Gökçe, a Turkish butcher and chef, first infiltrated the public consciousness when a video of him slicing into a steak and then sprinkling salt down his flexed forearm onto the meat waiting below went viral in 2017. His tight white T-shirt and tiny sunglasses instantly became recognizable — he even recreated the infamous post, sunglasses and all, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.
Gökçe opened the first location of Nusr-Et in 2010, when only his immediate audience could enjoy his salt-slinging, forearm-seasoning tactics. However, in the years following his sudden rise to fame, Nusr-Et quickly expanded globally and announced a future location for Los Angeles. After years of development and moving on from its planned location in the Arts District, Nusr-Et opened in Beverly Hills in 2021. Gökçe was on-site for the opening weekend to sprinkle meat on request (hopefully, he had a strict forearm sanitation protocol).
In Beverly Hills, Nusr-Et served a menu of steaks from the char-grill, including the mustard-marinated Amor (#Saltbae’s Private Reserve Cut), a thick-cut wagyu Woww steak, and the #Saltbae tomahawk. The restaurant also served a Golden Experience menu, with enough gold-gilded meat to kick off another Gold Rush. A 24-carat gold-coated tomahawk went for $950, a golden Amor for $1,500, and a four-pound wagyu New York strip steak for $2,000. Meat sushi with Parmigiano (separate from the beef carpaccio on the menu) was also served atop mounds of sushi rice.
But Salt Bae’s rise and fall from virality wasn’t without its issues. In 2019, Mr. Bae was accused of tip-skimming at his Manhattan restaurant. Two years later, in 2021, the restaurant group was sued for allegedly misclassifying employees to avoid paying overtime wages; the suit was later dismissed. And in 2023, Gökçe was banned from the 2023 U.S. Open Cup after he kissed the World Cup trophy. In 2023, Nusr-Et had seven locations in the U.S.; as of June 2025, there are only two remaining, in Miami and New York City.
As Salt Bae and his salty forearms bid farewell to Los Angeles, Nusr-Et eyes further international expansion, with new locations planned for Mexico City, Rome, Ibiza, and more.
