A. In Episode 6, of Season 7, "Do the Wrong Thing".
Quinn thinks he is meeting Nadia for a date.
In this scene, we see him enter a nice restaurant, and tell the girl at the desk that he has reservations for two.
But when Quinn gets to his table, he finds not Nadia, but George Novikov waiting for him there.
George, who manages the Fox Hole club, is the right-hand man of mob boss Isaak Sirko.
Isaak is awaiting trial in prison (for shooting up a Columbian cartel's bar), and he is pressuring George to get him out.
George tried bribing Quinn with a sack of money, but Quinn gave it back (after Nadia told him it wasn't worth the risk).
But George isn't about to take "no" for an answer.
George tells Quinn that he wants him to steal the blood evidence which links Isaak to the crime.
He threatens to send Nadia to a sex club in Dubai, if Quinn doesn't play along.
He also says that once Isaak's out, he'll go back to the Ukraine and be out of their hair.
Quinn agrees to do it, on the condition that Nadia will be a free woman if he does.
George says it's a deal, and leaves him the wrinkled sack of money that Quinn originally gave back.
After George leaves, Quinn phones Nadia, and leaves a message saying to call him back.
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A nice restaurant - but not in Miami.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. This is La Vida Restaurant, at
1448 N. Gower Street, in Hollywood.
That's at the corner of Gower & Sunset, right across the street from the Sunset-Gower studio where they film Dexter.
They shot two different
restaurant scenes here, for this same episode, on the same day: this
scene (with Quinn & George) and the dating scene where Debra went out with crime writer Sal Price.
They merely used different parts of the same restaurant.
You may recognize La Vida from last season, when it was the place where Debra met Captain Matthews, to talk about his involvement with a dead hooker.
It appears the scene was filmed in the main dining room, in the back of the restaurant (on the far east side).
This space has housed a number of
restaurants over the years. Just before La Vida opened here, the space
was called "Eat on Sunset". And before that, it housed "Pinot Sunset".
Twenty years ago, it was a restaurant called "Columbia Bar & Grill", which was owned by actor Mike Farrell (who played B.J. on "M*A*S*H").
Rick shot this photo of the La Vida entrance (on Gower Street) in 2011:
And here is a photo of the interior from their website:
(You can see the same unusual fireplace in the background of the Quinn/George scene.)
A. In the early seasons, I usually had to hunt down the locations after viewing the episodes,
using clues from the various scenes. By the now, though,
I've developed a small group of fans, spies & tipsters who kept an
eye out for Dexter filming in their neighborhoods, and would let me know
in advance when something was about to film there.
Between those reports, my own personal reconnaissance around town, and a
few new resources I discovered, by the time the first episode airs, I
already know most (but not all) of the filming locations, and only
need to watch the episodes and match up the scenes with the correct
locations.
This group of helpful fans includes Rick, Ellen, Elaine, Mia, Joel, Susan, Eric, Jeff, Kerry & others. My thanks to all of
them.
