He doesn’t have the charisma of Gordon Ramsay.
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I did. Hopefully it is well received.
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Did anyone end up getting back to you?
Yea the owner Simon sent a nice response that said it was unacceptable and they would address it and cc’d Schlosser.
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I’ve avoided doing this, but it’s really stuck in my craw for months now. I had a wildly upsetting meal here with six other guests.
The saba was good, not as good as Yoshi’s obviously. The waitress described it as “the OG sushi,” which is maybe the moment I started to check out mentally.
Winter melon was poorly proportioned–comically large and insane to support with chopsticks. Tempura was oversalted and absorbed far too much oil.
The most unhinged part of the meal was the rice with aged ginger. Rice was cooked unevenly–ranging from undercooked, to perfect bite, to mush. I’ve never been to a good, even cheap, place that fucks up rice. The ginger was cut in 1/4" cubes and sprinkled haphazardly on top. After a bite of a single piece of the ginger, your palate is so fucked you can’t taste any more subtle flavors of the accompanying dish, which may be a blessing. My friend’s “pork boneless ribeye” was wildly overcooked and dry…My fish was cooked raw plus, not in a pleasant or sous vide way.
The BEST dish of the night was the miso soup. The smoked bonito dashi added a very unexpected layer of flavor that everyone was blown away with.
At the end of the night, it was an upsetting meal with a $250/pp sticker price. The miso was the only thing everybody agreed on. Miso…
Everyone was shocked they have a star.
Maybe part of it was hearing the chef yell at his crew behind the corner? That is triggering for me having worked industry under that kind of chef. But even beyond that, shit sucked butt. I didn’t realize I asked the chef on his way out for the evening to get the check for the table, but I’m glad I did.
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I don’t like chefs yelling at people, but it sounds like he had a lot to yell about that night.
Schlosser is working on opening a second place so may be stretched too thin.
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Another instance of hearing him yell from the dining room. Jeez.
Was that 250pp the kaiseki meal?
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The last time we went–couple of months ago–we had the regular dinner at the counter and it was perfectly lovely, from start to finish, with a very nice beverage pairing. The som (can’t remember his name) and Chef Derek Wilcox attended to us with warmth and graciousness, and Chef Schlosser was nowhere to be seen (or heard), off taking care of his new venture. It was a peaceful, friendly and well-prepared meal, and left us with a good feeling. Sorry to hear such an awful report!
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The current web menu has only the $125 kaiseki plus a list of supplements from $10 to $64.
there’s a $250 kaiseki menu with chef wilcox
https://www.exploretock.com/shibumi/experience/422238/chefs-counter-fridays-and-saturdays-only
What is he opening?
I thought he already had a second place somewhere in Brentwood or SaMo?
Kushiage, nice! Looking forward to try it with you & @Spicyshlomi 
Any idea of when it’ll open?
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was supposed to be September but you know how that goes.
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Hoping this link works; if not, I’ll grab screenshots.
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Wow what a jerk and his apology is like a non-apology.
Another reason not to patronize this guy’s business.
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It’s behind a paywall.
Observing a toxic work environment from the chef’s counter
Ariel
8:02 a.m.
Hi Tom, recently my partner and I dined at the chef’s counter at Shibumi in Los Angeles. The food was lovely, but the most remarkable part of the evening was the chef-owner David Schlosser’s unprofessional behavior in giving increasingly rude and unhelpful feedback to his staff in front of us. First he scolded them for slow service (“come on guys, let’s get it together, there’s like four people in the restaurant now.”) Later he scolded our chef for not delegating prep tasks to him, and he took over a dish without asking and prepared it with something I am allergic to - thankfully our chef caught the error and corrected it before it was served to me. Things climaxed when he went into the kitchen and loudly said “you know what? You guys just SUCK.” Finally, he berated the staff at the counter for putting prep dishes where he had prepared the fish (“don’t put the bottom of a f**king dish here, this is where the fish goes!”) All of this was either in front of us or within earshot, and it was such an uncomfortable evening. Not what either of us expected from a one Michelin star restaurant, although this was our first chef’s table experience. I know restaurants are a rough business, but is this normal for chef’s tables/counters?
Tom Sietsema
Food Critic
I’ve overheard things I wish I hadn’t, too. It can really sour a restaurant experience. But worse, I ache for the staff. Public humilation is not a good way to teach people. And hello, it’s the HOSPITALITY industry. Everyone should be made to feel welcome, respected – cared for. It’s the Danny Meyer approach: take care of your staff and your staff will take care of customers, etc.
You sent me this in enough time to reach out to the chef, and for David Schlosser to reply. He emailed me the following yesterday:
Hello Tom,
This was an embarrassing event that has been a topic I have been battling myself.
My years of training under elite old-school chef’s have normalized this behavior is not acceptable. Many of my colleagues would agree this is a big issue facing our industry and it deserves our focus and attention. The stresses of maintaining a Michelin Star restaurant in combination to going through a pandemic and
having transient restaurant staff has made these times worse than ever. This anger and expectation towards perfection is something I have been vigilantly working on and truly want to fix it. This is not good for the wellbeing of my staff nor my mental health.
Hope this crystallizes the issue at hand here.
Many apologies for my behavior.
Sincerely,
David
Tom here: In a follow up email, I asked the chef what his strategy was moving forward. But I haven’t heard anything back. Stay tuned?
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Guest
8:53 a.m.
I want to know whether he has apologized to his staff.
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Thanks for typing this out for us. I have really liked the food at Shibumi, but…what a jerk. Maybe call ahead to see if Sergio is in the house before making a reservation? With luck, Schlosser will be away and busy with his new place a lot. Chef Wilcox seems really nice and very humble and approachable, and for a chef of his stature to be subjected to such a toxic work environment is ridiculous. Not to mention the rest of the people working there and the patrons.
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Lol this may be the one restaurant where it’s better to go on a night when Sergio is NOT in the kitchen…
#SakuraMochiGateTho
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