« Survivor: Gabon Sees The Fang Tribe Implode | Home | On Reality TV Today: October 17, 2008 »
Kitchen Nightmares Seascape Escapades!
October 16, 2008 08:24 PM by Lisa Stauber
Kitchen Nightmares returns with Chef Ramsay heading to New York to help out a mother and son who run a seafood restaurant. The Seascape Inn used to be a great place to eat, but now it stinks – literally. The help is not helpful, and it’s filthy. Chef Ramsay risks major food poisoning just by tasting the food, and the owners need almost a million dollars to pull them out of the hole. Can Ramsay possibly help them in a week?
Irene and her son Peter run the oldest restaurant in Islip, NY. When Peter’s father bought the place 40 years ago, people would line up to eat there. Now that he’s gone, his heirs have run the place into the ground. The chef, Doug, admits the kitchen smells like sewage and Peter complains that he won’t take direction. “I went to the Culinary Institute of America,” Doug says, “I like having command of the kitchen.”
Ramsay arrives for lunch, and meets the family. One of the waitresses has worked there since 1967, and he’s impressed. The current chef doesn’t like Ramsay, and doesn’t take criticism well. “Gordon Ramsay coming here, to me, is a slap in the face,” says Chef Doug. Peter describes his place as the Titanic – it used to be luxurious and now it’s sinking fast. Mama Irene claims the board of health gave them a 95, so at least the place is clean.
Ramsay orders one of everything, including crab cakes, ravioli, and lobster. He notices the place stinks, and while his order is being prepared he pokes at a peeling wall. “This place is falling apart,” he says. The crab cake is falling apart too, and Ramsay won’t eat more than one bite. He knows they are frozen and is afraid they’ll give him the runs. He hates all the food, in fact. “You can’t expect customers to pay for that sh**,” he says.
Irene brings hima traditional family cookie for dessert, and he nearly chokes on the powdered sugar. He decides to observe a dinner service before addressing the family. Food keeps getting sent back to the kitchen, with some dishes being too cold, and some just taste bad. Peter and Chef Doug argue in front of the customers, and Ramsay heads into the kitchen. One of the sous chefs drops a vat of sauce, and just leaves the spill on the floor. “Why aren’t they cleaning it?” Gordon wonders. Finally, Peter cleans it up himself, even though he’s the boss and is supposed to run the front of the house.
Chef Ramsay decides to show up early and inspect the kitchen. There are layers of filth on the walls and stove. “It’s a kitchen hell house,” he says. He finds the pesto he was served the day before, and it’s a little…furry. Ramsay’s livid that Doug would cook in a nasty kitchen like that. The fridge is full of rotten pork. “You’ll kill whatever customers we have left,” Ramsay yells. Peter considers the freshness of the food to be Doug’s responsibility.
The restaurant is so bad, Ramsay shuts down the kitchen and cancels everyone’s reservations. Irene has to go out to customers who are sitting in the dining room and kick them out. Irene is fed up. She wants Peter to grow up, be a man, and fire the chef that he hates.
“I think he needs to back off,” Doug says, when Ramsay gives him a lesson on fresh fish. He refuses to taste the dish Ramsay cooked up. “I know what striped bass tastes like,” Doug says. “At this point, I don’t even want to be here.” Chef Ramsay wonders if Doug even knows how to cook fish.
Gordon has an honest conversation with owners Irene and Peter. He tells them that Doug and the sous chef have got to go. Gordon says they are dead wood who don’t care, and will drag the restaurant down. He gives Peter the task of firing him, if he wants to. “The decision is yours,” Ramsay says. “Do you agree with me?” Irene does. “Fire him on the spot.”
Ramsay has to train Peter in assertiveness and staff management before another chef can be hired. Peter just lets people walk all over him, so Ramsay takes him to a boxing ring. “I lied to you,” he tells Ramsay. “I knew my kitchen was dirty. I just went along to keep the peace.” He reveals that his father always thought badly of him, and Peter never had a chance to prove him wrong.
The restaurant is still closed, with no chef, but Ramsay’s decorators have worked their magic. He had the walls painted red and added bar stools, just like it used to be. Marilyn, the veteran waitress, thinks it looks better than ever.
Ramsay has found a new head chef and quickly trains him on the menu items. Chef Scott is ready to take the reigns. Gordon also brings in Jean-Baptiste, the guy who runs Ramsay’s restaurant in New York to train Peter to run the front of the house. They try to teach him to walk gracefully and dress better.
The restaurant is swamped, and Jean-Baptiste thinks Peter is dropping the ball. The kitchen is falling apart, with waitresses taking each others orders. Gordon gives Peter a pep talk, and he pulls it all together. He gets the waitresses organized and expedites the kitchen.
Ramsay creates a Chowder cookoff to drum up publicity, and helps Peter make friends with the boats full of fresh seafood that are just steps away. Chef Scott is taking to the kitchen and everything is going well. Peter sold the restaurant a few months later, though, accepting “an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
Reality TV Magazine is your source for Kitchen Nightmares news and information. What did you think? Tell us on our message boards! For more on Kitchen Nightmares, check out SirLinksALot:Kitchen Nightmares.
Photos courtesy Fox.
Topics: Kitchen Nightmares |
« Survivor: Gabon Sees The Fang Tribe Implode | Home | On Reality TV Today: October 17, 2008 »
