“My dad wanted to choke Joe out.” – Mill Street Bistro employee
When we last left off in the epic tragedy known already by historians worldwide as “Mill Street Bistro, Part I,” Chef Gordon Ramsay was all up in Mill Street Bistro chef and owner Joe Nagy’s grill about putting raw onions into the onion soup. Or, as the kids would put it colloquially, s— was just about to get real.
Following the initial dinner service, Ramsay held a meeting with the staff while allowing Joe to listen in from another room. After every member of the team berated Joe for being an egocentric dictatorial monster, Joe walked into the meeting, contrite for a moment, but then quickly pivoted to how we need to take responsibility and we need to change.
Ramsay then lead out a session with Joe and the team that reminds me that Kitchen Nightmares can be a substantive and informative show occasionally. He brought out a bag of groceries from the local supermarket – located in rural Norwalk, Ohio – that would produce a fine meal for less than $10. He then challenged Joe, who loves to boast that Mill Street Bistro is the most expensive “fine dining” restaurant in the area, to produce attractive food at a price point that will draw in local diners.
After whipping up some of Ramsay’s signature specials – simple, fresh, modern burgers and walleyes – that night’s service promptly went south with Joe unable to manage the chaos in the kitchen. In fact, one table had to wait more than an hour and a half to sample the simple, fresh, modern take on a hamburger that the Mill Street Bistro had on offer that eve.
Ramsay went nuclear on Joe in the kitchen, eventually kicking him out – Hell’s Kitchen-style – and proceeded to lead out the chef-ing himself. Joe took to storming out to the dining room, whereupon he complained to anyone who listen that Ramsay could never accomplish what he has accomplished, that he has specific expertise due to his owning a local elk farm, or some such.
Finally, Ramsay and Joe are able to bro out a little bit, and Gordon convinces Joe to remove himself from the kitchen henceforth. Indeed, Ramsay then proceeds to install an executive chef from Cleveland at the restaurant until they can find a new permanent head chef (which, I’ve found, is often a sign that the restaurant needed a complete reboot from scratch).
The final service went well with the new exec chef at the helm and Joe minimizing his awfulness at the front of the house. However, we learn that after Ramsay’s visit was over that Joe went back to running the kitchen himself.
As the voiceover guy tells us to close out the episode: “The future of the Mill Street Bistro is questionable.”
Final thoughts on the Mill Street Bistro saga:
- Why would anyone serve (let alone order) elk quesadilla? I’m genuinely curious.
- “It’s raw. What’s wrong with you, Joe?” – Gordon Ramsay
- I do believe this is the only Kitchen Nightmares episode I’ve seen where they did not do a full interior redesign.
🍽 Want more? Check out Pop Thruster’s Kitchen Nightmares episode reviews (there’s a lot).
Some stats and info about Kitchen Nightmares – “La Galleria 33 Part 2”
TV SHOW – Kitchen Nightmares
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX
GENRE – Reality TV, Food TV Shows, Trashtastic TV
STARS – Gordon Ramsay
This review was originally published on TV Geek Army.