The second episode of the US version of Kitchen Nightmares takes place at Dillon’s. You might remember that name from a while back, when Gordon was sued by Martin R. Hyde, at that time the restaurant manager of Dillon’s. It is going to be very clear why he was sued, but I’ll get back to that later.

SPOILERS HEREAFTER

Day 1: Gordon arrives.  He is greeted by 3 different managers, one of them is Martin. Gordon sits down and orders a few dishes from both the American-style and Indian-style menu. Surrounded by flies he actually tastes some of the garbage that is served. Ironically, he asks for a clean plate to put his (rotten) food on. When the last dish arrives, Gordon does something really smart, and has the chef that cooked the dish sit down and eat what he sent out.

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Gordon helps a mother and full-time employee cook a decent sunday lunch.

This video originally aired on the F-Word season 1 episode 5.

Gordon teaches 2 women how to cook a decent steak.

This video originally aired on the F-Word season 1 episode 4. Click on “more” to read a recipe for bearnaise sauce!

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Second video in my “Ramsay on the road” series is: Fish Pie. The recipe transcription isn’t 100% the same as the video, but it’s a Gordon Ramsay fish pie recipe.

This video originally aired on the F-Word season 1 episode 3. Click on “more” to read the whole recipe!

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I’m starting a new video series: “Ramsay on the road”. In every clip, Gordon Ramsay goes out to help ordinary people cook a decent meal. Some of the clips were part of his “Get women back in the kitchen” campaign, some clips are part of the “Sunday Lunch” campaign, and some were part of the quality “Fast Food” campaign. First clip: Coq au Vin. Enjoy!

This video originally aired on the F-Word season 1 episode 2. Click on “more” to read the whole recipe!

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Here’s this week’s clip: Gordon on Late Night. Unfortunately the clip was cut short because they ran short on time. But still great fun to watch.

From Late Night with Conan O’brien, June 16th 2006

Here’s the clip that I failed to post last week. Nigella cooking up with Conan again. As usual, funny stuff! Enjoy …

From Late Night with Conan O’brien, September 28th 2006

Here’s a funny TV commercial with Gordon Ramsay I thought would be fun to share with you guys…

For those of you that have seen Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, the UK series, the formula is about the same: Gordon goes to a troubled restaurant and tries to turn it around. There are some big differences between the UK version and the US version though.

First of all, they have crammed a whole episode in a 40 minute time-slot (1 hour if you add commercials), which is clearly not enough. While very fast-paced, it feels like there is alot missing, especially compared to the UK series. The sensational parts are left in, but the witty parts are gone. There are none of the brilliant cooking and menu ideas that Gordon usually has, and the updated food looks very “American”, meaning huge portions thrown on a plate.

Second, there is the problem that the first restaurant he visits is run by stereotypes. Complete morons, oblivious to what’s happening, and with their head up their ass. And it wouldn’t be Gordon, if he didn’t tell them just that, with the usual and very necessary swearing. Unfortunately (unlike the UK version) all the swearing is bleeped out.

Third, where as in the UK version, Gordon would let the people in the restaurant solve their own problems, here, all problems are magically solved overnight. Each day seems to be a step forward, but with no obvious reason of how it’s come this far. And this is, by far, one of the biggest downfalls of the series.

And fourth, the narration for the show is the same as with Hell’s Kitchen. Where in the UK Gordon did his own narration, the US version has a voice narrating the whole thing from one intense moment to the next. I can’t help it but I liked it alot better when Gordon did the narrating, giving some insight to what was going on.

SPOILERS HEREAFTER

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I’ve uploaded a preview of the first season of Kitchen Nightmares USA for you guys, to get a little idea of what’s it going to be about. The first episode aired Wednesday September 19th 2007, and can be downloaded from usenet (if you have newsgroup access).