Lou-Bertha, the cook from Kitchen Nightmares’ now infamous Sebastian’s restaurant, has pretty much kept to herself since the restaurant closed.
Kitchen Nightmares is well-known for its high-drama and, of course, its highly-opinionated host, the expert restaurateur and world-renowned celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay.
But few of the show’s episodes reach the level of drama and confrontation present in season one’s “Sebastian’s” episode.
In this episode, Ramsay travels all the way to Toluca Lake in California to visit the failing pizzeria of Sebastian Di Modica, who is a part-time actor, and full-time delusional owner.
Ramsay was confronted with many unique situations throughout this fan-favorite episode, and between Sebastian’s confusing menu, his constant bickering with Ramsay and the actual makeover, there was hardly any time to focus on the restaurant’s staff.
Why there is no update on what Lou-Bertha has been doing
However, even so, the restaurant’s sweet and patient cook, Lou-Bertha, stood out as one of the few cooks in the show who was willing to take all of Ramsay’s suggestions on-board.
Unfortunately though, it seems as though Lou now belongs to a rather large subset of ex-Kitchen Nightmares stars who have pretty much dropped off the map entirely after their episodes aired.
And since Lou does not really maintain any kind of public social media presence, there has not really been any update about what she has been up to in the last few years since Sebastian’s closed down.
The restaurant’s fate after Kitchen Nightmares
Unfortunately, it seems like Ramsay’s premonitions about Sebastian’s doomed fate during this episode, were spot on.
The restaurant ended up closing just a few months after Ramsay and his filming crew left Toluca Lake and two other restaurants have occupied the space over the course of the last 15 years, as outlined below:
| Date | Event |
| February 2007 | Ramsay and the Kitchen Nightmares filming crew arrive to start filming this episode |
| November 7, 2007 | The “Sebastian’s” episode first premieres |
| January, 2008 | Sebastian announces that the restaurant will be closing its doors |
| March, 2008 | Another Italian restaurant, Robano’s, opens in Sebastian’s’ former location |
| October 2020 | The restaurant is renamed to ‘The Red Door of Toluca Lake’ |
What happened to Sebastian after Sebastian’s closed?
Sebastian Di Modica will forever be a fan-favorite of Kitchen Nightmares fans who tune in specifically for the show’s over-the-top drama and the Ramsay vs. screaming owner matches.
And while the restaurant did not end up being quite as globally successful as Sebastian imagined, fans may be happy to hear that this overly-confident owner has certainly maintained the fighting spirit that made him so popular (for being unpopular), all those years ago on Kitchen Nightmares.
Sebastian’s Instagram page reveals that he is, however, now using his feisty personality in the realm of politics, as he is currently in the middle of a battle for the title of Town Selectman in Saugus, Massachusetts (the same area in which he now also operates his new landscaping business).
It is also worth noting that Sebastian briefly returned to his acting career in 2013, when he appeared in the film Angels around Me.
What happened to Sonja after Sebastian’s closed?
It seems like Sebastian is not the only former Sebastian’s employee to make the transition to acting after the restaurant closed down, as Sonja Amavisca-Pinkoski (who fans may remember as one of this pizzeria’s friendly waitresses) has built up quite a successful acting career in the last few years.
Sonja’s IMDb page lists several film projects that she has been involved in after her brief Kitchen Nightmares reality television stint in 2007, including Bloody Border (2013), The Naif (2013) and Inflated (2013).
More recently, though, it seems like she has moved on to yet another new career path, and is doing part-time work at a Sherwin-Williams store.
What happened to Chef Q after Sebastian’s closed?
Sebastian and his constant bickering with Ramsay took up most of the screen time in this Kitchen Nightmares episode.
However, Sebastian’s chef, who is affectionately referred to simply as Chef Q during the episode, actually ended up making a Kitchen Nightmares comeback in the season three “Revisited No. 3” episode.
In this episode, Ramsay returns to Casa Roma, a Californian casual dining restaurant which he had endeavored to save earlier in the season.
And upon his return, Nylah (Casa Roma’s owner) informed Ramsay that she had replaced the restaurant’s former chef with Chef Q after recognizing him from the “Sebastian’s” episode, where she felt like he had really shown some great skill in running the kitchen.
Unfortunately though, Chef Q’s reputation was not enough to save Casa Roma indefinitely, and this restaurant also ultimately closed in 2017.
