163 replies to this topic

[TWoP Nikita]

From Zap2it:

Chef Gordon Ramsay works his magic on a New York state eatery that has been renovated but still has horrible service and food.

[Tresjolie9]

Sooooo

No, what happened afterwards? Anyone here know if the restaurant is still up and running?

[mtvcdm]

Why? Why do I keep getting fooled like that? Why do I keep thinking 'okay, this restaurant's really in the shit now' and then everything magically gets fixed with Gordon holding some local event at the end? Why don't I learn?!

[DCRob]

The Village of Tuckahoe boasts a population of 6,200 souls. So there's no question that the freaking Mayor is a Very Very Very Important Person.

[Spooneroonie]

I'll bet that the projected sign was to make up for the fact that the tile one on the patio railing looked like such a hot mess.

This episode was bleh. The only thing that I took from this episode is that Manager Tom should not wear his hair with a middle part.

[tonypitt]

The sign out front was a great idea, but man did it look bad. The "steakhouse" off to the side seemed like a giant afterthought. I hope somebody fixed all that before this was over.

This is the first place they've made over that I thought I would actually consider eating at.

[LolaLilaLilly]

Soooo.. "Traveling across the country..." means "traveling across New York," it seems.

This show is still a piss-poor inbred stepcousin of its UK counterpart.

[dreamy]

Don't forget the antiperspirant, Spooneroonie.

I couldn't find a recent review of the place.

And why did the owner even sign up for this gig if he was going to be so stubborn about anything and everything that Chef Ramsay had to say?

ETA: What, tonypitt, not up for Dillons?

Edited by dreamy, Oct 17, 2007 @ 9:07 PM.

[Elphaba]

The owner reminded me of a bit of Chaz Palminteri. Every time he was onscreen, I thought he was full of shit. Turns out he's an actor wannabe. Click on "staff." At least they kept the steakhouse concept.

Almost every week I hate the owner or manager so much that I don't care if they fail. This week was no exception.

[VNutt]

Was anyone else caught in a fit of hysterical laughter over the owner dudes "Did I stutter?" Always nice when you can tell which character from the breakfast club that was someone's favorite......

[Bentley]

Maybe someone with cooking skills or chef's experience can answer this question.

I don't understand how a restaurant can just change its menu literally overnight. Cooking steaks well is an art, isn't it? Can a good chef just throw steaks on a grill and create miracles, even if he has no real experience in cooking them? To specialize like that, shouldn't your steaks have some sort of secret ingredient or marinade, or is it that if it's a good cut of beef it needs no help? Also, wouldn't they have to invest in new seasonings, condiments, cooking tools, etc? Even if it could be done, I question the wisdom of doing it full stop like that and inviting a restaurant full of people, including VIP's to witness the debacle. Why not a trial run first to smooth out the rough edges and make sure everyone knows what they're doing?

[kelmeister]

I'll probably find myself in the minority for saying this, but I really enjoyed that. This one only had a few spots where the crazy editing was obvious and annoying. But I think they somehow managed to squeeze in more of what we've wanted to see: local food, local excursions, more menu work, and I actually thought the talk with the couple about their finances was interesting.

Of course, there was more to love. Like the Yuppie couple who hated the food, but kept coming back so they could be featured prominently complaining about the food on the TeeVee...they should have their own show.

Hopefully, this will give the restaurant a big enough turnaround that they can hire another chef or two, besides the one that was helping Mike. Because he obviously wasn't doing anything worth noting or worth talking to him.

Those Terminator eye things are really creeping me out, even though I now know they're coming.

In regards to the preview for next week, did they refilm an episode of RKN whole cloth? I SWEAR the pizza shop guy with fifty types of pizza, who Ramsay has the least amount of confidence in of anyone he's ever met, was in the BBC show.

[IBinHypmotized]

Dammit, that was arguably the worst episode yet. It's like they lost all the little momentum they've built so far this season and tossed it in the trash with the rissotto. Boooooooo!

40 minutes arguing with the asshole owner, 10 minutes watching the disaster with the service/printer, and 10 minutes of rehash. We never saw the chef actually cook any of the new dishes, did we? Hell, we were even cheated out of a follow-up months later. Why is that?? Was it just shot 3 weeks ago??

And enough with freakin' Long Island already! I've had it with wannabe Wiseguys and shitty crabcakes!

Edited by IBinHypmotized, Oct 17, 2007 @ 9:23 PM.

[tominboston]

I too was wondering about the apparent overnight menu transformation and where the steak expertise suddenly came from, not to mention the roomfull of guests on apparent short notice. We're led to believe that all the action in this show takes place in the space of four or five days, but does it really?

[Jete Saute]

Oh boy...I found Douchi DelleDouchini's Acting Resume ...our Boy went to the Lee Starsburg Theatre Institute....heeee.

And ya know? I'm getting tired of every epi ending in the sack-race-o-rama of twee cheer......

[justtee1]

Soooo.. "Traveling across the country..." means "traveling across New York," it seems.

Based on the previews, it looks like they're finally leaving the New York area next week and heading for Hollywood.

I also didn't understand changing the menu only two hours before the "re-launch". That didn't make any sense to me.

And ya know? I'm getting tired of every epi ending in the sack-race-o-rama of twee cheer......

ITA.

Edited by justtee1, Oct 17, 2007 @ 9:28 PM.

[w2irt]

And enough with freakin' Long Island already! I've had it with wannabe Wiseguys and shitty crabcakes!

Same wiseguys, different county.

This place is in Westchester County (North of NYC) and not Lawn Guyland (which is to the East).

[johnny larue]

The Village of Tuckahoe boasts a population of 6,200 souls. So there's no question that the freaking Mayor is a Very Very Very Important Person.

When he was handing over the key to the city, didn't he indicate that he was mayor of Yonkers?

[LuckyBlackCat]

The music is driving me crazy. It is the exact same Hell's Kitchen dramatic crap. (which for some reason works well for HK) There was one part where I felt like I actually was watching HK on an elimination night.

Ramsay: There is one thing in this restaurant that needs changing and it (violin) is (violin, timpani, horn) YOU.

What a beautiful place, though. A least it was clean.

[GenieinTX]

I'm not a trained chef, but steak seems to be the easiest way to revamp a menu. To me, steak doesn't need sauce or spices or marinades. Good quality meat cooked well is good enough for me. If you know how long to cook it to achieve the correct level of doneness, it should be rather simple for a trained chef to do. If you have to have sauces, you could easily go with the staples.. bernaise, hollindaise, etc. The menu didn't look complicated, a few good cuts of beef, a few pieces of fish, simple side dishes.

But, I agree that it's highly doubtful that was pulled off in five days with the complete change happening overnight.

Edited by GenieinTX, Oct 17, 2007 @ 9:49 PM.

[RXcowbelle]

Tuned in to Kitchen Nightmares for the 1st time tonight (based solely on my recent discovery of Keckler's recaps!) The building was beautiful, but when I saw the dining room, my first thought was that it looked like the dining room at my grandmother's assisted living facility. Lo and behold, the "blue heads" were flocking from the ALF next door.

Ramsay really must have the patience of a saint, or have an altruistic streak the likes of which are rarely seen today. Or maybe he's a masochist? Hmmmm, my mind wanders . . . All I know is that if I was trying to help a struggling business owner save his restaurant and he starts throwing attitude at me, I'd probably tell him to fuck off - and then I'd leave his sorry restaurant to circle down the drain.

And don't get me started on hubby's spending money on what I'm sure are not cheap cigars and wifey's getting her nails done (not to mention what I hope was faux Burberry) when they're supposedly up to their eyeballs in debt and could lose their house. Cry me a river. I didn't get the impression that owning a restaurant was some long-burning passion for the owner. I think it was just a way to make money and/or to be a "big shot", glad-handing schmoozer in town. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just seems a shame to devote Ramsay's time and talents to help that type of restaurant out. I guess that's the nature of TV, though, and that I'm part of the problem in that I probably wouldn't watch a drama-free, asshole-free reality show.

The front of house people seemed harmless but kind of useless. I wonder if the hostess is some sort of local fixture, because her type of personality - at least what was shown - is the sort of thing that's an instant turn-off when I'm in a restaurant. I never really figured out what the GM's role was in the overall scheme of things. I just felt bad for the chef. I can't imagine working in that environment because I felt like I needed a Xanax just from watching the damn show.

On a positive note, the deer brocade/tapestry upholstery was very autumn festive, and I liked it.

[Hunter Rose]

Maybe someone with cooking skills or chef's experience can answer this question.

I don't understand how a restaurant can just change its menu literally overnight.

I've got neither skills or experience, but it seems impossible for a restaurant to open "two hours" after a new menu is presented to the staff 'for the first time'. The cooks have to practice the dishes and timing of the courses, and the waitstaff have to be familiarized enough to be able to sell the menu and answer questions. They're just not being honest with the timelines they present.


P.S. I may not have been paying enough attention, but I thought that Mike was alone in the kitchen to begin with and then - bang! - he's got two cooks working with him after the relaunch. Where'd the new guys come from 'so fast'?

[franabanana]

This placed reminded me of a bad dinner theater show I saw when on a school trip to Nashville, TN. The long-running joke of the show was that everything could be traced back to the "OLD MILL." We must have used that phrase about 10x a day for 6 months!!!

Anyhow, the show. Very disjointed to see the green tablecloths back at the END of the show. Weird weird editing. The "fear of failure" problem was grafted on to give the egotistical owner some sort of sympathetic backstory. Too bad they didn't go rock-climbing or hang-gliding. That would have been suitably cheesy reality-show esque.

I'm kind of getting used to the giveaway dining room makeovers, but it does still make me sad to think of all the UK Channel 4 versions where the owners really roll up their sleeves and repaint, remodel, get new stuff, etc., on their own dime. I also really miss the back-and-forth consultation and even training that Grrr would do with the young chefs. Here he just throws a new menu their way and hopes for the best.

I did like the chef in this episode, but it was pretty puzzling how no one seemed to know that the food was horrible. He seemed to know it, but just didn't have the ability to change it, or the support from the owners. The manager said the food "sucked" but it was only after Ramsay had passed judgment on it. The owner seemed to think it was great. He just couldn't understand why people weren't coming to his beautiful restaurant.

I must say I was craving a STEAK after this show. Mmmm, I do loves me some red meat.

Edited to add that my two favorite moments were Grrr driving on his bike (hot), and changing into the chef's coat (grrrrr!).

Edited by franabanana, Oct 17, 2007 @ 10:38 PM.

[taocpa]

I have know discovered a new use for my funnels!

Darn, that was a beautiful place.

I loved it when GRrrr told him that GRrrr has 12 successful restaurants and this guy was hanging on barely. I was waiting for GRrrr to do that!

To you restaurant owners tempted to call GRrrr for your shot at being a famewhore, let me clue you in on GRrrr's secret to success:

1. Use local ingredients
2. Use fresh ingredients
3. Don't hover over patrons
4. Don't have any incompetent people on your staff
5. Don't hire your friends
6. Don't buy or operate a restaurant until you've worked in one as a cook, manager, chef, hostess whatever:
7. And last but not least, taste the food coming out of your kitchen. If it tastes like crap, it probably is, which explains why no one is in your damn restaurant.

[LuckyBlackCat]

All of the above are true, toacpa, but sometimes the ego (like this guy) is so big that it takes a Ramsay sized smack down before you will listen. This guy thought his food tasted great. The chef seemed competent but was not allowed to even serve what/when he wanted. I do agree it seems easy to do this. All of us who are faithful to the all KN shows probably know more about running a restaurant than half the places in our towns. ;)

[nohwheregirl]

To me, steak doesn't need sauce or spices or marinades. Good quality meat cooked well is good enough for me. If you know how long to cook it to achieve the correct level of doneness, it should be rather simple for a trained chef to do.

Exactly. All you need for a good piece of meat is a little salt & pepper and a fire. It's the cheaper cuts of meat that you have to fuss over. I cringed when the patron ordered his steak medium-well.

Also, how was the General Manager not fired? Yes, even if they gave them 2 days to learn the new menu rather than 2 hours, it would be a stressful situation. But dude, try a little professionalism. Not that he has any shining examples of that in the workplace.

[Erie42]

My silly boyfriend said he was done with this show since the kitchen wasn't disgusting and one of the customers ordered the steak well done.

I didn't think this one was too bad since it was at least focused on the food but just didn't show enough of revamping the menu. I would have also liked to see the owners' having input on the renovations since if they stick it out in the restaurant business long enough they'll have to redo the place again and they probably won't know how to or how the taste level. Also, on a completely silly level I enjoy the jerkiness of the owner.

One of the big problems with this show is that someone who considers himself an actor seems to involved with nearly every restaurant and I don't see how they can get around avoiding famewhores. Especially since on this side of the pond Ramsey is mainly known for yelling and getting bleep on hell's kitchen than his real work as a chef.

[sbkasha]

This is the first time I've actually liked the restaurant's chef. The crappy menu didn't seem to be his fault. The owner seemed like a complete control freak and wouldn't let the chef put out food that he was proud to serve. He definitely needs more line cooks though.

Did the owner actually say that he was "emaciated"? I don't think that means what he thinks it means.

[w2irt]

To you restaurant owners tempted to call GRrrr for your shot at being a famewhore, let me clue you in on GRrrr's secret to success:

1. Use local ingredients
2. Use fresh ingredients
3. Don't hover over patrons
4. Don't have any incompetent people on your staff
5. Don't hire your friends
6. Don't buy or operate a restaurant until you've worked in one <snip>
7. And last but not least, taste the food coming out of your kitchen. If it tastes like crap, it probably is, which explains why no one is in your damn restaurant.

8: Keep food simple and tasty, and make it look nice.
9: Know your clientele and the tastes expected in the area. Haute cuisine won't fly in working class neighborhoods.
and of course, FIRST RULE: CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN!

[Hiram Bingham]

Kobe beef MEDIUM WELL!!!??? In the name of all that is good and decent!