Thankfully, Fox is running out of “Kitchen Nightmares” episodes it has in the can, so they showed one repeat and one new episode last night. The new one was Sante La Brea, a “health food” restaurant in Los Angeles. Like some of the food Gordon Ramsay tastes at these places, the episode was a bit bland. But here is our recap….
Restaurant: Sante La Brea
Location: Los Angeles, California
Owner: Dean
Other Characters: Dean’s Two Sons Arthur and Sammy; manager/host Mark; and chef Aurelio
The Problem: The food sucks. Isn’t that a recurring theme here? But not only that, the chef is lazy and set in his ways, the menu is unimaginative and not really healthy, and the manager has a sweating problem as well as a desire to pay more attention to decorating the place than running it. Oh, and there is rotting food in the walk-in fridge. Yuck.
How Ramsay Gets Through To Owner: He brings him to a hilltop in the Hollywood hills, and has Dean shout out as if he is yelling at Aurelio and Mark. Dean wants to turn his restaurant around, because it’s been going downhill over the last ten years.
The Solution: Ramsay shortens the menu and re-designs the stale-looking decor. He puts more emphasis on fresh, healthy cuisine options such as grilled halibut and a green salad topped with fresh, locally caught shrimp. Ramsay also goes and buys Mark some deodorant.
The Result: It takes a while, including a meltdown from Aurelio, who drives off and then changes his mind, apologizing to Ramsay but not to Dean. The re-launch is a huge success, as customers love the food and Ramsay has turned things around. But they give no update at the end of the show, so we don’t know if Aurelio wound up staying or if Dean stayed assertive enough with his employees to keep Sante La Brea afloat.
