what do you think about the new reality show about the restaurant - Page 4

There is a new movie on the pay-per-view called "Getting Rid Of Eva" or something, I cannot remember the exact name. This Eva is a Health Inspector in the movie. If you think your neighbourhood inspector is anal, you got to see this movie, she is a riot, it was a good movie too, I will not spoil it by telling you about it here, if you get a chance it is a worthwhile watch.
Its on Direct TV Pay-Per-View.

God, I love the ignore feature.

HULK,

Your so mean I bet the health inspectors come to yours with a full SWAT team in tow, I bet when that shirt rips & those veins start pumping on your head & you start turning green that your kitchen minions (poor lost souls) cower & shake in mortal fear at your magnitude.

I hope that your foul temper has nothing to do with the recent Eastern seaboard power backouts because I have a sneaky felling that you had something to do with it in your power crazed attempts to destroy the good people of NYC.

Bring back the guardian angels theyd slice you bacon boy.

;)

I guess the blackout blacked out some of your brain cells Mikey! You should try reading the paper or listen to the news to see that it was the states fault, do to old and inadaqute distribution system, typical of your comments. The health inspectors do not bother me at all, we always get a A1 rating, never had a problem, guess its because I am a traditional Chef and DEMANDS are made by me to my staff and they respond. When it comes to cooking for people I take it seriously. I am amazed at how many people do not even know the dangers of cross contamination, now tell me the truth when I ask you these questions.

1/ Is there any products sitting on the floor of your walkin or freezer?

2/ Are your cutting boards bleached EVERY night or every shift?

3/ Do you KNOW that your staff washes their hands after breaks, washroom visits, phone calls, etc?

4/ Do you pull out ALL equipment (ovens, fryers, steamtables) EVERY night and bleach behind them?

5/ Do you wear a thermometer and if so do you regularly check ALL products, cold and hot?

6/ Do you clean every pot you use before you use it, even after the dish or pot washers wash it?

7/ Do you thaw in the fridge from freezer, or are you like most who will throw frozen chicken wings in the sink with water?

8/ Do you wash all produce, including tomatos, peppers, carrots?

9/ Do you store your knives in the crevice between the steam table or do you have a proper knife rack?

10/ Do you use steamer cloths to wipe up after yourself?

11/ Do you wear CLOGS in the kitchen?

12/ What material are your cutting boards made of?

13/ How do you control flys/insects/pests in the kitchen?

14/ Do you have a labeling & rotation system in place?

15/ Do you let hot foods cool at room temperature?

16/ When washing your hands, how long do you wash them for?

17/ Leftovers are heated to what temperature?

18/ Food should be kept below 40°F or above 140°F, do you follow this rule?

19/ Do you allow smoking, chewing gum in your kitchen?

20/ How about jewelry? Do you allow staff to wear rings, earrings, nose studs, etc?

21/ The Health Department bans employees from sitting on tables, counters, cases, refrigerators or other equipment intended for food, does this happen in your kitchen?

These are just but a few common problems that I have witnessed at pretty well most establishments, and most chefs/cooks when questioned about them, snuff it off. I worked for the Ontario Health Department for 1 year as part of my journeyman completion electives. What I saw was attrocious. I am amazed at how many Chefs just do not know safe food handling proceedures. I also have a friend who owns a restaurant called Underwraps who calls me in once a month to inspect his kitchen and staff to make sure everyone and everything is up to snuff, and every month I find something for him to address, usually do to under knowledged staff or staff who simply say "who cares". Just like the girl I fired 3 weeks ago for not washing the strawberries before dipping them in chocolate, her response was, "who cares, there are lots of chemicles in the air that we breath that are worse than the dirt on the strawberries".

:confused:

Let's all take a deep breath

Folks,

I'm seeing this thread degenerate into something more commonly found on other discussion boards not nearly as friendly as ChefTalk.

Please remember that mutual respect has been what has kept CT members together for over 3 years now. While I can't force people to get along, I can ask that all of you think twice about your posts and refrain from offensive comments and personal attacks.

All of you have made some very intersting and valid comments here. Please stick to what is relevant to the thread's title. Let's get the discussion back on track.

Thank you.

Gee you would make a great health inspector !

Seriously I agree with all of the above & because I one of my jobs is cooking at a private hospital I have to be very careful of these things. Special diets & allergys & medical factors are an additional factor & crucial to control.

I would have fired the strawberry girl for her attitude !

You are not the only serious chef on the planet & perhaps valium instead of beer moght be a suitable solution. I watched George C Scott in Patton today & my first thoughts were of you.

However I do enjoy your posts enormously , they always have an opinion which attracts a response, its just that some of us have a greater joi de vivre than most.

You spelling is atrocious but your content amusing.

When I get to Vancouver im still going to fill you full of Tuborg & hogtie & whip you. Be prepared. :eek:

There is a lot of love in the room!

I am happy to be out of restaurant kitchens and in my own, my shoes last longer!!!

Thanks for the list of sanitation reminders, I need one posted for all to see and keep us all on our toes!

Opening a restaruant or any food business is rough, having a camera crew follow you around is priceless..................

:bounce:

I got a call from a production company last week during the blackout, we'll see where that goes. I will drink from my cheftalk mug for product placement!!!!!

there is more to life than amex and pepsi!

I saw the show for the first time the other week.
All the drama with the staff calling a meeting then not
saying much is typical! Ask them what is wrong and they
clam up, walk out the door and they'll sing like little
unhappy birds. Oh and giving the bartender a Vespa
and not thinking the other staff members would be jelous!
please, give one a bandaid and they think you've just
donated an organ. I loved the one waiter who did a big
production of quitting and you all know in the back of his
happy little mind he was already picking out the color of
his new helmet to go with his vespa. When they said fine,
we'll miss you, I howled! The look on his face. It was like,
wait, where is my???? Oh no bad mistake.
Well I dont know if I'll watch it again. but It isnt true to life.
Where is the drunk employee!!!!!

let the whippings comence,,,,,,,,,,, in the most civil manner of course. i still have yet to watch more than the ten minutes i saw of the first show,,, and frankly i sleep pretty well at night. i was so eger for this show to be a proper representation of how a real restaurant runs, but just from reading everyones posts i can see it is no more than a circus , not unlike this thread ........... I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!! a new reality post------ moderated by tubourg the angry,,,, the houligan from somerset, and of course myself ------when chefs stop being friendly, a cafe dedicated to loudmouth chefs talking smack in true kitchen form!!!!!!!!:smoking:

I tell you I have lost every shred of respect I ever had for Rocco. If he ever talked to me the way he talked to those 3 cooks I would have knocked him the f**K out. What does he expect he dosent pay people and they are supposed to be grateful? putting out food that wouldn't pass the muster at the olive garden and he thinks he is going to get stars give me a break what an absolute train wreck. Meatballs and spaghetti and fried calamari and he can't even get that right and what in the world is his so called Chef and Sous doing except being bullies, where did he get those clowns from? Macaroni Grill..what a joke.

What the world needs is a great big melting pot
Big enough , big enough , to take the world & all its got.


PEACE< LOVE> & UNDERSTANDING

:)

I just wanted to answer them, don't get you undies in a knot........





1/ Is there any products sitting on the floor of your walkin or freezer? No. All items rest at minimum of 6" above the floor and away from the walls.

2/ Are your cutting boards bleached EVERY night or every shift? We wash, rise and sanitize with Quats. And then we only use the designated color that corresponds to the item being prepped.

3/ Do you KNOW that your staff washes their hands after breaks, washroom visits, phone calls, etc? Yes, we have to or else we polish our CV's

4/ Do you pull out ALL equipment (ovens, fryers, steamtables) EVERY night and bleach behind them? That's oddly enough part of the cook's responsibilities.

5/ Do you wear a thermometer and if so do you regularly check ALL products, cold and hot? Yes and it's also double checked by our chefs

6/ Do you clean every pot you use before you use it, even after the dish or pot washers wash it? Yes. The machine doesn't pick up everything. If a clean dish is dirty (haha) them we go through the 3 compartment sink system and re-wash it.

7/ Do you thaw in the fridge from freezer, or are you like most who will throw frozen chicken wings in the sink with water? Well, um, yes we do both. However, we utilize COLD running water if that method is preferred by the cook

8/ Do you wash all produce, including tomatos, peppers, carrots? Our hotel didn't get four diamonds by AAA by using dirty veggies......

9/ Do you store your knives in the crevice between the steam table or do you have a proper knife rack? It's even magnetic.....

10/ Do you use steamer cloths to wipe up after yourself? No we have a sanitizer bucket that must, by chef's rule, be changed out every 30 minutes.

11/ Do you wear CLOGS in the kitchen? It doesn't matter to the chefs what our footwear is so long as they are black, closed toe, slip resistant, comfortable shoes.

12/ What material are your cutting boards made of? Polyethylene. They're color coded too..........

13/ How do you control flys/insects/pests in the kitchen? We build them out. Along with a strict schedule of pest control servicing.

14/ Do you have a labeling & rotation system in place? You mean besides day dots and FIFO?

15/ Do you let hot foods cool at room temperature? If they can get to a specified temp in two hours or less, yes. Why on Earth would you put hot food in the walk -in to cool off? (Not sayin' you do)

16/ When washing your hands, how long do you wash them for? Personally a minimum of thirty seconds using the hottest water I can stand. Soap isn't optional.

17/ Leftovers are heated to what temperature? 165° F. After that it gets tossed. No exceptions.

18/ Food should be kept below 40°F or above 140°F, do you follow this rule? Yes, and now it's 41°-140° F

19/ Do you allow smoking, chewing gum in your kitchen? No

20/ How about jewelry? Do you allow staff to wear rings, earrings, nose studs, etc? No

21/ The Health Department bans employees from sitting on tables, counters, cases, refrigerators or other equipment intended for food, does this happen in your kitchen? No, if sitting was permissable in the kitchen there would be chairs.........




It may not be perfect but that's what we do.

How much longer can Rocco last!

This show concentrates more on peoples personal lives rather than the aspects of an organized kitchen. I am wrestling with who is the biggest idiot on the show??

I noticed he called AMEX again to get people paid? Looks like there will be more Rocco AMEX commercials in the coming days. This show is so staged its rediculous. The sous chef is a moron, all he does is scream at people, most sous chefs I know would jump in and help, or at least show and lead by example, not stand in the background and expect a prep cook to run the grill for his first time.

Rocco is just as inapt on the floor as in the kitchen, wait I have not seen him in the kitchen yet? Then he asks a captain how to bus tables?? This show is a joke and should be viewed as such. I have never seen such a misguided, misinformed kitchen in all my life. Next week I am going to watch the Simpsons instead, its more real life!

Hogan

Is his restuarant still open?

mbrown,
We had E channel folowing us around like idiots. I too, had placed our CT mugs on the employees table. I would have put it right on the bench but it's against health regulations. I would hate to have Hoagie after me;)
I'm enjoying the show with Rocco. It's not easy to do all that crap with the cameras and stuff. I'm taping every minute of it for future use. I some day want to consult and I think this is wonderful to sell myself to help, instead of flying by the seat of my pant and try to open without any training what so ever.
4 million! I would have put in a hot food dumb waiter.

Yes it is still open but who knows for how long thr reviews have been horrid. I am sure tourists will keep the place open for a while. I just don't understand there are hunderds of Italian places in NYC that are doing the same thing he is doing and probally far better, I expected far more out of him with his rep at Union Pacific but I wouldn't touch this place with a ten foot pole,After all with Babbo,Fiamma, San Domenico.L'Impero,Felidia etc. why would you waste the time?

Tony Bourdain: I finally had a chance to watch the show. Not as much dramatics as the previous shows I guess but the beginning brought back so many memories that I started stressing just watching. I know I could never go back on the line! I am too far gone for that!
But Tony, if you're reading this What was it that "blew so bad"?
I'm really curious, and to add insult to injury waht did Eric Ripert think of the meal?

What is Eric Ripert doing there? He's been in three episode so far...

I've only seen Rippert once, with Anthony "This Blows" Bourdain. I love that guy!

All this bad press and negative stuff during the show makes me wonder - do they let him see the shows before they air??

He was on back to back entertainment tonight type shows last night. Same piece on bothe shows. He was extolling the joys of having his family running the kitchen; Mama, Uncle Joe, etc. Other than Mama making the occassional meatball, have you seen her in the kitchen? And I before last nights ET, I had never heard of Uncle Joe, who's in charge of sausage. Does this guy think the whole world is stupid? He really is making an a** of himself.

That was last week, he was there on the two previous show saying how fabulous this place is and praising the food...

I think I like Bourdain's review better :)

I'm curious Kyle, what did he say? Is it online somewhere?

I don't know if it's online but during the show he tasted something and said "This blows" then he pointed at something else and said "This really blows" :)

The crap they allow on television! Barnham & Bailey said it best, "theres a sucker born every minute". Anyone who knows this business, knows it's a stage/fake/plant.......

This is a stepping stone to the next surviour

I saw a quick interview with Rocco today on one of the NBC morning shows. He was on VACATION in NEW HAMPSIRE. There is supposed to be some kind of twisty ending to this story - but he gave no word about whether or not there will be a season two. (If the place lasts long enough...)

So...Does anyone think there will actually be a season II? Does anyone know whether or not the show as originally signed for more than one season?

I sincerely hope more foodies have spoken out and the producer will show more Rocco in the kitchen. Schmuck or not, he's fun to watch with a pan and a knife.

For me, Rocco turned out to be what I call a profiler, a guy who stands in front of the range shaking as many frying pans as he can at once and sucking his breath through his teeth. Did you see the way he was flamboyantly dusting S&P and chopped herbs into a pan? If I had to work next to guy like that all night I'd want to whack him with a spatula. I did have to work with a guy like that once, and when he left, I gave him a package of hot dogs and said, I've worked with a lot of hot dogs, but you pally, are Oscar Meyer.

I guess the story is they are talking about season 2 but maybe not with Rocco. I hope Rocco boy invests his 2 million well cause he comes off like an jacka@@ momma's boy in the show,if I was an investor I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole.