat at Sebastian's for me and email me a review? Pretty please with sugar on top?
Categories
Kitchen Nightmares14 Comments
Leave a comment
Official Sites
About HamsterDame
During the Big Brother season you can also find me blogging over at Silly Hamsters.
BEWARE: I post spoilers!
HD: You might want to check out the following links:
http://sebastiansrestaurant.com/
That's the Sebastian's website and it shows their current menu -- looks like he's reverted back to the original menu and discarded Chef Gordon's (what a fool this guy Sebastian is!)...
http://stranahan.com/2007/10/24/ramsay-comes-to-my-neighborhood/
This guy does a blog and talks about the restaurant. He's been there before and after...his opinion seems to match yours HD (mine too!)...
Thanks for the links Pat! Some great stuff there. I still hope there's a reader that will go eat there for me though. LMAO
Sounds like Sebastian's being a major dick on the guy's site.
http://stranahan.com/
I was going to post the link, but I see that you already have it. He has indeed gone back to his "gourmet flavor combinations." Rule of thumb: if a restaurant even mentions the word "gourmet" anywhere on its menu, then it sure as shit ain't gourmet. It's kind of like somebody telling you have much class they have. Did you notice his sign at the beginning of the show touting his wood oven pizzas? He did not even use the wood ovens!
I liken this episode to a teen garage band having Eric Clapton come over for a week to help improve their performances and having them tell Clapton that they don't want to do anything he tells them and that they think he is just a joke.
hey Hamster...
So - what do you want them to try? We're trying to set up an interview with Sebastian, so we may be going back...
The problem is that a lot of the stuff on the menu IS weird - like...blue cheese and BBQ sauce, together?
Hey there Lee! :)
Let's see... If I was going there I would want to try the artichoke & chicken salad. Then for a gourmet combination to try I guess I would go with the portabella mushroom Siciliano.
Eeeks! Who would really want to put BBQ sauce, bleu cheese, and ham on a New York strip steak?
I went to your link for Lee Stranahan's blog where Sebastian left a long comment. In response, another commenter said, among a lot of other things:
Clearly Sebastian's isn't really supposed to be a place for people to come for good food. It's the place you created to hang out to wait for an acting gig or sweetheart business deal. Your place is located close to some movers and shakers. They just need to show up once (That's the real reason you greet everyone personally -- admit it). You don't need the food to be good enough for them to come back, now do you?
I think he is "spot on" (as Ramsay might say) about the reason he has to personally schmooze each and every customer. Maybe Sebastian talked his wife into dumping 300K of her money down the toilet because he has convinced her that he is destined for stardom if only they can hold out long enough for the "right" people to show up at the restaurant.
Can't wait to see if you get the interview Lee.
If any of you missed any of the Kitchen Nightmares episodes I posted them online.
*link removed*
Go away spammer. -HD
HD said...
"If you know of or run a restaurant that's down in the dumps, why don't you give FOX a call? They're casting right now for more featured restaurants. The number is: 866-226-2226. Please pass it on."
That's code for "The fockin writers union is on strike so we need to pull a bunch more reality shows out of our arses."
Seems like the turn-around time for an episode of Kitchen Nightmares would be about three weeks from start to airing.
Speaking of strikes, if any of you are planning on going to NYC to see Young Frankenstein or anything else you might want to hold onto your conjones as it looks like the stage hands will be striking soon.
Even though it would appear that Sebastian added a lot of different pizza combos to his menu, it looks like he is still using the wood burning oven to do so. I personally think it's a good idea to have more pizza choices than what Gordon made him. Especially because the only pizza that I thought looked halfway decent that Gordon put on the menu was the Margaretta (tomato), as I don't care for meat topings. This way, at least he can have unique pizza types and still have fresh food.
I too live down the street, and will be eating there in the next few days to give it a try for myself. I'll let you know what I find.
Thanks! Can't wait to hear the report. -HD
We just went to his place and had the pizza...It was REALLY good! I dont think he went totally back to his old menu, he doesnt have 20 something combos, now its like 8. I will go back for sure...great service and the pizza was really good!
HI Hamster! (I really like typing Hi Hamster for some reason)
Ok, got it...
Those pizza combos were all there before, I think...
I think my son Shane will be going over to Sebastian's in a couple of days to do a video interview. People have a lot of questions and that what Shane will be basing the interview on. For instance - how exactly did the menu change? What's frozen now? And there's some weird stuff in the timing of the show...
Shane just did a really good interview with the head writer of Jay Leno's Tonight Show about the Writer's Strike - if you want to understand the issues, it's less than five minutes and it's pretty interesting...
http://stranahan.com/2007/11/10/writers-strike-interview-with-joe-medeiros/
I also wanted to mention our contest where you can win a free copy of a Ramsay cookbook. Just post a recipe in the comments section of any Ramsay post on Stranahan.com OR post a recipe anywhere and link to it in comments on a Ramsay post. I pick one at random, so just post any recipe - something you type not a cut n' paste...
you do realise that the end of this episode never happened. Please watch it again carefully. After the girly shouting they obviously refilmed at a later point so that the show would have a happy ending. I only noticed because the editing is awful.
Its a great show, why they couldn't just leave it at that (or have Gordon go back later to illustrate that the restaurant has now failed like he does in th UK show sometimes) is beyond me. I'm not going to run around critisizing all Americans for dramatising everything, like some people, but the guys who make this show really underestimate some people's brains.
Is it OK to post something really long? I have a lot to say about Sebastian's.
Yup! Post away. -HD