The Turkish chef who has caused an internet sensation — a meme of him flamboyantly sprinkling salt on a steak has gone viral with 9.3 million hits in just a few weeks — is opening a restaurant in the heart of Midtown in September, Side Dish has learned.
Chef Nusret Gökçe, now known as Salt Bae, “the hot Turkish butcher,” is launching a steakhouse in a prime space now occupied by China Grill in the CBS building at 60 W. 53rd St., which is “closing imminently,” according to sources.
(China Grill, one of New York’s first Asian fusion spots, opened in 1987 and now has outposts in Dubai and Mexico City.)
The news comes as sports and pop stars like Rihanna and actors like Ben Affleck sport T-shirts with Gökçe’s meme. Tennis star Roger Federer, who won the Australian Open on Sunday, and soccer stars like Arsenal’s Mesut Özil also are fans of his food.
New York City school kids have turned the Salt Bae meme into wallpaper on their phones and an Australian graffiti artist re-created the meme in Melbourne.
While ‘bae” can be used as a shortened form of “babe” or “baby,” in this case it is said to be an acronym for “salt before anyone else.”
Turkish billionaire Ferit Sahenk, a media mogul whose business conglomerate, Dogus Group, owns everything from oil and gas firms to restaurants and hotels, and is in banking, tourism, real estate, construction, and car dealerships, is opening the Midtown steakhouse with New York real estate moguls Alex Sapir and Rotem Rosen.
The trio also own the celebrity hot spot Zuma in New York, and last week opened a Zuma outpost in Las Vegas. They also own the Nomo Soho Hotel, a celeb-magnate popular with New York’s fashion crowd.
A video of Gökçe sprinkling salt on a steak at his restaurant in Dubai, posted on Jan. 7, now has 9.3 million views while the chef’s own Instagram page has 2.6 million followers.
Gökçe currently has seven steakhouses and burger joints in Turkey and Dubai.
He will also be opening a steakhouse in London.
Gökçe’s New York spot, which will consist of his signature butcher shop upfront and an open kitchen dining area, is slated to open in September, sources say. Sapir and Rosen could not be reached for comment.
Restaurant consultant Cobi Levy and Dogus Group’s Tevfik Adage helped to put the deal together.
CBS recently did a segment on the sensuous nature of Gökçe’s videos on the “Late Late Show with James Corden,” showing videos of Gökçe stroking, slapping and slicing meat. The popular TV host called Gökçe “the Christian Grey of red meat,” referring to the sadistic, sex-crazed star of “Fifty Shades of Grey.