XIV in Hollywood with Gordon Ramsay & Jason Segel

At the end of last year, XIV (14th) opened on the Sunset Strip to much fan fare. It's labeled a high-concept new restaurant opened by San Francisco chef Michael Mina and has a cool outdoor terrace, making it a popular hangout as well. I finally went the other night for a friend's birthday party held out on the terrace. Raphael and I met at the bar earlier though and a couple of drinks, a small scallops appetizer and Kobe burger ($20) later our bill was already at an alarming $93 and we still had the night ahead of us, yikes.

While seated at the bar though, literally in the next stool over was Hell's Kitchen chef Gordon Ramsay in a blue plaid shirt. I've never watched the show until my uncle's restaurant unfortunately appeared on Kitchen Nightmares back in October (more here). So, Raphael went up to him and said our Uncle was on his show and Gordon in his British accent said, "Oh f&%$ Who is he?" I told him my uncle's name and he then cursed again saying "shit." lol. He then asked how he was doing and said to say hello. It was friendly and pretty funny.

Gordon's group was then seated to a table where they ate for a couple of hours, while we headed out to the terrace to join our party. Our tables happened to be seated next to actor Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) who was wearing a cool brown leather bomber jacket. We were hanging out next to him for awhile when Raphael bravely went up to him and offered him a drink. We were introduced, I shook his hand, said my name was Tara he said his was Jason and then I commented that I liked his coat. He did a shy head bob and said thanks. Overall, he seemed like a cool laid back guy without the Hollywood pretense. He was also really tall in person. This was actually Raphael's second time seeing Jason (first time w/photos).