I kind of appreciate Gordon Ramsay. He, like a select few in the culinary world, helps to keep the industry all spicy and news-riddled. Long at war with his father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson, the Daily Mail reported last week that the British chef is in the process of suing Hutcheson, over everything from email hacking and embezzlement. The drama includes a tangled web of mistresses, spyware, most of Ramsay’s wife’s family tree, and heaps of money funneled into personal trips and expenditures. Oy, the drama!
The newspaper also reported days later that …

Chef Gordon Ramsay’s luck seems to ebb and flow a bit drastically, with nearly his every move making headlines. He’s opened restaurant locations, closed restaurant locations, been lambasted for public comments, and battled financial woes – all just in the last few years. The latest chapter of the Ramsay tome is unfortunately on the bad side of business, with the recent announcment of the closing of his Cape Town, South Africa location.
According to the UK’s Daily Mail, Maze Cape Town shuttered its doors last Tuesday, after only a year in …

The latest issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller features a review on chef Gordon Ramsay’s first Australian location, which is surprisingly two restaurant concepts in one spot. With a development price tag of nearly $300 million, Ramsay’s maze and maze grill opened in Melbourne in mid-April to mixed reviews.
According to the GT article, maze, the more formal of the two dining rooms, delivers dishes that are “all about exact cooking, clean flavours and precise presentation”, with Australian favorites making their way to the menu.
The Aussie flag is raised over dessert with …

Of all the European chefs I try to cover here on Daily Blender, Gordon Ramsay always seems to be the one getting the most airtime. Whether it’s insulting a reporter or closing a restaurant, Ramsay nearly appears to be the Todd English of the British food world.
London writer Rosie Birkett recently had a chat with Ramsay’s former protégé, chef Marcus Wareing. Wareing, a previous chef at Ramsay’s Petrus where he earned two Michelin stars during his ten-year tenure, chimes in on Ramsay’s reinvention of the restaurant, referring to the new …

A hat tip to Eater for snagging the video of chef David Chang’s visit to the Late Show with David Letterman last night. The chef talks about his foray into the food world, noting that his father, already in the business, wasn’t too thrilled when Chang announced his culinary career plans.
“It’s weird because he wanted me to do better in school, and this is where I ended up for not doing better in school.”
Trying to pay attention while Chang explains the art of cooking mussels and the beauty of ramps, …

USAToday is reporting that a recall back in August of over 825,000 pounds of questionable ground beef included meat that was later delivered to schools across the nation through the National School Lunch Program. According to the article, 450,000 pounds of ground beef produced June 5-June 23, dates included in the recall, was purchased by the program and distributed to school districts. Of the four orders, one order tested positive for salmonella while the other three tested negative, and were shipped accordingly, leaving many to wonder why the additional three …

According to a recent Zagat survey, more restaurants opened in New York this year than the number of restaurants who shuttered their doors. Despite closings from big names like Payard and Tavern on the Green, survey results show that 157 ‘notable’ restaurants opened this year compared with 102 that closed. The survey also notes that overall pricing of a meal in New York actually rose 2.5% even with so many hot spots cutting back on expensive food items and offering lower-priced prix fixe meals. However, while restaurants continue to open, …

Late last week, Crain’s reported that master chef François Payard has officially filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on his New York restaurant property. As we noted back in June, Payard recently closed Payard Patisserie & Bistro, his flagship spot on the Upper East Side of the city. According to the article in Crain’s, the bankruptcy filings list ‘less than 50 creditors, assets as between $50,000 to $100,000 and debts as much as $1 million.’
Among the top creditors listed in the filing is his landlord, Stephen Kirschenbaum. Mr. Payard …

Stopping by the Jimmy Kimmel Live show last night, Gordon Ramsay chatted a bit about his recent visit to Iceland where he caught and dined on a local delicacy – puffin. Much to the dismay of Ramsay’s viewers, he not only dined on the breast of the puffin, but also the still-beating heart.
At Gordon’s request, Kimmel also presents a marinara sauce during the interview for an on-air tasting. Berating the overcooked pasta, and noting that the sauce “doesn’t really coat the pasta well,” Ramsay actually gives it his official f*in’ …

It looks like we’re not making any more friends in the Canadian culinary scene. According to The Guardian, a number of folks north of the border are up in arms over the upcoming release of Coco from Phaidon Books. The coffee-table book (with recipes? I can’t tell) offers “100 emerging culinary stars chosen by 10 of the world’s greatest chefs” – with Canadian chefs curiously absent from the list. A slight oversight or a lack of stand-out Canadian culinary stars?
Chef and food writer Shaun Smith decided to take matters into …

Poor Martha! With the recent blight breakout taking down tomato plants across the Northeast left and right, apparently no garden has gone unscathed! The domestic kitchen queen posted a blog note this morning about the aggressive fungus attacking her tomato plants. She’s even kind enough to include a slideshow of the ugly attack.
While Martha notes that the fungus tends to appear in smaller batches at the end of the summer naturally, Chow.com refers to a New York Times opinion piece that points fingers at home gardeners who purchase plants from …

The New York Times published a great article over the weekend on the background of reality television shows, the oftentimes vapid and opportunistic genre currently dominating the airwaves. With reality shows on everything from finding love to talking to your pets, the Times article includes a look at Gordon Ramsay’s hit food reality series, Hell’s Kitchen – and it’s not pretty.
“On “Hell’s Kitchen,” contestants said they were usually awakened at about 6 a.m. and then taken to the kitchen for a challenge. The losing team had to work on preparation …

Loud-mouthed celeb chef Gordon Ramsay has done it again. At a recent appearance at the Good Food & Wine Show in Melbourne, Australia, Ramsay referred to local news reporter Tracy Grimshaw as a ‘pig woman’ while insinuating she was a lesbian.
Grimshaw retaliated against the chef’s remarks, noting:
“He then got on stage on Saturday and made some very clear and uninformed insinuations about mine,” she said. “Obviously Gordon thinks that any woman who doesn’t find him attractive must be gay. For the record I don’t and I’m not. And I’m not …

When it comes to opening a new restaurant, excitement, happiness, and adrenaline are abundant. But what about when it comes time to close? Whether for personal or financial reasons, closing a restaurant can often mean the end of a dream.
Nation’s Restaurant News recently profiled one such restaurant closing. Chris Posner, a restaurateur from New Jersey who’s now shuttered restaurant was featured on Gordon Ramsay’s ‘Kitchen Nightmares’, talked to the food service publication about his experience on the show, as well as the subsequent closing of his location, Hannah and Mason’s.
Posner …

I had to post one of the funniest ‘celebrity chef’ moments I’ve seen in a long time. Oh Gordon! We love you and your potty mouth!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To_LozcyjZg&hl=en&fs=1]