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He Won It

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Category: Reality show Review
Hell's Kitchen


On the finale episode I saw last Monday, Michael & Ralph had to compete each other to win and own a new restaurant either in Los Angeles or New York as what they hope for. Chef Ramsay asked each of them to design their dreamed restaurant for the final test including renovating the dining room, creating the menu and running the entire house. Michael and Ralph started to work with the design teams on making over the house to what they wish to have. Ralph told the designer about the place to feel like a party. On the other side, Michael said that, to him, less is more and color is bad. Apparently they do have a different taste which I can tell from the way they look and work. Ralph is talkative and outspoken person, while Michael tends to be more quiet and calm.


On the night of crowning the Hell's Kitchen King-to-be, Chef Ramsay called the chefs together and introduced Michael and Ralph to their respective staffs for the night. Surprisingly, the staffs they would work out as a team were the 6 eliminated candidates whom they have been familiar with and getting along in the previous-given tasks. Ralph and Michael discussed with their teams about the menus and how they plan to run the kitchen. Here also, their different personality looked pretty clear that Ralph emphasized perfection and attention to detail, while Michael wanted relaxing service. Ralph told the staff that his restaurant's name was Frank & Lulu's, which comes from his dog and his friend's dog. Michael named his own one Lola Pop which incidentally is one of his pet names for his wife, though they never knew it each other.


During the dinning service, it seemed that Lola Pop run by Michael made 2 big mistakes. One was a piece of plastic bag found by a diner in her starter and the other one was a rare cooked meat which supposed a medium well steak as what a diner wanted to have. I worried Michael might have lost from the competition because of these troubles. Yes, I did expecting him very bad to winning. Since beginning I like his personality much better than any other candidates.


After service done and diners gone, Chef Ramsay needed a time to study the customer comment cards and then combine it with his thoughts on the evening's service to declare a winner. By the way, the customers or diners had been chosen randomly from LA, since Michael wanted an L.A. restaurant, and from New York City since Ralph wanted a New York steakhouse.


Not taking very long, Chef Ramsay announced that the customers loved all the food, they loved the atmosphere of both restaurants and they loved the experience. Among the questionnaires, one critical question set up by Chef Ramsay is "Would they return?" One of the chefs had an outstanding 90% return rate and the other one had 94% of diners say they'd return for another meal. Although it was so close, only one person was going to be a winner soon. Chef Ramsay instructed Michael and Ralph to turn and face the doors behind them. Whose door opens will be the winner for sure. Hands on the handles and...1...2...3... TaDa! Michael's door opened. Chef Ramsay also invited Michael to come to London to work at Chef Ramsay's world-famous restaurant and work toward becoming a world class chef. After a quick deliberation, Michael decided to head out to London.


Congratulations man! No matter how awful your tatto is, I'm glad you won. You get what you deserve! As wisdom says "Don't judge the book by its cover", I do the same thing and I don't judge people based only on their appearances. Anyhow, the show ended up with happy moment and happy me as well.