By Jennifer Larson

Here’s a question I keep asking myself after every new episode of KITCHEN NIGHTMARES; why do these restaurant owners allow TV cameras into their establishments when they are so filthy? Honestly, I would be humiliated to open up my kitchen, if it looked the way most of these places do. Not only that, but I have to imagine these people have seen Gordon Ramsay on television before, if not on the British version of this show, at least on HELL’S KITCHEN. So why do they all act so surprised when he berates them for unsanitary kitchen practices and substandard food? You have to be pretty desperate to invite this perfectionist into your establishment, knowing you’re going to get called out for your mistakes. And that’s exactly the point; these restaurant owners are desperate. Most of them – thus far – have owned and operated family run businesses. That means they have a whole slew of their loved ones dependant on the money it brings in. Add to that the fact that owning and running a restaurant is a labor of love for most of these people, and you have owners who are willing to do just about anything to keep their business afloat.

Another common element to all of these disastrously run restaurants is the fact that they have cocky managers and/or head chefs prancing around who believe they know more about the business than Chef Ramsay does. Again I ask, have you people never seen this guy on TV before? Tonight Gordon tackles the Seascape restaurant in Islip, NY. Again, it is a family run business, where he finds out that cleanliness issues and an obnoxious head chef are running the place into the ground. Wow what a shocker; a head chef with a cocky attitude. Ok, so this is something Ramsay is more than familiar with, but he has the knowledge, skill and talent to back his attitude up, whereas most – if not all – of the restaurants highlighted this season do not, and tonight is no exception. I don’t know about any of you, but when I cook – which isn’t often – I have to have a clean working environment. I don’t understand how these chefs can cook amidst such filth and grime.


Apparently, Gordon can’t either. He usually spends a whole day of his visits showing the staff how to clean up, and that’s the easiest part of these makeovers. Really, cleaning should just come as second nature to people in the restaurant business, and it’s so appalling when it’s not. I know he works magic, but if I lived in NY, these would be the places I would avoid. But Seascape had more than a problem with grease in the kitchen, it had a head chef who believes his 38 years in the business qualifies him to be more of an expert than Chef Ramsay. That would be well and good, if he didn’t serve moldy food! Good God, it’s frightening to see how many restaurants suffer from these issues. On top of having a head chef with a major attitude, this restaurant had an assistant chef that all but told Gordon to go screw himself. Needless to say, Ramsay recommended these two gentlemen be let go, and much to the wimpy owner’s credit, they were.

So as usual Gordon got a thorough cleaning of the kitchen taken care of, and mind you, this week’s restaurant was so bad Chef Gordon actually shut them down. While he did that often on HELL’S KITCHEN, it was a first for this show. But perhaps worse than a filthy kitchen, wallpaper flaking off the walls and chefs whose talent didn’t match their abilities, was the fact that co-owner, Peter, was suffering from a severe case of I wanna please my dead daddyitis. But after a good therapy session with Gordon, along with a boxing lesson, Peter seemed to reclaim his manhood; at least enough to give his restaurant the leadership it deserved. I mean they had to be doing something right, because they still had a waitress working there that started when the restaurant opened, so loyal staff wasn’t a problem.


Sadly, even after all of Gordon’s hard work, and what looked like a major turnaround for the restaurant, the owners decided to sell, after receiving a hard to resist offer. But I look at it the new owners never would have wanted the place the way it was before Ramsay made it over, so I still chalk this one up to another success for Chef Gordon Ramsay.