Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. And the drinks are flowing and the music is bumping. It's Nyla's grand opening and he spent $300,000 on this shindig, a suare fit for a star. You see, Nyla is a celebrity restaurant and in 2002 there is no bigger star to have as the face of your business than Bobby's business partner. That's right, it's Britney bitch.
But even with Britney Spears' stamp of approval, Bobby knows that celebrity-backed restaurants are a massive risk. The list of failed celebrity restaurants is longer than the menu at a cheesecake factory. But Bobby's not sweating. There's nothing like some paparazzi photos to bring customers in the doors. And all of Britney's friends are coming tonight. Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Timberlake, the whole crew.
Bobby looks around the room. He sees Britney talking with her family. At least she came to her own party. But there's no Brad. No Jennifer, no Justin. In the corner, he spots Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani. Aside from Britney, those two are the closest thing that this party has to celebrity guests. Bobby runs out to the sidewalk to take a look around. Maybe the guests are having trouble finding the entrance.
It's a miserable, rainy night and he's getting soaked. But the only people outside are the bored NYPD officers who shut down the entire block because they thought this was going to be the biggest party of the year. Where the heck is everybody? What if nobody shows up tomorrow or the day after that? There's no way Britney's restaurant will end up like all those other celebrity restaurants. Right? This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about financial literacy?
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Shut the device this holiday season at amazon.com slash Echo.kids. You know him from the Food Network, and now Guy Pieddy is bringing his culinary know-how to the Big Apple, with his very first New York City restaurant. After an activist, Eva Lungoria, Brittany Spears. Why did you want to do this? Honestly, what takes this month's off? I need a new hangout. We got to talk about this restaurant review. Absolutely brutal, funny to some people, but probably not that funny to Guy Pieddy.
Talking about his new restaurant, Guy's American Kitchen and Bar. I'm about to go to Vegas, so I'm definitely going to buy a poor, based, so, Vegas. We are on a sinking ship. From wondering, and at Will Media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time.
I'm your host, Misha Brown, social media superstar, and hostess of your favorite flops at Don't Cross a Game Man. And today, we're serving up a three-course meal of disastrous celebrity restaurants that all lift a bad taste in diners mouths. I'm so excited because we have everyone's favorite Peloton instructor and co-host of the podcast Tactful Pettingus. It's Cody Ricksby. Welcome to the show, Bestie. Hi, Misha. Thank you so much for having me.
Also on our show today, she is the host of The Podcast, not skinny, but not fat. It's Amanda Hersh herself. Welcome, Amanda. Thank you. Because we're talking about celebrities and restaurants. What celebrity would you most like to cook a meal for you? Oh, cook for me. I love that you ask that. Oh, Chrissy Teigen. Yeah, she does have a cookbook. So what I love about Chrissy Teigen is she makes like fattening stuff. All these celebs are trying to cook healthy. She's all in. So I would go for her.
I do love a bitch that eats. So I'm all about that because I am a bitch that eats. You know, I'm just going to go with my canned answer of Britney Spears, not because it's going to be a good meal, just because it's going to be chaotic to watch. And I'm going to enjoy a beautiful glass of santares as I watch her destroy the kitchen.
Well, in this episode, we're saying no chef to a whole batch of celebrity-backed eateries that failed so hard if they were food. You toss them in the trash without taking a single bite. And order up. We're starting with none other than Britney Spears. There we go. And her restaurant Nila as our appetizer. The story of Nila starts in 2002, not with Britney, but with Bobby Ocks, a man who really knows the celebrity restaurant game.
He's open restaurants with Patrick Swasey and Marla Maples, one of the former Mrs. Trumps. Now, his Swasey restaurant was a success that lasted for eight years, but his more recent restaurant with Marla was practically out of business before the waiters had time to ask the first guest sparkling or tap. Yeah, I mean, the celebrity restaurant game can be brutal, bitch. Now, Bobby's on the lookout for his next project and his new venture gets its star in the last way that you'd expect.
He's going to get connected to one of the biggest pop stars of the 2000s Britney Spears. And it's all thanks to a trip to the dentist. You know, I do love the dentist. I do love going to the dentist. I love getting a cleaning. It kind of feels like sex. You like you feel a little beaten up. You feel a little like thrown around, but then you feel so good afterwards. Yes. You know, don't say yes. It's not true. Well, maybe you're going to the wrong dentist.
Yes. Mine is turning it out and I feel I'm fantastic after leaving my cleaning. This is very convoluted. So stick with me. So Bobby's wife comes back from a checkup and tells him that her dentist was talking about his next door neighbor who just so happens to be Britney Spears business manager. So Britney Spears is Bobby's wife's dentist neighbor's client. They're practically related is what we're trying to get out. What's the most elaborate way you've ever made a career connection?
I don't think I do that. I'm so afraid to be annoying that I unless it's like people I know they want to hear from me. I would never do that. I would agree Amanda. I think that's also why I've talked about flopping. Like I flopped in my dance career because you had to like act like you liked people or go to their class or pretend to be friends and I literally cannot do that. Yeah. I'm so bad at that.
Well, this is an opportunity that is too good to pass up if Bobby can track down Britney's business manager and get Britney on board for a restaurant. There is no way that it can fail. So Bobby manages to follow the trail going from dentist to neighbor and from there he is actually able to get in touch with Britney's business manager.
A man named Bert Padel and as luck would have it for Bobby, Bert also has a background in celebrity cuisine because he's worked with Robert De Niro on his restaurant ventures. So Bobby, Bobby OX that is not De Niro and Bert are a perfect pair like red wine and steak so they quickly get to work. And they find a perfect location in a boutique hotel in Midtown Manhattan and get to work drawing up the restaurant's design.
The architect in charge of the interior decorating says that his goal for the decor is to represent the essence of Britney. Now some of the adjectives the architect uses to describe Britney's essence and by extension the restaurants essence are sexy, theatrical, sensual, feminine, vivacious and youthful but moving into adult life. That's how I would describe myself. Yes. What kind of food does youthful but moving into adult life like say to you oysters?
Like a coach salmon and asparagus trying to save my waistline as I approach 40 chicken fingers with a really nice a ole. Oh my God. Yeah. Or a fantastic side of ranch and I have a feeling that Britney does no ranch. You think she loves ranch. She's a ranch girl. I bet. I see that for her. So what does this really mean for the concept?
Basically they just put a bunch of flower decorations everywhere and hope that the upscale menu and the association with Britney will be enough to make this place a success. Oh, and by the way, the whole construction phase of the restaurant costs a million dollars in 2002 money. Here's the thing. The way that I would have approached this restaurant, I would have gone full rain for us cafe but like Britney like there's a circus area. There's a slave for you area. There's a Mars area for oops.
I did it again. Like it just needs to be so on the nose and I need like at least like one costume from every video in each room and that would have been a success. Like a shrine to Britney. Like a shrine to her career. Like go all in, you know, fuck the essence. Just give me like smack me in the face with the Britney of it all. Cody, I think if you open this restaurant today, probably would be a success. But this is 2002. So what is Britney doing during this time?
I mean, she's been on a world tour for months with crossroads. I'm not a girl not yet a woman. No, wait, the dream within a dream tour I think was like 2002. Cody. Yes. And crossroads. And crossroads. So, I think it's a peak, honestly, the peak of her career. Absolutely. 2002 is a time when Britney is more than like a little busy. So she opts for a hands-off approach to the project. Basically, she's got better things to do with her time. She sent Jamie Lynn to go figure it out.
And that's honestly why it flopped. But you know what ever. But this is why things flop. It's like, I think no matter how big of a celeb you are, you can't just like open any kind of brand. And not, you know, not be fully in it. You can't just give your name to things anymore. Like it just doesn't work. Yeah. I mean, she was so hands-off, she didn't even try any of the food. It was just her name. She does however make one contribution. And she's the one that comes up with the name Naila.
Can you guess what the significance of the name is? Is it like something from a Lion King? That's not all, but I'm going to let you live, girl. I'm Naila. Oh my God, is it something backwards? No. No, okay. I mean, I don't know. New Orleans. Yes. It is the combination of the abbreviations for New York and Louisiana. Oh, God. Okay, I was pretty close. Oh, it's NYLA. Yes, got it. Oh, cute. That's cute. I like that. Actually, someone should like do it. Do it now. Do it now.
Yeah. So for anyone who's not a diehard Britney fan, Louisiana is where Britney grew up. Can't would Louisiana to be exact. So Cody, in your upcoming Britney Spears themed restaurant, what is going to be the name of it? Oh, Lord. Toxic. No, shaved head and broken umbrellas. Let's go. That's a good cocktail. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. One is shaved heads and one is broken umbrellas. Not together. I'm investing. Yeah. I'm going to be an angel investor for sure.
Well, opening night for NILA is June 27th of 2002. And Bobby and Bert are planning a massive bash that is going to cost $300,000 to throw. The NYPD expects it to be such a rager with such massive crowds and so much press. And they shut down an entire block. The celebrity guest list is even getting hyped up on TV. And let's take a look at this report about who they think will be on the red carpet. The CD-style invitations already went out. Brad Pitt, Jennifer Amton, Cher, J-Lo, Puppy.
I did take a peek at Britney's personal invitation list and Justin Timberlake was, in fact, invited. Looks like NILA will be music. It's a Britney's ear. Oh, wow. I'm going to assume nobody showed up. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. No way to be Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Cher, J-Lo, and Sean Diddy comes. Yes. Volta Moore himself. Wow. Okay. Mom, mom. Did anybody show up? Wow. Not a single one of them showed up on opening night. Not even Britney Spears. Britney is there, of course.
Okay. So, do you want to know two of the most prominent people who did show up to opening night were though? Please. Nikki Hilton. Rudy Giuliani. I was going to say Rudy Giuliani. And Donald Trump. Hey, I literally was going to say Rudy Giuliani. Yes. Yeah. Wow. Jenna Jamison. Oh. She was there too. Yeah. Well, I'm actually looking it out. Wow. And those three really go well together. Let's be honest.
Yeah. I will say that June 27th for Britney Spears restaurant is probably a really bad day because I know that that is also pride weekend in New York City. And so all the guys had other things to do. And that was their biggest mistake. Sorry, girl. Sorry, girl. Well, in short, the opening night vibes are horrible. The owners blame the bad turnout on the rain, but Nila has bigger problems that can't be explained away by bad weather.
For starters, when it opens, the restaurant is already over budget to the tune of $350,000. And there are some fundamental issues with the concept starting with the fact that this is not a Britney Spears themed restaurant. There are no Britney items on the menu, no Britney memorabilia on the walls. Cody is shaking his head like told you so, bitch. Told you so. So, yeah.
One Nila investor describes the restaurant as a lounge and alcohol environment and says our target is young executives from 25 to 40 years old. What do you think the problem might be with that vision of Nila? Baby, they should have marketed it towards like kids that were waiting outside at TRL and actually had a bus in Times Square ready to bring them down to Nila in the rain. Come on, guys. That's what it is. Britney Spears herself isn't even in that demographic.
She's only 20 years old and she wouldn't be able to get a cocktail at her own restaurant. So, an alcohol lounge for executives between 25 and 40 years old is literally not Britney Spears fan base. Yeah, that's not our target audience. They should have done like a hot dog standards. I don't know. And that's an iconic Britney picture. The I love New York with the hot dog. It's iconic. If you ask me. I think that it sounds like her business manager is always sucked is what it sounds like to me.
And this weird model around who the restaurant is trying to appeal to is also reflected in the food, which is a lot fancier than what tween tourists are going to want. Now, the idea for the food is to pay homage to Britney's Louisiana roots. But the way that plays out is with dishes like duck and wild mushroom at two Faye. Lobster salad with fried green tomatoes and grilled salmon with sauteed greens. They also offer something called Louisiana sushi. Do you know what that is?
Does it have crawfish in it? It does. It does. Yeah, it's apparently some kind of sushi roll made up of crab crawfish mango, coleslaw and chili paste. Yeah. And more problems crop up for Nila as the reviews come in. They are bad. The New York Post gives it a half star. Wow. So Amanda, could you please do a dramatic reading of this excerpt of the post review? Give it to me. Okay. Everything seems prepped and slapped together. Flavorless okra. And anemic slaw's should be set aside at once.
Louisiana sushi. In what? What turns stomachs from Charleston to Savannah? It boasts like the tactility of plaster. Asked about fried chicken, the waiter murmured, I wouldn't. It's like Kentucky fried and dry. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, my God. First of all, Louisiana sushi turning stomachs is like my worst fear because my tongue tongue is so delicate that like, you know, a fish ain't perfect. My stomach is not going to be happy. Do you eat a lot of sushi or no? I do. I love sushi.
But like, unless I know the spot and know that it's great, like I won't get raw fish. So this is scary. Like turn stomachs from Charleston to Savannah. Anemic slaw. I'm not smiling. Does that mean that the slaw should have more mayonnaise? Is that what an anemic slaw means? It needs more flavor. It needs more, more sending things in it. Yeah. Well, there's an even bigger issue. No one is coming to the restaurant.
So at this rate, it will take them six months just to pay off the debt they had on opening night. Wow. There's also major staff turnover. The head chef mysteriously quits just two months after opening. They find a second chef, but less than a month later, he quits too. This second chef tells New York magazine that his issue was that it's been hard to buy food because they're not giving me any money. Oh my God. Yeah. Wow.
They should have just ordered like some Tyson chicken fingers that are frozen, thrown in the fryer, and served it with some sauces. And you would have been making money. But instead, you had to put in this bullshit of Louis and a sushi. And here we are. This is the worst business idea I've ever heard. Yes, bad. This is bad. This isn't even like a hole in the wall. This is like a full blown restaurant with employees. And it looks like a huge spot, too. You know, like start with start small.
Bobby steps down in the next month. He's hoping to get a new gig running a restaurant in a hotel in Miami. So he tries to deflect the blame for Nila's shortcomings, saying that any problems with the restaurant have nothing to do with him. Now, Nila's spokesperson fires back saying that if the restaurant did have problems, it's down to mismanagement by Bobby and emphasizing the restaurant is getting back on its feet. The girls are fighting. Yeah, the girls are fighting. That's exactly right.
Now, with the management in chaos, Nila is truly flailing. They do manage to get a third chef, but in a sign of desperation, they decide to switch their menu from that weird cage in mashup to Italian. Well, you know what, it does work. Everybody loves Italian, so I get it. Yeah, but the promise of pasta, it doesn't bring more customers in. The change does absolutely nothing to help the restaurant bounce back. And the final nail in the coffin comes just six months after the restaurant opens.
Brittany decides to cut ties and throws management under the bus, saying that they kept her in the dark about what was really going on. So if you're on the Nila team, the most frustrating part of all this might be the timing of Brittany's announcement, she parts ways with them just days before her 21st birthday in December. She was almost finally able to go get the drink in her own restaurant. Maybe if she was spotted sipping a Cosmo at Nila, things would have turned around for them. Who knows.
So she cut ties and then they close. Well, after Brittany leaves, the restaurant files for bankruptcy and closes only eight months after it opened. I'm actually surprised it lasted eight months. But like no one gave a shit because it was catered to freaking like businessmen. This is the damage should I have ever heard? Finance grows in Midtown. Yeah, it also closed with $400,000 of outstanding debt.
Wow. So are there any silver linings that you can think of that came about from Brittany Spears restaurant Nila? I mean, she can say I've had this business venture. I opened a restaurant. I think that's always nice to have something in your resume, even though it flopped. She probably doesn't remember. I would die to a reminder. She there's no way she remembers it. The silver lining in this story is that Rudy Giuliani got to meet Brittany Spears. There you go.
You know, I was thinking because of this restaurant, it's now giving Cody a new chapter in his upcoming life, opening up Brittany Spears themed restaurant. We can add a menu called soups I did it again. Bitch. That's good. That's good. I knew you were there. Wow. Listeners, stay tuned because next on the chopping block is Guy Fieri's Times Square Letdown. There's more to imagine when you listen. So let your imagination soar with Audible.
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This adaptation breathes new life into a familiar tale. New members can try Audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash imagine, or text Imagine to 500-500. That's audible.com slash imagine, or text Imagine to 500-500. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row-as-man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day.
Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get a hundred dollar credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com slash results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. Now, we arrive at our entree. Guys, American Kitchen and Bar. Are you familiar with guys, American Kitchen? I listen. I ride for Guy Fiery. I just, he looks like somebody's January 6th, Uncle.
He's so authentically himself. I fucking love Guy Fiery. Guys, American Kitchen is the offspring of Guy Fiery, the food network star who may be better known for his frosted tips than his cooking. But Guy becomes the host of diners, drive-ins, and dives. The show that will make him a massive celebrity in 2006. Now, just to give you an example of how big Guy gets, his most recent contract with the food network was worth over $100 million. Go off, bitch. Go off. Go off.
Now, one of the things that makes Guy such a popular TV host is his huge personality. Guy opened up his first restaurant back in 1996. And as his TV success grows, he's able to open more and more restaurants. And they are all very much reflections of his personality based on what you know about him. What do you think his restaurants are like? Mm-hmm. Tacky. I know that decor is horrible. There is no style. It is not cheap. No. Yeah, not cheap. Not quite luxury vibes, you know?
I would say it's the worst parts of America that we love. Does that make sense? Uh-huh. I get you. Like it's those elements. Yeah. Like you might feel at home there, but like you hate everything about it. At the same time. Kind of like Thanksgiving at your family's house, you know what I'm saying? Like, he ages so well, Guy Fieri, you know? Like, drop your skin care routine guy. Mm-hmm. Well, guys' restaurants are not just over the top.
They're so far beyond the top that they're in orbit over the top. And to learn about some of these restaurants, let's play a game. I love games. So I'm going to read you the name of a restaurant, and you have to tell me whether it's a real Guy Fieri restaurant or one that we just made up. The first one. Guy's burger joint. Real. It's so bad that I want to say fake, but yeah, something tells me it's real. I'm going to go, I'm going to go fake. Amanda ding-ding-ding-ding. It is real.
What's that bad about it? Guy's burger joint is straight forward. It sounds pretty normal, but it's on a cruise ship. Oh. Wait, like, okay. Like Carnival Cruises. Yeah, I don't know which one it's on. Okay, that's an accomplishment. Hey, no matter where you are in the world, you're going to crave a burger at some point. All right, second one. Johnny Garlicks, California, Pasta Grill.
It's like a multiple choice test, and I'm just like, you know, the odds are flipping in the coin, so I guess I'm just going to say with fake. No, that one's real. Oh my god. Guy opened the first Johnny Garlicks in 1996, and it spread like Marinerra over Spaghetti, eventually expanding to five locations. Congratulations. Wow. All right, last one. Yep. Tex Wasabi's Rock and Roll sushi barbecue. Cody, I'll let you go first. I don't know. I guess it's fake. I'm just going to say it's fake.
I want it as a fake. No fair. It's about to be the wrong. All right. Okay, fake. You can both be wrong. It is a real. Oh, my god. It's real too. Yeah, one was real too. That's right. These are all 100% real guy restaurants. These names are more ridiculous than anything that we would have been able to make up. Oh my god. I wonder what people's like shortnings are for them, you know? Like, are there shortening it up? I guess it would just be Tex Wasabi's. Although, like, I live in Austin, Texas.
We do have a lot of like Tex-Mex fusion sushi with like sushi places. It's actually really good. So I'm not going to hate on it too much. But one more detail about these places. One of guys' signature culinary creations that served at many of his restaurants is a condiment called donkey sauce. Okay. Now, not too much on my girl because I am a sauce queen. I love a good sauce. I have a feeling that this sauce might be good. I'd be down.
I was just going to say like, I know it sounds weird because I do not want to eat from a donkey. But like, for some reason, like donkey sauce, like, it sounds like a vibe. What's in the donkey sauce? Do you want it? Yes. It is garlic, lemon juice, and mayo. That's a yoli. That's like a trashy way to say a-o-ly. Is that the yoli? It is literally just a-o-ly. Well, by 2012, Guy has become one of the Food Network's biggest stars.
As one critic says at the time, the Food Network has become a Guy Theory delivery system. So Guy decides to use his star power to launch his biggest restaurant venture yet. His very first eatery in New York City. It's called Guy's American Kitchen and Bar. Very demearning. I believe it was right-okay, so like it's right next to a bowling alley because I've definitely passed it. And it's like in the theater district. Right in Times Square. Right in Times Square. I've seen it.
You can't miss it because it's three stories tall. Oh my God. With 500 seats and a price tag of $3 million. They actually have a caged bald eagle in there as well just so you know. Is that true? Oh my God, it's an endangered species. Imagine a caged bald eagle. I was like, I don't know. As an American, I'm offended. Okay. As an American, I'm offended. Oh my God, I can't. So, I mean, there is a lot riding on this restaurant. Big dollars also, Guy's reputation and star power are on the line.
So on September 12, 2012, the day after the grand opening, the reviews have started coming in and they're not good. In just 24 hours, it's got a poultry two and a half stars on Yelp. And Yelpers aren't the only ones taking shots at the American Kitchen and Bar. Anthony Bourdain says that Guy has single-handedly turned the neighborhood into the Ed Hardy District and dropped a 500 seat doose into Times Square. Okay. Listen, listen. I know it was a flop, but like it's Times Square, bitch.
What do you expect? It's already Ed Hardy. Yeah, it's not all in there. It's not like it's a chic neighborhood. It's fucking Times Square. I know, but like put some respect and Anthony Bourdain's name because it's absolutely icon-legend RIP. I'm just saying Times Square. Probably hated Guy Viery. Probably had to be. Yeah, they probably had to be. And Times Square. But Guy Viery is Times Square if he was a location. If he were, that's so true. 100%.
Well, the most crushing blow comes when Guy's American Kitchen and Bar is reviewed by Pete Wells, the food critic at the New York Times. Can you guess how many stars Pete Wells gave? I'm saying zero. It is zero. Yes. Wow. That's not a New York Times restaurant. Yeah, why is he even going there? I don't know. But you know what though? I love a good petty story and the review is scathing, but it's also hilarious. It is one of the best bad reviews of all time. Oh. I published on November 12, 2012.
And the entire thing is written in the form of questions addressed to Guy himself. And I'm going to do a dramatic reading just to give you a little taste. Guy Viery, have you eaten at your New Restaurant in Times Square? Did it live up to your expectations? Did panic grip your soul as you stared into the whirling hypno-wheel of the menu where adjectives announce spin in a crazy vortex? And you hung that sign by the entrance that says, welcome to flavor town. Were you just messing with our heads?
This review is spicy. Way spicier than Guy's bland, Cajun chicken, Alfredo. I was going to say it more seasoned than the food allegedly. More seasoned than the food. It just went on and on and on. He said something tasted like the combination of radiator, fluid and formaldehyde. Wow. Bad. Bad. What does Guy think of this review? Well, he doesn't think there's anything funny about it. And he says, I thought it was ridiculous. I mean, I've read reviews.
There's good and there's bad in the restaurant business. But that to me went so overboard, it really seemed like there was another agenda. Oh, like a personal attack. Yeah. How long do you think Guy's American kitchen and bar stays open after that review comes out? I'd say like a couple years. Two years? Yeah. It keeps trucking for five years. Oh, five years in. No, I just, I specifically remember walking past it many a time.
Also like tourists, you know, like they need a place to eat when they're going to see the lights, you know? Well, and unlike Brittany, his star power is food, is restaurant. So, you know, I'm sure his name alone still attracted quite a few people. So there's also a Guy Fieri version of Santa Con that happens, you know, that infamous bar crawl where Drunk's dress is Santa. Hold up now. I'm here for this. Yeah. So I'm assuming that everyone dresses up like Guy Fieri and goes to the restaurant.
Yes. Sign me up. Sign me up. Sign me up. Now, Fieri Con, the organizers say that you don't have to dress like Guy Fieri, but it is highly encouraged. Yeah. Come on. Come on. I've seen on TikTok and it was hilarious. I've seen a lot of people that watch the rent party and they all dressed up as different versions of Guy Fieri and it was iconic. Unfortunately, there aren't enough Guy Fieri and personators in the world to keep the American kitchen and bar open.
The Times Square flagship closes down in 2017 and everything in the restaurant is auctioned off to try to make back some of that $3 million price tag. So far, what do you think was the bigger flop? Brittany's Naila or Guy's American Kitchen and Bar? I hate to say I have a Brittany. Yeah. At least this restaurant was open for three years. Five years. I know. Five years. Yeah. Five years, three floors. Yeah. Three floors. I feel like the bigger the restaurant, the bigger the flop.
You know what I mean? Like, make smaller spaces and then it can't flop. You're welcome. You're welcome. Coming up after the break, our final course, Eva Longoria's delicious flop of a steakhouse for women. She. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home. Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own. So you need all your jobs done well.
For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. And plumbing to electrical, roof repair to deck upgrades. So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well. Buy our high quality certified pros at Angie.com. Now for the listeners at home and to Cody and Amanda who can't see this, I have to tell you about the bizarre way the name is spelled both the S and the H and she are capitalized, but the E is lowercase.
Like shh, but not really. No, because that's not I don't know. I don't know. He sure. I don't okay. We could not find any explanation for this spelling choice. So if anyone knows Eva Longoria, please ask her and let us know. I'm just to see what the restaurant is giving though. So Eva's journey to opening she begins in 2008. At this time, she's been nominated for a Golden Globe. She won a SAG award and she has done ad campaigns for tons of brands, including L'Oreal Paris and Heineken.
Around this time, she also appears on Forbes list of prime times 10 top earning women, Slagween. Wow. In 2008, she decides to do it so many other celebrities who have more money than they know what to do with have done. She opens her first restaurant called Beso in Los Angeles. Oh, cute. Kiss in Spanish. She says she wants to use Beso as a way to share her family's recipes and food traditions and describes it as an extension of her own kitchen. I think that's very sweet.
Yeah. Absolutely. As Delta Work just said, nothing unites us like Mexican food. Delta. Shockingly, unlike other celebrity restaurants, for example, Naila. Beso Los Angeles does not immediately implode and close down. In fact, Beso LA does well enough that in 2009, Eva decides to extend her kitchen even further by opening up a new Beso location in Las Vegas. And it's not just a restaurant. It's also got a nightclub attached called Eve. Good names. Yeah, the names are hitting.
Yeah. Now, rolling the dice on a new venture in Las Vegas is a gamble. It doesn't quite pay off. Beso and Eve begin losing money fast, almost $76,000 a month. So by January of 2011, the restaurant is almost $6 million in debt and has no choice but to declare bankruptcy. But Eva won't give up on her dream of an eatery in Las Vegas. And she's got a brilliant idea for her next restaurant. Eva can't possibly fail. Eva is going to call it she.
And her concept for she is that it's a female friendly steakhouse. Oh, because girls don't eat steak. Yeah, but what do you think of when you hear female friendly steakhouse? Female steakhouse. Like what? Females can't go to a menstrual steakhouse. Like, what do we need? Pink napkins, you know? It's giving girl boss energy. The concept is giving girl boss before a girl boss. No, it's giving like you can't say girl boss anymore. So she made it before the girl boss was like canceled.
By the way, you guys, I love fat on steaks. Oh my God, me too. I fucking love it. But like for girls, like I'm sure she like didn't have fat on steaks, you know, I feel like all the same or like trimmed from the fat. I'm like, give me the fat. You know what I mean? Me too. See, Cody, we're kind of like food twins. Well, in order to make her female friendly steakhouse a reality, Eva strikes a deal with landries, a massive company that's brought up all kinds of restaurant brands.
They've opened restaurants from Morton steakhouse all the way to your famous rainforest cafe. Okay, see? Yeah. So they close the deal, which is worth $1 million in August of 2011. She opens in the same location as Bessel Las Vegas the next year on New Year's Eve 2012. And they are really hyping this place up. One of the ways she gets advertised is with a very fancy promo video that we need to take a look at. Oh, please. So could you describe what you're watching, Cody? Where's he watch it?
I love to get your opinion. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Happy. We've got a Vegas show girl, Tommy Owl, Feathers, Boa's. Okay, there's a champagne being poured in an acrobat. There's a man with two women and they're feeding each other. Very sexy red lips. Okay. But then we also have, I don't know about that last shot. Flapers? How many in the 1920s? It's giving flappers and then also we have two twin men in between three women around them. They're both high as her off.
This is not giving female lead steakhouse. This is giving from the male gaze. This is definitely giving from the male gaze. I think she flopped on what the concept was because she missed the concept. Yeah. I also, I want to highlight one still from the video in particular. Yeah. You've got two flapper girls in between them as a handsome gentleman and then one flapper is feeding another flapper steak. Oh, no fat on that steak. No fat on that steak.
Also the expression on his face is he's like, that's right. I've got two girls one steak. Two girls one steak. Thank you. Exactly. Exactly. So what does Eva think makes she a female friendly steakhouse? Well, how about weirdly sexist names for steak sizes? Oh, skinny. At she, you can order she cuts. He cuts and we cuts. So those sound like haircut options, but they're actually the names for small medium and large steaks. Oh, okay.
I think that she was like, I go to the steakhouse with my husband and the steaks are too big. So I'm going to open a restaurant where we can give women small steaks. Oh, I mean, listen, the they cuts is okay, right? Because it's like to share. It's a sharing vibe. We cuts. They we cut. Oh, it is. It's the porterhouse for two, the we cut. You're really on your non-binary sizing and labeling era, which I'm all about. Wait, so the she cuts is a small steak?
Oh my God. But imagine a girl comes in wanting to look hot on a date, right? And then she's like, I'll get the heat cuts, please. That's my kind of girl. Get it the heat cuts. That's too good. Something tells me Eva, and listen, she says she's very sweet and nice, but people make mistakes. I don't feel like she had no people around her. I feel like she had a bunch of people just saying, like, yeah, that's a great idea. Yeah. And like, these are horrible ideas.
I know, but Cody, times were different and it was like covers of magazines were like, how to, you know, not eat. Yeah, no, for sure, different era. This next fact would get her canceled so fast in the year of 2024. The restaurant also features mirrors on the dessert menus. Wait, what? To see how far you are? I thought you were trying to sell dessert.
The idea was that it will make it easy for patrons to reapply their lipstick, but it does feel like there's like a kind of body shaming element here. Like take a look at the mirror before you decide to order that dessert. Yeah. You know what I mean? Good intention, bad execution. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. But mirrors on a dessert menu, strong. Something also tells me it's Las Vegas and people were probably whipping out powdered substances to do off those mirrors. Right. That's what that was for.
That's true. Neither way were desserts getting ordered. Now for all the fellows out there in case you were worried that you would have to miss out, Eva does say that men are welcome to the restaurant. Somebody's got to eat those heat cuts. Yeah. Now, some other unusual things about she it features a runway for fashion shows, a dance floor, cryogenic fog and rain curtains, and Cirque du Soleil type performers. Okay. It's a lot. Very Vegas. Very, very big. Very, very big. By the way, I hate Vegas.
I like Cody, I hate Vegas. And not only did I hate it there, my flight there was hit by lighting. It's almost like God was like, this is like not for you. She opens to mediocre reviews like one from the publication Vegas seven that calls the $48 heat cut steak a letdown. But the restaurant is able to keep slinging disappointing steak for an impressive two years before it runs into trouble. It gets in trouble for massive health code violations. Oh, that's gross. That's so gross.
So the violations found included inaccurate thermometers and food being kept at the wrong temperature. So she finally closes down in April of 2014. Now, say what you want about Guy and Brittany's restaurants, but at least they never got in trouble with the health department.
Eva, she actually denies that the closing has anything to do with the whole inaccurate thermometers thing and takes to Twitter to defend herself and the restaurant as we all know, defending yourself on Twitter always works out perfectly works out. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like a pretty big we cut sized coincidence that she shut down so soon after getting in trouble with the health department. What did she tweet?
Just to be clear, the steakhouse in Vegas did not close for health violations. We had an a rating at the time of closure. People should read more carefully. She, Las Vegas, was originally concepted as a nightlife entertainment venue. We have been met with considerable resistance from our landlord to reconcept the nightlife theme, which impacted our ability to deliver on our guests experience. Her publicist wrote that, but great job.
Yeah. So, again, here at the big flop and stands of Eva, is there any silver linings that you can think of from her restaurant, she? I'm sure she learned a lot from that experience. You know, I'm sure she learned a lot from going in over your head. Yeah. Having an idea doesn't always mean you should do it. You should go for it.
Yeah. Like, maybe like you're high and you're like, what if we had like a steak and it was she's eyes like leave it there like leave it at the leave it in the nightmare blunt rotation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The silver lining is that Eva Langoria is hot and hot people can fail and keep on pumping. So she has pretty privilege and she's okay. She's great. She's great. All right. And I don't know what company you said she did a hair commercial for, but let's just say Pantene or L'Oreal.
Her hair looks incredible. Yes. Also, she was looking out for the people because for two years, she allowed people to see Cirque du Soleil performers for a lot cheaper than a Cirque du Soleil ticket in Vegas. Thank you. You got dinner and a show for much less than a Cirque du Soleil ticket. There we go. So, let's do a little where are they now?
In 2022, Bobby Ox, Brittany's Nila partner, published a memoir called Bobby Ox, Kid from the Bronx and Restaurant partner to the stars sounds like a real page turner. It was a specialer, right? Yeah. I'm sure it was. New York City continues to be a guy's American kitchen and bar free zone.
But if you're a New Yorker and you feel like you missed out and are hinkering for some of Fiery's finest, never fear, you can still visit some of guys other restaurants in places like Pittsburgh and the Cancun International Airport. Thank you. Thank you. I remember it was the only sit down restaurant that was available like for the flight that we had and I had the worst omelet that I've ever had in my life.
And Eva Longoria, our queen, recently made her directorial debut with Flamén Hot, a movie about a man who invented flaming hot cheetos. Which is one of my favorite foods. So thank God. She's staying in the food family now. Sounds right on her mind. Though as far as we know, she has not tried to open another restaurant. Yet. That brings us to our final assessment. Which was the biggest flop of the episode? Was it Naila, Guy's American Kitchen and Bar, or she?
I'm going to as much as it hurts my soul, Naila. Yeah, Cody. Yeah, I don't think it was well executed and the concept in the food sounds horrible. I will go with Eva Longoria's just because I mean the health code situation, the like girls need to eat less situation like that. I am so thankful and please nobody try to take down Eva Longoria in a cute little TikTok with a cute little green screen because I'll come for you. Leave our girls alone. Leave our girls alone.
We don't need people deep diving right now on these restaurants, okay? Yeah. You don't even believe it. It sounds too crazy. That's just how real we are. We love these women, yet we're still able to point out the flaws and mistakes that they made. Well, thank you so much to our five star guests, Amanda Hirsch and Cody Rigsby for joining us here on The Big Flop. And of course, thanks to all of you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review.
Next week, we're going back to the future to bring you another flop. It's the iconic and unimpressive, go-winged car, the DeLorean. Bye. Bye, thank you. Bye, booze. If you like The Big Flop, you can listen early and add free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen add free on Amazon music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.
The Big Flop is a production of Wondery and at Will Media, hosted by Misha Brown, produced by Sequoia Thomas, Harry Huggins and Tina Turner, written by Anna Rubanova and Luke Burns, engineered by Zach Cropone with support from Andrew Holtzberger. Managing producer is Molly Getman. Executive producers are Kate Walsh and Will Monotti for At Will Media, legal support by Carolyn Levin of Miller, Corsonix, Summers and Raymond. Producers for Wondery are Adam Azaraff and Matt Beagle.
Managing producer is Sarah Mathis and the senior managing producer is Callum Ploos. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Free Song Sink. Seam Song is Sinking Ship by Kate. Producers are Lizzie Bassett, Dave Easton and Marshall Louis for Wondery. In November 8th, one championship is back on Prime Video with 1.169. Malikin versus Rug Rug. A stacked card featuring two of the most dominant fighters in all of combat sports.
In the Co Man event, Mointy Megastar Rodtang puts his flyweight belt on the line against British Bruiser Jacob Smith, a former foe looking to even the score with the Iron Man and in the Man event. Here we go for these heavyweight Bohemists. Three division MMA world champion Anatoli Malikin looks to keep his perfect record intact when he defends his heavyweight title against Rug Rug. Umar Khan, a Senegalese beast, dead set on dethroning the undefeated Russian.
It all goes down Friday, November 8th on Prime Video at 8 PM Eastern 5 PM Pacific. 1.169 Malikin versus Rug Rug.