Last night I went to West LA to visit my friend Jocelyn and her boyfriend Rene. We went to dinner at a nice, cozy little restaurant called Sante La Brea. Jocelyn and Rene are very health conscience, and they stumbled upon this restaurant in their never ending search for quality food in Los Angeles. Before we left for the restaurant Jocelyn and Rene informed me that Sante La Brea was expecting more patrons in the weeks to come. The reason behind their optimistic forecast in this bleak economy? Last night they restaurant was going to be featured on Gordan Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on the Fox channel.

As we headed off to Sante La Brea, I was unusually excited for this new restaurant. I didn’t know too much about the show, but I was familiar with Gordan Ramsay. Anytime I get up close and connected with entertainment I feel…cool? Who knows? I’m never going to be a movie or TV star, so I get a kick out of the six degrees of separation, like eating at a restaurant that was remodeled by a shitty reality television show. (This last sentence coupled with the Evan Longoria entry are documenting a quirky side that I probably shouldn’t publish, but I am anyway).

I digress, we got to the restaurant right at 8pm, just when the Kitchen Nightmares premiered. We spoke with our waiter, Aurther, about the show (who was one of the owner’s sons, he’s in the blue shirt in the Kitchen Nightmares link), he was less than enthused about the show. We inquired why, because it seemed that business would pick up after this great exposure. However, Aurther lamented about the horrible condition the restaurant was in pre-Gordan Ramsay. He was worried about how Sante Le Brea would appear, despite the improved decor and menu. I wanted to know HOW the restaurant was picked to be on the show and if they were compensated, the answer was, surprising. Craigslist. That’s right, Craigslist. They put an ad on the free online classifieds ad.

Apparently a lot of reality television shows get their contestants from Craigslist. I’ve seen ads before while perusing through Craigslist (like NBC’s Biggest Loser: Family Edition) but it just doesn’t seem like the way a mulit-million dollar company would get “talent” for their programs. Fox paid Sante Le Brea rent for the week they had to close the restaurant. To get people in the restaurant for the show Fox paid patrons from the street $20 to eat there. There you go, a few secrets of reality television.

As for the food itself, it wasn’t too bad. I had a nice chicken stir fry with brown rice. However, it was a bit bland. I had to add some hot sauce to the dish, but overall I enjoyed it. The nacho appetizer was delicious and my friends enjoyed their curried chicken. I would go back to the restaurant, but I would probably try the Southwestern wrap that I was considering before I went with the stir fry.

I’ll be posting a new video blog next Thursday for Thanksgiving. Until then, have a great weekend and a happy short work/school week!