El Greco Dies a Second Death on Kitchen Nightmares

Gordon Ramsay

Look, I’m sorry for Jake and his mom that El Greco was forced to close. After a strong start, they ran into the financial difficulties so common to family-owned restaurants. And the food began to slide. So when Gordon Ramsay rode in on his blazing steed to allegedly rescue El Greco for an episode of Kitchen Nightmares, things were pretty much beyond hope anyway.

Last Monday’s episode reached a new low for this show that is always searching for a newer one. Jake and his mom were pretty much pictured screaming at each other for the first 30 minutes of the show. Then Ramsey danced in an does what he does: you all know what that is. The high point of the 2nd half hour came when Ramsey heroically gathered the staff in the alley and hurled the microwave (Mike) out of the window. Seems that a despondent Jake had been reheating some dishes.

He then brought in his “brilliant” designers and gave El Greco a new look. Jake and his Mom and aunt made up and all was supposed to end happily because Gordon had saved the day. The only problem was that El Greco was already on financial life support. Unless Ramsey was prepared to cut them a check for mid six figures, there was absolutely nothing that all his bluster and fussing could accomplish.

So the entire episode, which could have been mistaken for a “Housewives of Beverly Hills” cat fight, was really a postmortem. I don’t disagree that El Greco deserved to close: this is a brutal business and there are always casualties, particularly in the owner-operated segment. After all of Ramsey’s usual crap, the final shot showed a distraught Jake going over what looked like a P&L or a balance sheet and shaking his head. The implied message was that not even the inestimable Ramsey could save El Greco. The real message was that this was just a cleverly edited piece designed to make a failing restaurant look even worse.

You know there’s a form the restaurant must agree to when they sign on for Kitchen Nightmares. The staff must specifically sign off on a non-molestation clause with regard to Ramsey. Nobody can punch or even lay a hand on him. Imagine that!