Good Nightmares

Two episodes of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares I caught were guiltily good. Basically, chef Gordon Ramsay (whose name has graced everything from restaurants & tv shows to airline food) takes on a restaurant business thats failing & flailing & spins it into running like smooth butter.

The restaurants are sloppy, the food lame, the owners & chefs mostly rather indignant & pissed off. The Fish & Anchor episode where a hungry man was kicked out by the furious dragon-lady host was hilarious.

But Ramsay saves the day as Santa with a team of interior designing elves. He manages to improve not only the restaurant menu & facade, but apparently the lousy attitudes in 2 days flat. Almost a Dr. Phil who knows his amaretto from his amuse bouche. Ramsay has no problems hamming things up & joining the odd argument for your viewing pleasure. He unapologetically dishes out the truth while cussing, & you even pity the man for trying harder to save the business than its shareholders.

Kitchen Nightmares has all the right ingredients, & a good dose of reality for anyone ever wanting to start any business. You would think that fresh food served to the right table is a simple recipe, but they get it all wrong.

Yet, appearing on a such a Restaurant-Rescue tv show is just a huge blob of bad publicity for any serious restaurant, looking to peddle good food without the dramatics.