A belated reckoning comes for Noma's celebrated chef

After stories of abusive behavior resurfaced ahead of his high-profile L.A. pop-up, Rene Redzepi eats crow

- Voices ROBIN ABCARIAN COLUMNIST

FORMER NOMA EMPLOYEES hold signs during a protest organized Wednesday at the pop-up.

(RONALDO BOLANOS Los Angeles Times)

I HAVE NEVER ENVIED the chef/ owners of high-flying restaurants. Who could possibly thrive under the immense pressure of serving perfect food perfectly, night after night? And then be expected to break even, let alone turn a profit?

No wonder so many high-end restaurant kitchens are laboratories of abusive behavior. The merciless Gordon Ramsay is hardly an outlier.

But Rene Redzepi, the celebrated chef who introduced conceptual Nordic food to the world when he opened Noma in Copenhagen more than two decades ago, has allegedly taken the stereotype to new, sadistic heights.

A New York Times investigation, sparked by Instagram posts from a former Noma employee, landed with a crash just days before the restaurant's sold-out 16-week, $1,500-per-person Los Angeles popup opened Wednesday.

Between 2009 and 2017, the New York Times reported, Redzepi "hit, jabbed and shoved workers for minor errors and punched them when enraged by an infraction. He threatened them with blacklisting, deportation and public shaming."

When there were customers in the dining room who could see into the open kitchen, said the Times, "he would crouch under the counters in the open kitchen and jab them in the legs with his fingers or a nearby utensil, like a barbecue fork."

He should have been sued, or investigated. Not celebrated.