“I see a man who is far more in love with himself than he is with this restaurant.” – Gordon Ramsay
This edition of Kitchen Nightmares heads to Moorpark, California, which is framed as the “gateway to wine country, luxury golf courses, and booming real estate.” It’s near Simi Valley, which I always think of as Ronald Reagan country.
Narrator Guy wastes no time in informing us that The Secret Garden is “on the brink of financial ruin.”
When we meet, Michel, the chef and owner, he asks the question, “Am I a good chef?” and then immediately answers with, “I think so.”
Sammy, a server, believes that Michel’s biggest problem is that “he’s French.” And Jane the server emphasizes that he’s both French and “arrogant.” Also: “He can be very very difficult to work with.”
“He’s got an ego the size of France,” Devin the server says. He also talks about how only old people eat at The Secret Garden these days, so “it’s not a happening spot.”
Michel puts it like this: “When I lose my temper, it’s time to run.” He says this with a certain little smug pride, I’d say.
Meanwhile, we find out that The Secret Garden is $320,000 in debt, so it sounds to me like there’s a lot of buried secrets in that garden, if you know what I’m saying.
When Chef Gordon Ramsay shows up, he has a difficult time figuring out how to enter the restaurant as most of the doors are locked, and he eventually finds his way in through a strange kind of side entrance. Inside, the front of house is empty, and Gordon finds his way to the kitchen and meets Michel and the staff.
Michel says that The Secret Garden has been open for seven year, and it’s been “quiet,” business-wise, for all seven years.
When he sits down to sample the restaurant’s dishes, Ramsay observes that “it looks like my grandmother could eat here,” and he’s totally right. The décor is much nicer and well put together than many Kitchen Nightmares restaurants, but nonetheless it screams upscale old age home vibes.
Ramsay also quickly points out the oddness of an appetizer on the menu that pairs strawberries with “fresh garlic shrimps.” Hard to disagree there.
When he does sample that dish, his review is, “Aw geez, that’s disgusting.”
By the time he gets to the Roquefort stuffed filet of beef, he gets more colorful: “A big overgrown bowl of pubic hair, deep fat fried. I’m f—ed if I’m ever eating that s—, that’s for sure.”
“It’s bad, it’s lazy, and it’s just really crap,” Ramsay says. “A nightmare at grandma’s house.”
This prompts an aggressive Ramsay to confront Michel with a litany of his complaints.
When Michel gently pushes back, Ramsay counters with, “Are you that f—ing arrogant?”
Honestly, Ramsay’s meltdown here feels somewhat conjured up and contrived, as Michel’s only sin (beyond his cooking) is to mildly say that “it’s a matter of opinion.”
It really may well be an Englishman taking an instant dislike to a Frenchman here as part of the dynamic.
Next up: the kitchen inspection, and here we’ve got real reason for consternation, and there’s gunk and mold and rotting food everywhere in the food storage area. And Ramsay’s not wrong to deem the situation a “health hazard.” There’s even evidence of maggots roaming amok.
Ramsay gets even more worked up when Michel doesn’t react all that much when shown how bad things are. “When are you going to get f—ing serious?” he eventually says.
Finally, via separate interview, we see Michel show some emotion, saying that “he insults me” and something about Ramsay’s “restaurant bulls—” that’s hard to understand.
When Ramsay asks whether Michel wants his help at all, it’s kind of funny when Michel replies, “I want your help… but I want good help.”
Devin for his part is elated to see Michel get his comeuppance, telling the camera that, “Michel was of the opinion that, hey, if I want to serve dog s— on a plate and the customer doesn’t like it, too bad.”
After Michel leads the staff in a thorough cleaning of the kitchen, it’s time for Ramsay to observe a dinner service at The Secret Garden.
At dinner service that night, Michel defends how slowly that dishes come out of the kitchen as the difference between French and American cuisine, where Americans expect food fast and eat very quickly, our French chef maintains.
Ramsay’s assessment, Part I: Michel’s “overcomplicated” recipes take far too long to prepare. Specifically, almost every entrée is “crusted.”
Ramsay’s assessment, Part II: Now outside, Gordon tells the camera that being a bad chef is bad enough but that it’s solvable. In Michel’s case, “he’s in complete denial.”
While this is happening, Devin says that he wishes he could do “more” in the kitchen, and Jane corroborates that Michel gets “jealous” of other talented chefs. Meanwhile, while Michel hangs out in the front of house conversing with the customers, Devin does his best to push entrees out of the kitchen.
After dinner service, Ramsay bluntly tells Michel that “I see a man who is far more in love with himself than he is with this restaurant.” He also tells the French chef that the next day he expects everyone to start fresh with new attitudes, putting ego aside.
However, Michel tells the camera, “This is all bulls—.”
Which means it’s time for a gimmick. Ramsay and team arrive at The Secret Garden early the next day, board the place up, and cover it with “Closed for Business” signs. When an angry Michel finally shows up, he says, “I don’t see anything constructive here.”
This quickly segues into a scene where Ramsay leads Michel, Devin, and the kitchen staff through a cooking lesson focused on fast, fresh, and easy to serve dishes.
“Is he a great chef?” Michel asks in an interview. “No. I was voted best chef in Conejo Valley.”
That night, dinner service includes some of Ramsay’s new specials. They prove to be quite popular with customers but soon orders back up in the kitchen. And on top of that, while the specials soon sell out the available ingredients, miscommunication leads to the servers still pushing it with diners.
And meanwhile, it’s chaos in the kitchen, with everyone yelling at each other and Michel barking taciturn though not particularly helpful orders. Things reach a head, and Jane ends up storming out of the restaurant. After dinner service, a staff meeting goes nowhere and ends with Ramsay telling Michel to “shut up.”
The renovation is revealed the next day, and it looks mostly like all of the grandma’s parlor decorations and décor were removed. An improvement to be sure. And meanwhile, the menu overhaul seems to be an addition by subtraction move as well, with cutting out all of the “crusted” dishes and also dumping the oddball shrimp-and-strawberries appetizer overboard.
For relaunch night, a number of VIPs show up along with a large crowd that includes a tour bus full of people on a vineyard tour, a Miss California, and a local food critic.
After the food critic expresses disappointment that her tuna dish is oversalted and over seasoned, Michel panics and prepares her an entrée from the “old menu” (the Roquefort stuffed filet of beef (the one that Ramsay had described in part as “a big overgrown bowl of pubic hair, deep fat fried”).
This prompts a massive blowout in the kitchen, with Michel saying, “Mr. Big Chef doesn’t belong in the kitchen” and Ramsay going thermonuclear, calling Michel “a French pig” and adding in “f— you!” and “you lazy c—” while he’s at it.
Ramsay leaves The Secret Garden for a while, pretends to think about leaving, and then eventually comes back and somewhat cools things out with Michel. In a sequence that could have been pulled from The Bear, both agree that they both want things to be “perfect” and that “every table is a VIP table.”
The food critic is eventually given a “second” dish that’s from Ramsay’s new menu, and she likes it this time. But the still skeptical Michel is only won over to some extent by talking to other diners, who all professed to greatly enjoying the new menu and the new restaurant décor.
Later, Michel is the most forthcoming with Ramsay that he’s been, saying, “Changes are… difficult for me. I’m so wrong… I mean it.”
“The restaurant has improved greatly. Gordon Ramsay has succeeded,” Devin tells the camera later.
🍽 Want more? Check out Pop Thruster’s Kitchen Nightmares episode reviews (there’s a lot).
Kitchen Nightmares, “The Secret Garden”: is it still open?
The Secret Garden is no more! According to Dexerto, The Secret Garden “was sold and closed down in 2015, with the owner expressing regret about going on the show.
Devon posted a Reddit AMA nine months ago as of this writing, which includes some interesting stuff, such as:
The owner and head chef was a character. He was a French man, about 5’4″, and definitely had a Napoleon Complex Going on. Although his ego was insufferable at times, he wasn’t all bad. He was generally a pretty nice guy, and I actually learned quite a bit about cooking French cuisine from working under him.
Some stats and info about Kitchen Nightmares, “The Secret Garden”
TV SHOW – Kitchen Nightmares
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX
GENRE – Reality TV, Docuseries, Food Shows
EPISODE DESCRIPTION – The Secret Garden is a romantic French restaurant that is on the brink of bankruptcy. Chef Ramsay causes a stir as he suggests changing the ugly decor, the menu and the filthy kitchen.
CAST – Gordon Ramsay