(Left: Jacquelyn Martin/AP. Right: @nusr_ett/Twitter) 
 
 In the weird world of Internet stardom, a Turkish chef known for his distinctive method of salting his steaks briefly became a ridiculous meme. His name is Salt Bae, or, as GQ put it, “America’s newest celebrity chef.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) apparently never saw the meme and is not one of Salt Bae’s 15.7 million followers on Instagram, where the chef posts photos of himself hanging out with the likes of Sean “Diddy” Combs, Drake and DJ Khaled. 
 
 But when it came to Salt Bae — real name Nusret Gokce — serving steak to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at one of his restaurants, the time had come for Rubio to call out the chef. 
 
 On Monday, Rubio denounced Salt Bae for serving the Venezuelan president at his restaurant, Nusr-Et, in Istanbul. 
 
 “I don’t know who this weirdo #Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of #Venezuela,” Rubio wrote on Twitter. A few minutes later, he posted another tweet that included the address and phone number of Gokce’s restaurant in Miami, “in case anyone wanted to call.” 
 
 Rubio has been a vocal critic of Maduro, and earlier this year called out Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) for meeting with the socialist leader. In February, Rubio suggested that the Venezuelan military should remove Maduro from power. 
 
 I don’t know who this weirdo #Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of #Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition. https://t.co/sSNPK9cAAx — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018 
 
 This guy @nusr_ett who admires dictator @NicolasMaduro so much actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, #Miami. It’s called NUSR-ET STEAKHOUSE MIAMI located at 999 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131 
 
 The phone number is 1 305 415 9990 in case anyone wanted to call. https://t.co/7CDkgHVZWh — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018 
 
 The Florida senator was responding to a video that appeared on Gokce’s Twitter and Instagram account on Monday, but was deleted shortly after Rubio drew attention to it. According to the Miami Herald, which downloaded a copy before it disappeared, the video shows Gokce preparing slabs of meat for Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and “sprinkling it with the flourish that earned him tacit Internet fame.” Maduro smoked a cigar. Later, Gokce gave Maduro a Salt Bae T-shirt. 
 
 After the video was posted, numerous commenters criticized Maduro for eating at an expensive steakhouse, as Venezuela’s economy is on the verge of collapse and many in the country are unable to eat. In Venezuela, a McDonald’s Big Mac costs $3.60, which is equivalent to a fifth of the monthly minimum wage, The Washington Post reported last week. According to the Herald, a single steak at Nusr-Et Steakhouse, Gokce’s Miami restaurant, costs $275. Photos on TripAdvisor suggest that the Istanbul location is somewhat cheaper. 
 
 Even Miami Mayor Francis Suarez joined in critiquing Maduro. Writing in Spanish, he called it “disgusting” to see Maduro eating while many in Venezuela starve. 
 
 Es repugnante ver al dictador Nicolas Maduro comiendo en este vídeo mientras en #Venezuela el pueblo se muere de hambre y decenas de miles cruzan las fronteras buscando un refugio y algo que comer. #SOSVenezuela @AmbCTrujillo pic.twitter.com/6lmvK8KMIq — Mayor Francis Suarez (@FrancisSuarez) September 18, 2018 
 
 After sharing the Miami restaurant’s phone number on Twitter, Rubio received more than 1,000 replies, many of them criticizing him for singling out a private business. 
 
 “You are using the platform you have earned as a public trust to incite harassment of a constituent who, it appears, isn’t breaking the law, but has views you don’t like,” said one response. “This is a shocking betrayal of your responsibility — downright Trumpian.” 
 
 Marco Rubio breaking Twitter's rules against targeted harassment to go after the saltbae guy for serving Maduro is about as 2018 as it gets on here https://t.co/x1oCjtpv6p — Nathan Bernhardt (@jonbernhardt) September 18, 2018 
 
 Some suggested that Rubio had violated Twitter’s terms of service, which prohibit users from posting other people’s phone numbers on the site. However, Twitter expressly states that this applies to “non-public, personal phone numbers,” a category which does not include a restaurant’s publicly listed phone number. 
 
 Earlier this month, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted out the New York Times’s phone number after the paper published an anonymous op-ed from a senior administration official who criticized the president. The paper was subsequently flooded with calls, many of them supportive. 
 
 Six hours after Rubio’s tweet, the steakhouse’s voice mail was, somewhat remarkably, not full. And Salt Bae, who was previously criticized in December 2017 for posing with a cigar next to a photo of Fidel Castro, had not responded. 
 
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 Anderson Cooper accuses Donald Trump Jr. of ‘tweeting lies’ with old hurricane photo ||||| Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) gutter-sniped viral “weirdo” Salt Bae, aka Nusret Gökçe, after the Instagram-famous chef posted a video of himself serving steak to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—continuing the senator’s recent bloodlust for shaming celebrity bottom-feeders in public forums. 
 
 I don’t know who this weirdo #Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of #Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition. https://t.co/sSNPK9cAAx — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018 
 
 “I don’t know who this weirdo # Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of # Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition,” tweeted the Florida senator in his first attack against the chef on Monday evening. 
 
 Then the senator went for the jugular, publishing the contact information for Salt Bae’s restaurant in Miami in an attempt to damage his business. 
 
 This guy @nusr_ett who admires dictator @NicolasMaduro so much actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, #Miami. It’s called NUSR-ET STEAKHOUSE MIAMI located at 999 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131 
 
 The phone number is 1 305 415 9990 in case anyone wanted to call. https://t.co/7CDkgHVZWh — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018 
 
 “This guy @ nusr_ett who admires dictator @ NicolasMaduro so much actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, # Miami,” said Rubio online. “It’s called NUSR-ET STEAKHOUSE MIAMI located at 999 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131 The phone number is 1 305 415 9990 in case anyone wanted to call. 
 
 But Rubio did not stop there: Following cavalry support from Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, the senator tweeted another attack in Spanish at 10:55 p.m., ensuring his opponent received a barrage of angry tweets before retiring to bed weary from battle. 
 
 Shaken by the outrage mob, Salt Bae deleted the tweet in which he served steak to a South American dictator. Rather than accept this submission, however, a bloodthirsty Rubio continued his attack into Thursday morning—the battle amplified by entrenched media institutions like The Washington Post. 
 
 #Salt Bae @nusr_ett⁩ deleted the tweet with the video of him lavishing dictator Maduro with a steak dinner while the people of #Venezuela starve. Fortunately @miamiherald downloaded it before he deleted it. Watch here:https://t.co/AC9qkFWyOw — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018 
 
 “ # Salt Bae @ nusr_ett⁩ deleted the tweet with the video of him lavishing dictator Maduro with a steak dinner while the people of # Venezuela starve,” said Rubio before directing his followers to a link where they could watch the controversial video. 
 
 As a Republican who has encouraged a military coup in Venezuela, Rubio loathes Maduro and has helmed a campaign to raise awareness for the leader’s crimes against his people. The senator’s attack against Salt Bae follows his sparring last week with Alex Jones—when he called the InfoWars conspiracy theorist “a clown” and threatened to “take care of” him without help from his security entourage. ||||| The internet fell in love with Turkish butcher/chef/restaurateur Nusret Gökçe last month when he posted a mesmerizing video of his meat-slicing and salt sprinkling skills to Instagram. Gökçe quickly earned the nickname Salt Bae and fans started imitating his signature move and creating tributes to him all over the world. Another legendary heartthrob, Leonardo DiCaprio, even paid a visit to Salt Bae’s restaurant to check out the competition, and Gökçe recently announced plans to bring his talents to New York and London. 
 
 But like all internet memes and real-life crushes, the magic can only last so long. And now, sadly, it’s clear that Salt Bae’s mojo is waning after the release of his latest Instagram post, a bizarre dance routine with a headless lamb carcass and a bouquet of flowers, set to an EDM cover of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons: 
 
 I love you baby dedi #salt #saltlife #saltbae A video posted by nusr_et (@nusr_et) on Feb 5, 2017 at 5:33am PST 
 
 It’s a little creepy and a bit clumsy, but the crucial mistake is that Bae is playing for laughs, as opposed to quietly dazzling his audience with a few masterful flicks of the wrist and fanning of his fingers. This video is one big wink at the internet. Salt Bae is now a parody of himself. 
 
 Maybe Gökçe will eventually release another clip that captures the magic of his previous hits. But until that day, the internet can fondly remember the last few weeks of January and first eight days of February, when he cast a salty spell over Instagram feeds across the globe. 
 
 • Nusr_et [Instagram] 
 
 • #Saltbae Is the Sensual Food Meme of Your Dreams [E} 
 
 • Salt Bae Continues to Inspire Sensual Savory Art Around the World [E] 
 
 • Salt Bae Seasons Dinner for Leonardo DiCaprio [E] ||||| About 
 
 Salt Bae is a nickname given to Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, who was widely discussed on social media following the circulation of a viral video in which he flamboyantly sprinkles salt on a carved steak. 
 
 Origin 
 
 On January 7th, 2017, Gökçe uploaded a video of himself carving a steak and sprinkling salt over his forearm on to the meat (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gained over 2.4 million views and 8,700 comments. That day, Twitter user @lolalissaa reposted the video along the the message "so this is #saltbae." 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ottoman steak A video posted by nusr_et (@nusr_et) on Jan 7, 2017 at 2:44am PST 
 
 
 
 Spread 
 
 That evening, @lolalissaa reposted another video in which Gökçe hangs a cooked slab of meat over a woman's mouth, garnering upwards of 3,100 likes and 2,500 retweets in two days (shown below). 
 
 
 
 
 
 #saltbae done took it to a whole other level 
 
 pic.twitter.com/bRS8K56YZL — LoLa (@lolalissaa) January 8, 2017 
 
 
 
 Also on January 7th, 2017, Twitter user @elBeardedBandit tweeted a You vs. The Guy image macro featuring a screenshot of Gökçe sprinking salt (shown below, left). Within 48 hours, the tweet garnered more than 48,000 likes and 33,000 retweets. The following day, Twitter user @NerdyAjet posted an illustration of Gökçe (shown below, right). 
 
 
 
 
 
 On January 8th, Twitter user @Ratchetveli tweeted a parody video of himself making greit with the hashtag #GritsBae (shown below). That evening, a Twitter moments page titled "The world is obsessed with a Turkish meat monger" was created, highlighting tweets about Gökçe's video. 
 
 
 
 
 
 On January 9th, Twitter user @j.kube posted a parody of Gökçe's video in which he cuts the crust off several slices of bread, butters them and then sprinkles rainbow sprinkles over his forearm (shown below). In the coming days, several news sites published articles about Gökçe's online fame, including The Verge, The Telegraph, NY Mag, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, TIME and Elite Daily. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Marco Rubio Feud 
 
 On September 17th, 2018, Nurset Gökçe served Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at his restaraunt Nusr-Et in Istanbul, Turkey. Gökçe posted a video of him serving Maduro, as well as presenting him with a Salt Bae t-shirt on his Instagram page, which has since been deleted (mirror below). 
 
 
 
 
 
 That day, Florida Senator Marco Rubio retweeted Gökçe's post and commented, "I don’t know who this weirdo #Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of #Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition." The tweet (shown below, left) received more than 2,100 retweets and 3,000 likes in 24 hours. 
 
 He continued to tweet about the subject, seemingly encouraging constituents to call Gökçe's restaurant to complain. He tweeted, "This guy @nusr_ett who admires dictator @NicolasMaduro so much actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, #Miami. It’s called NUSR-ET STEAKHOUSE MIAMI located at 999 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131 The phone number is 1 305 415 9990 in case anyone wanted to call." 
 
 
 
 
 
 Some online took offense to Rubio's posting the restaurant's address and phone number. Washington Post tech reporter Tony Romm tweeted, "So. Sen Rubio last night tweeted out the name, address and phone number of a business with which he's having a political disagreement, and I wonder exactly how Twitter's going to handle that given its policies on real-world harm/elected officials." 
 
 
 
 
 
 Search Interest 
 
 External References ||||| Marco Rubio ಮರುಟ್ವೀಟಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ 
 
 I don’t know who this weirdo # Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of # Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition. https://twitter.com/nusr_ett/status/1041791316168990720 … ||||| UPDATE: Since the publication of the post, all El Tiempo social media accounts have been deactivated, according to CultureMap content partner ABC13. 
 
 "People are insulting us in such a dramatic fashion, and we feel like we don't deserve it," El Tiempo Cantina owner Roland Laurenzo tells ABC13. "At least temporarily I had it taken down because I don't want to be insulted, my children to be insulted, my family to be insulted." 
 
 --- 
 
 Attorney General Jeff Sessions' visit to Houston has put one local restaurant in the crosshairs of the national debate about how restaurants should treat members of the Trump administration. 
 
 Sessions, in town on Friday, August 10, to address a meeting of federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials about the need to crackdown on violent crime and illegal immigration, dined at an El Tiempo Cantina in the Inner Loop after his speech. In turn, the restaurant posted a photo on Facebook of Sessions standing with chef-owner Domenic Laurenzo and a caption that read as follows: 
 
 "We had the honor to server [sic] Mr. Jeff Sessions, Attorney General of the United States. Thank you for allowing us to serve you." 
 
 Sessions' key role in the Trump administration's immigration policies, including increased deportation and the practice of separating parents and children who attempt to cross the border illegally, has made him a controversial figure. 
 
 People immediately called for a boycott of any restaurant that considered serving him "an honor," and the original post was quickly deleted. In its place, the restaurant posted the following statement from owner Roland Laurenzo: 
 
 El Tiempo does not in anyway support the practice of separating children from parents or any other practices of the government relative to immigration. The posting of a photograph of the Attorney General at one of our restaurants does not represent us supporting his positions. The secret service contacted us that a government official was coming to dinner at our establishment and his identity was not know until he walked through the door. The man came to dinner and he was served without us even thinking about the political situations. We were preoccupied with the secret service and catering to their wants and needs. The only thing on our minds was serving great food and giving great customer service. It was posted without review or approval by ownership and this has lead to everyone jumping to conclusions that somehow we are involved in this political matter. We don’t approve of anyone separating parents and children. 
 
 Of course, that did little to stem the criticism, except that it now included Trump administration supporters who disagreed with the restaurant's new statement and Trump administration opponents who asserted the damage had already been done. Others suggested that a restaurant should always feel honored to serve a senior government official regardless of whether the restaurant's staff agrees or disagrees with the person's policies and that El Tiempo had done nothing wrong by thanking the Attorney General for his visit. 
 
 How restaurants should treat Trump administration officials has been a hot topic since June, when Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reported that she has been asked to leave The Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia. Danny Meyer, the legendary New York restaurateur and founder of Shake Shack, told CBS This Morning that refusing service based on someone's beliefs constituted a slippery slope. 
 
 "The minute you see me checking people's political registration at the door, that's a bad future, I think, for our business," Meyer said. 
 
 Curiously, El Tiempo isn't the only Tex-Mex restaurant that Sessions dined at during his visit. He ate breakfast at La Mexicana, the popular Montrose Tex-Mex restaurant. Unlike El Tiempo, La Mexicana did not promote that Sessions had visited; rather, a reddit user spotted his security detail standing guard in front of the restaurant. 
 
 Zulema Gonzales, La Mexicana's general manager, confirmed the visit to the Houston Chronicle. She said that Sessions seemed unsure about what to order and settled on huevos rancheros at the suggestion of Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who also attended the breakfast. 
 
 "We treat everybody the same," Gonzales told the newspaper.
– If people hadn't heard of the celebrity chef Salt Bae before now—he is Internet famous for his distinctive way of salting meat—a series of slams from Marco Rubio is helping change that. The Florida senator went after the Turkish chef, real name Nusret Gokce, because Salt Bae hosted Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro at his restaurant in Istanbul and then boasted about it in a since-deleted video, reports the Observer. In Rubio's first tweet, he calls Salt Bae a "weirdo" and lodges his big complaint: Maduro is "the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition." Then Rubio makes the Florida connection. Noting that Salt Bae has a restaurant in Miami, Rubio posted the steakhouse's address and phone number and suggested that people call. He also added a critical tweet in Spanish. The senator took some flak for posting the restaurant's number, with some accusing him of "doxxing" Salt Bae and violating Twitter's harassment policies. The Washington Post, however, notes that Twitter has no restrictions about posting the phone number of public facilities such as a restaurant. Rubio also pushed back against the critics, saying Salt Bae deserved it for trying to score PR off "a criminal that is systematically starving the people of Venezuela." (Rubio is referring to conditions like this.) The Miami Herald notes that this isn't Salt Bae's first brush with controversy: The chef dressed up as another dictator reviled by many, Fidel Castro, soon after opening his restaurant in Miami. Rubio's parents were born in Cuba.