I'm not sure when we get the UK version, but he just finished shooting the American edition of Kitchen Nightmares. Apparently he got food poisoning eating at one of the joints. And Hell's Kitchen is returning on June 4th.

There's going to be an American version of Kitchen Nightmares? That's fantastic. We really like watching Gordon on Tv. Well, hubby doesn't like Hell's Kitchen - he finds it gimmicky. But he isn't into reality tv as I am.

I already miss F word. I hope they will do a third season. I just hope they don't have Gordon raise and slaughter a new animal breed each season. It's kind of icky.

So, the American version of Kitchen Nightmares is on the fall schedule. (Does it need its own thread?)

Much as I enjoy KN, I question having Ramsey teaching American restaurateurs how to achieve success. GR has not yet demonstrated that he KNOWS how to achieve success in the US. His new NYC restaurant has gotten very fair-to-middling reviews.

I also think his complete distaste for anything spicy hot will not serve him well here.

Plus, someone told me they ate in one of his places in England, and it was really bad - cold, bland, costly. Maybe when he cooks it's ok - he is a good cook and good chef. But when he's not around, his recipes in other hands just comes out blah.

Watching another of his shows, his meat dishes seem to go over best but his desserts were often strange - salt added, or citrus and cream together. The diners also complained at times of blandness, as you say.

I always like watching him, but I agree that Americans may not be much helped. If they listen at all!

But I suspect that has a LOT to do with his name and what people/critics expected out of this explosive, volatile chef. If you read any of the reviews of his NY restaurant, many of them reveal a certain bias before even tasting the food; a bias in that they spend the first couple of paragraphs talking about GR's reality shows and his temper. What does that have to do with the food? The writer of the New Yorker article said something that I thought was remarkably spot-on (my bolding):



Would his restaurant been so as scrutinized if it had been opened by John Smith? I suspect not to that pre-determined degree, so I think he can offer a lot of advice to American restaurant owners who won't have that kind of reputation in the culinary world to live up to.




I've never had the opportunity to eat at any of his places when I've been in England (mainly because some need 2 months reservations in advance), but I have had the chance to look at the menus and yeah, they are costly! At Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, a set lunch of three dishes is £40, which for a Canadian, is well over $100. Claridge's and maze are slightly cheaper, but they all hover around that £30 mark (about $70) for LUNCH. I guess I'm not one of those "serious diners" Gordon is looking for!

Other high-profile chefs have come to New York and had success here -- some almost from the beginning (Joel Robouchon, Thomas Keller), others after a few mis-steps (Alain Ducasse). Others, too, have not ever been able to figure out this market.

Until Ramsey shows that he gets the US enough to make a real success of his own place, I'll find it hard to accept him as the expert, advising others.

But the best episodes of Kitchen Nightmares...... what he really does is teach these people how to properly run a business. Make the most of your staff, figure out how to maximize ingredient costs, try to find a way to bring the customers in during the slow times as well as the times people are out and need to eat and will wait for a half hour for a table at the Olive Garden.

Food or personality wise there may be a zillion reasons a place does not catch on in a town, maybe personality, fame or even the style of food.... but ya can't tell me Ramsey doesn't know how to run a place like a proper business.

I also hope that it will just get the masses in America to go and TRY the local places around them rather than just going to McD's, Olive Garden or Denny's.

The masses in America go to McD's, Olive Garden, and Denny's because it's cheap and you know exactly what you're getting no matter what coast you're on. If I'm going to spend $100 on a dinner, I want to know it's going to be excellent, because for me, that's a hell of a lot of money to put out for a meal for one person.

Oh, I'm not saying if he wasn't Gordon Ramsay, he'd have a success. But what I am saying is, because he is so high-profile (and again, I'm obviously not the serious diner he's looking for, because other than Alain Ducasse, I have no idea who those other chefs are that you mentioned), there is an extra expectation. He certainly didn't blow into NY in the middle of the night, set up a restaurant, then unveil it to the surprise of the town. (So yes, a lot of that added expectation is brought on by himself.) And I think the Michelin star success automatically sets a standard for his restaurants across the board.

I don't think he's going to be going to high-end restaurants to tell them how to fix things; those restaurants won't be interested in his help because they'll probably have the same attitude, ie. "When you're a success here, call me." He's going to go to a lower bracket of restaurants where the clientele and money is going to be fairly different.




I absolutely agree with this, and this is what I find appealing about KN. It's not just about the food; in fact, the food is often simply the byproduct of everything else- lowering costs, buying fresh and local, changing the style of the dining room, finding a maitre'd who is in control, finding a chef who is creative but realistic, working on ideas that bring people in on the Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Some of these things are standard for every restaurant, but others are unique to each one, and that's why Ramsay works well with the owners; he seems to be able to identify what they need to be successful.




It is a hell of a lot of money, but excellence is also subjective. For instance, he uses a lot of creams instead of spices. Some people might love that, but others might not. Doesn't take away from the genuine "excellence" of the plate.




I broke up your quote because I was only going to respond to the last bit, but I re-read the above comment about three times, and each time, it make me think more and more.

I wouldn't consider myself a "foodie" by any stretch of the imagination, and my "signature dish" would probably be homemade chili. Yet there's something about the idea "you know exactly what you're getting no matter what coast you're on" that I find a bit depressing, really. Food that is bought and consumed not necessarily because it's good, but simply because there are no surprises when you order it. No, "what the hell is this??"... and yet, also no, "Wow, I've never had this before!" It's unfortunate there doesn't seem to be a popular middle ground between a $100 lunch at Ramsay's and a $20 plate at the Olive Garden.

I agree. I'd be willing to risk a $20-$30 unfamiliar lunch at Ramsay's based on his name and reputation, it's just hard for me to justify paying a lot of money for that same name and reputation. But then, I live in the middle of Idaho where Red Lobster is considered the best resturant in town.

I hear ya! The Keg is considered fine dining around these parts.

When? Where?

Fox. Thursdays at 9. Right after "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"

I agree -- the best episode of KN was the soul food joint. Gordon obviously was not going to be teaching Mama or her cook how to make soul food. But he did help them figure out how to run the restaurant as a business, and how to package the food in a way that drew in crowds. He's not going to go into a Thai place and tell them to knock it off with the spices or cut the use of coconut milk in the curry -- but he might go in and help them figure out how to better run the dining room or help them see how fresh ingredients will improve the food.

I'd wager that the vast majority of the lessons he teaches are transferable to the US. Such as, "Throw out those @#$!% moldy strawberries before you make someone sick!"

Is that true? On Channel 4 here in the UK (which shows Gordon's shows KN and The F Word), they have these between-show ident segments, where various people from the channel's shows (British stars like Gordon and Davina McCall alongside the stars of US shows screened on the channel, like Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives) are asked a particular question each time, like what's their earliest memory, or what's the best way to their heart, and it shows their answers. Anyway, on one of them it's about their favourite food, and Gordon's answer is ‘Indian’. That doesn't really sound like the answer of someone who doesn't like hot or spicy food.

Here's an interesting link about the upcoming American version of KN.



After reading the whole article, and knowing what we know about GRrrr, I doubt he actually had to do this. Probably sour grapes and shame when they realised how bad they'd look on national TV.

(I went back quite a few pages and didn't see this link, hopefully it hasn't been discussed already.)

Loved the episode too - at first I thought Ramsay was overly harsh with the chef (it's heartbreaking to watch them break down in tears - I can imagine how awful it must feel to have your sense of pride in your food belittled), but he really did need a wake up call, considering how close to bankruptcy they were.

I loved seeing the contrast in the men's attitudes - Ramsay's never say die, in your face spirit, contrasted with the chef's living-in-the past state of denial. It really drives home the reason why GR is so successful. I want him as my life-coach! I can just hear him saying "get your lazy ass in gear, you donkey, you f**k, %$@!"

I don't know if anyone's seen this, but he was interviewed by tvguide about the US KN:


Can't wait!

Very interesting. I guess it wouldn't surprise me to find US restaurants that weren't only incompetent but intentionally ripoffs. Can't wait to find out how.

I do know that for the US version coming up, one can apply for him to come to one's restaurant. It is on the Fox website I think.

Like several other people in the thread, I caught this for the first time on Sunday during the marathon. I really loved it. It's so interesting to see how different people handle the same type of situation (business on the brink of failure). And I really liked Gordon Ramsey being toned down (although I like him on Hells Kitchen, too) and seriously helpful. I hope the American version is just as good and not all Foxified.

Yeah, it is also a shame that the ones that seem to appreciate this, aren't the ones that should be listening. I can't believe, after opening a different, more successful restaurant (using Gordon's main advice), they still didn't see the error of their ways. I think Abstract is just an ego thing for the chef. Otherwise, why wouldn't you actually want customers?

I watched the repeat of Morgon's. I really can't get over the one daughter. Can you imagine being married to her. The freak out at the playground was bad enough, but then the not coming to work or answering the phone and then locking the door? Somebody needs A LOT of attention.

Thanks, AlwaysConfused. I really enjoyed that clip from the sitethatshallnotbenamed. He was too cute and funny.


This is my fear, as well. I don't mind the cheese on HK, because it is a competitive reality show. However, I hope the American version of KN really sticks closely to the UK version. I realize that most of the participants seem stubborn and don't take the criticism well, but usually, they eventually swallow their pride. I just don't want our version to turn into some kind Jerry Springer-esque "you don't know me" rant, followed by contestants telling Ramsay what a know-nothing asshole he is.

I'd definitely worry about this. This is part of why I can't stand the US version of What Not to Wear. Just about everyone in the UK version eventually will try to do as suggested, even if they fight in the beginning. Off hand, I only remember one women who just flat out refused to change her hair and a different woman who went along with the make over during the show but only in the follow up was it revealed that she blatently went back to her old ways. Now I don't watch the US version at all anymore, because like I said I hate it, but when I did watch there were FAR too many American women willing to take the money up front and spend the rest of the episode acting like spoiled morons, ignoring absolutely all advice and being rude about it, buying crap clothing and flaunting it, etc. They come across as total money grabbing, fame-whores with no intention of going along with the show. So yeah, I can see this happening with KN in the US.

But then this last episode, with the restaurant in Inverness, was pretty bad along those lines. I mean normally people do act like lugheads but usually in the end they do follow SOME advice. In this show, I honestly have no idea why they were involved. Publicity? They clearly had no intention of listening to GR. The owner totally came across as a besotted sugar daddy who had no concern about all the money he was losing. I guess he has so much money it didn't matter to him. He wanted the status or something. And what did the chef care? It wasn't his money. Hilarious that the chef ended up leaving.

ETA I checked out some the links above (thanks!). The review in one spot says Loic was head chef but in another place it mentions watching Geoffrey Wosface do the cooking - at the chef's table. Hee! They did take Gordan's advice about adding that. Plus it seems the remodelling was done. In the site for the actual restaurant, the links for the chefs don't work well but it seems Geoffrey is head chef in Inverness for both Abstract and Contrast and Damian Wosface is head chef in Edinburgh. Also didn't the show say Loic's girlfriend was the one who wrote the menus, but then it seems he went back to France with a wife. I wonder if it was the same person?

I've so far been unable to locate any clips of the Kitchen Nightmares promos that are airing on FOX. I've checked the usual places (FOX.com, youtube, google blog search) and come up empty, any chance you folks have seen them online somewhere?

I always add salt to pasta water. Remember, when working with starches there's quite a bit of chemistry involved. Oil or salt will prevent the gnocchi from sticking. Gnocchi is really simple to make at home, and I would recommend it to everyone. Don't buy the crap in the stores.

I saw a preview for the Fox KN, and there was a burly New Yawk type threatening to put GR in the hospital. A buncha guys were holding the knuckle-dragger back and GR was getting behind a car.

Having seen a brief mention of this today in a NY Times article about something else, I dug up this NY Daily News article from Aug. 6, 2007 about a lawsuit - ordered by the court into arbitration - against GR by the manager of a Manhattan restaurant, which had been filmed/taped for the US version of "Kitchen Nightmares." The complaint was that Ramsay had faked things for the camera.

This Aug. 10 UPI article makes it clearer that the court dismissed the lawsuit and ordered the matter into arbitration in accordance with the terms of the parties' contract.

In any case, the show will go on.

The Fox site has a preview page up for the US Kitchen Nightmares, which starts next month. For those of us who have been worrying that it would be more of the "Hell's Kitchen" style Ramsay than the UK KN, there's a glimmer of hope. They say "the series reveals a whole new side to Ramsay. He’s still prone to the explosive outbursts and spectacular confrontations familiar to fans of “Hell’s Kitchen,” but he also shows his sensitive and nurturing side – a unique blend of fury, passion, inspirational leadership and tough love that can coax a small spark of talent into a roaring flame." I'm not holding my breath, but I feel a LITTLE better about it now.

We're looking forward to the "American KN" here. Hubby is less interested in watching the Hell's Kitchen type of Ramsay. He loves seeing the way GRrr spots everyone's strengths and weaknesses, though, on KN. It drives us both bats when the people won't listen to him - usually just the head chef and owner. 'Pride comes before a fall' indeed.

Loved seeing Momma Cherri again, but we looked at each other as soon as we saw her huge new place and said, "She bit off more than she can chew again". She must love a challenge.

I was ready to praise GRrr for finally giving a tad of respect to vegetarians, but I can't find that section. Is it a page of its own? Which particular page was it on? Thanks.

skatemd, thanks again, and, I'm hungry for BBQ spaghetti now. Yum. (I doubt I can find any in Los Angeles, though!)

Anyone know when the American Kitchen Nightmares starts its season? It isn't showing up on TiVo yet.

The American version premieres on 9/19 on FOX. My TiVo's showing it, but it's listed as "Kitchen Nightmares" as opposed to the BBC version listing, "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares."

Thanks Gale_Star.

Maybe enough days have passed that it's showing up on TiVo. We tried every permutation we could think of.

Looking forward to the new season (new series?).

I only wish that the American version were cancelled. If they aren't going to cancel this debauchery then someone should make the British version easier to access.

Why hasn't this show been discussed at all on here? I was looking for some updates from the last season. I believe the next season is starting here again soon. Am I just missing the correct thread?? *feeling like something is missing*

They had a recap thread for this show but it seems they have taken that one down and opened this one back up.

Oh thanks, Raina. I went without internet for awhile, so I guess I missed everything about the first season of this show on TWOP.

I really just want to know if ANY of those restaurants are still open/functioning. The Fox website is useless.

You can read all the threads from the old forum in the KN Read Only archive. You may get some of your questions answered there.

Thank you very much.

The 2-hour season premiere is next Thursday. Apparently, it's called "Revisted: Gordon Returns" and has GR going back to some of the restaurants from last season, like Finn McCool's, Peter's and The Mixing Bowl.

The next week, Sept. 11, TV Guide says:

Did anyone watch this? (It took me some digging to find where this thread would be.)

It was very upbeat, with good news all around for the restaurants revisited -- which kind of surprised me. Did he just not visit/follow up on any that hadn't maintained the turnaround? I was happy for these folks, though, mostly -- the restaurant business is not something I'd ever want to be involved with long-term (had enough in my getting-through-college days), so I'm glad these people have seemed to stick with the suggestions etc. and seen success.

I was surprised so many of the places from last year seemed to be doing so well. Of course the restaurants that are doing well are the ones most likely to let the cameras back in, but 6 out of 10 isn't a bad success rate. We already knew the Seascape was sold and Lela's closed before their episodes aired. Sebastian's has also closed. So The Secret Garden is the only place still open we didn't get an update on.

It was a little odd that Gordon went to all the restaurants except for Peter's. Maybe he was too scared of Peter to go back.

Was I the only one annoyed that Peter talked and acted as if he was the owner of the place and not just the manager....a position given to him...not earned....by his sister?

I was excited to see that 2 restaurants in my general location will be featured this season...My husbands been to both and I would love to go see how much he says it's changed and to see if the food is any good.

At one point in the description he was noted as the "Co-Owner/Manager".

Yes, I remember from the original episode that the siblings owned it together (and wasn't there at least one more, or was it Mom and the two kids?) And that was the crux of the problem -- as one of the owners, she couldn't really fire him, as she would have been free to if he were merely family-but-employee. I too was confused that in the update they kept describing her as the owner, which gave the appearance that she simply wasn't cutting out dead weight family members.

I also thought it was odd that they decided to end the "Gordon Comes Back" show on a segment without Gordon. It kind of makes me think that Peter was back to doing things GR wouldn't approve of- bad food, poor service, strange menu choices, more visits from those "bill collectors"... In any case, it felt like the show was trying to make the business look better/more successful than it actually was. On the other hand, it was great to see that the two restaurants run by genuinely likeable people (Mixing Bowl & Finns) were both doing demonstrably better.

The biggest surprise of the night was probably The Olde Stone Mill guy- I thought he made some really good points about why places like his, and owners like him, come off the way they do on this show. When you're swimming in debt with no clue how to get out you can go a little crazy, and not everything you do is going to make sense. Also, now that he's not shouting all the time, I can understand his initial resistance to Gordon's input. When you're working in a failing business, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to make changes- to risk alienating the few customers you have, in order to bring in a new crowd that you don't know will show up.

I was also shocked to see the developments at Purn-illons, most notably that Vikas is still associated with that place. Even watching through the show's rose colored glasses, it seems clear that he's the one keeping that place in line. I'm still not sure if either the owner or the remaining manager would have the business sense to find a suitable replacement if Vikas ever split- thank goodness for them that he seems honor-bound to Ramsay to make that place work. It would've been nice to find out more on the Martin and Khan situations, but I kind of figured they'd be left out of the happy reunion.

As for why we didn't hear about Secret Garden: if I remember right from the old forums, Michel seems to have undone many of Gordon's changes to the menu and decor. So, whether or not the place is doing well, there wouldn't be the dramatic difference between before Ramsay's visit and now. (And, if it is doing well, the show isn't going to highlight a place that is succeeding without Gordon's divine intervention.)

Also you have to factor in that the other two California places were abject failures- they weren't going to send Gordon, or even a crew, out to check up on restaurants that aren't the way GR left them, or even in business. Having said that, it would've been awesome to see how far that blowhard Sebastian has fallen- I imagine him nuking up a frozen pizza in the break room of whatever "pay the bills" job he's been forced to take...

In many ways, that seemed like a waste of 2 hours; the "happy, happy, I learned so much from Gordon" from each owner/manager could have been fit into a 15 minute "wrap-up".

But since they *did* choose to do the one Gordon-less followup, they could have at least featured still photos of each of the remaining original restaurants and either shown a stamp across it saying "closed" or voice-over enumerating failing points. (Although that sounds more like a UK version technique). I thought the relentlessly cheerful summaries were, somehow, over-the-top and didn't fit with Gordon's persona for this series - more dour and pessimistic than the hopeful, love of food but in an abrasive way of his UK series.
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I was confused by the way Vikas seemed to be permanent in the place, even serving customers. In the original show, I thought that GR had gotten Vikas to act as a consultant to the restaurant, not be an on-site chef. But this site about Purnima also shows the association.

I looked for current reviews of the place, and found a mixed bag. These reviews on Yelp, although from January-July of this year, sound as if the picture is not as rosy as the show painted it. Among other comments, that Vikas' food was prepared in advance weekly and then reheated/served as needed. But
the reviews on Citysearch are mostly from March 2008, and uniformly positive (ignoring the two apparent faux reviews).

(I *was* amused by the way that they have apparently turned the roach basement into a tourist attraction for customers. It almost looked too empty and pristine to be real, though.)

I don't post on TWoP that often (but lurk for most of my day), but I just had to giggle about this with somebody - the Olde Stone Mill recieving "The Silver Plate Award" "in recognition of the use of beef as the keystone to [their] success"? I don't know why, but that seriously made me giggle for about 5 minutes straight!

...and yes, I did pause the Tivo just to see what the plate said. :)!

Well, first off, I'm disappointed that TWP has put this show into Permanent Hiatus, though I know they have their reasons. Keckler's recaps were some of my favorite on this site, for one thing, and of course I haven't given up on the show myself.

This two-hour followup didn't really do it for me, though. I liked the McCools and Olde Stone Mill segments, found the Dillon's pretty unconvincing (as I did with the original episode - seriously, does anyone believe the owner DIDN'T know how filthy and awful the kitchen was?). Also disappointed that they didn't provide some kind of token followup on all the restaurants. That joint in Pomona with the Hershey syrup lamb chops? I believe they closed, but it would have been nice for the show to have said so. And I am SO bummed they didn't go back to Sebastian's in Beautiful Downtown Burbank with his insane menu.

Still - I wish this show were more like the UK version. The most interesting part of the show is not the screaming "drama" but the detailed advice on how to run and how to not run a business. Does anyone know when BBC America is going to run season 4 of the F Word - the one with the lambs?

I'm going to have a surgical extraction Monday, so while I'm laid up I'm going to verify this: but there were a ton of commercials in the 2 hour episode. I mean the commercials kept coming and coming. While I'm eating mashed potatoes and pudding, I'm going to time exactly how much actual show there was vs commercial time.

Did anyone else notice it or was it just me?

If you go to the Fox website, you can view the whole episode, and it's timed at something like 1:25. There are only brief 20 second commercials in place of every multi-commercial segment that was broadcast.

Sebastian's has closed (surprise!). They said they moved back to Boston for family reasons. It's now another Italian/pizza restaurant.