The Plonker Club

Sorry, this one isn’t as scandalous as previous headlines of similar themes that appeared some months ago.

This one refers to a restaurant that Gordon Ramsay tried to save on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares – the UK edition.

Of course the misleading headline refers to Love’s Fish Restaurant – which kicked of Season 5 of, in my opinion, Gordon Ramsay’s best television shows (please don’t mention the US version in the same sentance)!

The restaurant was formerly known as Ruby Tate’s and according to reports, a note on the front door now from patron Allan Love reads “Dear all. Unfortunately because of the credit crunch and lack of bookings, Loves restaurant has had to close for business”.

According to their own website (http://www.lovesrestaurant.co.uk/), amongst a lot of great content is a message confirming this story. The notice on the top of their webpage simply says

“Allan and his staff would like to thank everyone who came to the restaurant over the
past 2 years for their support and good wishes.

We were very lucky to have had such a wonderful mixture of people to serve.
It’s a very sad time for us all but we hopefully will try to be positive for the future.

As a final note, let me wish everyone a Prosperous New Year and I hope you
all obtain all that you ever wished for.

Once again. “Thank You”

Love, Allan Love.

P.S. Also! Thank you Gordon Ramsay for all your efforts, at least we tried eh? Love you!!”

My plan has always been to go to the UK and visit all of the kitchen Nightmare Restaurants (seems like this trip is getting shorter and shorter!)

Sad News indeed!

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

With the casting call for the next season of Kitchen Nightmares well underway (see ‘Does Your Restaurant want to be Ramsied’), I was reviewing the application forms (exciting afternoon here!), the one tendered for business owners, and the one for employees.

There certainly are some strange questions that they ask!

Not quite sure why they need to know the applicants height, weight, eye and hair colour as well as ethnic origin? Show me a cynical person who says, it is so they only pick the glamorous people and I’ll show you a person who hasn’t seen the first two seasons!!!

I also wonder what chance a person would have by ‘messing up’ these questions – especially by answering Ready, Steady Twat (nee Cook) or Marcus Wearing?

Q. Do you own cookbooks? If so, do you use them?
Q. Do you have a favorite Chef? If so, list whom and why?
Q. Describe your feelings about Chef Gordon Ramsay

I’m sure that some of the people that we have already seen on Kitchen Nightmares, answered ‘Yes’ to the second part of this question, and if I ever meet the producers, I will ask ‘Is it actually a pre-requisite?’

Q. Have you ever been treated for any serious physical or mental illness within the last 5 years?

The most entertaining read of all though, is reading the form one would submit to dob in their employer.
The employee form (all eleven pages) has some great questions, including those that would surely end their career if it warranted Gordon visiting the restaurant;

Q. Describe your employer and what would you do differently if you ran the restaurant?
Q. Describe what pressure means to you?
Q. Describe your style of work and how you perform on a deadline?
Q. When was the last time you received a promotion? Why or why not?
Q. When was the last time you received a raise?
Q. How do you react to criticism?

And best of all

Q. Are you a “yes” man/woman?

In the section I’ve dubbed ‘Legal bits’, it is a little surprising to learn exactly what the commitment is for an employee if their restaurant is selected, and I quote;

“If I am selected to participate in the program, I will need to be exclusively available to Producers for approximately 6 weeks for taping of the Program and if necessary any follow-up at Producers’ discretion”

Six weeks, for a alleged five day show, compressed into about 30 minutes of footage when you remove the spoilers at the start and before each ad break not to mention the recaps after returning from the ‘words from sponsors’! Wow, those editors must really work overtime. Much more than I first thought, considering the stuff I was already aware of; like those contrived endings and piecing together fights where Gordon is constantly changing clothes throughout!

Either way, I reluctantly wait for Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (UK) bastard little brother (US version) to hit the air, still hoping another season gets done in the UK or the American producers wake up to themselves!

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

It seems the call has gone out in the US for a new batch of culinary catastrophes to put there hand up and be put through the mill by the great Gordon Ramsay.

According to the Fox website – the casting call has gone out in the following areas – Los Angeles, Miami / FT. Lauderdale, Boston, Philadelphia, AND the New York Tri-State Area. Restaurant owners and even employees can nominate their establishments (on different submission forms!).

This is directly from their site;

Does your restaurant need HELP?
Are you trying to make some green, but still running red?
Do you and your chef have different ideas about the menu?
Or maybe you have a great location, but it doesn’t seem to entice many customers?

Email or Call for Information:
KitchenNightmares@theconlincompany.com
Go to www.theconlincompany.com to submit your video

If you want to apply to have Chef Gordon Ramsay come into your establishment for one week to troubleshoot your problems and try to get you back on the road to success… Contact us NOW!!!

KitchenNightmares@theconlincompany.com

**NOTE** Make sure to include:
Your name and contact info (including a phone number), name of your restaurant and your specialty, how many seats you have, and most importantly, why you need our help.

*Restaurants must be open at least 1 year and have at least 35 seats.

David Driscoll
The Plonker Club
The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite
www.theplonkerclub.com

Those poor souls who are ‘on the chopping block’ have been named in Reality TV Magazine today along with the ultimate prize for the eventual victor! With less than 45 days until season five of Hell’s Kitchen USA hits the airwaves (and a few extra hours until the torrents for all of those abroad!) we now now been given another teaser as to what as expect.

According to the article the winner will be offered the ‘head chef’ job at the Atlantic City Hotel, Casino and Spa known as Borgata.

The show will start once again, with the familar boys vs girls teams and with a good level of experience and an average age of 28 and 29 years respectively, hopefully we can expect a new level of talent (well, not really – what fun would it be if they were great cooks!!).

Don’t forget, you can countdown to the first episode at the home of the Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite – The Plonker Club.com

The contestants are as follows;

Red Team
Andrea – 30 – line cook from Reading, PA
Carol – 30 – sous chef from Knoxville, TN
Coi – 22 – café cook from Austin, TX
Colleen – 41 – cooking school instructor from Papillion, NE
Ji – 33 – private caterer from Palisades Park, NJ
LA – 23 – line cook from Las Vegas, NV
Lacey – 24 – corporate buffet cook from Charlotte, NC
Paula – 28 – executive sous chef from Coconut Creek, FL

Blue team
Ben – 26 – executive sous chef from Chicago, IL
Charlie – 24 – prep chef from Las Vegas, NV
Danny – 23 – executive chef from Edgewater, FL
Giovanni – 37 – executive chef from Destin, FL
J – 32 – food court chef from Clifton Park, NY
Robert – 29 – sous chef from Quogue, NY
Seth – 27 – private party chef from New York, NY
Wil, – 27 – quality-control chef from Elgin, IL.

David Driscoll

The Plonker Club

The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite

www.theplonkerclub.com

Here is a picture from a great email that I received a few days ago from a friend – simply called Gordon Ramsay’s Latest Dish. Although I first said that I wouldn’t comment on Sarah Symonds and her claims of alleged infidelity, since I figured that Gordon has himself responded only with humour – see “The Story According to Gordon (Ramsay) – Well, sort of (http://www.theplonkerclub.com/wordpress/9/the-story-according-to-gordon-ramsay-%e2%80%93-well-sort-of-%e2%80%a6/), I thought this was okay.

I don’t know the source of the photo, so I can’t give anyone credit – but well done!

Enjoy

David Driscoll

The Plonker Club

The Unofficial Gordon Ramsay Fansite

www.theplonkerclub.com