TV Restaurants

What Happened to The Gorbals After Best Thing I Ever Ate?

Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 5 Los Angeles, California

Current status

Closed

As of October 2026, The Gorbals has closed — confirmed via Yelp, August 2026.

What the source shows: Yelp's listing for The Gorbals was marked closed as of an August 2026 update, and BKMAG reported in a 2016 interview with chef Ilan Hall that the restaurant had already closed by then. How we decide a status →

What happened after Best Thing I Ever Ate?

Best Thing I Ever Ate (Food Network) featured a dish from The Gorbals in the show's 'Finger Food' episode. Chef Ilan Hall, winner of Top Chef's second season, opened The Gorbals in downtown Los Angeles on August 28, 2009, at 216 West 5th Street, serving Scottish-Jewish-inspired small plates. According to BKMAG, which interviewed Hall on 2016-02-18 about his new restaurant Esh in Brooklyn, The Gorbals had already closed by that point. Yelp's listing for The Gorbals remained marked closed as of an August 2026 update. Hall went on to open a second Gorbals location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2014, according to Wikipedia.

The episode Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 5

Episode 11
Air date not confirmed
Title: Finger Food · What was featured: a finger-food dish from The Gorbals' menu, in Best Thing I Ever Ate's 'Finger Food' episode

Also in Season 5 Best Thing I Ever Ate

Season 5: 61 of 104 still open · 7 renamed, moved or under new owners

All 13 Season 5 episodes →

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Sources we checked 3 references

  1. Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-gorbals-los-angeles
  2. bkmag.com https://www.bkmag.com/2016/02/18/goodbye-gorbals-talking-with-chef-ilan-hall-about-the-opening-of-esh/
  3. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilan_Hall
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Record btiea-0486 · checked by Cal Marchetti.