The Influence of Gordon Ramsay
11/23/2007 10:38 Filed in: Dining
Here's a little known fact about me--one that only my personal friends and family have known until now: I enjoy cooking. When I am not rushed and have the time to do it right, cooking can be a creative outlet for me. I don't mind spending hours in the kitchen getting a meal just right, and I don't mind a challenge. I like the variety of trying new recipes. I have a pretty solid collection of recipes, with a fairly wide variety of cultures represented. I'm known for my Louisiana dishes as well as my chili, but my repertoire is actually much wider than that. I also like using cast iron in my cooking because there's something extremely traditional about those heavy black pans. I mix my own Cajun seasoning, and I've played around with creating my own hot sauce. I like to experiment in the kitchen and try new things. Most of my experiments have turned out well, but for the exceptions, Kathy has some stories she'd be glad to tell you.
Over the past couple of years, I've found myself increasingly influenced by British chef and restauranteur, Gordon Ramsay. I don't mean that he's influenced the kind of things that I prepare. But he has begun changing my perception of food when I eat away from home in restaurants.
I discovered Gordon Ramsay on the American version of his television show, Hell's Kitchen and then on the more recent import, Kitchen Nightmares. I suppose it's odd that I would be drawn to Ramsay. I'm not one to watch cooking shows very often, but I suppose I can watch one if it's on and someone's already watching it. Further, Ramsay is not just a chef but a world class restauranteur with a total of twelve Michelin stars to his credit. My entire experience in commercial food service were the three weeks I spent working for McDonalds when I was 15. And of course, Ramsay swears like a sailor, often resulting in half of his dialogue bleeped out by the censors. I won't say that I've never cursed, but it's so rare that when it's happened it's surprised everyone, including me.
But Ramsay has intrigued me. He's certainly a charismatic individual, but there's more to him than that. His shows are not cooking shows, but rather "mentoring" exercises. I've noticed that for those who are willing to push aside their pride, Ramsay actually makes an incredible teacher in spite of his often initial bombastic nature. And over the past few weeks, I've realized that I've been learning from him as well, and my perceptions related especially to dining have been changing. I'm also learning the value of private eating establishments over large chains. Let me offer some examples.
Fresh not frozen. One lesson I've picked up, especially while watching Kitchen Nightmares, is that quality food is fresh, not frozen. In one particular episode, Ramsay went to Burbank, California, to try to help turn around a restaurant called Sebastian's. The owner of the restaurant cut corners by consistently using ingredients that were frozen and pre-packaged, right down to his pizza dough. Part of the guy's problem was that he envisioned opening a chain of restaurants (which would obviously depend upon pre-packaged, pre-made food) rather than creating a quality dining experience where he was.
So about three week's ago, I'm in a Louisville eating establishment, Beef 'O' Brady's (yes, the apostrophe is on both sides of the O). Kathy and her teacher friends often go there to relax on a Friday afternoon, and I usually tag along. As I'm sitting there, eating my shrimp wrap, I begin thinking to myself that the food simply isn't all that good. It's basically fried shrimp, cole slaw and some secret sauce in a tortilla wrap with fries on the side. It just didn't taste all that good, and I decided to blame the cole slaw. Why in the world was there cole slaw in this wrap instead of fresh lettuce? Then Gordon Ramsay's influence kicked in, and I realized that the shrimp, the fries, and quite a number of items on my friends plates were simply frozen food that was warmed and thrown together. Perhaps even the cole slaw was pre-packaged--I don't know. Granted, this is a sports pub/grill of sorts, but I think Beef 'O' Brady's could be so much more. I suppose this isn't surprising because in looking at their website, they have locations all over the country. Who knew? Frozen, pre-packaged food is easy to duplicate. At least their burgers and sandwiches are pretty good, but the fries and a lot of the other menu items are surely frozen, not fresh. And it tastes like it.
A few months ago, not only would I not have cared; I wouldn't have thought about it. I'm starting to look at menu items the way Ramsay does.
Environment matters. A few days ago, I met a friend for lunch at a little restaurant in St. Matthews (a section of Louisville) called the Sahara Café. When we walked in the place was packed. In fact, there was only one table left available which we took. But I noticed that half the establishment was dedicated to a little gift shop. I saw lots of people eating, but very few who were shopping. Moreover, the dining area was crowded--too crowded. The back of my chair was pushed right up against a woman's chair who was sitting behind me. Every time she moved, I moved. We had a third chair at our window table, but everyone who walked by seemed to trip over it, so my lunch companion took it upon himself to move it over to the gift section.
The food itself was very good, reflecting a Mediterranean influence, and it was prepared fresh in an open kitchen which was viewable from the dining area. I'd eat there again. But looking at the environment through Ramsay's eye, I observed that the gift shop needed to be greatly reduced while the dining area needed to be expanded. Finally, at the end of our meal, when we tried to pay our check, we were told that customers simply go up to the counter. But one pays at the counter at a Waffle House, not at an upper scale St. Matthew's café! This seemed very out of place.
Quality, not quantity. Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Some years, Kathy and I travel to Louisiana for Thanksgiving with family. However, this was one of those years we needed to stay here in Kentucky. Originally, I was planning to make a turkey gumbo, but in the last day or two we decided to go out for our Thanksgiving Meal.
We live right down the highway from the locally famous Claudia Sanders Dinner House. The restaurant was started by the wife of the late Colonel, and they're known to have chicken that gives evidence to the fact that the 11 secret herbs and spices must not have been a secret among family members. But this isn't a fast food place; rather, it's a well-known and well-respected local establishment that is now run by owners not related to the Sanders. It's an interesting place to go to, but I suppose that I've been there enough times by now that the novelty has begun to wear off. So today, before I realized it, I was looking at the food through Ramsay eyes.
The restaurant offered only a buffet today with all the traditional Thanksgiving fare, plus chicken (of course), roast beef, and ham. I noticed that the ham and roast beef were carved for the customer, but the turkey had been cut beforehand and was simply laying in a pan on the buffet between the cornbread dressing and giblet gravy. There weren't many large slices but many small, bite-size pieces--not exactly how I picture Thanksgiving turkey on my plate. Only one salad was offered--a Caesar that was so bland that I ate very little of it. Much of the food was over-seasoned. The dressing had way too much sage, and someone must have doubled the amount of nutmeg called for in the sweet potatoes. Further, most of the sides--the corn pudding, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes--weren't firm at all. They were downright soupy making a gloopy mess on my plate. The final insult came when I went for dessert. Evidently, they had run out of pecan pie. And on Thanksgiving!
As I went to pay our bill--which at $17.95 a plate was not inexpensive--I was asked how our meal was. Feeling quite honest at the moment, I said, "Well it was okay..." with special emphasis on that last word. Oblivious to anything I said, the young woman replied, "Well, that's great!" and proceeded to run my debit card through the slider. Evidently, she was no more attentive to details than the chef had been.
In my opinion, Claudia Sanders, which does an absolutely booming business, is running on novelty and past reputation at this point. One day that will run out. At that time, I'd love for Gordon Ramsay to step in to turn the place around.
In the meantime, I'm learning from the master. I've developed a critical eye for the dining experience and my expectations are higher for quality of food, environment, and service. I didn't mean for this to happen; it's just a result of watching Ramsay on television. I'd never want to run my own restaurant, let alone work in one, but I believe it's fair to expect a lot from the establishments I frequent. And I know he'd approve.