“Please don’t eat anything else.” – Gordon Ramsay
We hear zydeco music as this edition of Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back begins, signaling that the restaurant set to make an epic journey from failure to (theoretical) success is located in New Orleans, and specifically the lower garden district in this case.
The Trolley Stop Café, “a mom and pop staple since 1995,” is located on Saint Charles Avenue and sits on “the longest running trolley route in the world,” Ramsay tells us via voiceover.
What this all leads to, of course, is Ramsay dropping a restaurant “going off the rails” pun within the first two minutes of the episode.
The Trolley Stop Café is owned by Ragnar Karlsson, which surely would make for an incredible name for a legendary 9th Century Viking. Instead, he’s a bespeckled and goateed former energy consultant who lets us know that the restaurant was founded by his grandfather, Hans Karlsson.
Ragnar readily admits that business at The Trolley Stop went downhill immediately after he purchased the place, and the read from his staff is that he is a big reason. In fact, Kendal, a manager, alleges that Ragnar only shows up at the restaurant once or twice a week. Ragnar defends this notion, telling the camera that he handles business and paperwork out of his home office.
Darren Bartman, the kitchen manager, clearly has a chip on his shoulder with regard to Ragnar, and talks about how he grew up “dirt poor” in a trailer park while Ragnar relies on his family name and money. Darren the camera that Ragnar “believes that they made text message so you could manage a restaurant you don’t want to show up to.”
“I’m out of runway – I’m out of time,” Ragnar admits.
Ramsay then walks us through the 24 Hours to Hell and Back shtick: under the guise of being filmed for a “traditional renovation show,” hidden cameras have been installed at The Trolley Stop to catch the staff in action and unawares. And then meanwhile, Ramsay dollies himself up in a goofy disguise to check out the place “undercover,” this time as a mustachioed Orleans Parish sheriff who he dubs Deputy Connor.
I should also mention that the puns are getting out of control with this show: the last stop, a big easy, and on and on.
After Deputy Connor and his table full of (real) cops orders, we see a slew of bad stuff going down in the kitchen via the hidden cameras, including unsanitary handling and finished food on a dirty grill. And on top of that, it takes well over half an hour for the table to get served.
Even worse (if that’s possible), the melted cheese that’s liberally poured on top of their plate of nachos is spoiled, causing Ramsay and crew to notice a sickly aroma immediately. Further, Ramsay spits out his first taste of fried oysters into a napkin and says, “That’s not good.”
“Please don’t eat anything else,” he advises the group of peace officers.
As dramatic music plays in the background, Ramsay removes his disguise and demands that the staff assemble in the dining room. When he “finds out” that Ragnar isn’t present, Darren immediately throws his boss under the bus: “He’s a sheltered boy who lives with his parents, who manages through cell phones and… that’s about it.”
Ramsay quickly pivots to bringing everyone outside to visit the goofy Hell on Wheels, the tractor trailer that also serves as a mobile kitchen and outdoor movie theater. In yet another silly level to the goings on, Ragnar soon arrives, dropped off by one of the sheriffs who Deputy Connor had been embedded with earlier.
“You’re clueless” is one of the first things Ramsay tells Ragnar when The Trolley Stop Café owner readily admits that he’s never stood behind the line, served tables, or cleaned a restaurant in his life.
Ramsay then unveils the hidden camera footage on Hell on Wheels’ large monitor, which reveals disgusting kitchen conditions, insects in the food storage area, incompetent service taking place, and so on.
Ramsay then tells the diners that they won’t have to pay for their meals and invites them back to eat at The Trolley Stop Café in 24 hours. And that’s when the countdown clock (to hell and back) begins ticking, my friends.
At a staff only meeting, Darren quickly calls out Ragnar as the “biggest problem” with The Trolley Stop Café. Ramsay pushes back, telling Darren that he should have his own standards, adding, “Shame on you!”
Turning back on the owner, Ramsay asks Ragnar, “How can you honestly expect this place to function without a presence?”
He then asks the entire staff, “Are you in or are you out?” And with that, the renovation crew snaps into action, with the restaurant staff supporting them.
Next, Ramsay does a deeper investigation into the cleanliness of the kitchen, and in short it’s absolutely hideous. Ramsay has lots of this hasn’t been cleaned in years! and shameful! to throw around.
Also: “You served mold to me out there.”
And: “What’s with all the blood down here?”
There’s a fun twist here where a super fired up Ramsay forces Ragnar, Darren, and crew to eat the moldy food that they had served to customers that very day. They weren’t happy about how it tasted, to say the least.
Next up, not surprisingly, is Ragnar and staff put to work cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom.
While this is going on, Darren is pulled away to Hell on Wheels’ mobile kitchen to review the overhauled menu with Ramsay. It’s an array of fresh, bayou-flavored dishes that look pretty great. Ramsay also takes Darren through a cooking lesson, and this is always where I wish Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back would put a lot more focus on versus making it a lightning-fast montage.
Darren also tells Ramsay that he has a strong desire to turn things at The Trolley Stop Café, and gets emotional when expressing this passion to the British chef.
“You’ve got this – good man,” Ramsay ends up telling him, patting him on the back.
Ramsay then calls Ragnar for a private chat. The latter opens up that while he bought The Trolley Stop Café to make his father and grandfather proud, he hasn’t been up to the task and that he’s found the mounting problems over time to be overwhelming.
“If you want to run a restaurant, you need to run it,” Ramsay tells him plainly. That boils down to showing up at work on site, rolling up his sleeves, and working his bottom off to add value.
The kitchen renovation is then unveiled, and Darren and team are amped about the brand new equipment, which includes a new refrigeration unit.
Ramsay then brings in Aaron Sanchez, who is a fellow judge with Ramsay on MasterChef and a New Orleans-based chef and restaurateur. Sanchez gives the team a brief pep talk, and then helps to oversee training the team on the new menu.
Just before the 24 hour clock ticks to zero and relaunch night begins, Ramsay has a mini-melt down because some fried chicken cooked during training was not up to snuff. But it seems to be a relatively small deal as Ramsay-helmed shows tend to go.
As diners enter the vastly revised interior, we can see that it now looks genuinely cute and homey, with an appropriate train and transportation theme.
After a number of tables get served, Ramsay jumps in and snatches dishes off of a number of them as the quality doesn’t meet his standard. Even so, a not great sign comes when a local food blogger announces, “I’ve got bloody chicken.”
Ramsay calls out Darren specifically for the shoddy food quality, and yells at one point, “Now you’re serving me s—!”
Soon enough, things smooth out and we see diners complimenting Ragnar, while meaning Darren and the kitchen staff can be seen giving each other fist bumps.
“This is for you now, not your granddad, not your family,” Ramsay tells Ramsay in saying goodbye.
“He’s still soft, but he survived tonight,” Darren tells the camera of Ragnar, but he adds that he sees a path for the owner to be a successful one.
Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back, “The Trolley Stop Café”: is it still open?
No! Sadly, The Trolley Stop Café closed due to “Hurricane Ida and the state closures,” via Reality TV Revisited.
Yelp’s listing for The Trolley Stop Café shows a not great 3.4 out of 5 stars rating on 579 total reviews.
Some stats and info about Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back, “The Trolley Stop Café”
TV SHOW – Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 1
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX
EPISODE DESCRIPTION – An investigation at the Trolley Stop Cafe, a classic Cajun-inspired New Orleans restaurant, reveals an absentee owner is to blame for staff’s lack of communication and discipline.
GENRE – Office Culture, Trashtastic TV, Reality TV, Food Shows
CAST – Gordon Ramsay