Santé La Brea

What happened after

Restaurant sold in 2011, about three years after its 2008 episode; replaced by Wirtshaus, a German restaurant that opened to strong reviews and was still operating as of 2024 per source.

Closure date on record: 2011

What happened on the show

For a health-food restaurant, Santé La Brea served food Ramsay fed to a dog. The turkey patty melt did not even look healthy, the mogo dufu tasted as bad as it looked, and the blackened salmon was dry, too fishy, and, he confirmed in the fridge, improperly refrigerated. Owner Dean was drowning, doing half a dozen jobs himself while his head chef Aurelio routinely failed to show up, including during Ramsay's tasting, and treated his own absences with a shrug. In the freezer Ramsay turned up fake duck and fake fish, novelties Dean seemed almost amused to own. Diagnosing Dean as too meek to lead, Ramsay drove him up to a canyon overlooking Los Angeles and made him shout, coaxing a voice out of a man who could not bring himself to fire even a chef who openly did whatever he pleased. Ramsay handed the kitchen a symbolic F and ordered a deep clean.

After the cameras left

Santé La Brea changed hands in 2011, roughly three years after the episode. The 345 North La Brea Avenue space reopened as Wirtshaus, a German restaurant that drew strong reviews and was still operating as of 2024. So the health-food concept Ramsay struggled to fix gave way to schnitzel and beer, and the address finally found the stability Dean never could. Trading meek ownership for a clear identity turned out to be the winning move.