Salt Baes NYC burger joint suddenly closes

May 2024 · 2 minute read

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This three-year-old eatery was hardly well-seasoned.

Salt Bae Burger — founded by the eponymous Turkish butcher who became a viral sensation in 2017 thanks to his flamboyant style of sprinkling salt on raw meat while wearing sunglasses and a fitted white shirt — has closed.

The Manhattan restaurant, opened in 2020 after Salt Bae managed to launch a series of restaurants off his internet fame, shuttered earlier this month and now sports a sign claiming it is “moving to a new location” on its 220 Park Ave. South door, Eater reported.

Only, the “new location” is 412 W. 15th St., which is the address of Nusr-Et Steakhouse, one of two New York branches of an international chain chophouse venture also by Salt Bae, whose actual name is Nusret Gökçe. 

(The other NYC Nusr-Et Steakhouse is at 60 W. 53rd St., and the chop shop also has locations in Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Greece, according to its website. Salt Bae Burger has one other location, in Dubai.)  

A brand spokesperson clarified to Eater that the steakhouse will now serve the burger joint’s menu, which has included such offerings as the marshmallow-heavy, ice cream-free milkshake the Puf Puf, a $99 “golden milkshake,” legally contentious pink veggie burgers that were initially only free “for ladies,” and the signature Salt Bae Burger, featuring “Wagyu meat” and “oozy toppings” according to Gothamist, which once called the eatery “the worst restaurant in NYC.”

Salt Bae in his most iconic position. Stephen Yang
A mural of Salt Bae at Salt Bae’s restaurant. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
Salt Bae, lording over cooking meat. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
The 2018 opening of Salt Bae’s 53rd Street steakhouse. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
Salt Bae and a three-decker burger at his steakhouse. Tamara Beckwith/NY POST

No comment, however, was made about emulating the patty purveyor’s ambiance, which Eater once described as having “all the charm of an airplane hanger” and being similar to the burger chain Black Tap “if Black Tap were pricier and tasted worse.” 

The closure is not the first roadblock parent company Nusr-Et’s associated restaurants has hit. The business has been besieged by lawsuits regarding sexual harassment and wage-theft allegations over the years, and one former employee once said working for the butcher was like being in the “Hunger Games.”

The steakhouse has also not escaped scorching reviews.

Salt Bae did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.

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