Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares

Gordon Ramsay has a potty mouth. His language can curl your hair! If you watch his shows on BBC America, they don't even bleep out most of what he says.  I am very sensitive to foul language. Yet I cant stop watching Kitchen Nightmares! I am not sure what it is about this genre that really speaks to me. There are at least three different shows that follow the formula of Kitchen Nightmares, but I think that Ramsay originated and perfected the concept. The show started several years ago in Great Britain but has since moved to the United States.   Gordon Ramsay's show has me captivated even if it causes my ears to bleed!

Gordon Ramsay is a world class chef, has a world class temper and is a world class businessman. He owns several very successful fine dining restaurants that are among the highest rated places in the world.  He has parlayed this success into a marketing empire. He has authored several cookbooks and hosts at least three different television programs.  The man is the ultimate expert on running a successful restaurant, from developing menus and purchasing food to training chefs and wait staff. This is the guy you would want to come to your failing restaurant and help you turn things around.  And that is the premise of Kitchen Nightmares. But if you call on him for help, you had better be prepared to take the heat ---or get out of your kitchen!

If you haven't seen the show, the formula is like this. The owner of a failing restaurant makes an appeal for Gordon Ramsay's help to turn things around.  Ramsay's first task is to actually go to the restaurant and EAT the food! He orders several items off of the menu and the show is off and running.  More times than not, the food is horrible and he finds plenty of criticism for the taste, preparation and service of the meal that he is served. Ramsay pulls no punches and is sometimes very harsh, sprinkling his food descriptions with colorful four letter adjectives--usually the kind that can be used as nouns, verbs or adjectives! You know, the kind that are usually bleeped out! BBC America decides, from show to show, what they will bleep and what they will keep. Consistency is not their forte!

Next, Ramsay watches an evening of dinner service, making comments to the camera about what is right and wrong about the experience.  He sometimes asks diners how they like the food, how often they eat at the restaurant and if they will return. Since the restaurants are FAILING restaurants, the diners are almost always disappointed and are not inclined to try the place again.  Ramsay calls all of the staff together after the dinner service is over and gives them a heated review of the food, service and anything else he can think of.  This is one of my favorite parts of the show because they then cut away to the owners  and staff of the place who always seem to remark "Gee, I thought our food was good. We have had no complaints. I don't see how he can say that our food is bad."  This is when I want to throw a shoe at the TV and say "YOU WERE PICKED OVER ALL OTHER RESTAURANTS TO GET HELP! YOU ASKED FOR HELP!  YOU ARE LOSING YOUR SHIRT!  WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS THAT BAD???"

The next morning, Ramsay goes into the kitchen for an inspection of the cleanliness and functionality of the establishment. Of course, the place is usually filthy, the kitchen staff is usually inept or unconcerned and the owner is unaware.  Thankfully, Gordon usually finds a diamond in the rough--either a chef that is being restricted by controlling owners or a sous chef with all of the tools that the head chef lacks to run a kitchen. This "Cinderella" aspect of the show humanizes  Ramsey and gives a glimmer of hope to a lost cause.  At this point, Ramsey sits down with the owner, who begins to cry over how much money they are losing, how hard they work, and how it is affecting their mental health. Gordon turns into a kind and sympathetic mentor, who promises to help to make the place profitable and successful again. The specific placement of this segment in the show is pure genius! Just as you (and everyone in the restaurant) are  ready to strangle Gordon Ramsey for his heartlessness, he puts on his hero hat and you are once again on his side.

This is the point in the show where he leads a thorough cleaning, teaches the chef new recipes (or has the owner fire the chef and promote "Cinderella"), designs a new menu, trains the wait staff, takes employees out in the streets to promote the new and improved restaurant, and give the big pep talk for the reopening night. Sometimes there is a restaurant decor overhaul and maybe even a gift of new cooking equipment. Reopening night is never a total success but Gordon walks them through the glitches and makes everything better. He calls everyone together and encourages them to keep up the good work and leaves. He returns a few weeks later and makes sure everything is the same--with mixed results. On to the next disaster!

So why do I love this show? I really like the idea of a hero on a white horse coming in to save the day but my fantasy usually doesn't include a short, foul-mouthed Scotsman.  But I think that is exactly the point! Would this show be any good with a soft spoken, hand-holding chef who weeps with the owner and waves a metaphoric wand over the situation? Absolutely not! For one thing, the show would be terribly boring without the confrontation and blowups! Furthermore, these owners are completely clueless as to the seriousness of their situation and the true depths to which their businesses have sunk. Gordon is the "slap in the face" they need in order to bring them into reality. I find myself moved to tears sometimes when I see the desperation, and then gratitude, in many of these restaurateurs.  I laugh out loud at the pomposity of owners and wait staff who decide to try to challenge Ramsay and his expertise.  I am curious to see if the restaurant is able to survive following the makeover. I am hooked!

Other shows have attempted to copy Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, using other successful chefs and restaurateurs. These shows aren't bad and I watch them from time to time. But the knowledge, experience and humor of Gordon Ramsay, combined with the "now you love him--now you hate him" emotions that he evokes, makes for a perfect recipe for a television program. However, if I were serving Gordon Ramsay, my first course would be a big ole bar of soap for his mouth! Bon Appetit!