Salt Bae's New Restaurant Has The Internet Divided
Instagram famous chef and viral meme star Salt Bae — aka Nusret Gökçe — became known worldwide for the dramatic way he salts food while being handsome at the same time (via PopSugar.) The chef, who is originally from Turkey, has recently announced in an Instagram post plans to open the newest location of his steakhouse chain, Nusr-Et, in Boston, Massachusetts on the weekend of September 19th, according to Fox News.
The Nusr-Et website states that the first of Gökçe's steakhouse locations was opened in 2010, and became known for their high-quality steaks and impeccable service. The site lists 15 Nusr-Et locations currently open worldwide, with two operating in the United States — one in New York and one in Miami. The Boston location will be restaurant No. 16 for the chain and is located near the city's Back Bay and Bay Village neighborhoods.
In the Instagram post uploaded on September 15th, Nusret Gökçe shared a photograph of himself at the Nusr-Et Miami location holding what appears to be a very fluffy stack of pancakes topped with fruit. In the caption, he asked his fans to "Please wish me good luck for grand opening Nusr-Et Boston this weekend." Users on the platform, where Gökçe has over 30 million followers, immediately began sending good luck messages for the new steakhouse location.
Salt Bae's fans are supportive, but some people criticized this decision
Fox News states that while some of Salt Bae's fans were thrilled to hear about the new Boston restaurant and eager to support the Instagram celebrity, other social media users were not exactly pleased about the opening. A great example demonstrating the extreme split in opinions are the comments and quote tweets on a tweet sent out by the Boston Globe sharing the news.
In one comment on the tweet, user @RunningGale_ simply replied "Awesome." accompanied by a GIF of Salt Bae doing his signature salt move, while another Twitter user (@ronaboi69) stated that they would "rather gargle bleach" than go to one of Gökçe's restaurants. Twitter user @seandoonan225 shared the article with a friend, adding a comment suggesting they try it out "once covid is over?"
However, user @katzish questioned the move to open a restaurant at the very end of summer in a historically cold region of the U.S. during a pandemic that is forcing restaurants to close indoor dining. In their quote tweet, though, @katzish described the possibly poor decision as "kind of thrilling" and stated that they hope for the sake of the restaurant staff it all works out.