Hell's Kitchen 7-16

Cafe Society
21

I really lost respect for the guys when they didn’t help the girls with the delivery. That was the perfect time for them to step up and show everyone that they would go the extra mile by helping the girls especially if they were tired.

I really like Jean Philippe. He is one classy guy and the perfect guy to have as a Maitre’D. You can tell he genuinely cares about the customers. I thought it was hokey of the lady to complain that the gentlemen got served first, but JP took her complaint seriously and took the complaint to Ramsey. I really thought Ramsey would have said, “Oh fuck off with that.” but he didn’t and even though in his face it looked like he thought it was a stupid complaint he took the care of his customers seriously and that is cool.

I loved the paintball bit. It really shows Ramsey as just a regular guy who takes his job and the care of his restuarant and customers very seriously. He only comes off as such an asshole because he cares so much about the whole thing. I think the paintball bit showed his other side of just one of the guys who just happens to be a top notch chef.

Oh yeah on the Bonnie Delivery issue. That was a major mistake and I thought she was the going to be the one to go just because of that. When I was in college I worked at Pizza Hut and the last yeaqr there I was in charge of receiving the delivery and making sure everything was right and what we ordered. If I had messed up like that and we had to go a whole day or even a half-day with the wrong ingredients I am sure I would have been fired.

Customer: “I would like to order a pepperoni and onion pizza.”
Me: “I’m sorry Sir we are out of pepperoni and onions right now would you like a peas and carrots pizza?”

Yeah I don’t think that would have gone over very well.

22

I always have to remind myself that I’m only catching a tiny percentage of the performances and interactions, and that bit is carefully selected by the producers and editors.

Last week, Jen was presented in the editing as the quietly competent leader of the red team, revealing that she had a lot more kitchen experience than she had previously let on. This week, she was presented as moody and indecisive, unable to contribute ideas to her team but anxious to shoot them down.

Bonnie is apparently doing something right, but every “blonde moment” makes the final cut.

Josh was portrayed as incompetent at first, unable to get the chops right, but in the end he apparently was able to get all of the orders out (without any help) and to GR’s standards.

So much of our impressions of these people comes from the editing… Julia may be the best cook in the competition, but we only get glimpses of that. What makes the cut is every question she asks that highlights her limitations: “What’s Ahi?” “I’ve never made (creme brulee).” She’s got some stuff to learn about fine dining, but she’s apparently not afraid to ask questions and is a quick learner (she said she had never cooked lobster last week, but Ramsay said her lobster was cooked perfectly).

Rock is pretty volatile in the edits, but he holds it together in the kitchen. I think he and Brad refusing to help Josh out guaranteed that whichever nominee the blue team sent up was gone – Ramsey’s #1 concern is always that the customers are well-served, and they were thinking only of strategy.

That said, what I’ve seen of Rock reminds me a lot of Ramsey. BBCAmerica has just begun running episodes of Ramsay’s Boiling Point, a reality/documentary series about Ramsay leaving Aubergine (effectively shutting it down, as he took almost the entire staff with him) to open his own restaurant. One of the show’s themes was that his temper and his abusive behavior in the kitchen might cost him his success. Ironic that he now trades almost entirely on these.

23

True enough, and a good point. Still, wasn’t Mary Ann there supervising? And Julia was working on carrying the delivery boxes as well–perhaps she should have said something. Something like, “Bonnie, open the box and make sure we got what we wanted!” But perhaps also, the others just adopted a “We’ll just let Bonnie hang herself” attitude.

You know, I was thinking this as well. Regardless of how Julia does in the competition, I think she’d both welcome the opportunity and do well with it besides. She has the skills, she spends time with Ramsay’s recipe book trying to learn more, she obviously takes her job and its responsibilities seriously. Ramsay solicits her opinions (“Julia, what part did you play in designing this menu?”) and appears to respect her abilities. I hope Ramsay does offer Julia the chance to be tutored by him.

24

I’m reminded…in one of the previous series one of the contestants was “just” a housewife/mom to five kids. She lasted quite a while – apparently she had a nice palate and was good at some aspects of cooking. Ramsay said nice things to her many times, and seemed genuinely regretful when he eliminated her, but she simply didn’t have the background to understand the day-to-day aspects of running a restaurant. Julia is sort of the same. I agree – offer her a job at a top notch restaurant for a year or so, so she can see how Things Are Done.
In fact, I’d like to see an episode focus on the business aspects. Even a paper quiz: you are running this restaurant that has XX seats and serves YY meals every day. List the types of staff you need, and how many of each. Made up an order for a daily food delivery – all items AND how much of each you need. What foods would you outsource the production of? Things like that.

There’s more to running a restaurant than knowing how to turn out risotto quickly.

25

Two points I forgot to mention earlier:

  1. Did anyone else get one of those ‘warnings’ about contents before the episode? What was up with that? It didn’t seem any ‘worse’ than any of the other episodes.
  2. Hmmm. Two weeks in a row the decision on which team won the early was a completely subjective decision based on Ramsay’s taste. One week the women won, one week the men won. The prize the women won just happened to be more suited to women, the prize the men won just happened to be more suited to men. :dubious:

Just saying.

26

I think Julia really said what Ramsey likes to hear when she said, durnig her explanation of choosing Bonnie, that Bonnie can’t get the food out. After all, that’s what a restaurant is about, and she knows that very well.

27

During primetime, they have to warn for shows that are AC and V. (Adult content and violence.)

28

What about the week when the men won a trip to the spa? :wink:

I wouldn’t be surprised if the challenge prizes were lined up well in advance, and the prizegiver is told to be ready during the time of the show shoot. Then, the prize can be chosen at the time of the challenge itself. Those that require some kind of lead time for planning and setup are suitable for both teams (dinner in the dark or on an aircraft carrier, for example), while those that are more likely to be enjoyed by one team can be pulled together quickly, as long as the prizegiver has been warned ahead of time that it may be called upon: “Listen, Paintballs-R-Us, is there a time of day when you’re not very busy? Any weekday at noon? Okay, can you keep this coming Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday at noon reserved for us? If the guys win a challenge on one of those days, we’ll be by. If they don’t win, we’ll still negotiate some form of compensation for keeping those days open for us.” Even the photo shoot would fall under this category: “If the women win, pull out the rack of party dresses; if the men win, get the Dockers and the Polo shirts.” The studio is set up, makeup will be needed, and photos are going to be taken regardless of which team wins. All that is needed are clothes specific to one team or the other.

Like I said, I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine this is the way things work. Even if a prizegiver isn’t used (for example, if the women’s team won every challenge and didn’t want to play paintball), it would still get some promotional consideration somehow, I’m sure.

29

Okay, this I don’t get. I can’t recall the winning team ever helping the losing team with their punishment. Is it just because we saw women carrying boxes that we are expected to have the men help them? I don’t think if the teams were reversed we would have seen Jean-Philippe asking the women to help (even if he had).

30

Hear, hear! There have been many times where the women’s team openly rubbed the men’s noses in it when the men had to perform some unpleasant task. I never once saw Jean-Philippe asking the women to help out.

31

I think I’ve seen it for every episode this season. Considering that many of the ladies at my workplace think the show is “too intense,” I imagine it’s the result of some group complaining.

32

I, for one, didn’t think Jean-Philippe was at all sincere, and thought he was inviting the boys to rub the women’s noses in it.

33

Isn’t that a valid complaint for the types of places Ramsey runs? At most “fine dining/upscale/expensive” places I’ve eaten, that’s how the guests are served. The ladies at the table receive everything first: menus, drinks, food. Growing up on McDonalds and Chili’s, that took me awhile to get used to.

She also complained correctly. She told JP, not Ramsey. If she had went straight to Ramsey, I’m sure it would have been FUCK OFF!

34

I agree. I think he was just very dry about it. He made some remark about how he would help them himself but he had a bad back. I think it was all very tongue-in-cheek.

35

I thought the same thing. He was kidding, and they were rubbing it in. Just like the women had done multiple times before.

36

Actually, my experience is that, although the ladies may be served first (and it depends a bit on what the waiter/expediter has in his or her hands at that moment and if he or she knows which dishes go to the latdes), all diners are served their meals as nearly simultaneously as possible. Absent unusual circumstances, there is no gap longer than it takes the waiter/expediter to make a second trip to the kitchen. (And in true upscale fine dining, there will be enough staff to bring all dishes for a party simultaneously).

I also am sure that if a diner came to Ramsay directly with a complaint, he or she would be treated with total courtesy. It is only when someone on the service staff (like the party planner in the wedding episode) complains for what Ramsay feels is an inappropriate reason that he will go off.

37

Let’s look at it from another point of view: Hell’s Kitchen is not a cooking contest. If it was a question of who can cook best, we could declare a winner after the first episode.

But it’s more than cooking. It’s also a question of who can work well with others. This is not Survivor, where the idea is to screw your opponents. In Hell’s Kitchen, you have to work with your opponents, even those on your own team, while outperforming them. Teamwork is of utmost importance; you can turn out the greatest risotto ever, but your teammates will be turning out the rest of the meal–and if they fall down, you do too. As we’ve seen in past episodes and seasons, the competitor who earns Chef Ramsay’s praise is the one who pitches in and does what needs doing, no matter how distasteful the task, or unfair the situation is, due to another’s fault.

Chef Ramsay values teamwork. I’m sure that to him, it’s not Red vs. Blue; but rather Kitchen vs. Guests. If the guests are served in a reasonable period of time, and are happy with what they receive, then Kitchen (and Ramsay) wins. If the guests wait an unreasonable amount of time for their food, and get up and leave in disgust, then Guests win and Kitchen loses. Kitchen has an advantage, in that all chefs know each other and should be able to work together to win the battle over Guests. Guests are not organized, but they occasionally do challenge Ramsay and his team–and, if they walk out, Ramsay loses, regardless of the team that was responsible. At that point, as I said, it’s not Red vs. Blue to Ramsay; it’s Guests winning over the failing teamwork of Kitchen. It’s as simple as that.

That’s why I said, “…it’s time for all the chefs on both teams to work towards the common goal of preparing for the night’s service.” Because the sooner all the goods are received and stored, the sooner all the chefs can prepare for the night’s service. This is the goal for both Red and Blue: providing and completing a good service. The goal is not “tiring out the girls” or “letting Bonnie screw up.” I’m sure that to Ramsay, the goal is working together to make sure that we’re all rested and ready to provide a good evening service. The quicker the receiving is done, the quicker we can all shower, maybe nap, and be fresh and rested to do a good job on the evening service.

By blowing off Jean-Philippe’s suggestion, the guys squandered a chance to show Ramsay that they are team players, and that they understand what the goal of a restaurant is: making Guests well-fed and happy. This is how I arrived at the point where I made my “lost respect for the Guys” comment. Your mileage may vary, of course.

38

I agree that Julia isn’t ready to run a fine dining restaurant yet, but I also think Rock will win, she’ll come in second, and Ramsey will offer her an apprentice position. He clearly loves the type of raw talent who he can train up “right” from the beginning, and she comes with all the good attitudes, line management skills, and quick learning ability to show that she can definitely make it with more training on ingredients and fancier cooking. She’s obviously got a lot of raw talent, too.

I saw on another forum that apparently the Green Valley Ranch has closed down an Italian chain restaurant and is renovating the space for the winner of Hell’s Kitchen. So whoever wins the show won’t be running an existing restaurant, but one created just for the show’s winner.

I wasn’t surprised Brad was gone. In fact, when the announcer listed the entrees on each menu and who had created them, as soon as Brad got credit for all three of the blue team’s entrees, Papa Tiger and I agreed that he was toast. It was just too snarky to not telegraph something. He’s no great loss, either; he was trying too hard to impress Ramsey and not trying hard enough to stay focused on getting the food out.

39

I think the messed up delivery orders were staged. Otherwise I think more of a deal would have been made about it and Bonnie may well have gotten the boot for it.

40

I thought that at first, but he seemed truly offended after the men walked off.