Category: Kitchen Nightmares (Page 6 of 6)

Last night’s episode of Gordon Ramsey’s “Kitchen Nightmares” featured another Long Island restaurant, this time The Mixing Bowl in Bellmore. This was a very casual eatery, like a diner style with a very large menu. Owner/chef Billy and his wife Lisa recruited Ramsey for the show to try and turn the place around, because it was losing a lot of money and on the verge of having to shut down.

First, Ramsey arrived and ordered lunch, busting on manager Mike the whole time, who was his waiter. Ramsey was telling Mike he should get into shape, eat more salads, and that he shouldn’t stare at customers while they are eating. This was a sign of things to come, for sure. Anyway, Ramsey liked the food well enough, especially the crab cakes, but it didn’t blow him away. He even said some of it was bland.

At the dinner service, Ramsey saw more problems. First, there were very few customers. Secondly, some of them were eating at a 50% discount, courtesy of coupons the restaurant had been distributing for “10 years,” according to Billy. Ramsey also busted on Mike for all the cheesy signs he had made to try and draw people in, and Mike admitted that none of them worked anyway.

So after showing Billy and Lisa and the staff that in ten years, a whole bunch of restaurants had opened on this stretch in Bellmore, change was necessary. Another trend was that lots of gyms were opening in the area, and Ramsey suggested trending the menu toward fresh, healthy food.

So with a new, fresh menu in place, Ramsey then overhauled the decor to reflect the new cuisine.
Everyone was excited and ready to begin a new chapter. Word spread fast, and with the help of Ramsey, Lisa and Mike recruited customers from nearby gyms, and from the New York Dragons indoor football team.

But that evening at dinner, it was clear Mike was in over his head….the reservations were messed up, and he was just having trouble running a restaurant that was busy for the first time in years. But instead of taking some of the blame, all Mike did was try and point fingers, to the chagrin of everyone else working there. What’s worse, the customers saw Mike’s meltdown.

Instead of firing Mike, Billy and Lisa admitted that they had a problem and gave Mike a second chance. And Mike responded, admitting that he needed to have a “rebirth” himself to help do his part to make The Mixing Bowl a success. Luckily, he did what he said he would and the place turned around. Profits soared, everyone was happy, and most of all, Billy and Lisa were enjoying a better marriage. A feel good story if there ever was one, even on a show with the word “nightmare” in it.

And there were no cockroaches or rats this time. See you next week!

Last night’s “Kitchen Nightmares” featured a quasi-Indian restaurant in New York City called Dillon’s. It appeared to be in the theater district in New York but it was kind of hard to tell. You could already tell when Gordon Ramsey first appeared at the restaurant, that the problem was that there were literally too many cooks in the kitchen. Well, make that managers on the floor. Along with Mohammod, the owner, there was Andrew the operations manager, Martin the general manager, and Khan the floor manager. And the menu was not just Indian, but also had American food items.

Ramsey ordered a few things from the menu to sample what they had, and was extremely disappointed. Not only were there flies buzzing around everywhere, but the food did not come out as he had asked….vegetarian fritters had meat in the them and lamb was served in place of beef in another. Then the salmon came out and Ramsey said it looked like a “doormat.” When Andrew emerged from the kitchen and Ramsey found out he had cooked the salmon, he asked Andrew to eat it.

At the dinner service, things went horribly wrong because the kitchen was in complete chaos. Martin showed that he had no business being the GM of a restaurant like this, because he was busy on his phone, having waitresses stroke his hair and ego, and just was plain old useless. Orders were taking way too long to be filled, and customers started leaving.

So Ramsey’s first order of business was to go into the kitchen and see how sanitary or unsanitary everything was. And his nightmares were realized….not only was there moldy food everywhere, but there were flies, cockroaches and rats in the kitchen. So he had steam cleaners come in and disinfect the whole restaurant. He even took the staff to his own restaurant a few blocks away to show them how a real kitchen should look.

After this, Ramsey brought in Vikas, a chef consultant, who revamped the menu to be “contemporary Indian cuisine.” They also changed the name to “Purnina” and got rid of the electronic billboard outside the restaurant. Ramsey also brought in a design team to revamp the interior and exterior of the restaurant, and then asked for everyone’s complete support and approval. He got it from everyone but Martin, who seemed to think his shit didn’t stink. Not only that, but waitress Jenna came to his defense as well. Finally, Martin also relented that he would do his part to make the restaurant successful.

So at the dinner service, everything started off well, but it was clear that Martin was in over his head. Food was getting cold before it made it to tables, and Martin was his usual lazy self. Ramsey put Khan in charge, and afterward had a heart to heart with Mohammod, suggesting he fire Martin and replace him with Vikas in the kitchen. Before Mohammod could do this, though, Martin had overheard Ramsey’s suggestions and got into a shouting match with him. He wasn’t fired in the end, because he decided to quit, saying bad things about Ramsey as he exited.

Months later, they showed that the changes stuck, and that Purnina had become very successful, even generating a buzz in Manhattan’s restaurant community. Once again, Gordon Ramsey had swooped in and turned a restaurant around, giving life where it once was floundering. Ah, a feel good story if there ever was one.

I only wonder what became of Martin…..

Last night was the first official U.S. based episode of Gordon Ramsey’s new show, “Kitchen Nightmares.”
As we talked about yesterday, this is a show where Ramsey comes in and revamps a restaurant that is in trouble due to poor management, kitchen operations, or both.

So the inaugural guinea pig was Peter’s Italian Restaurant in Babylon, New York, which is on Long Island’s South shore. The restaurant is family owned and operated, but the principle owner is Tina, but her brother Peter, who the restaurant is named after, acts like the boss and for all intents and purposes, IS the boss. In fact, his employees say he secretly aspires to be in a “Goodfellas” movie, and if you see Peter and watch him operate, that is no stretch by any means. He’s big, Italian, and imposing.

Ramsey meets with all of the employees–chef Robert, sous chef John, Tina and Peter, their mom and dad, and waiter Angelo. His first order of business is to sample some of the food, and he quickly finds out that it’s not prepared the way it should be….the crab cakes are cold in the middle and served on browning lettuce. And the lobster in the lobster ravioli tastes like “baby food.” Not a good start.
Ramsey also quickly notices that the kitchen equipment is outdated and barely functioning, and that Peter’s selfish behavior is bringing the entire restaurant and its staff down. He has even been taking money from the restaurant’s tiny profits, putting them more in a hole.

In between all this, there are two instances of bill collectors coming to the restaurant, and Peter shows everyone why he should be in a mob movie…hell, this guy could have been Tony Soprano’s right hand man. Anyway, Peter threatens both bill collectors, telling them that he’s going to beat the crap out of them right in front of the restaurant….which he doesn’t, but it’s all good television anyway….and a good train wreck along the lines of “COPS.”

So Ramsey’s first order of business is new kitchen equipment, which makes Robert practically do back flips. He says he can finally cook the way he’s supposed to. Meanwhile, this change makes Tina and the rest of the staff incredibly happy and gives them an emotional boost. Next, Ramsey says they need to distinguish themselves from the other restaurants in the area, so he suggests and implements a “family style” menu, featuring less items that are served to the tables family style. The idea is great, but Peter sabotages the execution of it by eating some of the food meant for customers. It really gets interesting when Ramsey tells Peter to “go F–K yourself.” And Peter doesn’t know quite how to respond, which makes it even better.

In the end, Ramsey tells Peter that he needs to ultimately take responsibility for his actions, that he’s bringing everyone else down. You’d think a guy like Peter wouldn’t listen, but he really does…he goes home, comes back the next day and is basically a changed man. And with that, the whole dynamic of the restaurant changes. Peter is nice to everyone–employees and customers alike. And the end result is that Peter’s Italian Restaurant starts to make money again.

If I could take two things from this episode, it’s that no one can intimidate Gordon Ramsey–not even the most intimidating mobster wannabes….and that the man knows how to run a restaurant. Dare I say it, but I think this show is better than “Hell’s Kitchen.” I guess the ratings will tell us if I’m right.
Till next week…..

If you liked Gordon Ramsey’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” you’re going to love his new show, “Kitchen Nightmares,” that airs tonight on FOX at 9 pm EST/8pm CST. I first saw this show on the BBC channel and I knew if it ever aired in the States it would do well.

That day is here, and after screening the first two episodes, I can tell you, it’s even better than the British versions I’ve seen. Why? Because Americans are more lazy, hot headed (remember this one in particular) and just plain dumb when it comes to running restaurants. Okay, that’s a generalization. But you get the idea. The premise of the show is that Ramsey visits restaurants and gives them a makeover in design, menu, and overall management of restaurants that are struggling.

Starting tomorrow I’ll be blogging about each episode, so come back and please read my notes after you watch the show. Yeah, that means you have to actually watch the show. But I know you’ll like it. No, really!

For a teaser of the show on YouTube, click here