93 replies to this topic

[TWoP Nikita]

From Zap2it:

Gordon tries to improve business for an upscale California restaurant in desperate need of clientele; the executive chef has a showdown with Gordon in front of the entire staff.

Just a reminder before the thread gets going this week: Episode threads need to stay focused on discussing the current episode. If discussion of editing, production, or other behind-the-scenes happenings on the show moves away from focus on this episode and becomes general discussion of the show as a whole, the conversation should go in the Network and Production thread. If discussion of how the episode compares to the U.K. version becomes general comparison of the show as a whole, the conversation should go to the U.K./U.S. Comparison thread. Thanks.

Edited by TWoP Nikita, Nov 20, 2007 @ 4:04 PM.

[VNutt]

Hershey's Chocolate Sauce, straight from the bottle, on lamb? Is Chef Ricky the male version of Sandra Lee? That was just a thousand kinds of wrong.

[Chelsea Hotel]

That was an incredibly disappointing end to an episode. I guess some of these restaurants truly are struggling, not just fronts for their famewhoring owners/chefs. Oh, well. I just hope that Ricky is able to apply his budding talents elsewhere; I was really impressed with him in the end.

[mtvcdm]

I called it at the beginning of the episode as soon as I heard "eight months". I just did not see anyone in the kitchen that was capable of keeping the place afloat. Maybe Ricky had one clutch performance, but I liken that to Kirk Gibson's shot in the World Series. Yes, he hit the home run, but if he would have had to keep playing after that, no way in hell he's going to be of any use afterwards.

[Spooneroonie]

Hershey's Chocolate Sauce, straight from the bottle, on lamb? Is Chef Ricky the male version of Sandra Lee? That was just a thousand kinds of wrong.

With mint, to boot. Blergh. Good Lord. I mean, I know that mint is a traditional pairing with lamb, but with chocolate? Yick.

Edited for clarity.

Edited by Spooneroonie, Nov 21, 2007 @ 10:10 PM.

[LolaLilaLilly]

Hershey's Chocolate Sauce, straight from the bottle, on lamb? Is Chef Ricky the male version of Sandra Lee? That was just a thousand kinds of wrong.

As soom as I saw that I threw up and then I unpaused the TV and awaited Ramsey's wrath on that.

Hershey's Syrup as a fine chocolate sauce?! Oh the humanity.

[taocpa]

At least this episode had two "villains".

Not surprised it closed. Most new restaurants fail in the first year. She took 13 months. That debt load for a small business is crushing.

Gordon continues to show me why I enjoy this show. They way he admitted to Ricky he was wrong was pretty straightforward and good to see him do on camera.

Loved the klepto Buzzard. Wouldn't want him working for me, though.

[Driad]

Lela's *FAMOUS* burger, that they just started making that day? Gordon must have quite a publicity machine. [/sarcasm]

[Turik Karadin]

I have never understood why "creative" chefs, invariably self-anointed, always feel the need to gunk things up with precious and often icky additions. Chocolate mint sauce indeed! Better on a dish of ice cream than on a couple of (teensy) lamb chops. Just serve plain, well-cooked food of superb quality and don't try for the quadruple toe loop. You'll only fail to stick the landing.

Frankly, I'm not even jazzed by Gordo's delicious "simple" burger. Simple?? With like fourteen things in it besides the meat? While staying at a very posh hotel in England some years ago, a hotel with a world-class restaurant, Mr. Turik ordered a plain simple burger and got one full of weird spices and stuff. Absolutely inedible. It must be endemic over there. (I stuck to fish.)

Buzzard, oh good lord. And Ricky, who got the bad-boy edit in the first half, cleaned up his act, or had it cleaned for him. Sad that the restaurant couldn't make it.

And again with the fridge/kitchen/storage area of alarming lack of cleanliness. I don't know if we'll ever eat out again...

[tominboston]

This show frustrates me because I keep forgetting that you shouldn't believe anything actually happened as depicted. Otherwise, you start wondering how on Day Four of the Ramsay visitation -- on one day -- Lela's could (a) acquire a completely new menu which included (b) a fancy burger that was taste-tested by random Pomona passersby while © GR's crew completely rebuilt the interior, after which (d) the unsettled staff had to cook said new menu and (e) then serve a full house of simulaneously arriving mayors and out of work actors and such and be somehow supposed to present perfectly cooked food that appeared in a timely manner, which it didn't at first, but then did, before the actor/customers all gave up and went home. And then everybody lived happily ever after.

Or not, because the restaurant closed. That part I believe.

Edited by tominboston, Nov 21, 2007 @ 10:57 PM.

[AlmondEyes]

The only place I want to see chocolate? Is on a dessert menu, thank you very much.

Ricky definitely got the bad boy edit, but his redemption arc was actually believable. He probably felt threatened when this Michelin-star chef came into the restaurant. He probably acted out like an ass to mark his territory - you know, another alpha male in his kitchen, can't have that, let's whip out the tape measures. It was very cool that Grrrr gave him much needed props at the end.

It's too bad Lela's couldn't save itself, since at least it had a staff that gave a shit. That is, after Lela got rid of Buzzard, who couldn't leave fast enough for me. I mean, an entire bottle of wine? No way the owner didn't know about his tendency to "borrow" food. She struck me as somewhat of a doormat, though, so it's not hard to imagine her staff taking complete advantage of her in a 'inmates running the asylum' kind of way.

[LolaLilaLilly]

Speaking as an amature cook a chocolate mint sauce with lamb CAN be quite good and savory.

Mint sauce, infact, is a common one with lamb.

Hershey's Syrup, though. Not so much.

[AwNutz]

I mean, an entire bottle of wine?

Not only one, but TWO and an entire four-course meal while leaving well before the end of his shift.

I agree with those who said that there's no way Lela had no clue he was doing that. I believe she'd been told, but didn't have the balls to do something about it.

[buttersister]

I'm glad Lela got her spa makeover. Lord only knows where she is now (wishes best for Lela, who hadn't a clue and neither did her crew). Fine dining. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Otoh, Gordon, this episode, looked like Kitchen Nightmares: Extreme Edition, big boy. You created a new menu, arranged for the restaurant to be flooded with customers slamming the kitchen and put the sous chef in charge? Comedy gold.

[caje]

Loved the klepto Buzzard. Wouldn't want him working for me, though.

What a sorry ass. Probably figured that he was entitled. And he had the nerve to come back to work the next day?!?

Fine dining in Pomona? It's like putting a silk hat on a pig. What was poor Lela thinking?

[FishyJoe]

That restaurant was doomed with an owner like that. It didn't seem like she did anything except doing some table duty and trying to pay the bills. No competent owner that would allow any business to be operated that way.

[aminca]

I'm actually concerned for Lela, who sank her whole pension into her restaurant. Is she now one of Pomona's homeless?

And I thought Ricky showed real potential, once he stopped comparing dicks with Gordo. I'd like to see him show up on Hell's Kitchen.

[ryan506]

The location is probably what killed the restaurant, even with the new menu. I can't imagine how even with Gordon's changes they could've pulled the place out of the hole. It's a shame, though, because Lela really seemed like a nice lady.

Glad to see Buzzard was fired, though I would've liked for his creepy friend (whose name I don't remember seeing once) to have gone too.

[mtvcdm]

Tonnie? The guy popping food in his mouth during relaunch? Because if that's the guy, agreed.

Really, the place was unsaveable. Restaurant type incompatible with city, people stealing large amounts of food, not enough food to serve the few customers you do have, nobody gives a damn, not nearly enough can hack it even if they DO give a damn. The only thing to do there is dump the whole batch and get a brand new staff, but that wasn't going to happen, so buh bye, Lela's.

Edited by mtvcdm, Nov 22, 2007 @ 12:37 AM.

[Lordloveaduck]

I wonder what gave Lela the idea she could run a restaurant in the first place? There was no indication that had been her previous career, and by "sinking her entire pension into it," did she mean her entire 401(k) or some such lump sum? Youza. If I understood the math right, she was in debt to her sister for $64,000, plus had credit-card debt of $64,000. Was that right, or was it just the one debt of 64K?

Either way, if she had used up all her savings, plus had that horrendous debt, plus didn't have the foggiest idea of how to run a restaurant in any way at all (didn't even proof-read the menu, apparently - and man, is that a pet peeve of mine, when I see mistakes on menus), I just wonder what in the world she was thinking. I bet she's living with her sister now. Very sad for her to have blown through all of her old-age safety cushion.

[Puds38]

Sadly what you see all too often are people who think that running a restaurant is easy & sink their entire life fortune into a buisness they aren't prepared to run.

[djuna]

Congrats, Ricky. You made me coin a new term tonight. Some people get promoted, some people get demoted. You got remoted.

[SunShine Gal]

I knew something was wrong with Ricky when they showed him horsing around in the kitchen and was never serious and his food was crap! I loved it when Gordon orders the lamb with chocolate mint sauce and asks if it's fresh. It arrives and he holds up a puny, scant lamb bone with a whisper of meat on it. He's almost at a loss for words when holding up the lamb bone. I was laughing at the time but I think I heard him say something about "lamb bones with chocolate sauce... dreadful". It also turns out that all the food that was served to him was from frozen!

I liked Tabitha at the beginning. Her indignation for Ricky and the way things were in the kitchen was spot on. She can't serve it if it ain't in the kitchen! I'm so glad that Gordon promoted her to manager.

OMG! Buzzard was steeling that owner blind! 3 bottles of wine, miscellaneous food and leaving DURING the dinner service. What shit and he did it ON camera! I'm so glad that Grrr Ramsey chased him down with the camera guy in tow, looked in his bags, made him come back to the restaurant and presented him to the owner. What's strange is Buzzard then CAME BACK and shows up for work the next day! Idiot! I'm so glad he got the official firing from Lela.

Gordon asked Ricky why he was a chef. Ricky said he has "a passion for food" I laughed out loud at that one! The look on Gordon's face was priceless! A restaurant chef who serves mashed potatoes made from boxed potato flakes does NOT have any passion for food. The mint chocolate sauce for the lamb also showed a lack of passion... more a mocking for food and the people who like fine dining. While making it, he was squeezing the plastic bottle of chocolate sauce high over the bowl and laughing that he was making chocolate sauce and it was JUST out of the bottle. He was mocking all of the tv chefs and their culinary skills IMO.

I liked Lex the first 30 minutes of the show. He seemed to take his job seriously. During the taste test it was Lex who identified the meats correctly. Ricky thought the chicken was beef. HA... Ricky didn't even know chicken from beef! Sometimes on Hell's Kitchen the chefs can't even correctly identify a food item properly. At least Lex did out of the 2 items. (I could have answered those right myself so I'm not cheering too much for Lex's palate, but he was likeable.) I liked it when Gordon promoted Lex to head chef because Lex seemed to appreciate it and even said it was really big for him. But damn, he got overwhelmed with that first dinner service and walked out. There were way too many people for that first service, the tickets got all messed up, and it was Lex's first day being the leader... I even think that Ricky probably tried to sabotage Lex and screw up in the kitchen because Ramsey had promoted Lex over him. Too much pressure on Lex.

Lela's makeover was fantastic. She looked like a new woman and she had a better attitude as if Ramsey was her restaurant savior and if anyone could fix it, he could. I'm glad she looked much happier, got a new hairstyle and found some respect for herself in firing Buzzard and finding her voice in her own establishment. So sad though to see that her restaurant just couldn't overcome the debts she had and it closed anyway. The end was very unsatisfying.

Otoh, Gordon, this episode, looked like Kitchen Nightmares: Extreme Edition, big boy. You created a new menu, arranged for the restaurant to be flooded with customers slamming the kitchen and put the sous chef in charge? Comedy gold.

One of the things we haven't seen the show do is prepare the wait staff and condition the chefs for the kind of "first service" that the show brings in. They've got a new menu, they have different responsibilities and are used to having a sparse crowd. Re-launch night and everyone within a 15 mile radius wants to eat at their restaurant to be seen on camera, waiting 2 hours to either receive food or to be seated, while the wait staff has never had this kind of crowd and the chefs haven't juggled 15 tables yet. The Re-Launch night is the Tsunami after Gordon's Earthquake of shaking up the restaurant!

Edited by SunShine Gal, Nov 22, 2007 @ 1:59 AM.

[Mysteris]

I think the waitress Carolyn summed up the whole problem with Lela's when she was screwing up the orders: "I don't care". Outside of Tabitha and Ricky, I don't think any of them did. They had a guy nicknamed "Buzzard", a known food thief, hanging around. The hell?!

Chocolate on meat? I'm not a food expert and I don't claim to be but...EW!

Ricky? Yeah, this isn't 1990 and you're not Will Smith. Shut up with the raps.

Why the hell was Lex allowed to even come back? I get that he was stressed but dude, you're head chef. This is the job you signed on for. Don't flake out and then expect to just waltz back in once the hard work is done.

Good for Lela in firing Buzzard and taking charge of her resturant. She didn't even need much prompting from Ramsay. She also looked a hell of a lot better after her makeover. Too bad about her resturant going under. :(

Out of all the staff, about the only one I see with any future in the food biz is Tabitha because a kick-ass manager type can always land on her feet. I'd be too worried about Ricky getting lazy or Lex freezing up to hire them, and the waitresses just seemed to be collecting a check and not giving a damn.

[Son Of Tivo]

Serving fake potatoes and Lela didn't know? A food thief amongst them?
Come on GR,, put some blame on where it should be .

Fine, she'll be happy for 2 weeks after a make-over, then what?

Edited by Son Of Tivo, Nov 22, 2007 @ 2:15 AM.

[OPP]

When I'm watching this show, I keep on wondering what part is fake. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Lex never even walked out of the kitchen.

Although, I'm kind of surprised the show even admitted Lela's eventually closed down.

Buzzard, who couldn't leave fast enough for me. I mean, an entire bottle of wine?

It looked to me, where it seemed that the corks had been already opened, that this was a bottle of wine that had been ordered by customers for dinner, but that the customers hadn't finished the wine.

I'm assuming that might have been the same thing with the food- leftovers that the customers hadn't finished eating.

Buzzard as well as everybody else should have been fired. Lex basically was chewed out for taking a break and deservedly so, but isn't that exactly the same thing Ricky did the night before? When Ramsay goes rushing out to confront Buzzard about the food, I thought I saw Ricky hanging outside and taking a break even though stuff still needed to be done in the kitchen. That's why Ramsay oringinally ran after Buzzard because Buzzard had left while there was still stuff to do.

[johnny larue]

So, did the owner ever think to ask "Buzzard" how he got his nickname?

[KnowBuddy]

Man, what a strange episode. I think Rickys real talent was in keeping cool under pressure. It sounds like he did go to some kind of cooks school. Maybe not a CI level of school, but some training. He mentioned feeling like he was back in school and he seemed to enjoy the creative process.

The burger? Nothing special. I've made that before. The only ingredient Gordon put in that you wouldn't put in any old burger was the dijon mustard. But still, it added some flavor. Lipton onion soup would have worked too. ;) Hard to screw up a burger. Just make sure it stays together and season it somehow.

Chocolate sauce on meat? Maybe if you were doing a mole sauce. I could maybe see a very, very light chocolate mint sauce on lamb,maybe if you crusted it with some kind of nut. But Hersheys syrup is not light. No cleaning up the kitchen montage though? I never get how the orders get screwed up though. I wish they'd show some kind of training montage to show how it should go.

Edit to add: Oh man, never mind about the light chocolate sauce on the lamb. The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a meat sundae. Bleh.

Edited by KnowBuddy, Nov 22, 2007 @ 11:18 AM.

[Erie42]

There seemed to be almost too much going on for Gordon to save this restaurant since arguably Tabitha was the only one who cared and seemed kind of embarrassed about the food. Lela would be nearly impossible to reform and the kitchen staff was wretched. And I think those burgers might have been still too upscale for the area if they were selling them at "gourmet" prices. If you are charging $10 or more for a burger it better be one of the best damn burgers I've ever tasted.

That said, I never want to hear Gordon talking about a woman getting "pampering" and a "makeover" ever again. It's just too dang weird.

[mbridgii]

I'm guessing that Ricky probably saw one of those "Chef School" type ads while watching "Maury", and thought it would be a good idea. I can believe that he thinks he has a passion for food - but knowing how to whip up things from your pantry at home is much different than walking into a "fine restaurant" and serving up culinary masterpieces. You can wear the big-boy white coat and call yourself an Executive Chef, but if all you are doing is defrosting, hydrating, and adding sauces from a bottle? How is that "fine dining"?

No one in that entire place was appropriate for a fine dining experience. Not even Tabitha, who, I'm sure, has probably waitressed at the best diners and chain restaurants in town. And "Buzzard"? Who continues with their daily stealing regimen when there are cameras filming for national television? And to come back the next day just shows how ridiculous the restaurant operates. The other chef came across a more, let's say "cultured", than Ricky - but, at the end of the day, who stuck around to handle the Day 1 nightmare? I'll give Ricky credit - he took the brunt of Ramsey's wrath in this episode, but stayed around, even after being demoted. The other guy bolted at Lela's way overdue attempt to put on the boss hat.

I want to see more wrath on these owners. Lela should have been in there, cleaning up the kitchen with the rest of the staff. Sending her out to get her hair "did" only proves that she is irrelevant to what goes on in her own restaurant. Obviously, the woman has no knowledge, if this is who she hires, and she doesn't do anything to control them. What - she didn't know that the mashed potatoes were instant? I guess the "Executive Chef" is also supposed to oversee purchasing, but if most menu items are never available, shouldn't she know it?

Yet, the owners never get what's coming to them. It also seems to be the head chef or the day-to-day manager - always a man - who gets the Grrr temper. In this situation, it is obvious that Lela hired no one to manage anything, so everyone is bopping around like they work at Burger King. Sure, she fired Buzzard - probably only because Gordon forced the situation.

It is unfortunate that Lela's couldn't stick it out long enough to have their episode run; the publicity might have also assisted. I wonder if show exposure is improving business at other restaurants featured.