This season of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nighmares has the British chef visiting two South Florida restaurants. The first, Le Bistro, had its television debut on Thursday night.
If you missed the episode and didn't TiVo it, you catch it in its entirety here.
From minute one, the episode sets up chef/owner of Le Bistro, Andy Trousdale, as a short-tempered dictator. Whenever Ramsay criticizes the food or concept, Trousdale deflects it and refuses to accept responsibility. He and Ramsay get along just about as well as a cartoon cat and mouse.
Of course, in classic Kitchen Nightmare's style, there's plenty of drama, including Gordon claiming he nearly chipped a tooth on cartilage inside duck rillette. Perhaps my favorite part came when Trousdale tells his staff "I'm a loser everybody," before turning to Ramsay and saying, "anything else?"
By the end of the show, Le Bistro has been completely overhauled and (according to the producers) has the materials to be a huge success. On it's final night with Ramsay, the restaurant hosts a number of Lighthouse Point VIPs as well as radio jock Paul Castronovo, Sun Sentinel food critic John Tanasychuk, and Chef Allen Susser. Castronovo even calls the foie gras and veal burger he ordered "delicious."
We last reviewed Le Bistro in 2005, and gave it a middling review. Look for a review of the new, Ramsay-fied version coming soon.
The other South Florida Kitchen Nightmare's overhaul on Boca Raton pizzeria Anna Vincenzo's, will air Friday, March 26 on Fox.
